Customer Reviews

Canon PowerShot S200 2MP Digital ELPH Camera w/ 2x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(107)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've had my S200 for three weeks now, and just had to post and let others know this is a great camera. This is my first digital camera, and after much research, I'm pleased to think I got exactly what I needed.

Pros:
- Sturdy! Portable! I work at a summer camp and wanted a camera I could take around with me and not worry about. I've already dropped this camera several times (pretty hefty drop once) but the metal casing is sturdy enough to take abuse. As always, be careful, but you won't have to worry about breaking this camera. You also won't have to worry about lugging a huge camera around and having to set it down everywhere. Shorts, swimsuit, whatever - it'll fit in your pocket.

- Print Quality: I got my first ofoto.com order the other week and the pictures look GREAT. I was worried that 2 mpxls wouldn't be enough, but even the 8x10 I ordered came out fine. Make sure you have a large memory card (I have a 128 mb one) and take pictures on the best possible setting.

- Good battery life: I've seen some bad ratings on this, but don't know why. I take lots of pictures and always use the LCD screen. With that usage, my battery lasts from about 7:30 in the morning until 11:00 at night. I just come home and charge it each night. If you turn the LCD screen off (and the camera off when you're not using it) it will last longer - I've used it for two days straight before charging it. Extra batteries are relatively inexpensive, so get one if you can, but you can always get one later and still enjoy your camera.

Cons:

- No case. You really need a case. I've gone caseless for three weeks now and there is a lot of lint inside my viewfinder (but no other problems). The Canon paperwork is a little confusing about which case is designed for the s200 (get a case designed for it - it's too small to fit anything but a made-to-order case), but check powershot.com to find out which one to order. It's a cheap way to protect your camera for a long time. Buy it online, too - I'm having a hard time finding a case in a store.

- ZoombrowserEX. The software program that comes with the camera to organize your pictures and take them off the camera is not designed well. Windows don't pop up right, and it's easy to permanently delete some of your pictures (no recycle bin).

- Slow. With the red eye reduction flash setting, it takes _forever_ to actually take a picture. Even the autoflash function is still slow. With plenty of light there's no problem, but the flashes tend to be a little slow (although, if you prefocus, there's not as much of a wait). Don't buy this for sports photography.

-Uploading old images. I've had problems with taking pictures off my SimpleTech card and then putting them back on. Half the time the pictures are squished or streched, especially portraits. I'm not sure who's at fault for that, Canon or SimpleTech, but it makes it annoying when you want to share images with your flash card.

Overall an excellent camera. I'm very excited about it and would recommend it to anyone who wants portability and great pictures. I picked the s200 over the s330 because of size (the s330 looks a lot bigger). None of the extra features on the s330 made up for the size difference.

I tried to cover all the bases here. Hope this review from an amateur photographer helps.

