This is a great little camera, but it is not for those who want something very simple such as a "point and shoot". While it has an "auto" mode, it also has 10 preset other modes that can be somewhat tailored to your particular operating situation, and also a "manual" mode which has significantly more adjustment capability. However you cannot set shutter speed if that is important to you. The User's Guide is approximately 240 pages long and quite well written (in English, not foreign spoken "English"), although most people will not read it.
Before purchasing, I debated between this 12MP camera with a 2.5" LCD and separate viewfinder, and the SD870IS with 8MP and larger 3" LCD but no viewfinder. I would have been satisfied with either, but chose the SD950IS for my particular usage primarily because of it will take 4000x3000 pixel images (12MP). It should be noted you can also take smaller images with both cameras (8MP, 5MP, 2MP and 0.3MP for the SD950IS) which will allow putting more on the memory card (you will want to buy a separate memory card because the one that comes is only 32MB; I bought a 2GB which should store more than 300 images at the highest settings). While the layout of the controls are slightly different on each camera, they are basically the same.
I have not used the movie mode.
The included software is pretty good, although it is not as extensive as the specialized photo software from Adobe.
My main complaint is that it is very difficult to open the cover door to connect the camera to a computer to download the images, and someone with large fingers may not be able to do it easily. Also that door is very flimsy and if not handled carefully might break off.
Plan to read and study the entire User's Manual to get the full benefits of this camera. Canon makes good products.
While I found other stores advertising the SD950IS for a significantly lower price than Amazon, when I called them and tried to order it, I was told it would be 4-6 weeks even though their web site said it was "in stock". Be careful with other stores; Amazon shipped it free in 3 days (however it was by USPS and took 6 more days). And Amazon will refund any price reduction within 30 days (I have received it).

Camera was easy to setup and use. All features are well thought out. The lcd screen is larger which makes it easier to view. Excellent photos. Compact and lightweight design.

I have owned several Elph's in the past two years. This seems to be the best yet. It is a little heavier than my Powershot 850IS. The few pictures I have taken measure up to Canon quality. I use the Canon 30D and Xti as my regular cameras. The Elph is always around in case there is a shot too good to pass up!

This camera has performed flawlessly. I am very satisfied with it and look forward every time I am about to go and take more photographs.

I use this product for work. I take 300 to 500 photos a week, some macro and the others on auto. I am not a professional photographer, but I have zero complaints with the camera. I love the size, simplicity, and I have had to read the book to check out several features but they are not complicated. However, I have the resolution set down a bit - I really have no use for a HUGE photo, but I guess if I need one someday, I'll have the capability. And the battery lasts me over a week for each charge, though I did buy a backup (still in the package). And I love the little green squares that pop up on the screen to identify my focus area. It lets me know that I am focusing on the correct focus point.

I decided on the SD950IS after considering many pocket sized models, including the Casio and Sony models. I looked at photos posted on the review sites and on enthusiast websites. I own a Nikon DSLR which takes excellent photos, but it is too expensive and bulky for the majority of shooting occasions. I love to capture those memorable spontaneous moments that can only be taken with a small, fast pocket sized camera, but I am not willing to accept poor quality photos to achieve this goal.

After using the Canon SD950 camera for about a month, it is clear that it will be my primary camera. It takes crisp clear quality shots very quickly, from power on and frame to frame, subject to subject. The built-in features are impressive, even compared with my DSLR, although I doubt I use some of the more esoteric functions. I sometimes miss the lack of complete manual shutter/aperture control, but I remind myself what the purpose of this camera is.

I consider this a high end point and shoot, quality built and semi-rugged, that takes really impressive photos for its size. It feels solid and pleasant to hold and control, and the display is sharp, bright, and anti-glare coated. The basic controls are simple, and I have found the movie mode to be much more enjoyable and useful than I had thought it would be. It really takes nice looking 480p movies, and doesn't seem to have any problem with over 10 minutes of continuous shooting on the Sandisk Extreme 4 Gb memory card I installed. Once again, I have a dedicated video camera that is capable of better video quality, but if I want a quick spontaneous movie with the Canon, it is ready to go and surprisingly nice viewing. I like the fact that it takes .avi movies that can be easily played on any computer or made into a disc.

I just purchased this camera as a replacement of my SD100 before going to a trip. The photos taken are just marvelous particularly it has a manual mode which provides a better flash control in extreme lighting condition. I have tried SD800, SD850 and even SD870 in the camera stores but they are not as polished as this one. However, the image is sometimes rotated 90 degree in the review mode. The software package comes with the camera is way much better than the one comes with Sony. Also, Canon should improve the design of how the USB cable is connected. It is awkward to plug in the cable to the connector due to the cover.
For the size and price of a compact digital camera, I can't think of any other better camera.

