Canon PowerShot A3000IS 10 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD

by Canon

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.8 x 1.1 x 2.3 inches ; 5.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0032JRRWK
• Item model number: A3000IS
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (109 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #977 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 5, 2010

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

There's nothing more satisfying than taking great pictures! And with the sleek and silver Canon PowerShot A3000 IS, it's so effortless. The 10.0-megapixel resolution and 4x optical zoom with Optical Image Stabilizer ensure radiant, detailed images. Plus, you've got an advanced DIGIC III Image Processor with evolved Face Detection Technology and the Face Detection Self-Timer for extraordinary control and performance. Smart AUTO lets you handle challenging conditions with ease.

10.0-megapixel resolution

Canon PowerShot A3000 IS Highlights

Powerful A-Series camera with 10.0 megapixels, 4x optical zoom and Optical Image Stabilizer
With the PowerShot A3000 IS, dramatic, personal pictures have never been easier to shoot and share. This 10.0 Megapixel digital camera lets you create impressive large photos of family and friends you'll be proud to display. The high-resolution images taken by the PowerShot A3000 IS can be enlarged up to 13 x 19 inches.

The PowerShot A3000 IS has a 4x optical zoom lens that makes it easy to get the inspiring, emotive close-ups that will make your images lasting keepsakes. This magnificent lens gives you the power to shoot subjects with razor-sharp precision and stunning lifelike color. So you can brilliantly capture a shot of a sweeping landscape, or a child's big smile.

The PowerShot A3000 IS is also equipped with Canon's acclaimed Optical Image Stabilizer Technology that automatically detects and corrects camera shake--one of the leading causes of fuzzy or blurred shots. Even when zoomed in, you can get the steady, crisp, brilliant images you'll be proud to shoot and share. And Canon's Optical Image Stabilizer Technology is so convenient to use. It functions perfectly with or without a flash.

Lithium-ion battery
The Canon PowerShot A3000 IS uses a newly developed rechargeable lithium-ion battery. This compact, powerful battery helps make it an incredibly lightweight and slim camera. Charge-up is quick and easy, so the PowerShot A3000 IS will be ready and waiting for those special moments.

New Scene Modes deliver more creative freedom
The Canon PowerShot A3000 IS gives you even more creative freedom by including new modes made to get the kind of images people talk about. Super Vivid captures the colors you see with your mind's eye, saturating the scene with intense colors. Turn drab scenes into exciting compositions, when dull pinks blaze into brilliant fuchsia and off-yellows suddenly burn bright and hot. Even dark colors become richer with Super Vivid. Sunsets and floral scenes turn into bursts of color, and get your photo noticed.

Poster Effect combines several similar shades into one color, turning subtle gradations of color into eye-catching, scene-popping contrasts across your image for a unique artistic look.

18 Shooting Modes
Advanced presets for the best possible photos under certain conditions. With 18 Shooting Modes including Scene Modes, you're ready for whatever shot comes your way.

Smart AUTO will do the work for you by intelligently selecting the proper settings

Low Light mode in action

Just set the Canon PowerShot A3000 IS to Smart AUTO and you're ready for maximum enjoyment from your picture taking every time. It's a relaxing and satisfying way to shoot because you can completely concentrate on your subject knowing that the camera has the technical details covered. Advanced Canon technology intelligently analyzes your situation and shooting conditions. Then it automatically selects an appropriate setting from 18 specially defined settings. So whether you're photographing flowers, a captivating sunset, or your friends at the park, you can be confident that you're getting dramatic, memorable images.

Low Light mode for improved shooting in dim lighting
With an ISO of 500-3200, the Low Light mode takes the Canon PowerShot A3000 IS where no A-Series has gone before--into the shadows! Now even scenes notorious for having insufficient light, such as those lit by candles, fire, or street lamp, come through in fantastic color and clarity, with less noise. You can keep the feel of the scene intact without adding additional light, so the result will be scenes with the visual accuracy, depth and clarity you expect from a Canon camera.

Large, bright 2.7-inch LCD
The PowerShot A3000 IS's large 2.7-inch LCD screen gives you the big picture, whether you're shooting, reviewing or showing off your images. This high-resolution screen offers a crisp, clear and bright picture. It also features Night Display for easy viewing in low light.

Product Description

Canon PowerShot A3000 IS Point & Shoot Digital Camera - 10 Megapixel - 2.70" Active Matrix TFT Color LCD - Silver 4254B001 Digital Cameras.This item comes with a battery and a charger

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

510 of 523 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Value, November 7, 2010

By 

bibliobob "bibliobob" (Northern CA, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Canon PowerShot A3000IS 10 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Electronics)

For serious photography, I prefer a big, heavy digital SLR. But where my goal is not photography but I want a camera along for snapshots, I use this.

I expected to buy a Lumix LX-series or Canon S95 - both attempts to match the capabilities of a SLR as much as possible in an easily-pocketable camera. But as I kept reading the reviews I got more confused, until I remembered the basic laws of physics haven't been repealed.

To roughly summarize the camera review sites, all major-brand subcompacts do a good job in bright light. The differentiators are low light, flash, performance, and manual control. And when you read carefully, you realize there's not a lot of practical difference here either. But there's no way to compare them without exaggerating the differences, which makes them sound more significant than they really are.

