Canon PowerShot SD880IS 10MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Gold)

Using this camera for 2 years. Give very good picture quality outdoors but I'm not very happy with indoor picture quality. overall I would recommend this camera. In camera red eye correction does not work.

Okay - I love the camera.

Just incredibly annoyed. I left the house (US) to go to India and Dubai and forgot my charger and battery. Ugh!

No big deal, right? Wrong. I went to major retailers and small specialty camera and electronic stores and not one (in Mumbai or Dubai) was able to sell me a replacement battery or charger.

Thanks God for my iPhone - I am sure I'll never be here again, and it sucks that I don't have better pictures.

Would never buy a lithium battery device again - from now on, double AA all the way!

WIDESPREAD and WELL KNOWN TO CANON: Problem with Lens Releasing and/or Retracting rendering the camera totally inoperable!!

We have a new PowerShot 880 that thankfully is still under warranty. It has already been serviced once by Canon and less than 4 months later - we have the same problem with the lens not releasing. Canon's "solution" is to BUY a warranty priced at approx $[...] OR BUY a reconditioned camera for roughly the same price - $[...] !!!!!!! (YES you read that right!!!) This is what Canon offers after I spent $[...] on this piece of crap!! I am sending it in yet again for repair while under warranty - but have no plans to purchase a warranty contract or a reconditioned camera....the next time this happens (and yes I am certain it will happen again) I will purchase a replacement camera - and it will NOT be a CANON. Shame on them for not standing behind their product...whatever they are saving can't possibly be worth loss of customer base. I tell EVERYONE to not buy a Canon - they do not deserve our business - they are tantamount to thieves! Selling a defective product - and then having the audacity to charge to have it operate as it should. We are done with Canon forever!

I purchased this camera 6 months ago and am very happy with it. I previously owned two Sony Cybershots and had no issues with them, but wanted to try a Canon because of their high reputation. I'm your basic "point and shoot" photographer and rarely use different settings other than Auto but have been very happy with the image quality - if I played around with the settings I'm sure I'd get better results, but no complaints.

I did have a lens error on the camera a couple of weeks ago. This was my fault but since it was still under warrenty I figured I'd try and send it back to see if they'd repair it at no charge. I spoke with a customer service rep who was very helpful and I shipped the camera to their facilites. They sent me notifications when my camera was received, repaired, and shipped, and the camera was back in my hands within a week and a half. Their communication was wonderful!

After being a very satisfied Sony customer, I highly recommend Canon for their cameras and customer service.

Great little camera! Using the manual settings make this camera versatile and convenient in low light and actions shots. I purchased this camera with the underwater case and it takes even better pictures and video underwater!

The title says it all. For all I know, this is a great camera and I'd badly like to buy one. But amazon is selling for $799 when MSRP is $299. Is that even legal?

I do not like this camera. There is too much of a delay when you snap the picture. Also the flash does not give enough light when using camera in dark places ( churches in Rome) My pictures of my vacation were very disappointing. I would not buy a camera from Amazon again since now it is too late to return it. I will stick to buying from stores where I can try the camera out and return the product if not satisfied with the performance.

Now, I know this review isn't going to be as technical a comparison as some of the other ones on here, but I wanted to give my opinion nonetheless.

Long story short, this is a fantastic camera. It's small enough to carry in a pocket, and I do carry mine every day. It's been banged around, bumped into things from within my pocket, and even dropped from five or six feet onto pavement, with the lens extended. After 8 months of all this, it still works like new, with just a bit of missing paint on a corner or two to show for its journeys.

I've taken thousands of pictures with it, and they come out far clearer than similar cameras (I'm guessing it's the image stabilization). The wide angle is a definite plus, since I really enjoy taking outdoor scenery shots and making panoramas. The battery charger is compact and the battery itself has a very long life -- I think I've only recharged the battery three or four times since I first got it. The only thing I wish for is a larger zoom, but the 4x zoom is quite good and a larger zoom would probably require the camera itself being larger.

My daughter-in-law recommended this to me as a camera that was extremely simple to use and that charging it would never be an issue. She was right. It is always ready to go, and I am even happy with the video portion, which I had no idea that I would be able to handle. We have just bought another one for our son. He has some very nice cameras, but wanted something simple, light, and not too expensive to take overseas during his military deployment.