I read many reviews here and elsewhere before purchasing this camera. Get a good memory card and the shot repeat time is faster than advertised. I wanted a camera that took Widescreen resolution photos so the photos would display very well on a large HDTV, the major reason I went with so many mega-pixels, otherwise, you may want to look at other PowerShots. Overall, I find the interface easy enough to use and I don't know much about photography. It's auto-focus is fine, stabilization is fine, I'm not certain but I think it lags a little bit when adjusting for lighting conditions. It's an excellent camera if you want the res. The video's good enough for posting the kids' activities to the web for relatives. So I feel I have a quality all-in-one for my needs.

Has everything the G9 has and more. Canon PowerShot SD950IS 12.1MP Digital Camera with 3.7x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Titanium)

The case is a nice genuine Coach brand bag, although made in China--I assume like the rest of the Coach line. The bag is very snug fitting which is nice, however, the metal zipper on the bag is sharp and scratches across the camera screen. My wife made a nice fabric bag to act as an inner liner to protect the camera as it goes in and out of the bag. This didn't work though because the Coach bag is so tight fitting it won't squeeze in. An when she made a liner out of silk, it is so fine, it gets caught in the metal zipper. SO, with all that said, about the bag, the camera is fantastic. The digital face finder is amazing and it is leaps and bounds above our 4 year old SD450.
Overall, the COACH edition is NOT worth the money, better to spend the extra $50 on a nice bag of your own :)

The shutters lag on this camera is just undeliverable. It you want to shoot static object's it will work OK. But if you are trying to shoot your 2-year-old toddler, it is going to be very challenging.

I have had S100, S110, S230, SD550, and SD700 in the past. They all performed much better than SD950.

I would not recommend SD950!

I've been a Canon fan for a number of years and rely upon my Canon 40d as my primary camera. The dslr provides me the range of photographic creativity I often seek however it is not convenient to carry 24/7. That said I found myself simply missing a lot of opportunities to capture those spontaneous moments of joy that we all experience in life. The Canon SD950IS was the solution for me. Great Canon quality coupled with a 12.1MP processor and stablized zoom not only yields a top quality output but best of all I can tuck this tiny feature rich camera in my pocket and have it available where ever I go. Some of my best pictures have been taken with this camera because I had the right equipment at the right time and captured a special moment that would have otherwise been just a memory.

Ken Stempson

I love this camera. I don't think I've used it to its potential since I haven't read the manual. I had the old canon powershot 3.2 for the past 5 years so it was easy to figure out how to use this one. The cnet review said the shutter speed is slow but I thought it was fast enough for basic photo taking. One of the best feature is when you are reviewing your photos you can pivet the camera and the image with change orientation automatically...amazing. My original canon is over 5 years old but takes great pics and still works but needed a higher resolution camera. This shows the quality of the canon product lasting 5 years without a hitch.

Bought the camera from this vendor. Was worried because I usually buy from amazon directly but was surprisely happy how quickly the package came in the mail. Good price for the camera and the nice coach camera case.

I really can't say it any better than the great reviews done already on this brilliant little camera. I carry it with me everywhere, everyday and it continues to amaze me. I do a good bit of photography and my only question would be why Canon left out the ability of this camera to have a RAW setting/data. Panasonic does on a few of its point and shoots. I use both a Canon 5D full size SLR (12 MP) and a Canon 1Ds Mark III (21 MP) and this little Powershot really impresses me for its size, picture quality and unbelievably long features list. Really hard to go wrong here.

As with all Canon pocket digital cameras. the SD950IS is a winner. As the owner of the progression of Canon digitals, this one is probably the best. And, the price is reasonable.

I am giving five stars to this camera. I particularly love its video recording function. It is the best among all the digital cameras (DV's exluded, of course) I have ever tried.

Have owned several over the last 10 years. And used many others. This is the best on the market, bar none!

Especially important is flash range.

