Review on 📷 Canon PowerShot A1300: 16MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom & Wide-Angle Lens (Black) - OLD MODEL by Matthew Riley

Before I bought the Canon A1300, I did a lot of shopping. I weighed the value of using a pair of AA cells versus a separate power supply. I enabled the use of rechargeable batteries - pre-charged cells with a long shelf life. Since this is a mobile camera, it should be ready to use at all times. AA batteries are great for this. And this is the camera our 10 year old will be using and he doesn't know how to charge his electronic gizmos so the AA capability is a plus. I also like the optical viewfinder. Holding the camera at arm's length is the norm, but the heads are fairly stable, so the camera is also fairly stable when used with an optical viewfinder. This is a simple tunnel but accurate and simple. I also kept in mind that this is a $100 camera and there is no reason to expect lens quality, flash range, manual controls or any other features to be on par with cameras in the $200 or higher price range. So we shopped and ordered from Revain. The delivery was on time as expected. The camera came with all the accessories listed in the ad - a very easy kit to build. The first acquaintance with this work disappointed us. It seems that even large manufacturers can produce rejects from time to time. Our A1300 ate the battery. I immediately contacted Canon through their website, explained the problem and tried to resolve the issue. They asked me to return the camera to them and the replacement arrived in less than a week. The new one is at the top. What about A1300? The AUTO function is impressive. It does more than I ever expected - automatically. Color brightness and focus are good, and photo detail is excellent. I don't see any weird colors and it adjusts to make sure people are colored by people no matter what color people are. So if the photos from the A1300 are good, how good is that good? My Canon S3 takes VERY GOOD photos. My Canon EOS DSLR friends take GREAT photos. It's not the size of the photo, it's the quality and clarity. And this little camera is holding the ground very well. I also have a smaller branded camera about the same size as the A1300 which takes poor quality photos. Sure, I can tell what the photo is, who's in it, and where we've been, and the features of this photo are excellent, but it's just not sharp on the detail. So a good photo, in my opinion, is one that I don't find much fault with. I'm sure there are deviations that a pro could find in an extensive test, but that's not what I bought this camera for. This is in the glove compartment, in my motorcycle jacket pocket, and at family gatherings where I don't need the obvious LARGE camera that makes people nervous. It takes much better pictures than my phone. At full optical zoom, about 50 meters away, I can count the blades of grass on my neighbor's lawn with a camera set to 16 megapixels. I'm not used to such a wide angle on a digital camera and I get great landscape shots. It processes light whether I'm shooting against the sun or when the sun is behind me. I haven't tried some of the suggested special programs, but of those that I have tried, the low light setting allows me to take very good photos under museum lighting. The stealth option works in low light and is silent, so the camera doesn't get in the way when caution is needed. Yes, and digital IS mode works well. My prime is over and I'm not as stable as I used to be. Our boy is young and not stable either. Digital IS gives us a good chance every time. The video function gives me bright and clear HD videos or much more compact 640x480 videos. I wish the zoom would work in video mode, but at this price point I didn't. For motorbike rides with the boys it's great to be able to set the camera to 640x480 and just take lots of photos that are easy to email and look great on a computer monitor. Shooting with one hand while driving doesn't always produce great shots, but if I shoot enough I get many great photos to share. Fun - cheap - reliable - excellent quality. What more could I want from a $100 camera? But you don't want to throw it in the lake. It's a different story and there are far better models out there if that's part of your plan.