I'm still learning how to use this camera, and it's been a great experience so far. The photos have been clear, sharp, and easy to take. I had to do a little experimenting to get the hang of some stuff (like taking pics on the beach), but it's been pretty easy. I have yet to use the video function to any great extent. The wide angle is one of the main reasons I chose this camera, and I have been very pleased with the results. Although a "super zoom" would be nice, it's more important to me to have an excellent small camera than a superior large camera.

The Canon SD880 IS is an excellent outdoor camera. Pictures are usually sharp at lower ISO settings, but make sure there is plenty of sunlight. In low light situations there is no hope for this camera. I did however enjoy the many shooting options the SD880 has to offer.

The Indoors performance of the SD880 is a totally different picture (pun intended). I was quite upset at how poor the picture quality turned out while shooting indoors. Pictures came out supper grainy when viewed at 100%, and unless you have a tripod expect a few blurry ones as well.

I forgot to mention that my camera stopped working after only 1 month of use. I'm in the process of returning to the selling in exchange for the SD870. I hope to have better luck with this model.

I own several products by Canon and have become very brand loyal. I mostly use a Canon 20D and love it but wanted something to have with me all the time. For me, this was definitely the best choice. Especially when it was selling for $246 (MSRP is $299).

I'm not afraid to spend money on a good camera. I have several thousand dollars in equipment and cameras going back to the Nikon F I bought in 1973. I'm just an amateur but I still use it all at one time or another.

There are many excellent reviews and high ratings for this camera. BUT there is Nothing about the SD880 (or any point and shoot) that would get me to $100 to $200 over MSRP, which seems to be the going price now days. Then again, maybe I should sell mine for a profit and wait for the next generation to come out. Perhaps it will have the 5X zoom I wanted on the 880.

I purchased the Canon SD880IS based on Consumer Reports'July 09
review. I am not disappointed: its manual is easy to read,
the camera is very user friendly, and pix are beautiful.
I especially like the optical stabilizer feature, since I
have Parkinsons and my hands shake. I am once again able
to take pix that aren't blurry! ([...]).

Canon lists this camera at $299.00 on its official web site, and it's available for less at several reputable dealers. What gives with the big mark-up at Amazon? I own an earlier version in the 8xx series, and the wide angle lens is wonderful for group shots and exterior daytime photography of landscapes, architecture, etc. If I were buying now, I'd definitely consider the Canon -- it's very high quality and durable (all my Canons have lasted over at least five years). I'd also look at the Panasonic Lumix series that sports a 25 or 28mm wide angle zoom lens.

This is just the best camara I have ever had. Everything is perfect on it. I recommend it 100%.

Got this to travel with. Our DSLR is a bit too big to lug around all the time. This is small enough it fits in a pants pocket. So thats great. We don't mess too much with settings and aren't very experienced photographers. But our DSLR takes considerably better pictures and lightning fast compared to this sucker. But we expected that. We just wanted something smaller as well as something we could record video of our daughter with. The great thing about recording video is it can be as long as your memory card can fit. The bad thing is the horrible placement of the mic. It is exactly in the spot your finger wants to rest - directly next to the record start/stop button. It's a ridiculous design and one that's given us movies with no or extremely muffled sound. We've learned to keep our fingers off the mic - both my wife and I had to learn the hard way though. Also when recording video, sometimes you can zoom, sometimes you can't - no rhyme or reason to it.

Another thing that's likely unique to ours is a purple spot appeared on the LCD during a trip to Hawaii, right after we bought it. It's permanent - seven months later it's still there.

Pros
-Very portable - small, light and fits nicely into a shirt or pants pocket.
-Takes decent pictures, better than most in its class.

Cons
-The worst possible location for the mic.
-Zooming during recording videos usually doesn't work.
-Slow if you're comparing it to DSLRs. We miss lots of shots of our fast-moving 3 year old.

I purchased CanonSD880 from Amazon.I really liked it.It is small camaroe but I take pictures look very sharped.Also I like to buy the product on line from Amazon.

Ordered the SD880IS to replace the 400. We are very happy with it. Great screen, nice button layout. Options take a little bit of a learning curve to master, but it's fun finding out all the capabilities of this gem. Glad I got the gold; it makes it a lot more special to the whole family. Overall, great!