I owned the first digital camera Sony made (unfortunately it had limited internal storage and media cards had not yet been invented, transferred photos only through infrared port, and it cost twice as much as this Canon), then the Sony Mavica 400 (which cost $1000 and had to be sent back for repairs almost immediately), and a 4.0 megapixel Mustek (which has never taken good photos). This Canon PowerShot SD950IS blows the rest out of the water in ease of use, quality of photographs, size and offers several ways to download the photographs. I found out by accident that it works well with my Brother wireless printer, too. I was amazed to see the 15X total zoom, which was much easier to use than any of my previous digital cameras. The only drawback I have found is that one cannot take photos with the LCD screen turned off. I expected that a camera equipped with a viewfinder would allow me to take photos using the viewfinder only, but I was wrong. Canon should correct this as there are several instances where you would not want the LCD screen to light up when taking photographs--why else put a viewfinder on a camera? I have been very disappointed with Sony because they drop product support almost as soon as they stop making a particular model. For instance, the Mavica CD disks are no longer sold and they never upgraded the software for my first Sony beyond Windows 95. I will be curious to see what Canon does with product support when this camera model is no longer being manufactured. It was the main reason I decided not to buy another Sony. I will say that the Canon works well with WindowsME, Windows XP, and Vista. Having bought a now useless Sony photo printer with my first Sony camera, I will not purchase any photo printers again--the photos print very well with regular ink jet printers.

The canon is a great pocket camera. The 12.1 MP allows for even passable digital zoom photos. Great companion to my DSLR

I guess the best part of this camera is that it does have a separate view finder, so you don't have to use the lcd screen and battery. The image in the viewfinder is very small and a little hard to see because it is so small, but most point and shoot cameras don't have any.
The movies are OK, motion jpg. Some new manufacturers are using DviX and they are really nice. (both use AVI file types)
The flash options, even on manual mode, are limited: on off and auto, no soft focus, red eye, etc;
same with shot modes, there is macro but no super macro.
The body is a little heavier and larger than many other manufacturers. and the LCD screen is really small. The tiny point and shoot with the large LCD is something I really enjoyed with my Pentax.
When you zoom, everything is out of focus until you depress the button to take the photo, so you don't have any idea what you're going to get. You can wait for the image to focus before depressing all the way, but it takes a long time sometimes.
It is very nice that the lens retracts while you're in the mode for viewing your photos, saving battery power. Battery only lasts a few days with minimal use, but I think it's about standard for these higher resolution cameras.
It may be a little thing, but I like the wrist strap it comes with. It's wound like a rope instead of flat, so it holds up better, and it has a plastic slide to tighten it around your wrist, a feature I really like (chasing a one year old around with the camera).
It comes on really fast, the zoom is steady but everything goes out of focus the second you start to zoom (on the LCD screen, the viewfinder seems to be better focus, but hard to see because the image is so small).
It takes good pictures and the color is good. You need a really fast SD card because the standard 2mb read/write time is WAY too slow. The difference is waiting seconds for a photo to write vs having it write immediately.
Then there is the price, if you want it right away (like I did), you pay top dollar.
All in all, it's a good camera, got very high ratings in the reviews and I have canon cameras that are nearly a decade old that still work, so I'm guessing this will hold up well too.

I've owned Digital Elphs ever since they were just 2.0MP. I really loved that camera at the time but this new one is simply amazing. Each camera in the line has been a step up, although basically it's the same camera. You don't have a learning curve with each new one.

12.1 Mega Pixels! It takes a hefty SD card to get plenty of photos, but you can now get an 8MP SD size for under $50.00. Even with a 4GB SD card, you get around 750 images at top resolution. This is all the resolution you will probably ever need. You'll be able to enlarge to poster size or crop areas with excellent results. But remember that for your average photos, you really don't need this much resolution. I had a Digital Elph which was 7.1MP for years and it was more than enough. There are 8.0MP Elphs available that you'll be extremely pleased with. This camera is for people who know who they are.

Plus, the camera has all the bells and whistles that you've come to expect (just check out the Canon ad on Amazon's website): 1,600 ASA, face detection autofocus, 2.5" screen (plus a viewfinder), pretty high resolution movies with mono sound.

Whether this is your first Digital Elph or an upgrade, you won't be disappointed: Beautiful color, high resolution and accurate auto focus, automatic lens cover, image stabilizer, decent zoom and made from a single sheet of Titanium. You'll just enjoy holding it.

I also have the Canon Digital Rebel XTi SLR and that's a magnificent camera but who wants to carry that around on a trip? This thing fits in your purse or pocket or in an optional case that slips into your belt.

Certainly Canon will further upgrade this highly successful line, but I know that I'll be happy with this one for years to come. It is simply amazing that all this technology fits into such a beautiful and small package.

I am well pleased with my new camera. I love the look, the size and the camera bag included it makes it convenient to carry around. As for the pictures it takes excellent pictures with great quality. Canon is number 1 in technology for picture quality.

As an owner of an earlier model, I didn't look at any other cameras before purchasing the Power Shot. I am very happy with my purchase. It is very user friendly: easy set up and used without spending hours reading the instruction book. I took it on a recent trip and was able to stick it in my pocket and go.

The SD950 is definately worth buying. It's easy to use, very good and sharp images for landscape, portraits or micro.

