Review on Canon PowerShot A2300 16 by Jenna Hicks

Bought this point and shoot for an elderly relative who vacationed with her relatives a few times - she needed an easy to use camera that took decent pictures and it seemed like a really good choice spent a small amount of money. I'm a semi-professional photographer so it's hard for me to rate a consumer camera, but I'll do my best! I would like to point out that this camera seems to be changing the price daily here on Revain. We spent less than $80 on it, which is all I would pay for a camera of this quality. The $100+ it sometimes costs doesn't make it worth it in my opinion. Just something to watch out for. CONSTRUCTION. This camera is tiny, and not just from someone who wears fast zoom DSLR lenses! It fits easily in any pocket, which will definitely be a plus for many people looking for a small camera. It also means you should probably get a case to keep it safe, and while I won't be testing it, I suspect the small, lightweight design won't withstand a drop or other abuse. It's not badly built though and overall feels very good! All buttons give a satisfactory response when pressed. The screen is mostly sharp and clear, which was a pleasant surprise. PICTURE QUALITY Overall, given the right conditions, this camera is perfectly capable of taking very decent pictures. Shooting in natural light is always preferable, but this camera always works best outdoors or near a decent light source. In darker conditions or when zooming in, image quality degrades due to noticeable digital noise in both situations (see cons below). Again not unexpected but something worth pointing out. However, for family shots and spontaneous dog/cat photos, this should be enough for most casual users. MINOR BUGS The first annoyance is that the camera only has a generic "mute" setting. While this will disable all system sounds (which I prefer), it will also prevent you from playing the sound associated with the recorded video, forcing you to unmute every time you want to watch a video. I also found that the battery release mechanism can be a bit fiddly - again, not a big deal, but something to be aware of. CONS One of the real disappointments is this camera's low-light performance, which is pretty harsh even at this price point. With no flash, images are grainy and full of digital noise under normal indoor lighting. Again, I'm trying not to be too picky, but this camera's low-light performance is comparable to my iPhone 4, which has a much smaller sensor. I've used several other sub-$100 cameras recently and I have to be honest that the low light/zoom performance of this camera is near the bottom of the list. HD VIDEO I was very pleased with the HD video quality. (720p) setting of this camera. While it certainly suffers from the same limitations as still images, overall it works VERY well. Also, with the right software, you can use this as a webcam and it makes for a very enjoyable video chat. I've added a link to a video showing the quality of the video from this camera in the comments of this review (video not mine, found on YT). While there are some focusing issues when zooming in, it works quite well overall. GENERAL For a small and inexpensive camera, the Powershot is capable of taking some good shots. There are a few caveats, but I suspect people spending less than eighty dollars on a camera really won't mind. My elderly relative really enjoys the ease of use and image quality so this should be a good indicator of how it performs overall. Recommended as a good competitor in this price range and class.