The Canon PowerShot SD880IS is an excellent camera. It performed beautifully on my recent trip to Spain and Rome. I took about 400 pictures and the results are excellent, especially when the photos are projected onto a new HD TV screen. I am completely pleased with every aspect of this camera - another electronic wonder.Thank you.
Fr. Earle L. Markey, SJ

Great Camera so far. Easy to use and works great outside and inside. Glad I bought it.

The superior performance of the SD880 is largely confirmed by its popularity in Amazon sales, its close-to-retail pricing, and by reviews such as those by the NY Times' David Pogue and, more recently, the most popular and respected consumer magazine. If I were a practical sort, I would immediately select it ahead of other Canon models in the SD series for 2008 as well as 2009. Not only does it employ Canon's newest processor but it has a lens with sufficient range and aspect ratios to be considered "wide angle." This means that you can get those tight group photos (which frankly present themselves more frequently than telephoto close-ups). Moreover, if you're using, say, video mode, you don't want to physically move backwards, taking the camera with its pinhole microphone with you, because that reduces the chances of picking up some interesting conversation or dialogue that could turn out to be as valuable as the visual evidence. The SD890 has an even wider angle lens than the SD880 and, given the sizable price discounts, is difficult to resist. Nevertheless, it uses the previous processor (Digital 3 rather than Digital 4), has not been reviewed as favorably by the professionals, and is one of the few Canons to go with a plastic body (no doubt a major consideration in professional reviewers' lack of enthusiasm for the camera).

The SD780, lthough touted as the successor to the Lilliputian SD770 and listing practically the identical dimensions, is actually more diminutive than the specifications would suggest. Even the cardboard box it comes in is 30-40% smaller than the container that accommodated the SD770. The camera itself looks smaller than the SD770 and is conspicuously lighter in weight. It's definitely a sexy, sleek, ingeniously designed device that some of us (namely, moi) are apt to fall in love with despite some necessary trade-offs due to its size. Not a smidgeon of space is wasted on front or back, and it takes a bit more time and practice simply to locate and use the viewfinder. The flash unit, moreover, is smaller than that of the SD770, and hence slightly less powerful. The camera is so petite, in fact, that one can't overlook the danger of dropping, misplacing or simply losing it (check for holes in pants pockets before slipping it in). Perhaps the most common misjudgment of many users of these cameras is to equate smallness with convenience: at least initially, patience and care are the key. When I'm in a rush, a Canon A410 (3.2 mp) is the first camera I go for.

In sum, the form factor is the major consideration with the SD780 whereas the SD880 is as much about performance as style. If you need practical reasons to rationalize selecting the SD780, HD video capability has got to be first. Since I don't have room to carry a Flip or any other gear in addition to what I already have, I'm using the SD780 as a videocam more frequently than I thought I would. The results--at 720 pixels--are quite satisfying if not impressive, especially considering the minute size of this mini-overachiever. As for the 12.1 megapixels of the SD780 vs. the 10 of the SD880, that's probably best seen as a non-factor or mere sales hype. The SD880 registers less noise in dark conditions than the SD780, which is likely to translate into more consistently stellar results. All the same, the SD780 is capable of competing with its bigger brothers, especially if a thoughtful photographer holds up his or her end.

Only had the camera a month so, so far so good! I think the review should be forwarded to the consumer after a period of a year!

Awesome camera. This replaced my old Canon 5 mp camera. Very happy with the camera.

We have professional cameras that are very nice, but are also heavy and bulky. We needed something small that was functional and easy to use for those times that we just wanted to capture memories, not get professional images to enlarge for artwork. This little camera definitely fits the bill. We also like the 3" LCD and the movie capability. We're traveling to Italy in a month and will enjoy using this camera!

I love this camera! I am the official family photographer and this camera was worth every single penny! I paired it with a Sandisk Extreme card and the thing takes pictures super fast. While I agree that the menu is far less intuitive than my previous Canon (SD450), it is still by far the best camera I've had thus far. I would highly recommend this camera!

So far I think this is a great camera! I like how simple it is and what great pictures it takes! I also like the size. I'm used to bigger cameras, but the small size is a real plus to me! It also has more complicated settings for those who want further control over their camera (program mode). I really like this camera!