You want the truth, can you handle the truth? Let's begin with my title, "The good, the bad, and the ugly"...THE UGLY-well, there is no ugly. The camera looks that good. Just taking the camera with you will make you cool (I mean, not that I needed any help or anything, but if you do, that's ok and this is the camera for you). The GOOD-for a camera the size of a, actually its the only little rectangular shaped thing I own that small. It is small, period. I carry it in my front jeans pocket when I go out and pretty much don't know its there. I bought this camera knowing that it will be going with me on trips to Asia, and Europe and around town. I don't like being a "tourist" (ie camera on shoulder, carry bags), so this camera is a dream. I will add, it is surprisingly durable as well, you can tell as soon as you hold it. OK, the Pictures. LCD screen, awesome. Bright, crisp, wish my TV was that good, hmmmm...wish my monitor was that good. The photos, here is the deal. You need to learn how to take pictures with the camera. Outdoors, no biggie. Takes great great pictures. I have even entered some in contests. Indoors-a little bit of a bummer. My only real gripe with the camera. Indoor pictures with any camera are not the easiest, but with digital, even harder. I don't know about other digitals, but with the elph, lots of red eye and dark background. A little trick-indoors in sufficient lighting situations, shut the flash OFF, and what you see in the LCD is what you get, usually a better picture than with flash. With practice indoor shots will be sufficient. Batteries, Cannon NB-1LH. Right. Because you don't know what that means, let me tell you. You are not going to find them at Target, or 7-11. They work pretty well though and the camera comes with a charger and one battery. You probably won't buy an extra battery now, but later you will want an extra battery...trust me, I'm telling you. Oh by the way...I am not a Cannon rep or anything, but ONLY buy the Cannon NB-1LH battery-again just trust me and listen. 8MB memory card-The camera comes with it, and it is enough memory for you to realize the camera is the greatest thing since sliced bread- you will want a bigger memory card. Well, in conclusion: Would I buy this camera again? 100% Yes. The camera is just awesome. You will have so so so much fun with it. That I can guarantee. Great pictures, video mode (with GOOD sound quality (only 12 seconds though)), comes with cables to hook up to the TV, probably one of the greatest things I have ever bought. It is one of those deals where after buying it, you won't know how you lived without it before. I don't know if a camera can add to the quality of a persons life, but you will definitely have more fun. By the way, be prepared for every person you take a picture of to want to see your camera. Prepare yourself now for the fact you are going to have other peoples fingerprints all over it. :) Peace out, and enjoy life!~

This camera is fantastic for convenience. It realistically fits in your pocket, and its compact brick-like shape means nothing is protruding and getting dented as you walk around. I take it places that I'd never take a larger camera, because I can bring it along without a big camera pack hanging off my shoulder.

The main complaint I have is that the image quality isn't great. It's good enough for snapshots, but I've had a lot of so-so pictures. My former digital camera, an Olympus D-460 with only 1.3 megapixels, took sharper and better-looking images. A lot of my pictures on this camera look all right from far away but up close everything is a little fuzzy.

Here's a summary of my pros and cons with the camera:

Pluses:
* Size -- it really can fit in your pocket.
* The charger is small and light-weight and works in standard 2-prong 110V outlets.
* Nice viewing of shots on the camera -- loads quickly and there is speedy and good navigation, even when I had 100s of pictures.

* Battery life is great.
* Video mode is a blast.
* Battery charges quickly, around 2 hours from totally dead.
* You can plug the camera into a TV with included cables and view your photos there.

Minuses:
* Picture quality isn't great.
* Sometimes when you take a picture with the flash, it takes forever (we're talking holding the button for 10 seconds or more) to take. I found I could improve this by depressing the button slightly to get the light setting, seeing the red light go one, and *then* pushing hard to take the picture, then waiting another second or two for it to take. But try explaining that to a Chinese person who you don't know who's taking your picture for you!
* No software included to create a slideshow. I was hoping for something that would make a nice picture-and-video slideshow.
* The video mode can't adjust to different light settings in the course of filming, so whatever setting you start with is the same one it will maintain even when the light changes.
* No warning before your battery dies. The warning light comes on and poof! 30 seconds later the camera's dead.
* No sound on video playback on the camera (there is sound when the clip is downloaded to a computer or played on a TV).
* Maximum imposed recording limit for videos, regardless of how much memory is on your memory card. At the middle quality setting it's about 10 seconds, and at the low quality about 30.

Overall I think the camera's size makes it a good camera, it could use some improvements particularly in picture quality but for casual snapshots it'll do the job. A similar camera worth checking out is the Minolta Dimage X. It's slightly smaller, has longer video recording capability, greater zoom, and audio on video playback, but I've heard the picture quality is worse than the Elph.

I have had my Canon S200 for about a month now and am absolutley pleased with it's performance.

First the design: it is literally the exact size as a pack of cigarettes. (with the cool weight of a tiny gadget like a zippo lighter) Very sturdy feel, feels like a block of metal in your hands. The case does not get smudges from fingerprints and have not noticed any scracthes from everyday use.