I purchased the camera along with 8GB SDHC, Waterproof Case, and Case.

Camera is what I had expected! Great build, great quality easy to use, and unbelievable pictures!

I switched from a Sony P200 and i'll never go back to SONY again!

This camera was expensive but worth every penny, maybe is because I moved form a 3MP to a 12MP.

This camera is user friendly, good to have on the go and the battery life is great... I took about 600 pictures then started to die.

The pictures are great and I love it.

Buy it!!

amazon service was fast, accurate and the best price. other vendors prices were $100.00 or more for the product. my purchase was a canon 950 is camera with 12.2 megapixels.

I love the product. I have not taken alot of picture yet but the ones that I have take were perfect.

Well made. Real easy to use. My kids are even taking videos with it. I'm an old style camera person so I love the viewfinder. Downloading to the computer is simple it almost does it by itself. I'm emailing pictures to all my friends and relations. The macro feature is great for taking close ups of flowers etc. Fits in the pocket of my shorts. Numerous different settings for different lighting and flash modes ( I havent tried all of them yet ).Would recommend it highly.

a great camera with all the features and flexibility one would want in a portable point n shooter. this is my first digital camera and although the 12 megapixels are overkill, the vivid images captured by both video and shooting are worth the extra buck. Once you become accustomed to the way everything works, shooting and capturing video becomes second nature. a credit to canon for making such an intuitive item...i am extremely pleased with my purchase.

I love everything about this camera from its small sleek (and sexy) design, to its fast start up time, to great picture quality.
Settings for a very non-tech person, to more advanced users who want to have a little more control. I personally like the vivid color options to bring out the blue in the sky or water, etc...
The menu is very easy to get used to as well as all the other functions.
If this compact digital were any better It would probably be a digital SLR, thats how good I feel it is.

So if you want a camera that is compact but does not lack in performance, this is the best you can do, before moving into much larger models (which this compact still easily competes with)
And one last thing, Canon's customer support is the best!

This is the third Cannon I've bought over the years, and I'm very pleased with it, as always.

Take everyone's word for it. This is a good camera for the price. Very good image quality, fast shutter speed, clear picture display. Just wishing it to be a 3" or 3.5" LCD, then it will be perfect. Also, the video can be in HD resolution.

All in all, this is the best P&S camera.

I've had this camera for about a month now, and I LOVE it! It takes great pictures even in low light. I just returned from a cruise and I have some great pictures from the trip that I took with my powershot. The rechargeable battery last a long time, much longer than some of my other previous cameras. The display screen is large which makes it easier to view your pictures. It has a video feature which I love to use as well. Overall, I would definitely recommend this camera!

This camera is a perfect machine. Everything works, it's easy to use, eventhougt you have to spend a lot of time if really want to take advantange of all gadgets it has. Excellent buy and god price.

Used the SD550 because it is very fast to start and operate.
This one is even better because of the image stabilization.
12 Mega pixel are still sharp on daylight, even though I was told that 7M is the optical limit.
The compartment door is OK. would open if you use the Accessory Kit for Canon SD950 because it is too tight.
Battery never runs out!!!

Excellent product. Small, fast, and takes excellent pictures.
Very intuitive user interface.

Get it if you can.

Asaf

Canons are great cameras - this one in particular has 12+ megapixels and an excellent optical zoom level. I was amazed to see how well the zoom worked and how clear the photos were, although I think the size of the camera may not make pictures as great as they could be, had the same options been on a larger model. The features and manual are easy to navigate. Although the camera is small, it is a bit larger and heavier than my last elph, but the quality far out-weighs the size difference.

I have owned two Canon ELPH cameras' in the past and this new one, the 12.1MP SD950IS ELPH is superb! The camera body is really easy to hold even though it is small enough to fit in a shirt pocket. The Canon folks really outdid themselves in design and operation. The camera software is easy to understand and simple to change defaults to suit conditions. I would highly recommend this camera and it will be ahead of the countless other cameras on the market for years to come!

I have been taking pictures with good equipment for years. This is my third digital camera and the quality of pictures and ease of use far exceed my expectations. I am able to create photos that equal with those which are produced by far more expensive and larger cameras.

The special features for videos and close-up are marvelous. Best of all is the compact size which allows me to have it with me all the time to catch those special shots that are unplanned. Canon has a real winner here, I could not be more pleased!

I did alot of research on cameras and found this Canon PowerShot to be one of the best. It has so many features on it, that I didn't even know existed. It is virtually foolproof. It takes great pictures and they download easily onto my computer. I would recommend this camera to anyone who is very inexperienced or for those who like to play around with different settings.

