Customer Reviews

Canon PowerShot A3100IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Red)

5 star:		(99)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This is a compact, easy-to-use, bring the fun back to photography camera that provides Canon's photo quality in a lower cost, compact build. A little bit bigger than the digital elphs, this camera still fits comfortably in a shirt or pant pocket.

The feature set is very basic, and nothing new. It has a "Face select" feature which lets you select which person you want to focus on in a group. On the dial it has four settings: Auto, Easy, Program and movie modes. The auto mode is just as with every other camera, the camera will select the settings it determines best, but you maintain control (if you care to select it) over the white balance and flash. Easy is the same as auto, except no options. Program gives you the option to select among several "scenes": Portrait, Landscape, Night, Kids&Pets, and Indoor (buried in the menu you can also select lesser used scene settings like Beach, Long Shutter, and Fireworks).

The only negative I've encountered with the camera is the relatively slow processor. That is the power up time (the time between turning the camera on and taking the first picture) is average (about 2 seconds), however, the time between pictures is around 2 seconds without the flash to 4 seconds with the flash. If you envision having (or wanting) to take faster pictures, then this is not the camera for you. Similarly, if you want to have any control over settings (i.e. shutter speed if you want to take pictures of your running toddler) this is not the camera for you.

Bottom line:
Canon replaces control and feature selection for extreme ease-of-use. This camera is a solid option for the money, and in case you are considering the A3000 IS, this (the A3100) is well worth the extra $30 (better resolution and faster picture-to-picture time).
The picture quality is great, no blur and vivid colors.

Just got this brand new camera. I replaced our Casio, which was one of the most impressive digital cameras I have ever owned (had it for only 14 months). The reason for the replacement, my family loses cameras... a lot.. and this one went bye bye somewhere. The Casio had great features, a nice touch screen, a great zoom, good shutter speed for sporting events, and time between photos was great for the photo quality. It had one flaw, its inability to take night photos and the movies even in natural light were only okay. There were a ton of options, which for a standard user could be overwhelming.

Now to the PowerShot. This camera, sometimes will look grainy on the viewfinder until the actual photo itself is taken, but when the photo is taken... perfection. No matter the differences in light and shadows in a picture, the PowerShot somehow nicely accommodates for this. While the standard zoom is 4X, it can go to 10x, and with the shutter and flash, it still takes much better than most from beyond its standard range. PIctures at night with or without flash is absolutely incredible and movies are easy to take and upload. The features are plenty, but not overly complex. This means a standard user cannot get into trouble, but the highly discerning user might want more. There are other 10 and 12 MP cameras out there, and many have poor picture quality, which for me makes no sense... having a high quality image of a bad shot is an oxymoron. You don't have to worry with this camera.

Here is the one downside... time between shots. If you are looking for a camera to hold down the shutter and take pictures in multiples in rapid fire, this might not be the camera for you. While a faster memory card will help issue, you will not be able to rattle off 5 shots in 10 seconds during your kid's soccer game. If you want to have 2 or 3 perfect shots in that 10 seconds, this is the camera for you. It doesn't have a touch screen either, but with the Casio, this sometimes got in the way during viewing or taking shots.

Summarizing... This camera is easy to use, not confusing, has a great smart mode, and has yet to take a poor picture in any light condition. If you can't take a good picture on your current camera, you will be able to on this one. The movie mode is very easy, but should be used in good light either indoors or out. It does zoom during the movie, which I understand isn't common, and the microphone is extremely sensitive... which means if you fumble around, it will record the fumbling noise, but that is very hard to avoid on any camera. It is lightweight, but substantial enough to hold comfortably. All in all, this is a camera any family would be happy to have.

This is a compact, easy-to-use, bring the fun back to photography camera that provides Canon's photo quality in a lower cost, compact build. A little bit bigger than the digital elphs, this camera still fits comfortably in a shirt or pant pocket.

The feature set is very basic, and nothing new. It has a "Face select" feature which lets you select which person you want to focus on in a group. On the dial it has four settings: Auto, Easy, Program and movie modes. The auto mode is just as with every other camera, the camera will select the settings it determines best, but you maintain control (if you care to select it) over the white balance and flash. Easy is the same as auto, except no options. Program gives you the option to select among several "scenes": Portrait, Landscape, Night, Kids&Pets, and Indoor (buried in the menu you can also select lesser used scene settings like Beach, Long Shutter, and Fireworks).

