Canon Powershot SD300 4MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

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Product Details

Product Manual [3.91mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00064O89Y
• Item model number: SD300 Digital ELPH
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (109 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,130 in Camera & Photo (See Bestsellers in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 24, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

From its ultra-thin design to its high resolution, high performance features, the PowerShot SD300 Digital Elph is like no other digital camera. Compact and easy to use, its softly flowing metal body is richly appointed with coating. It's a camera as beautiful as the pictures it creates.

High-resolution elegance and an impressive zoom
The ultra-sleek, ultra-slim 4.0-megapixel PowerShot SD300 Digital Elph comes with a 3x optical zoom and 3.6x digital for an 11x combined zoom. This makes the camera as stylish as it is powerful and allows it to deliver the resolution to create stunning prints and on-screen images. The optical zoom makes brilliant close-ups effortlessly easy.

New large 2.0-inch LCD screen for easy image preview and playback
Though its body is superbly slim, the PowerShot SD300 Digital Elph has an oversized 2.0-inch LCD screen that makes it easy to frame and play back your scene.

Impressively small, surprisingly powerful
The PowerShot SD300 Digital Elph's UA lens features a glass-molded aspherical design with an ultra-high refractive index. The advantage? You get exquisitely sharp and colorful images from a 3x zoom lens that's smaller than previous 2x zooms.

Canon's latest imaging technology enhances picture quality
The PowerShot SD300 Digital Elph is the first in the PowerShot line to incorporate Canon's new DIGIC II Image Processor. Designed to improve processing speed and image quality, the DIGIC II processor provides markedly faster camera startup, autofocus, and playback, plus it assures that every image is more colorfully vibrant.

Selectable movie recording speeds
The PowerShot SD300 Digital Elph is the first digital camera to let you shoot in a Fast Frame Rate Movie at 60 frames per second with full motion video (320x240), so you can capture fast-moving subjects. The camera also gives you the option of 30 frames per second (640x480) for general shooting. For e-mail attachments, select the compact movie setting.

Expand the creative ideas
The PowerShot SD300 Digital Elph lets you take as much or as little control as you like. Nine preset modes allow you to handle even tough shooting conditions with confidence, and new scene modes including Digital Macro Mode widen your shooting capabilities. Or you can select manual and do everything yourself.

Auto
The camera chooses all the settings so you can concentrate on your subject.

Manual
The ultimate in creative control, you set aperture and shutter speed.

Stitch Assist
Build inspiring panoramas by neatly aligning sequential images.

Digital Macro
Shoot larger-than-life close-ups with one-button simplicity.

Portait
The camera sets a large aperture, focuses the subject, and artistically blurs the background to make your subject pop.

Night Snapshot
Capture people against a softly glowing night background without a tripod.

Kids & Pets
Shoot moving subjects without losing your chance to get those unforgettable moments.

Indoor
Improves natural color and reduces camera shake while shooting under artificial light.

Underwater
Achieve natural-looking color even when shooting underwater.

One-button downloading and printing plus ID Photo Print and Movie Print
The SD300's Print/Share Button makes direct printing easier than ever. Simply connect the SD300 to a Canon Direct Photo Printer or PictBridge supported printer, press the Print/Share Button, and print! Also use the Print/Share Button to transfer images directly to a computer (Windows).

Print your own ID photos in 28 different sizes or use the Movie Print function to output multiple stills from a recorded movie on a single sheet using any Canon Compact Photo Printer.

Product Description

From its ultra-thin design to its high resolution, high performance features; the PowerShot SD300 Digital ELPH is like no other digital camera. Compact and easy to use, its softly flowing metal body is richly appointed with coating. It's a camera as beautiful as the pictures it creates.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

363 of 370 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TOP PERFORMER: 4 megapixel camera, November 27, 2004

By	Julian Nam "namja" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is one of the best point-and-shoot 4 megapixel cameras currently being produced. As with all Canon PowerShot SD series cameras, the SD300 is very easy to use. Canon also makes a 3 megapixel version of this camera (PowerShot SD200) which is about $100 cheaper.

What makes this camera DESIRABLE:

(1) Takes Great Pictures. This is the most important part of a digital camera, no? The SD300 is quick to focus, is quick to take pictures (very low lag time), takes crisp pictures, and is very easy to use. The SD300 even focuses in the dark thanks to its focus-assist lamp (you can turn this feature on/off). The picture quality is excellent compared to other cameras similar in size. The ease of use is much better than other 4 megapixel point-and-shoot cameras. Many have complained about the flash, but that's almost a non-issue for most snapshots. Most people take snapshots of their friends & family when they are about 5-7 feet away from them. The flash is PLENTY strong for that. If you have a huge group and they're like 10-15 feet away, then the flash will be a problem. But seriously, when's the last time you tried to take a picture of a big group of people forcing you to stand 15 feet away to get everybody in the picture?

(2) 4 megapixels with 3x zoom. Having 3 megapixels is the new minimum when it comes to digital cameras. Canon was very generous giving us 4 megapixels in such a small camera. The general rule of thumb for megapixels is: the more the better. Not only will more megapixels allow you to print bigger & better pictures, having more megapixels gives you the flexibility to crop: you can take a small portion of the picture and blow it up to full screen and still get good detail. The SD300 also features 3x zoom. While this is generally not something to get all excited about, the only other SD series camera until now (the SD110) only featured 2x zoom.