I find the camera to be a good quality package. Of course we can not expect miracles from a compact camera, but it does do a great job. Image quality is excellent, colors are amazing and images are sharp. Thanks to the 12 MP, you can get nice crops out of your pictures. Of course we also need to remember than even for a point and shot we need to have some minimum picture taking skills or we can end up with blurry or bad quality pictures, but this happens with all kind of cameras even with the best SLR. The only down side of this camera for me, is that the lens could be wider and have a bigger zoom, also it has a tendency to blow the highlights. But again, we can not ask for perfection from a Point and Shot little camera. I find it to be a great compact camera that you can take with you everywhere. I uploaded some pictures to the gallery so you can check out, keeping in mind that posting the images there does degrade the quality a lot.

Great Camera. Did not notice slow performance starting up and in between pictures. Used an Ultra II memory card.

This Canon is one of the best so far.. This camera is simple and elegant but it is little too big not like slim. The picture of this camera is turning out OUTSTANDING. Anyone want to own a camera and well spend your money with an OUSTANDING AND VALUABLE GET THIS ONE. Trust Me you will love it when the picture come out sharp and clear all the red eyes!

I took my new Canon Power Shot on vacation. I took photos of people, scenery and my favorite a video of a concert piano which lasted about 5 minutes. Pictures perfect in every way.
Easy to adjust and use. User friendly.

I am delighted with the performance. Shots are quick, even with flash, and the high resolution gives me flexibility when I want to crop the shot.
I have owned 2 other digital cameras and this is the best one by far.
It has my unqualified endorsement.

I own a lot of high-end, therefore large, equipment. I needed something that was small but still produced a good picture. I found it. I had considered things like the Canon G9, but it was to large. I wanted a truly pocket camera. The video shoots very large resolution and when you have good light, produces an excellent image. Recently I've moved to shooting 640x480 because I'm putting everything online (no need for high res) and want to save the space on the card for longer/more videos. No grain with good light. The weight is light, it has a sturdy construction. I've had no problems viewing the LCD screen in the sun. The manual customization is great. You can do almost anything you want. Nearly everything in the menu system is intuitive (very important).

In the end, likely the best image, both video and still, you can buy for the money and size. The quality I've come to expect from Canon delivers once again.

(I own a 30D DSLR, Mark II DSLR, Sony PD170 DVCAM and many Canon lenses)

I got this camera few days ago. I have an above reasonable experience in photography and I selected the 950 based on spec and only spec. within this price range. The Sony 10.1 and 13.2 Mpexil were in the second place .. but due to some concerns about the lens used by Sony i decided to stay with Canon
I will write what might interest an average person and try not to get into conflict with the pro.

The cannon SD950IS takes amazing photos... the lens is so powerful under all light conditions. The pics are sharpe and clear and very very colorefull on the computer screen and the TV.
It is a bit more than the average price for this type of camera but almost all the money goes to the lens. So good job Canon in this side..

In summary

The Good things: about the camera
1) Small
2) Menu easy to understand and deal with
3) powerful zoom
4) good battery life.
5) Robust
6) Quality of workman-ship.
7) fast response .. alamost full manual control
And of course the amazing pic that can be extracted from this small gizmo.

The Not Good things:

1) Heavy
2) Can not be charged directly from power source(u better get a spare battery for 10$)
3) Location of the bottons is not well design/selected. and you may have some trouble when selecting some functions

The Major Not good things:

1)Audio/video and USB compartment door.. is a very bad design.. It will definitely break soon and i dont know what will be canon position for repairs under warranty.

2) Need gloves to avoid the fingerprints all over the camera.

In general for those who are looking for quality pic .. and can fork an extra 50$ above the average price, well ..Stay with the SD950IS
this camera will do that perfectly.. I am glade I got it in sale and will enjoy it for sure.

I just received this camera the other day and I already love it!!! It takes an excellent picture, great for creating large prints. It's small and compact. The flash works great too. You will not be disappointed.

This camera is great! I love the small size and it takes really crisp, clear pictures with amazing color! I love it! It's really easy to use and the battery lasts a long time. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a small camera that takes great pictures!

This is a great camera. I really don't use the zoom when I use it for business. As a matter of fact, I wish the camera angle could go a little wider. But it works. Great viewscreen, and excellent color. What sold me on this one as opposed to the other models is the very short shutter lag. I learned from my old AS520 that I couldn't even take a photo at a slow moving parade because the shutter lag was so bad. With this one, I don't have to worry. The color of the photos is phenomenal even without the built-in enhancement modes. And the image stabilization doesn't slow down the camera.

