Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 57
 Great camera April 5, 2010
M. Isaacson (Fairbanks, AK USA)
47 out of 49 found this review helpful
This camera is great! The new DIGIC 4 processor for the camera provides many features not found on older generations of Canon Cameras. Before buying this camera my two choices were the Canon SD3500 IS and the Nikon s8000. Both looked intriguing in different ways. The SD3500is had the 3.5 inch touch screen while the Nikon had the 10x zoom. I settled on the Canon because of past experience with their previous cameras and with their great customer service. I may be biased, but I feel Canon makes a better camera and Nikon makes a better binocular, but I digress. The simplicity and intuitive controls are a major plus. I was a bit worried about the screen but it is made of reinforced glass and has quite a solid feel throughout. You can even use the camera with gloves on which is a major plus if you are outside and it is cold (my first real test of the camera was in Barrow, AK at -20F). The only real downside I have for the camera is the battery/sd card door is a bit flimsy feeling when not closed, but it hasn't given me any issues to date. The only other downside, which isn't really a downside, is that many of the features of the camera may seem novelty to some such as the ability to change all the bright lights in a room into heart or star shapes. I certainly don't have much of a reason to use it unless I want to get cheesy with my girlfriend. I bought a Sandisk Ultra II 16 gig class 4 card for the camera and everything works real smooth with it. I am able to hold over 4,000 photos at 14.1 mp or 1.5 hours of HD video. The class 6 cards may be a little overboard for this camera and a class 2 may or may not be enough for the HD video to run smoothly, but I haven't been able to test those ideas. If you really want a nice camera with all kinds of fun and useful features and new age touch screen coolness then I highly recommend this camera.
I am loving this camera April 14, 2010
Jim White (Napa Valley, California)
35 out of 36 found this review helpful
This is the third Canon PowerShot digital camera, which I have owned. Each has worked perfectly and the only reason I keep buying new models is that new features are introduced, which compel me to purchase the next generation.... good marketing, Canon!
What I love about this model: the tap-screen back, which enables one to quickly identify what part of the scene is to be tightly focused. And the 24 mm wide-angle lens (speaking in terms reserved for 35 mm cameras) is SENSATIONAL. It enables me to get much richer, more interesting shots than my previous PowerShot SD950 IS digital camera.
While the digital sensor in this point-and-shoot camera is no where near as large as the sensor in my CanonDigital Rebel T1i SLR, and cannot match the impeccable imaging of the larger camera, the PowerShot provides a stunning back-up camera -- I am never without it. In Washington DC, last month, I was walking by the US Capital at 10 pm and had only my PowerShot SD3500 IS with me. I caught the gorgeous, lit dome and its mirror image in the reflecting pool in a shot that deserves to grace postcards or calendars. Love my PowerShot!
Worth Considering April 25, 2010
Marc Ruby™ (Warren, MI USA)
29 out of 31 found this review helpful
This camera surprised me. First of all, my personal cameras are big Nikons, so my ego tells me that this little camera is a toy and isn't going to come close. I do have a point and shoot - a Canon G10, which is still a big, full featured camera with a lot of bells and whistles. I picked this out for a friend who absolutely didn't want a larger camera (not enough purse room). I honestly expected to be disappointed.
And I was delighted instead. I opened the box and charged the battery and promptly discovered that there was no thick manual but a thin 'getting started' pamphlet. OK, thought I, I'll play along, This was intended to be a camera for a non-reader of manuals so let's pretend... I put the battery and a memory card in the camera, followed the pamphlet and bang (or rather, 'click') I had a great picture of my cat. Undaunted I headed outside and started aiming it at trees and scenery. And it did a great job every time. Loaded the pictures into photoshop and was suitably impressed with the image quality. And not once did I take the camera of Auto.
I eventually discovered the manual buried away on the accompanying CD and discovered that just under the covers was a very sophisticated machine. Plenty of options should my friend ever decide to go beyond point and shoot. Since the camera has image stabilization and is smart about shifting into macro I'm not sure that that ever will be necessary. But if she wants to shoot fireworks, theres a setting for that (and a whole bunch of other things).
Probably the most important feature of the camera is that it uses a touch screen rather than a lot of knobs and buttons. This will take a bit of getting used to, but once you learn how (and where) to tap on the screen you will find that most features are very easy to use. And the screen is quite large. One warning though - there's no viewfinder, and big screens can be hard to read in direct sunlight. So there are times when you will have to point, squint, and shoot. Another thing to keep in mind with a large view screen is that, scratch resistant or not, if you drop it in your purse with a bunch of keys you will eventually scratch it. Get a small case of some sort (there are countless options).