Second, picture quality: I have only printed 4x6 prints onto photo quality paper from an Epson Photo printer and as an amateur photographer was amazed at the picture quality. Very crisp colors and details, from daytime outdoor pictures to nighttime indoor pictures. You can see tiny freckles on ppl's faces, good or bad I dont know. There is a macro mode for close-ups. A manual mode which is intuitive, for example, if you want to take Non-Flash shots where flash is not allowed, you dont have to set for No-flash everytime you turn the camera on and off. Set if for Manual Mode>No-Flash and everytime you turn the camera on and off the flash is automactically set off. (or vice-versa) ISO can me set, as well as shutter speed. which is also nice for more creative ppl, or for dark situations.

Third Battery life: I recently took a trip to LA, with two 64mg Compact Flash cards (set for highest resolution each card held approx. 180 images: the camera "says" the card can hold 70 images, but i kept on going to experiment and got different from 180-200 images!) So everyday I would take 120-140 images, go to my hotel recharge the battery, which lasted the whole day, download the images to my laptop and be ready for the next day. and a note, whether you set for high or low resolution the camera takes same amount of time "writing" or recording to disk which is btw very fast. I have both Sandisk and Fuji brand compact flash cards and have not noticed any performance difference.

I was deciding between the S200 and the S300 which are identical, except the S300 has 3X optical zoom instead of 2X, and also has a longer movie mode. 2MegaPixel is perfect for 4X6 prints and 8X10 prints also.

If you are new to digital cameras you will be absolutley satisfied with this camera's print quality, ease of use, battery life, as well as more advanced features which I have not used yet such as the longer shutter speeds. A good online source for digital camera research can be found here: dpreview.com and canon's site has sample pictures taken with this camera.

Have fun.

Wow, I have searched for a quality digital camera and found one.
It's only 2 megapixels, but it is more than adequate. The pictures I took were all great, the close up shots for detail shots are incredible perfect color and lighting everytime. I had a hard time between this one and a Canon A60. I had a Sony before this one and this one beats hands down. The Canon A60 has alot more features but a higher price tag. I got this one at my local Staples for $ 220.00 - BRAND NEW !!!!
The case is small and sturdy stainless steel. Great pocket camera. It is not a pro camera, and not a basic point and shoot, it can record up to 1 minute with audio!!! It has a microphone!!!
Bottom line it is a great buy and quality is excellent. I even took a picture with just a candle lit and it calibrated for light for a great shot!!!
Why 4 stars, well the buttons are tiny, bigger hands will have a hard time with this camera, and a replacement battery is very expensive; although do a search on Ebay and many vendors have the battery for $10-15.00; as opposed to $50-60.00 on retail sites. As for memory cards go to Crucial.com for the cheapest memory anywhere!!! I got a 128 card for $25.00 !!! There prices do change.
Pros: Compact and light, simple menu, easy to shoot, stainless steel case, cheap memory, movie mode, great shots, even in the dark!!!!
Cons: Special cable for video(included) and USB, so don't lose them or you'll have to order direct from Canon; special battery- not AA's, too small for bigger hands.
Final say: Great for trips, and to carry in your pocket, but if you have bigger hands and a few extra dollars, go with a Canon A60. The Canon A60 uses AA's and it's case is bigger(although plastic), and has a few more advanced features.

I took me a while to decide between this camera and the PowerShot S330. I prefer the S330 for the way it looks and feels and for the fact that it allows to manually set the shutter speed. I also like that feature that allows you to add voice memos to pictures taken. The reason why I decided for the PowerShot S200 in the end is pocketability. Although the S200 isn't much smaller in terms of inches, it feels a lot smaller than any other digital camera I have held in my hands so far. I have had the S200 for a week now, and I just love it! I had it with me almost everywhere I went. It even fits into a shirt pocket without feeling too heavy! That was my main reason for buying a digital camera anyways, I wanted to be able to bring it with me wherever I go. The picture quality is o.k., as long as you don't zoom in too much they are fine. I only store my pics on my pc and email them to people once in a while or post some pics online. If I would want to make prints, I'd go for a camera with more megapixels. But for prints I have a trusted Canon EOS 600 35mm.