(3) Size. The SD300 is noticeably smaller than the S410 or the S500, and even smaller than the SD110. The SD300 will fit nicely in your pocket or your purse. Plus the stainless steel finish is so handsome/pretty that you will want to take this with you everywhere. After all, if you don't carry your camera with you, then what's the use of owning a camera?

(4) Movie with Sound. With its built-in microphone and speaker, the SD300 can capture and replay movies with sound. The 640x480 resolution is awesome. You can replay on your 19" monitor at full screen and the video will look great. Under the 640x480 mode, you can capture video at 30 frames per second (fps) or 15 fps, and there is no limit per clip as your only limitation is the amount of space you have left on your memory card. Under the 320x480 mode, you have the Fast Frame Rate option giving you 60 fps, up to 60 seconds per clip, which is great for capturing action shots such as your golf swing. While the main function of the camera is to take still pictures, the high quality video feature is so much fun that you will be using this a lot.

(5) Battery & External Charger. The battery life is average. You can take about 140 pictures on a full charge with the LCD screen on and about 400 pictures with the LCD screen off. Since Canon includes an external charger with all their SD series cameras, I recommend getting a second battery. This way, one battery can be charging while you are using one battery, so that you will never run out of batteries.

Downside. The only downside is the access to manual mode. On the SD110, S410, and the S500, you can switch to the manual mode by turning a knob. On this camera, you need to press function and switch to manual mode using a soft menu. There are few features only available in the manual mode such as turning off AiAF, long shutter, panorama mode, etc. Unless you use those features a lot, this will not be an issue for you.

Recommended Accessories. A must-have accessories are the already mentioned extra battery and a bigger SD memory card. Get at least a 256MB card (a 512MB card would be nicer) since the included 16MB card will not be sufficient for most people.

If you can get by with 3 megapixles and want to save about $100, check out the 3 megapixel version of this camera: Canon PowerShot SD200.

173 of 181 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good camera in a tough competition, October 19, 2004

By	Eddy Poon - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Handling: The interface is similar to that in other Canon digital compacts, which helps your learning curve. The case is in metal, except the USB and the battery cover. They are both made of plastic and feel very fragile. The metal tripod mount is located closely below the lens. The LCD screen is reasonably viewable under daylight conditions.

Canon celebrated that SD300 is the first compact that uses the DIGIC II processing, and with my experience so far, the camera does respond faster when compared with DIGIC based ones. It however appears to be on par with recent Sony and Olympics models. I did not measured the various response times scientifically however.

Picture quality: Contrary to other comments, I was not "blown away" by quality of the pictures. The lens produces not serious, but significant purple edges in bright sunlight, and shows problems with dark corners like other compacts. Color production is rich with high contrast, a big plus. Sadly I find the pictures appear noisy when taking under low light conditions. I suspect either I have a faulty unit, or there are some design issues?

Complaints:
* can't review picture histogram easily (two to three steps)
* noisy operations
* no battery level indicator

So far I find the SD300 a good and decent pocket camera. However in the same market (similar specs and price) there are many other choices, and the SD300 does not excel specifically in any area.

-- UPDATE --
I used this camera frequently between October 2004 and January 2005, taking more than a thousand pictures for my trips around. I report more experiences I have with this fun camera:

* The lithium battery is surprisingly resilient in cold conditions. I bought a spare battery for my ski trips, thinking that batteries die early in cold weather. It was negative teens and I had no trouble taking more than 50 pictures during the day with one battery. Very good indeed. The auto white balance worked fairly well - some blue casts. Make sure you increase the exposure compensation when taking pictures with snow backgrounds. (I use +2/3 to +1)

* The purple fringe symptom has been widely reported and I guess users have to live with it. Else the camera proved to be good at determining exposure and delivering pictures with good color contrast.

* As a compact camera it served my purpose well: taking pictures of interesting things I see everyday in my life. Small and quick. I find it difficult however to use SD300 with my gloves. This is no criticism as small cameras all have small buttons, but I still remember how painful my hands were when I needed to take off my gloves to shoot pictures in the mountains.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For what it is, it's perfect!, November 30, 2004

By	T. Nielsen (San Francisco) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First of all, for anyone looking for a camera this tiny, you'd better understand that there will be compromises. Battery life, image quality, etc. This camera does not take pictures nearly as nice as my Powershot G5. I never expected it to.

But for a super compact camera, it's absolutely amazing. Things that I really love:

1) This camera is FAST. It starts up, and is ready to shoot, in about 1 second. My G5 takes about 3. In between pictures, you hardly have to wait at all. The new Digic 2 operating system is very snappy.

2) The image quality, especially outside, is wonderful. There is some purple fringing that is common to a small lens, but you'll only see it where a bright edge meets a dark edge. And most of the time, it'll never appear.

3) The movie mode ROCKS. Imagine, shooting 640x480 at 30fps with NO TIME LIMIT! I bought a 1 gig 66x SD card, and can shoot until the card is full. At full res, 1 gig will hold 8.5 minutes, which is actually pretty amazing considering this is a tiny compact camera. You can also shoot 60fps, for slow motion FX, but that is limited to 360x240.

4) it's SMALL. Finally a camera that I can carry with me. It's about 30% thinner I think than the S400 S500 series cameras.

5) Simplicity. Few buttons, and a very well laid out menu system. I never even cracked open the manual, no need. It's so easy to use.

All in all, I'm very pleased with this camera, and would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a super-small camera that takes great pictures.

Don't expect it to get great battery life, especially if you're shooting with the LCD and Flash all the time.

This thing is SOOO cool.