The only negative I've encountered with the camera is the relatively slow processor. That is the power up time (the time between turning the camera on and taking the first picture) is average (about 2 seconds), however, the time between pictures is around 2 seconds without the flash to 4 seconds with the flash. If you envision having (or wanting) to take faster pictures, then this is not the camera for you. Similarly, if you want to have any control over settings (i.e. shutter speed if you want to take pictures of your running toddler) this is not the camera for you.

Bottom line:
Canon replaces control and feature selection for extreme ease-of-use. This camera is a solid option for the money, and in case you are considering the A3000 IS, this (the A3100) is well worth the extra $30 (better resolution and faster picture-to-picture time).
The picture quality is great, no blur and vivid colors.

This is a compact, easy-to-use, bring the fun back to photography camera that provides Canon's photo quality in a lower cost, compact build. A little bit bigger than the digital elphs, this camera still fits comfortably in a shirt or pant pocket.

The feature set is very basic, and nothing new. It has a "Face select" feature which lets you select which person you want to focus on in a group. On the dial it has four settings: Auto, Easy, Program and movie modes. The auto mode is just as with every other camera, the camera will select the settings it determines best, but you maintain control (if you care to select it) over the white balance and flash. Easy is the same as auto, except no options. Program gives you the option to select among several "scenes": Portrait, Landscape, Night, Kids&Pets, and Indoor (buried in the menu you can also select lesser used scene settings like Beach, Long Shutter, and Fireworks).

The only negative I've encountered with the camera is the relatively slow processor. That is the power up time (the time between turning the camera on and taking the first picture) is average (about 2 seconds), however, the time between pictures is around 2 seconds without the flash to 4 seconds with the flash. If you envision having (or wanting) to take faster pictures, then this is not the camera for you. Similarly, if you want to have any control over settings (i.e. shutter speed if you want to take pictures of your running toddler) this is not the camera for you.

Bottom line:
Canon replaces control and feature selection for extreme ease-of-use. This camera is a solid option for the money, and in case you are considering the A3000 IS, this (the A3100) is well worth the extra $30 (better resolution and faster picture-to-picture time).
The picture quality is great, no blur and vivid colors.

My Canon S410 Powershot gave up the ghost, even after a trip back to Canon for repairs ($100, ouch). I was tired of not having a camera and this one crossed my path at the right time and I bought it after debating for months which camera to go with.

This is MUCH lighter than my Canon S410, and far sleeker -- all the knobs and buttons and whatnot are smooth and out of the way. It won't snag on things like the boxy S410 tended to do. This camera is as light as a plastic disposable camera. I remember my first digital camera back in 1999 which weighed a pound and then some.

The LCD screen is ENORMOUS compared to my old camera(s). It takes up almost the entire back of the camera body. Amazing. The controls are scrunched together compared to the S410 controls. Having had the S410 I was familiar with the Canon layout and the way the camera works, which was nice.

An earlier review mentioned that the startup time and the time between shots was long -- I didn't find that to be the case. It powers up almost instantly, and even taking photos at the largest image size the time between shots is only a second or two. My first digital camera would tend to "submarine" for six or seven seconds between shots!

Overall I'm VERY, VERY happy to have a camera that works again, and the cost wasn't all that much, like half of what I paid five years ago for the S410. Half the cost, half the weight... I still daydream about getting a "real" camera, a digital SLR (DSLR) with a nice heavy L-series prime lens... but it wouldn't fit in my pocket, would it?

Don't hesitate -- this is a beautiful little device, thoughtfully designed and nicely manufactured. If you're traveling or if you're a parent (or both) you know you simply cannot take too many photos. I bought a 4GB card for this, one of those little big-as-your-thumbnail chips, and even at the highest resolution the photos are about 2MB apiece, so you can shoot a lot of photos and never run out of space. Included with the camera was a cable to attach to a television, which I thought was a neat idea. I'll have to play with that sometime.

My only caveat would be based on my experience having sent my S410 in for repair to Canon -- for $100 the repair didn't last long at all, I wonder if they just sent me a refurbished unit they had. Anyway, don't DROP your camera and you won't have to send it in to be repaired.

This is the third Canon "A" series that I have purchased. For those of you unfamiliar with the Canon line, they are targeted at users who value simplicity and ease of use. Clearly, they are also focused on a price point that is quite low. If you are looking for greater sophistication and higher quality (both photographic and build), there are many other choices. However, given its mission, the A3100 succeeds.

