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It is the height and width of a credit card, 2.2cm thick, and takes 2592x1944 (5mp) pictures. Very sexy.
As a result, I should probably sell my Xacti C5 compact video camera, and find a way to trade my Sony Ericsson S710a cellphone for a black Motorola Razr.
Canon s200 (still)
Maybe 4 years ago I bought a Canon s200. I loved it, wore it every day (in a belt pouch). Someone was interested in buying a used one since they were impressed with how mine worked. I took the opportunity to upgrade.
Canon s45 (still)
I was initially thinking about staying in the same series, but decided to go with the larger s45 model instead to get more features. I never used the extra features, and I never carried it because it was too big, so it never got used. It got dropped the last time I moved and broke.
Sanyo Xacti VPC-C5 (video)
The lines between still and video cameras are blurring, and I felt a need to participate. The Xacti C5 is an incredible compact video camera - 640x480 @30fps for an hour on a 1gb sd card using MPEG4 (nice). It is also a good resolution still camera, but the quality of the stills has always bugged me, and I have done very little actual video recording.
To this day Canon's cameras use audio/video codecs that are agravatingly lame - "Movie: AVI (Image: Motion JPEG; Audio: WAVE (Monaural))". So they're just sticking a bunch of jpegs together and calling it a movie, and using an ancient bloated method of storing audio.
Sony Ericsson S710a (phone)
In september 2005 I noticed the existence of the new tinier camera size Canon put out, starting with the SD200. Very cute. But the resolution wasn't exciting. My 2 year Verizon contract ended and I wanted something more fun. I was torn between the Sony Ericsson S710a with the best camera in a phone, or getting a black Motorola Razr and the SD200. I got the S710a. 1280x960 is a respectable resolution, and the image quality is good - for a phone. But, it turns out, not enough to keep me happy as the only camera I regularly carry.
s450 (still)
I was in a Best Buy yesterday, and as always, I glanced at the still cameras on my way through. I saw the sd450. I noticed it was the same size as the teensy sd200. I looked it up, and got excited. Did a little research, and ordered it (I paid for fedex ground, I don't know why I got it the next day).
As a result, I should probably sell my Xacti C5 compact video camera, and find a way to trade my Sony Ericsson S710a cellphone for a black Motorola Razr.
Canon s200 (still)
Maybe 4 years ago I bought a Canon s200. I loved it, wore it every day (in a belt pouch). Someone was interested in buying a used one since they were impressed with how mine worked. I took the opportunity to upgrade.
Canon s45 (still)
I was initially thinking about staying in the same series, but decided to go with the larger s45 model instead to get more features. I never used the extra features, and I never carried it because it was too big, so it never got used. It got dropped the last time I moved and broke.
Sanyo Xacti VPC-C5 (video)
The lines between still and video cameras are blurring, and I felt a need to participate. The Xacti C5 is an incredible compact video camera - 640x480 @30fps for an hour on a 1gb sd card using MPEG4 (nice). It is also a good resolution still camera, but the quality of the stills has always bugged me, and I have done very little actual video recording.
To this day Canon's cameras use audio/video codecs that are agravatingly lame - "Movie: AVI (Image: Motion JPEG; Audio: WAVE (Monaural))". So they're just sticking a bunch of jpegs together and calling it a movie, and using an ancient bloated method of storing audio.
Sony Ericsson S710a (phone)
In september 2005 I noticed the existence of the new tinier camera size Canon put out, starting with the SD200. Very cute. But the resolution wasn't exciting. My 2 year Verizon contract ended and I wanted something more fun. I was torn between the Sony Ericsson S710a with the best camera in a phone, or getting a black Motorola Razr and the SD200. I got the S710a. 1280x960 is a respectable resolution, and the image quality is good - for a phone. But, it turns out, not enough to keep me happy as the only camera I regularly carry.
s450 (still)
I was in a Best Buy yesterday, and as always, I glanced at the still cameras on my way through. I saw the sd450. I noticed it was the same size as the teensy sd200. I looked it up, and got excited. Did a little research, and ordered it (I paid for fedex ground, I don't know why I got it the next day).
I'm very interested in the Cannon Powershot A75.
It depends on your priorities, though. Darxus would never ever gets one because he wants something tiny. If it being the size of a regular consumer-level camera doesn't bother you, then I'd say go for it.
And you're right, I would never get an A-series, but I realize other people have different priorities :P
The battery life is probably due to it taking four batteries rather than two. I tend to carry around extra batteries with the camera anyway, so the difference wouldn't be that big of a deal to me. Even if it eats new sets of batteries at a quicker rate, it's only munching half as many at a time.
As a side note, your allowance that different people have different priorities is probably one of the more reasonable things I've witnessed you say. :-P
It was a CF card that I shorted on a spiral notebook. In a socket in a live computer with no case, and I shorted it through the back side of the PCB. Same thing would have happend to SD. Not relevant. :P
I agree battery life isn't a significant issue.
I've noticed myself being more reasonable lately, and it has been distressing.
But since I think we're pretty much agreeing that there are no significant differences (with your preference for CF being irrational), then I still think the currently cheaper A520 (with more powerful zoom) is the better choice for pretty much anybody (within the constraint of $200).
For your question I went there, clicked Buying / Feature Search, then Format: Compact, and Price: <$200. I am clearly very fond of canon, they make nice stuff. I suspect you'd be happy with pretty much any canon. The A75 seems fine, but...
Canon A520, definitely. It's smaller, cheaper, and has 4x zoom instead of 3x. It's a decendent of the A75.
A75 $197.15, 2048x1536, 3x zoom, CF, 4 AA batteries
A80 $192.18, 2272x1704, 3x zoom, CF, 4 AA batteries
A510 $161.89, 2048x1536, 4x zoom, SD, 2 AA batteries
A520 $149.99, 2722x1704, 4x zoom, SD, 2 AA batteries
Prices are from http://www.pricegrabber.com/ including shipping.
dpreview feature comparson of these 4
The A80 has excessively good battery life - running 3 hours. 136 minutes for the A520, still very good, so I really doubt the difference is enough to go with the older more expensive camera. Battery info from http://www.imaging-resource.com/. You're probably going to want to get NiMH rechargables.
In depth review of the A520
I've bought from http://www.beachcamera.com/ and I just bought my new one from http://www.buydig.com/ - they have some of the best prices listed on pricegrabber.
You're probably going to want more than the 16mb storage that comes with it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a
Canon A520, $159
512mb upgrade memory card, $31 - will hold 523 to 6,241 photos depending on quality settings. Half as much would cost $10 less.
Both prices are shipped.
How is it different from the SD410 I have? It doesn't seem to have solved the battery life display problem, nor have added any manual options. Of course, I'd still like to see it and play with it so I can be sure about that...
Canon sd400 1,960,000
Canon sd410 832
Canon sd450 2,000,000
And the sd410 isn't listed on http://www.dpreview.com
Where did you get it?
Anyway, I believe the LCD size is the only significant difference between the sd400 and sd450. Certainly not worth the upgrade for me.
Battery life problem?
Wait, do you have the smaller sd410 (secure digital) or the larger s410 (compact flash)? The s410 is 1.37x larger (volume) than the sd450.
You're welcome to play with my camera, and I'll almost certainly have it on my any time you see me.
Also, spare batteries are $13, and tiny. I think I bought spares for both my s200 and s45 from there and was very happy with them.
you'll have to find things to photograph now.