THIS IS MY 3RD CANON DIGITAL CAMERA. I JUST LOVE THIS BRAND,AND CAMERA. MY 1ST ONE,I GAVE TO MY SON,AS I WANTED A BIGGER SCREEN. I REPLACED IT WITH THE SD750 DIGITAL ELPH. JUST LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. MY SON ACCIDENTLY BROKE IT,AND IT WASN'T WORTH HAVING IT REPAIRED. I DIDN'T HESITATE TO BY ANOTHER CANON,SO I BOUGHT THIS NEWER MODEL,THE SD88OIS,IN GOLD. IT HAS A FEW DIFFERENT FEATURES,THAT I LIKE,AND I AM VERY PLEASED WITH IT. I DEFINTELY WOULD RECOMMEND THIS CAMERA. IT IS EASY TO USE,AND TAKES GREAT PICTURES,AND THE LARGE 3"LCD SCREEN,IS WHAT I WANTED AND A PLUS.

I've been a computer/software trainer for 20 years in a K-12 school and public libraries. I've trained teachers, librarians, and the general public in the use of their digital cameras, and I can safely say that it's about the best point and shoot camera you can get for the money.

The LCD is huge, making it very easy to frame your subject. The controls are all intuitive and easy to use. The pictures are sharp, and the colors are extremely accurate, in most situations.

I'm personally impressed with its ability to take photos in low light conditions, where most family type pictures are taken.

However, the star of the show is the 28mm lens! When people purchase a camera of this type, they are mainly looking for one that works well indoors for such activities as birthdays, candid shots of the family, family reunions, graduations, etc. This wide angle lens will take in most, if not all of the action.

The 10MP lens is more than enough for excellent photos of all sizes. It would be nice if the Optical Zoom was stronger, but it works in most situations. I recommend turning off or not using the digital zoom on any camera because it usually causes blurry photos when not on a tripod.

All-in-All...Nothing but "Thumbs Up" for the Canon PowerShot 880. Besides ours, both of my daughters have one and are the "shutterbugs" of their friends. They both love their cameras!

I haven't used 880 for long but so far I love this model. The wide angle is the best thing a camera can have. Colors are great. I was worried about the battery life since it has the huge 3" screen but to my surprise the battery life is great. Shutter lag is minimal compared to my old canon. I never used any other brand so can not say if canon is really better than them but I know one thing. I love this camera and it will be my best buddy till the day it stops working. (My old canon worked 5 wonderful years!)

Pro: Wide angle, battery life, large screen( with hard plastic protection) ,Zoom during video shoot
Con: It will take a little time to get used to settings. Every time I am playing with it I learn something new!

Leave it set to AUTO and away you go. The screen is nice and bright, and the picture quality does not dissapoint. There are plenty of controls if you want to use them, but I have yet to see a bad picture when we leave it set to AUTO. Especially for the price, around $200, it's an awesome camera.

i have to say this camera is an amazing point and shoot. I adore the variety of scene modes all though i cant figure out the color swap mode and the color A mode. I have only had for three days have used in a variety of situations and love it. in my opinion it takes great night shots and the 3 inch LCD is a plus. i feel that the only downside to this camera is taking a video at night sucks its pitch black and there is not really a manual mode. Otherwise i adore it the shutter speed is fantastic and the pictures are amazing!!!!!!

I did a LOT of research before deciding on this camera. I'm a professional photographer who wanted a quality, feature-rich camera that was small enough to take in my pocket anywhere. The buttons are easy to use, it takes great photos, and has very intuitive and easy to use menus. It handles all kinds of lighting and shooting situations very well, and the large LCD screen makes it easy to shoot photos even in bright daylight. What more could you want?

I recently ordered this camera from Amazon after much researching. Many sites stated it as one of the best (or the best) point and shoot compact camera. I had also read reviews that it was grainy and had a lot of noise. But I've been a satisfied Canon digital camera user for years, and was sure that stellar reviews would outweigh the bad ones.

Taking it out of the box, it looks and feels like a serious piece of technology. Good metal, solid heft.