The only complaint I have is when taking a photo at the widest angle, I see some vignetting in the viewfinder. But it does not come out on the prints or the viewscreen. So it's just an annoyance and not a hindrance.

I'm very satisfied with the camera. Heck, for the price, I better be.

I got this camera for my birthday since I was in desperate need for one. All I can say is wow. I'm totally speechless when it comes to the quality and vibrance of the pictures. To see how the pictures come out when they aren't photoshopped or anything, check out my flickr account : Retro_Rush55x on flickr.com and see for yourself. This camera is well worth the money. Its easy to use, easy to hold, and takes the best pictures I've ever taken. Please put this camera at the top of your list when considering buying a camera!

This is probably the best pocket camera on the market today. I have previously owned other many ELPHs, F50fd, F100fd (both terrible) and several DSLRs.

PROS
Well designed -- No weird power button issues SD850 has, flash is in the right place, great Canon interface, titanium feels very durable and light.
IQ -- Excellent image quality at lower ISOs, good indoor IQ, try to keep the ISO low indoors and disable Auto ISO shift as it jacks it up to 800+ everytime.
Battery life is good.
Uses the same sensor as G9, which is the best you can get on a non DSLR Canon.

CONS
12MP -- noise at higher ISOs, large files, slower writes, 8MP would have been great. This is really the one issue with this camera.
AF speed and flash recycle times could be better, but they are in line with most compact P&S.

Canon seems to be moving to 10MP and 1/2.3" sensor on all new ELPHS, which makes no sense as older SDs have better pixel density with the same Digic III processor. I would grab this one while it lasts.

I would grab this one while it

I previously had a Canon SD700 IS, and was looking for an upgrade. The SD950 IS is an upgrade, but not as much as I had hoped. The Digic III software does have several nice features over Digic II. The higher resolution doesn't really matter, and I haven't noticed pictures being any sharper (despite the sensor being twice as large). The camera is slightly larger than the SD700, and that's the major downside for me -- it doesn't fit into my pocket as easily. As a result, I don't always have it, and that negates the main advantage of a pocket camera -- that you have it whenever the need arises.

My wife and I recently took a trip to Rome and Florence. I was originally thinking of bringing a DSLR with a zoom lens (17-55) because of the amazing photo opportunities but decided not to because it can get cumbersome to have to carry. So I settled for the Canon PowerShot SD950, mainly because I wanted more pixels than the 7.1 MP PowerShot model I currently had (and still love) and I needed the IS (image stabilization) and higher ISO features since I knew I would be taking a lot of Church interiors. I'm a big art buff and of course, Rome is home to the best Baroque art and architecture around -- and a lot of them are showcased inside dimly lit churches.

I expected good results, but WOW was I blown away when I started using the camera indoors. I never use flash or the auto settings since they both kill the "reality" of the scene. Instead, I set the ISO to 400 and relied on hand-held photos so I could capture what I saw indoors, and the results I got were consistently remarkable. Sure, I would shoot 3 or 4 of the same scene and select the sharpest, but consistently, the array of images were sharp, colors excellent and exposure very good. My expectations were far exceeded.

Of course, the results outdoors were equally impressive. Again, I used the manual setting and because we had beautiful sunny weather, I stopped the camera down 2/3 to compensate for the brightness. The 12.1 MP images are astounding. With images this large, you can crop later too and not worry about image degradation.

Again, a very versatile, compact device that captures images amazingly well in many conditions, including indoors using ambient light. I highly recommend this camera from Canon!

When I bought this I had heard of others having issues with the lens jamming and now I am getting this error message:

"Lens error, restart camera"

I've only had the camera a few months and am super disappointed. Our last Cannon lasted almost as long, and the guy whole stole it from my glove is probably listening to my iPod and taking pics with it still.

Needless to say, not going with Cannon next time. Picture quality was great, but durability is more important.

This is a "high end" pocket sized digital which takes very nice pictures. The controls are intuitive for anyone with basic digital camera experience. It's size and weight make it a "go anywhere" camera. My only complaint is the same one I've had with most of Canon's cameras (this being the 8th or 9th). The access door for the USB connect is poorly designed and even more poorly constructed. It's difficult to open and is held on the camera by a single piece of some type of flexible plastic. If the plastic ever breaks you're sure to loose the door. Why Canon can't correct this long standing design flaw is a mystery to me. It's otherwise a nicely designed and constructed body. I would have given it five stars otherwise.

It is a fancy looking reliable camera. I am pretty satisfied by its performance. The only problem is that the battery case is too loose. It often open accidentally.

You always take the good with the bad with any point-and-shoot camera. So whether this is the camera for you depends on how you plan to use it.