For the PowerShot S200 I also bought a small carrying case that clips on my belt as well as a spare battery. I'm also going to buy a flash-card reader. Oh, and of course I bought a 256MB Compact Flash Card. So, it was quite an investment, but I love this camera, and it's size is just amazing.

Digital point and shoot cameras should not be looked at as a replacement to film cameras, the quality just isn't good enough for anything important or for images that you need to enlarge. But, for the convenience of being able to email your snapshots or upload them to a webpage or online auction quickly and easily, nothing beats a digital cam. The image quality of this Canon is acceptable if you understand that you will not be able to match 35mm film quality. The color saturation on the images is surprisingly good however you will notice some milky haze around some of the edges and background if you look closely. This is common (and expected) for low and mid range digital cameras such as this one.

I bought this camera over the newer S230 model because of the price and the fact that the S230 has longer shutter lag. While the S230 has more megapixels, I wasn't willing to pay so much for images that would just end up being emailed and on webpages anyway. And the longer shutter lag in the S230 is unwelcomed. The image quality and 'look' is equal in both cameras as far as I can tell, of course the S230 model just makes them a bit larger.

This camera is quite small, which makes it convenient to have with you all the time, or to put in your camera bag as an addition to other cameras.

It only comes with an 8MB compactflash card. You will need another one. I recommend at least 128MB, which should give you 180 image capacity in the best picture quality mode with 'Super Fine' compression.

The propriatary battery doesn't seem to last very long so it seems like an extra battery would be needed if you are going to rely on this camera a lot. But this will mean that you will have to carry around the extra battery, which adds a bit of inconvenience.

All in all, Canon makes good digital point and shoot cameras for the money. The unit has a lot of features other manufacturers do not include (such as black and white and sepia modes as well as macro mode for close up photography) and it feels quite sturdy and designed well. It doesn't replace 35mm film cameras (nothing but the highest multi-thousand dollar digital cameras will), but for general snapshots and as a complement to your film cameras, this camera provides acceptable results.

This ultra-compact camera has excellent image quality in a tiny package. Perfect for that trip you always wanted to take.
I use to have a Fuji Finepix 2600z and this one is much smaller (granted, Canon has a smaller zoom).
The LCD panel is very sharp and bright and you can see it during a very sunny day, a major plus.

What I liked:

-Ultra portable
-Very stylish stainless steel design
-Excellent color reproduction
-Great for closeups
-Outstanding low-light shooting capabilities, for all those nightime pictures! (please use a tripod)
-Fast battery charger (about 2 1/2 hours for a full charge)
-Excellent value for your money

What could be better:

-Image sharpness was slightly soft-looking (is that a Canon thing?)
-Average battery life (about 3 64MB cards)
-Small flash does not have a lot of power

The best thing about this camera is not only that it delivers great point and shoot pictures (for us amateurs!)but that it is extremely portable and provides a decent amount of experimentation and control via its straightforward LCD menu system.
I highly recommend it.