Well, after trying it out and uploading the images to my computer, I can see why there were some unsatisfied customers out there. I never shot in 10mp. Only 6 or 4 mp setting. I shot Auto, Program, Macro, Sepia, Indoor, etc. And opening them in Photoshop, I found the quality extremely poor. This is really disappointing. I have a 3.1 mp old Canon digital that shot much better shots than this one. I don't even need the 10 mp. I don't need the high ISO. In fact, even on Program setting where I kept ISO at 200 or 100, the shots were STILL grainy at 100% in Photoshop. They look great on the LCD or the download. But when you open them and view them at 100%, it's muddy, noisy, grainy. Details were not sharp.. images are soft.

These shots were outdoors on clear, sunny days. I also found the color to be not as vibrant as my old Canon digital. I had my photos taken under Program at 200 ISO and White Balance at Daylight. Also took photos inside all on Auto.

I wish Canon would go back to a good solid 6 or 8 mp non-complicated point and shoot. I don't need all the bells and whistles. But I do like having some manual control of exposures and such.

Sadly, I'm packing this up to return. And digging out my old 3.1 mp to see if I can unstick that toggle and get it working again.

I've owned about 6 Canons in the last 6 years, and this is the first one I have been disappointed with.

-The wheel SUCKS for changing modes. There is a delay because it insists on showing you the mode your in before letting you change modes. No matter how I try, this never seems consistent. I've always used the ability to switch from Auto to P or M as a fast way of having two different settings at the touch of a button. Most significantly flash/no-flash and high-res/low-res.

-You can no longer have different resolution/compression settings associated with Auto and Program modes.

-The picture quality does not seem to be as good as before.

-The video format has changed to .mov.

Otherwise it's basically the same as all the others. Besides the wheel, the button layout is solid.

(They finally got rid of the annoying sliding piece on the write strap.)

I bought an SD800 a couple of years ago and am a happy customer. I thought SD880 should have all the SD800 features, plus other enhancements (3-in, more resolutions, etc.) To my disappointment, SD800 took out the video zoom-in and zoom-out feature - which is very important these days. People use compact camera to video shooting a lot these days! I also took pictures with tripod under day lights and indoors with same or close settings on both SD800 and SD880. My amateur friends all gave thumbs to SD800; one of my semi-professional photographer friends used color calibrated professional monitor for comparison and found SD800 shows a better clarity and more details than the SD880. This shows a less density sensor is better than the higher one. On actually really doesn't need 10MP for a S&P camera. What a disappointment! How come a newer model (SD880) gets released by Canon with one less important feature and inferior quality than its old model (SD800)?

My wife wanted a new camera for over a year and after much research, I found the Canon SD880 to be the best camera for the money in it's catagory. After we received the camera, it definitely lived up to expectations. It is so easy to use, takes fantastic pictures, and the huge screen is great for viewing. The only thing we wished it had is a viewfinder for those shots in super bright direct sunlight against the screen but the screen is bright enough where you can usually still see the shot well enough. I know the model up from this has it but if my memory serves me right, we still choice this one over that one because I think that one had a smaller screen to add the viewfinder. Overall, super camera!

I have only had the Canon SD880 for a couple of weeks and have yet to read any instructions. It is simple for taking pictures and once I read some instructions I am sure I will be able to do the in-camera editing it is capable of. Out of the different possible settings for taking a picture, it doesn't seem to have a sports setting. I tried using the 3200 setting, but it just didn't do the trick for the pictures I was taking at my grandson's track meet. I did use it for a day at Epcot and the colors were great.

In addition to all neat features, the 880iS is great for taking night pictures using the ISO 3200 setting. I find excellent photo's ,even without using a tripod.

this is a perfect compact for those who want a straight forward, simple to use camera at a very reasonable price. highly recommend.

I love to get new cameras. I have had this one for about 2 years now, it is the best one i have ever had. I will not get a new one until this one breaks. The features are great, and it takes really good pictures. I also bought the underwater housing to go with it: great idea. I would recommend this to everyone, and have. 3 of my relatives bought it after i did

Easy to use and fast shutter speed for a point and shoot. The pictures are clear and sharp. Bought a Nikon p&s but extremely unhappy with picture color so returned it and bought the Canon. This camera takes truer, more vibrant color photos. The wide angle option was worth the extra money.