Good Points: It's attractive and takes good shots in full outdoor light. Has just enough manual adjustments to give you some flexibility, though it's really a P&S no matter what. Power up time is relatively quick, though not instantaneous enough to capture a fast-moving toddler.

Not-So-Good Points: this camera is surprisingly bad indoors. If you use the flash, it will give you clear shots, though you'll end up with photos that have a very bright subject and dark backgrounds - the kind you used to get with those Kodak disposable cameras. Should be better than that for a camera at this price. Plus, when you use the flash, there is a 1-2 second delay before the shutter clicks while the camera charges up the flash.

If you do not use the flash, you are likely to get a lot of blurry shots. I tried it in our dining room on a sunny afternoon with plenty of natural light. Even with ISO set to 400, the camera "shake" indicator lit up, alerting me that it would be blurry - which it was. This happens even with the Image Stabilization turned on. One look at the exposure tells you why: 2.8f at 1/15! By comparison, my Canon 5D with a 50mm 1.4f lens registered the exact same shot at 4f and 1/250.

Another irritation is the USB port door, which doesn't seem to open far enough to allow you to easily insert the cable. Also, the door is attached by a single, flimsy plastic tab that seems certain to snap off before too long. Apparently this is an ongoing problem with the whole line (based on what I've read in other reviews).

Bottom line: great camera for tossing into a bag on an outdoor vacation. Not so great camera for shooting good looking pics anywhere inside that is not lit like a fashion shoot.

Bought this camera for my wife as a birthday present. She loves it, and what's not to love about it? Photography is a hobby of mine and I have a semi-pro DLSR camera. So I appreciate a good camera that produces excellent pictures, and that's what the Canon PowerShot SD950IS does; it takes really great pictures. The face-detection always makes sure you get properly focused shots when taking pictures of people. I was expecting a lot of this camera, and I admit - it delivers!

Build quality is typical Canon, too. Built to very high standards and should hold up to all the rigors that a point-and-shoot camera has to go through in the hands of a mom with busy kids.

If you want a point-and-shoot where you don't have to know or do anything special to get super-looking pictures, this is the one to buy. I'd buy it for her all over again, and that says it all!

This review is a combination of three:

Canon PowerShot SD950IS 12.1MP Digital Camera with 3.7x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Titanium)
Canon PowerShot SD770IS 10MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)
Canon PowerShot SD790IS 10MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

I first purchased the Canon SD950, and after loonnnggg shipping from Jr.com, I received it and tried it out. The camera is much bigger than the SD500 even though it's got so many bells and whistles. One thing about Canon that's got my eyebrow raised: Why the big font as if we can't read?

The Image Stabilization is a wonderful thing, right along with the face detection. It even focused on an enlarged print of a little girl! The 3.7 zoom is nothing to frown at either. ISO is easier to set now so one can play around with the settings...

The camera is made for "big hands" and it took me about two weeks of off and on shooting to get used to it. The 12MP quality is okay, and I didn't have to get used to too much new button placement. One thing I didn't like is the play button. I felt I had to really push my finger on the play button in order to view my photos. It annoyed me enough to see what else was out there.

The Canons SD770 and SD790 were next on my list. Even though they were "only" 10MP, they had newer technology from Canon: Motion Detection and Infinity and cute buttons in all new small packages.

Canon PowerShot SD770IS 10MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)
First the SD770. This was a nice small camera! Not cheap feeling at all, Canon packed everything but the kitchen sink in there. I like the "Infinity" setting that the SD950 didn't have. Also, I have the silver version and it's nice, small, sleek, and takes great pictures. I didn't like the way the battery cover was not spring loaded. Also, either it was this particular camera or the 770 in general, but it seemed like I had to "dig" for the battery and SDHC card once put in. Yes, it's compact, hefty, and full of bells and whistles, but it was...kinda boring. Moving on to the SD790...

Canon PowerShot SD790IS 10MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
Bigger camera! The same size as the 950 except in a square/cube like form. The 950 is curvy, while the 790 is sleek and boxy (not sure if that's an oxymoron or not!). The 790 also has a new button format that I'm not sure if I like or not. I really enjoyed the SD500's button placement and while I can appreciate a "play" button...why not make it easy access instead of having to constantly press the button down? I'm thinking that the play buttons will eventually wear out. The big screen is nice, and even though I haven't used a viewfinder since...ever, it would be nice to "just have". So the lack of a viewfinder is a potential bummer. You never know when you gotta smear your nose on the photo screen to take pic! lol Also, the 790 is a fingerprint magnet.

I tried to take the same pictures with all the cameras, but couldn't always (morning/evening, different zoom, etc.). Both the 770 and 790 has the ISO 1600 setting (950 has 3200), but I didn't even use anything that high previously! All the pictures came out great. Even my crappy pictures of my messy coffee table were clear and colorful!

