Review on Canon PowerShot Digital Image Stabilized Optical by James Bartels

My Revain camera arrived a few days ago and I really like it. Startup is very fast and writing to the SD card is much faster than my old camera. I took a couple of dozen indoor shots without flash and they turned out great. The image stabilization really works. Outdoor shots are crisp and the colors are so vibrant. I didn't have to install any desktop image transfer software (I'm using Windows Vista). The computer automatically recognized the camera and gave me the choice of which photo program I wanted to use to view my pictures. My laptop is even easier as it has a built in card reader. The camera fits comfortably in my hands and the controls are easily accessible, although my hands are small and it might be a bit more difficult to operate for someone with larger hands. Camera. The mode dial is a little tricky to turn at times, and I end up pushing it hard enough to turn it past the setting I want. It's best to use your thumb on this dial. I like the backlit power button and the large, bright LCD monitor. One reviewer was right when he said the images are sharper than the monitor sometimes indicates. I haven't had to use the viewfinder to take pictures yet, but living in Florida I know this feature comes in handy on a very bright day. The lens opens and retracts quickly and I like the wide angle feature. We just renovated our house and it's great to be able to take photos of the whole room to send to family members. I haven't noticed any distortion on the sides yet. The only legitimate complaint is how flimsy the battery cover and ports are. I'm really surprised that Canon uses such cheap plastic for a camera of this quality. I actually feel like I'm performing a complicated operation when I connect the interface cable to the camera to transfer images to a computer. It's not a deal breaker but I would be very disappointed if any of these caps broke. I would give this camera 4 1/2 stars if I could just because of this issue. I also think Canon could do better than a 16mg SD card. Cards are cheap at the moment and at least a 512mg card will give you a head start before upgrading to a larger card. However, this is a really great camera. Please do not compare with a more expensive DSLR. It's point-and-shoot with some nice features, but it's not something a pro would use. I love that I can take it with me everywhere and always ready for that perfect "photoshoot". The camera won't be of much use to me if I'm sitting in my camera bag at home (which my Kodak Z7590 does - a great camera but too big and bulky to carry around). Before you buy a camera, do your homework and be realistic about which features are most important to you. There are some good websites for professional reviews. I think the best features of this camera are its size, image stabilization and wide angle lens.* updated 7/9/2011. This camera is still going strong. I gave it to my daughter a few years ago and it still takes good pictures.