I just got this camera and have been playing around with it for about a week. I formerly had an Olympus and loved it, but everyone who I knew who had a Powershot loved them, so I thought Id's give it a shot.
The LCD is crystal clear and I like the dial. It is fairly easy to get the hang of. I do recommend reading the manual, though because there are a lot of things this camera can do...I have a tendency of putting my camera in Auto and leaving it there, so please read the book! I love the Color Accent feature where you can single out one color in the frame and make the rest of the shot black and white. I like that you can shoot in black and white and also sepia, or focus on a color and make it vivid.
I haven't gotten the hang of the other features, for example foliage. The pictures always seems to come up blurry for me when I shoot in the different modes. I don't know if I am doing something wrong, but I have read the manual and have followed the instructions with these specific features and if you don't hold your hand COMPLETELY still you'll get a blurry shot...you get a better shot if you just shoot in AUTO.
I will continue to play around with all the features and try and master them, but in the meantime I really like this camera and would recommend it to anyone that asks.
shelly

Let me start by saying that I'm not a camera guy - being a great photographer would be really cool, but that's not me. I take pictures because I want to see the things in my life, not to create art. I like to have some control over a few features (a mode setting, shutter speed, flash, zoom) but I'm pretty much a pick-it-up, point and shoot guy. I actually read the manual for this camera (front to back!) and I owned an earlier model Canon PowerShot from a couple years ago. All that goes to say that your experience with this camera might be different than mine if you're different than me, if you know more about cameras or if you have the time to research the issues (I note that many of the very favorable reviews of this camera come from people who seem to know a lot about cameras).

My main beef with this camera is that the pictures are very fuzzy and blurry. I've tried all the pre-set modes (it has a bunch, many more than my old Canon - Fireworks setting, Aquarium setting, Snow setting...) and they all seem to involve fairly long shutter times, so the pictures tend to range from slightly blurry or hazy to downright fuzzy - if the subject moves at all, or if you are not completely steady, the picture is compromised, regardless of the mode you use. This problem is much worse if you turn off the flash, which I do quite a bit because the camera autoflashes even if the lighting is ok but not great and, if you're within 5 or 6 feet of the subject, the flash will completely bleach out the picture (faces are just bright white blobs). The camera seems to automatically slow down the shutter speed even more without the flash on, so the problem of blur becomes worse. I think this would proably be ok if you tend to take "staged" pictures of things that don't move much (adults, landscapes, etc) from places where you can have a good steady hand and time to concentrate on being still, but I take pictures of my kids, and I usually only have a split second to catch them and no time to concentrate on steadying the camera. This camera is just not good at that.

For the non-photographer, the manual setting menus are virtually incomprehensible - I tried to use them to get past this problem and haven't figured them out at all.

I give this camera 3 stars because I assume there must be a way to solve this problem if I just knew more about the camera or spent more time researching it. My wife, who's about the same level of sophistication as me with cameras, detests this camera and is about to buy a different camera even though we've only had this one for a month and a half. All in all, I would not buy this camera again - I'm sure it's great for some things, but it just wasn't meant for someone like me.

I am very happy with this camera. It takes excellent pictures. It is one of a few wide angle cameras with many other features. With a 4 GB SD card and set the camera to the highest resolution, you will not be disappointed with the pictures.

Don't expect much on the manual operations with this camera.

Overall, it is a highly recommended wide angle point and shoot camera!!!

I've had the SD870IS for over a year now and I can tell you that it's the best Powershot camera Canon has ever produced. Something went terribly wrong with the SD880IS camera Canon recently came out with and this is why you should look towards getting the SD870IS over the SD880IS. You can see the real difference when taking picture in doors. With the SD880IS, all pictures seem to come out grainy and washed out. I thought I had a bad camera, so I returned it for a replacement. The replacement took even worse pictures, so I returned that one as well. I think Canon cheaped out when producing this new model in trying to sell mass quantities for a lesser price. Shame on Canon for putting out such rubbish! If you want the real deal and the best Powershop Canon on the market, get the SD870IS and you will never look at any of the other models ever again. Just look at all the positive reviews for the SD870IS and you will understand what I mean. As for the SD880IS, all I can say is Get Outta Here!

Good point & shoot. Easy to use and understand with necessary options.
R. Tyson, Michigan

My dissatisfaction with the Canon SD880IS all stem from really missing my old Fujifilm F30. That good old camera has the best lens/CCD of any point-n-shoot that I've ever seen. Even ISO1600 photos were usable. Everything was low noise. But (probably because it's Made in Ch---) the two F30's that I've owned all crashed way before reaching 2 full years of use. Yes, I had liked the camera so much that after the first one died I bought another one to replace it.