If I just had to choose based on portability, photos, looks, bells/whistles, ease of use, I would go crazy trying to decide, but finally take the Canon SD770 because it's smaller. But, I'm a sucker for good looks, so the scale points back to the 790! I always take great care of my electronics, so I'm not so worried about fingerprints. If the button issue upsets me extremely, then I'll just upgrade to Canon's latest and greatest in 6-8 months.

Either way, can't wait to take pics on the new SD790. Get out, purchase any of these cams and you'd be satisfied.

I waited until I got two vacations under my belt before reviewing this camera. I was very concerned that cramming 12.1 MP on such a tiny sensor would dramatically up the noise and create poor image quality (IQ).

My concerns have been alliviated! The IQ is excellent. However, bear in mind that this is not a DSLR with a 35MM size sensor. This is a tiny camera. The ISO 800 and above performance will readily distinguish this camera from a DSLR. However, can you put your DSLR in your pants pocket?

I have found that, at least for vacations, portability is paramount. I want to have a camera with me at all times, whether I'm eating in a restaurant or riding on an ATV. The smaller the camera, the more pictures I took. And, my philosophy is to take lots of pictures to get some keepers, versus, carefully setting up a single picture and missing other opportunities.

With that as background, I love the SD950IS.

What I liked most:
- Excellent IQ, even at high ISOs.
- Superfast start up, under 1/2 sec. The lens literally jumps out!
- Viewfinder for bright outdoors (but only shows 80% of picture).

What I was disappointed with:
- The IS only marginally helped me.
- Pics needed Photoshop work but I always PS all pics anyway - I'm a bit of a perfectionist.
- The SDHC format cards can't be read without an adaptor.

This is a very good point and shoot camera -- I was looking at something small to throw in my backpack for casual trips where I do not want to take my dSLR -- this very readily fills the bill.

Not as feature-rich as the G9, it does however feature the same processor and big 12.1 MP shots. You will need a large capacity SD card for this camera.

Battery life is good. Buy a spare if you plan on taking a lot of photos, since it will run out about 200 shots or so with all the features enabled.

The only downside -- to get at most of the great features in the camera, you have to go menu-hopping rather than having standalone feature buttons like on some of the other canon series cameras. But this camera really isn't designed for that purpose --

It is a great snapshot camera, and the scene modes work well at their preset settings. Enjoy!

Fast startup and excellent quality pictures. Because most laptops these days come with an SD card reader, you don't really need the cable to transfer the videos/pics. Just pop out the SD card from the camera and stick it in the laptop for faster transfer. The image stabilizer works very well.

Great features and options. I us it underwater and love the video and photo capabilities. The sound capture underwater puts you in the action with the diver. Many option for picture formats and looks.

This is the second camera from Cannon in this series I have owned an loved both of them (My first one is floating to Japan as I lost hold of it underwater...;{

I have a Camera with 7.2 MP, and I bought this Cannon camera thinking I could have a better camera with more MP. I'm dissapointed for this Cannon camera, the pictures are not great how I expected. The worst thing is that pictures with my Camera with 7.2 MP are better than pictures with 12.1 MP. I don't know if is the Brand, if is my camera, or my bad luck, but I don't feel happy with this cannon camera. If I could have the chance to compare pictures before buy it, I would not buy it.

This is the first time that I had a problem with a cannon camera,lens would not shut all the way and when it did it would come up with a lens error. This happened the first day i bought it and we were leaving in 2 days for vacation, so i took it and used it. Takes great pictures, i had a s500 befor this one and it still works great. I am still raiting this camera 5 star because it was just a fluk thing that happened only thing is I had to pay 15.00 to ship it to cannon and they replace lens asembly for free but, never got any money back. I recomend this camera, just because it doesnt matter about what megapixes you get is lens qulity that counts,you can look that up at [...]

When I don't want to tote around my bulky DSLR, the SD950IS does a great job. I can carry it in my shirt pocket and hardly know it's there. The shutter lag is shorter than other P&S cameras I've owned. Sharp pictures too.

I have officially learned my lesson, I will never stray from Canon again no matter what Consumer Reports or anyone else says. Canon makes a very good camera and I have been happy with my Canon camera's time and time again. Every time I am tempted by a different brand I get burned. Most recently by Fuji. This Canon camera is a little powerhouse. There are enough features and options to get really technical about your photography, but the auto setting is good enough to take mindless snapshots and have high quality results. I love it! It is smaller and more feature rich than my last three camera's and it takes a much better picture than my most recent camera mistake.