First, ease of use is well thought out. The user is presented with icons intended to be intuitive. However, there is a safety net for those perplexed by that approach: the software provides a running, written commentary on the purpose of the available options. The designers have attempted to make this device as palatable and non threatening as possible.

Second, even for users accustomed to more sophisticated cameras, the image quality is more than satisfactory. When purchasing a digital camera, one should not concentrate on "pixels". Digital imaging is dependent upon lens quality and the processor, in this case Canon's Digic III. I have felt that Canon's processors were among the best, for years. However, it is fair to say that the technology has improved to such an extent that many of the major brands are competitive with one another.

My primary concern and criticism is build quality; the battery and memory card door is flimsy (another review mentioned this), as is the USB port cover. Only time will tell if this is a problem.

Another review has mentioned dark images and less than satisfactory results with the zoom. While I have not utilized the digital zoom, yet, I find the optical zoom and image stabilization to operate quite well.

This is not an advanced SLR or a Leica; nor is it intended to be. However, within the scope of its designers' intent, it performs admirably, rewarding the user with photos above "snapshot" quality. For approximately $150.00, it is difficult to imagine a better performer.

The first digital camera that I ever bought was a Canon. It was a PowerShot A80 that had 4.0mp and 3x digital zoom. Since then, I have only purchased Canon brand digital cameras. The only reason I stopped using that one was because of age. So I bought the 7.0mp PowerShot SD750 Elph a few years ago. Again, incredible camera. I really liked that it had a lithium battery that was rechargeable. That's one thing I look for in digital cameras.

I bought this camera a few months ago when my SD750's battery couldn't seem to hold a charge (I had 2 different batteries for the camera). So that's when I decided I needed to purchase a new one. When I saw the A3100 IS, I was brought back to my first camera. It also has choices for which type of mode you want to shoot in on the top of the camera. It was a little hard to get used to again, but it's very easy to use. The fact that it has 12.1 mp is definitely a plus. The pictures I take are far superior to what my other cameras took. I do wish that it had HD video, but I'm not complaining about it. The video feature (which I used often) is great. I really like how you can now zoom in and out while filming. My mom's old camera (a Sony) was not able to do that. She now owns a different camera (Nikon) but it isn't as easy to use as this one is.

For anyone who is like me and just likes to take pictures and/or shoot videos, I'd highly recommend this camera to you. It's easy to use and it's pretty compact. Sure it's not as small as the Elph cameras, but it's also not huge. I love the face detection feature as well. I have to say that this is my favorite camera that I have owned so far.

I really wanted to love this camera as much as the 5-star reviewers. In fact, it was the high praise that made me buy it. However, it suffers from the typical problems most cameras in this price range do --slow shutter/write to disk speed and mediocre low light shooting.

I shoot mostly indoors, and I was taken in by all the reviewers who said this camera does great in low light conditions. Not my experience. I keep it set to "Auto" mostly because I'm not a photographer who fiddles with all the settings, so I was banking on the auto feature to sort out poor lighting, but probably 30% of my indoor shots are blurry (I have a pretty steady hand) and/or over-exposed from the flash. And the time it takes to write an image to the disk (I use a high-end SanDisk Extreme III SD card)is aggravating. The pause is at least 3 seconds, which doesn't sound like a lot, but an eternity if you're trying to capture events quickly (without having to use the continuous fire mode).

Also, I thought I wouldn't miss having a view finder to look through, but I was wrong. If you use this outside in bright light, the LCD is nearly useless. Taking a picture with the LCD in bright light is a crap-shoot guesstimate.

Anyway, it's not the worst camera I've owned in this price range, but I'm still looking for the best in this price range, and I don't think this is it.

All I needed was an excuse to upgrade from a Canon IXY 800IS. It came when my wife accidentally drown my little Canon. The 3100IS is an upgrade at a very reasonable price.

Pros:
Fast start up and shut-down
Comes in various colors
larger screen but still fits in pocket
excellent movie quality
picture quality you expect from a bigger camera

Cons:
no viewfinder at this price point
the battery/SD card lid seems a bit flimsy.

PS. keep it out of salt water

I have to admit I am a big fan of Canon cameras. I've owned a number of them. My last camera was a very powerful Kodak easy share camera. It was a great device but it was complicated and not as easy to use as this Canon camera. I am not a professional photographer and I'd like a camera that has easy to use features and takes great shots in all sorts of environments. The Canon A3100IS is a fantastic all around camera. I think anybody who buys one will not be disappointed. There are other cameras that may do one thing better than this Canon but overall the Canon trumps them all!
Jason