Yes, the problem with the SD880 is NOISE NOISE NOISE. Even at very low ISO I can see the noise everywhere on the picture. I tried going for lower pixel count but they are still very visible. If you want to buy this camera, make sure that you've taken a few photos and zoom them out in playback mode. It's only after feeding a photo through Noise Ninja that I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Noise problem aside, the SD880 is packed with so many neat features. I've set the manual white balance to be trigged by the printer button. All I have to do is to point the camera at the white ceiling, press the printer button, and the camera is white-balanced exactly for that specific lighting.

Face detection works great, and I really like the TV - self-timer - Face detection combo: I hook the camera to the TV, put the self-timer on Face detection mode, press the shutter, and nonchalantly walk to the spot of my choice before turning to face the camera. The camera reads my face and multiple shots of me are made.

This camera takes BEAUTIFUL indoor photos -- with a flash, that is. (The Fuji F30 had been able to take all sorts of great indoor photos without flash.) The Canon engineers have done a great job with post-processing to get such nice even lighting on indoor photos, especially with such a tiny flash.

I take photos with i-Contrast off. In the playback mode, I can apply the i-Contrast as I choose. And speaking of i-Contrast, I find that the SD880 tries too hard to second guess what photos I want, and the photos tend to turn out a bit flat. The photos all improve tremendously when I use Picasa or Photoshop to deepen the shadows. This is especially true with indoor photos.

The video mode is not so useful. There is no optical zoom with video. The camera fakes a video zoom by doing a digital zoom. Of course, if the video is already only 640x480, doing a digital zoom will get you horrendous resolution. So just pretend that there is no video zoom. The microphone on the camera is bad.

The handling of the camera is very good, and it is a beautiful looking gem. And I hope that its being "Made in Japan" will at least buy me more years than my two terrific but unfaithful Fuji F30's. Now if Canon were to come up with a 28mm F2.8 camera that had the same CCD-sensor philosophy and the manual controls as the F30 (fewer Megapixels for superb noise control), I would really PAY for that camera, bad economy or no.

Canon SD models have a very high quality photo for the amount you pay for them. I have had two models before this one and have had no problems with either,the SD 800 IS and the SD 850 IS. I expect the same from this model. So far I am impressed by the photos I have very good results. I like to carry the model SD 880 with me most of the time for unexpected shots. I carry my 50D or D300 for the expected shots, The SD880 so far has met my expectations and will be in my car most of the time.
I highly recommend the 880 to beginners or anyone else.

I have been buying the Canon Elph Digital and upgrading ever since my first one at 4X ... now we are up to 10X with wide angle capacity and I adore it. Having to keep photos of properties updated for my business it has always been difficult to capture a whole room but now this wide angle has made the difference. Canon is the best!! And will always be the best in my eye!

My brother has a slightly older Canon model (less MP), but also with wide angle lens and he loves it. And I love this one. My mom just bought one as well as the price dropped from $288- for the Gold colored one to $255- for the silver one (what's up with the color vs. pricing scheme?!?). Incredibly easy to use, does the thinking for you, yet has easy to access features to ensure high quality shots for indoor, outdoor, beach, etc.

And plenty of options such as color-swap, etc. in case you want to play (or more likely your kids or nieces/nephews who inherently figure out these odd features you didn't know about even though you read the friggin' manual!).

Also bought the leather case from Canon for $16.95 or so and it's a perfect fit and well worth the money (comes with an extra leather wrist strap as well).

Go easy on anything above a 2 MB SD card as your computer will always need to read all those pictures before uploading to your computer which makes for downtime.

Only downside on this camera was via Amazon which initially promised a free 4 MB SD card but gave no instructions on how to order/get, so I had to make some phone calls/emails to resolve. In true customer-service care, Amazon has already updated their web-site so it should be a flawless shopping experience for those of you going down this purchase route.

Oh yeah, I did get a 2nd battery, but from another site as it was cheaper than Amazon. Ironically, the link to this site was via Amazon (the same page as this SD880IS camera). Guess Amazon gets a fee for linking them.

Enjoy this camera, I am!