My wife and I were fed up with the costs of film and then developing the APS pictures. The last vacation was the final straw ans total film costs for the vacation came to 60 bucks. I did a lot of research and narrowed my choices to the S200,S330 and S3. I looked at the S3 because I promised my wife that the new digital camera would take as good as a picture as the APS camera. But the 3 meg pix was still kinda pricey so the S200 and S330 were the finalists. The cameras from what I read are the same except for the 3X zoom on the S330. I didn't really use the zoom on my APS camera so we bought the S200 off of amazon. Soon as ups came I started to charge the battery. In the meantime I got familiar with the camera and read the docs. Canon did a great job of a quick start guide and the detailed book was more than I really needed. about 1.5 hours later the green light came on from the battery charger (nice feature to let you know it's finished) and powered up the camera. After setting the date and setting the pics to the highest resolution and super fine compression I was ready to go. Point,shoot and view. It was really that easy. I was able to view the slide show of images I took and I erased the pics I didn't like (that pays for itself being able to erase the pics you do not want). I also bought the viking 64 meg cf card and HP 100 Photo printer with this and I can't believe the photo quality coming from this little HP 100 printer. The S200 takes as good if not better pics (settings are on high) than my APS and then the kicker was I pulled the CF card, inserted the CF card into the HP 100 (doesn't require a computer to print) and printed a 4X6 borderless pic in under 2.5 minutes. We both laughed, cause you can't imagine the quality. Side X Side with a APS photo you can't tell the differnce. Took the little printer and S200 to work snapped some photos and printed them off and I get the same disbelief from everyone.
PROS: small compact, rechargable battery, able to do video out to tv, usb to pc, incredible pics, no more film costs!
CONS: got to get a 64+ meg card with purchase (8 meg card isn't enough)
For [more money] get the HP 100 printer and you won't be disappointed...

It took me a long time to decide to "go digital" and even longer to figure out which specific camera to buy. I'm fairly techno-crippled (faxes and microwaves still seem like magic to me and I still have to rely on my children to program my VCR). Because of my limitations I felt positively overwhelmed by the information to consider when I tried to pick which digital camera to buy. I read as much technical information as I could stand (not very much) and listened to the advice of family and friends until my eyes glazed over.

Finally I decided to purchase this particular camera for several reasons. First, Canon was a brand of camera I'd owned and liked in the past; second, this model seemed to deliver the most features at the lowest price; and finally it looks good and has a cute name (pause while eyes of the tecno-literate roll).

The day after I got the camera I took it with me on a family vacation. I started taking pictures almost right away -- although figuring out how to download the software onto my laptop took a bit of time and exploring all the things I can do with the pictures (like printing and emailing) is still in the works. But I don't think any of this is a problem of the product -- everything in the documentation seems clear enough that even a moron like me ought to be able to put this together (eventually).

Here are some of the things even I can do already --

1) I take pictures, choose which shots I don't like, delete them right away and take a new picture. This is great if you have a nine-year old who loves to ham it up for photos (i.e., now mommy is going to take this picture again. This time without the silly faces). This is great for posed shots -- now you can be sure you got that great picture of your family in front of Cinderella's castle BEFORE you walk away.

2) I can hook up the camera to my computer, download pictures and enlarge them to see if I still like them (you can't see on the itty bitty screen on the camera if someone has thier eyes closed for example). I delete pictures I don't like. I may not be able to take a picture over at this point but I used to pay to have the shot developed only to throw the picture away later. What a waste. Plus now I only print the best of the best and only what I need.

3) I can (and do) carry the camera everywhere. This camera is about the size of a double deck of cards. It tucks in a pocket or purse (it even fit in my tiny evening bag along with my lipstick and credit card). I found I was much more likely to take this little camera with me and got some great picures I might have missed otherwise.

4) I had no problems figuring out how to charge the battery, put the battery in the camera and load the flashcard (I did get the 128MB flashcard and never ran out of room). It was a bit more difficult figuring out how to hook the camera to the computer and download the pictures but again, I think these are mostly my limitations not the product's or the documentation.

Some disapointments, though not unexpected, were that it is hard to take "action" shots as there is a delay between pushing the button and taking the picture that is hard to get used to. Also, sometimes I accidentally flipped the switch and was taking motion pictures instead of still pictures. It was hard to figure out how to delete the motion pictures I did not want and I did miss the still photos I had wanted to take.

It will probably be a few years before digital photography catches up to film photography in quality and at a price the average user can afford, but in the meantime this is a great camera to learn with while still capturing your memorable moments in photos. I highly recommend this camera for people like me who are not particularly good with new technologies.