LOW LIGHT

In low light, digital cameras increase the ISO, which means the weak signal coming from the sensor is amplified. This also amplifies noise, which causes an overall grainy look and, in dark areas, colored confetti. I don't expect any camera to work well in low light; this goes for pro-level DSLRs and film cameras as well. So paying extra for a camera that's really bad in low light rather than terrible doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It's a lot like choosing sunglasses based on their performance in dim light, or a screwdriver for its ability to drive a nail.

FLASH

For flash, a commercial photographer typically uses a power pack that may draw 15 amps AC and power multiple heads which range in size from 4" diameter to over 36". Subcompact cameras have ridiculously small batteries and tiny flash tubes (typically under 0.2 sq inches) located at the worst possible place: near the lens. It amazes me that any of them work as well as they do. Do I really care that one extends to 13 feet and another only 11.75? There have been times where I'd wished for a more powerful flash, but I'm thinking an extra 30 feet; I wouldn't notice an extra 2 or 3.

The A3000 flash will synch any ordinary slave flash if you turn off the red-eye feature in the camera. It won't meter it, however, so it's easy to wash out the picture. I believe this is true for all Canon subcompacts.

PERFORMANCE

When prefocused, picture-to-picture processing time is barely noticeable -- less than half a second. When you include focusing time, less than 2.5 seconds. It's faster with the continuous shot option, which does not refocus between exposures. This is respectable, and more than enough for my needs. To keep up with a very active child or pet, you might want faster performance. Tested with 4 GB Lexar Platinum II 9MB/sec SDHC.

MANUAL CONTROL

I use manual control on my SLR most of the time. I had it on my last two subcompacts, and seldom used it. The A3000 doesn't have it. The only time I missed it was using slave flash. If I'm out with the family, I don't want to be thinking like a photographer, so the camera will probably make better decisions. And manual control is less convenient on a subcompact because of the ergonomic compromises necessary for such a small camera. Nice to have, but as processors get smarter, less important.

MEGAPIXELS

The best professional color printers print 90,000 dots per square inch. That means it takes 4 x 6 x 90,000 = 2.2 megapixels for a 4 x 6 print. 5 x 7 = 3.2 megapixels. 8 x 10 = 7.2 megapixels. Higher megapixels increase image file size and shot-to-shot delay (while the camera compresses the image and writes it out to the card). The only advantage to "higher resolution" than that required for your final print: you can crop the picture a bit without losing any picture quality. The A3000 is 10 meg; if they had a 6 meg version, it would be a better camera. Canon knows this; they also know megapixels are a lot easier to sell.

SENSOR SIZE

Bigger is better, but more important than sensor size is pixel size - the larger the pixels the higher the dynamic range, which means more detail in very bright and very dark areas. It usually means better low-light performance and less noise because of other engineering choices available because of the larger pixels.

The difference in sensor size between this and some of the more expensive small cameras (S95) seems significant until you put it into perspective. The pixel size of a Canon S95 is 6% that of a 12-meg professional DSLR (FX format). A3000 is 4%. Given the dynamic range and low-light performance of a pro DSLR isn't that great, I don't see any reason to pay a premium for 6% vs 4%.

CONCLUSION

My ideal small camera - pocketable, usably large viewfinder (I can accept a smaller LCD), 5-6 megapixels, manual control, image stabilization (small cameras are hard to hold steady), not cluttered with silly features - is no longer made. If a camera manufacturer wants me to spend more, they're going to have to come closer to that; more megapixels won't do it.

Until then, I'm OK with the A3000. Pictures are excellent for a subcompact. Flash even in a big room is more than acceptable for on-camera flash, focus is quick and remarkably adept at identifying the right subject, image stabilization works as well as I'd hoped. Controls are well laid out and intuitive. LCD is bright and clear, even outdoors. The shutter release could be more prominent, and I may attach a thin rubber disk to make it easier to find by feel.

The A3000 doesn't looking expensive, so subjects tend to ignore it. And I'm more likely to take it along because it if gets damaged or lost, or encounters the uneconomical-to-repair "lens error" that seems to afflict all brands, it's not a big deal. Manual is pdf file on disk, also available on-line. Camera made in Malaysia. 1-year limited warranty.

7 July 2011 UPDATE: The "excellent value" comment was based on a selling price of under $100 directly from Amazon.

75 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TERRIFIC FOR TRAVEL CANDID SHOTS!, December 31, 2010

By 

Ed Hooks, Acting for Animators (chicago, Il United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Canon PowerShot A3000IS 10 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Electronics)

Purchased the camera for my wife, who was going to Thailand on a University trip. She came back with 500+ photos, taken in all kind of light conditions. All except two or three were in sharp focus, and the best of the lot are good enough to put on the wall. She had to recharge the battery once a week, she says. We uploaded her photos to our computers, no problem. I would recommend this for any casual photographer, including the one that is technically challenged.

82 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A3000 IS Review, February 19, 2010

By 

G. Chris "Please believe me!" (NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canon PowerShot A3000IS 10 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Electronics)

I've owned over countless Canon/Sony models over the decade but just want to give a heads up since this is a new model and I wanted to give my opinion first.

I just got this today. Very cheap feel...camera feels very hollow and light. Pictures are great as usual from Canon. Not as many functions as my SD940 but a good point and shoot for the price. The right corner nob is a new twist for Canon ELPH models which looked weird at first but fast if you want to switch shooting modes (compared to my SD940). The thickness could be more compact given that the camera feels so light and hollow inside. The buttons need to be more crisp but its the pictures what matters most. Overall, decent camera for the money. If I had to buy again for the same price, I would go with the SD1200 which is more solid and compact.