Review on Canon PowerShot A3100IS Stabilized 2 7 Inch Camera & Photo by Marley Woods

I've taken pictures before, but usually with other people's cameras when they wanted someone else's picture taken. I'm not a photographer at all. However, I love post-processing and figured I should probably learn how to take photos. After lots of research on point and shoot models for under $300 I settled on this one and have no regrets. The picture is clear with good colors. Auto adjustment works well, and there are manual settings for ISO and white balance. The macro setting works great. Turning the knob activates settings like kids/pets (fast shutter speed) and portrait (shallow depth of field? I'm not sure). I haven't tried shooting a video, but this is the last mode on the handle. There's also a setting on the grip for ultra-beginners or kids that "locks" most buttons and fires full-auto. The flash isn't very powerful, but I expected that from such a small camera. Obviously there is no viewfinder, which is not a problem for me. The LCD screen has adjustable brightness settings and feels solid enough. Photos are transferred via USB and the camera acts as a storage device. No problems on my old Vista machine. I didn't install any software for the camera, except maybe the driver, which was automatically installed. My 8 year old dropped the camera about half a meter and it didn't appear to be damaged. I doubt it's very durable, but normal use with kids doesn't seem to affect it. All in all, I highly recommend this camera. So far no problems.