This is a very good buy if the price is within your budget. Truth is, I'm not in any hurry to present it to my friend.
~Super Cute Camera, Super Cool Features~ May 6, 2010
~Trinity702~ (North Las Vegas, NV)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is my first Canon camera, I usually prefer Sony, but this camera met my needs and exceeded my expectations. It takes good pictures and has some nice features. I was looking for a pink camera and was stuck between another Sony CyberShot, a Nikon, or this Canon SD3500. I read so many reviews and researched so many cameras before choosing this particular model. Right out of the box and on Auto mode this camera takes good pictures. I read some reviews where people had mentioned that there were too many features on this camera and they didn't like that about it. It is true, there are a lot of features (which to me, is a good thing) but the camera is very user friendly so it isn't hard to get use to it. The manual comes on a disc, which is one of the things that's not so convenient, but other than that the camera is a very nice camera.
Comparing this to my CyberShot T70, there are some things I like better on the Canon, and there are some things that I wish the Canon had that my CyberShot has... but overall it is a nice upgrade.
The 14 megapixels are nice to have (I guess) but that's not the best thing about this camera. The pictures are clear and crisp, and the main purpose of a camera should be to produce good pictures. This camera does that. I am not a Camera-nista, nor am I anything close to a Pro, I am a person who likes to capture memories and have fun with a camera. This camera allows me to do that. I have kids and it captures their movement and action without unwanted blur. The 5X zoom is really good for a point and shoot camera. The Program mode and Scene Selection are really easy to use. Auto mode is super easy and takes great photos. I compared some photos taken in Auto mode to some taken in certain Scene modes and there isn't a noticable difference on many of them. The Macro is not my favorite on this camera, I think my CyberShot outshines the Canon by a longshot in that department. The HD movie feature is nice and you can zoom in while recording,(you will hear the camera zooming when you play back your movie) but again, my CyberShot produces clearer movies in Fine mode than the Canon in HD. There are some things that my CyberShot cannot compete with as well, picture quality being the main thing.
The continuous shooting response on this camera is very slow when you select that particular mode. You can lose precious moments while waitng for the camera to take the succession of shots. My CyberShot fired off way faster shots than this Canon.
I can't seem to get good pictures using the Color Swap and Color Accent modes, but I am sure I will get better at it after I tweek some things and play around a little more. The miniature mode is another cute feature to have as well as the fish eye. The creative lighting effect is not very useful to me.
Another thing I like with the Canon PowerShot SD3500 is the software that comes with it, it allows you to take still shots from your recorded movies. That is something I enjoyed while recording my kids because although you like to record some of the things they do, it is also nice to have a snapshop. That is something I mainly see with Camcorders, not cameras, and I wasn't able to do that with my CyberShot so it was a convenient addition to have within the software for the Canon.
The software is easy to install and doesn't take up a lot of space on your computer. It is easy to use as well.
I did have a problem receiving my order, NOT due to the fault of Amazon.com, so I had to purchase the camera somewhere else. (Amazon's Customer Service is VERY GOOD, the best... hands down) Amazon has the absolute best price for this camera. I checked so many places and Amazon offers the best deal with free shipping & no tax!!!
This camera turned out to be a very good purchase for me and I am completely satisfied with my Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS.
***I will add to this review later as I explore more things about this camera, and include some pictures as well.***
~~~UPDATE~~~
As I have been playing around with this camera a little more I wanted to add a few more things to my review...
The camera still is a 5 star camera in my opinion. One gripe would be the quality of the night photos. I tried to change the various settings and adjusted the camera in an attempt to capture a good night time picture, but the quality is a little less than to be desired.
The action shots are really nice because they capture movement really well without blur and my CyberShot didn't do too well in that department.
The video quality is not fantastic, it's just ok. You really have to pay attention and make sure your focus is good before recording because otherwise it will be grainy. I suggest test recordings before you actually begin to record. Make sure you are in focus! This HD is not as good as fine or super fine movie recording in my opinion. And the sound is good while recording.
The zoom on the camera is very nice. It's just ok, not great, when you go up to 20X. Of course you see grain when you zoom that close, but it can still produce a decent, but grainy picture.
The battery life is really nice. I went to an amusement park and took a ton of photos and the indicator showed full battery status after I was done shooting 232 pictures and 6 short videos. Of course I charged it overnight the day before, but the battery life is very impressive. My CyberShot did not have as good a battery life as the Canon.
My rating hasn't changed for this camera. It's still a very nice camera that takes very nice photos and has very nice features.
Great camera, very compact, beautiful screen and HD recording! February 25, 2010
Francis Katoa (South San Francisco, California United States)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This camera is awesome.I have a Nikon SLR that I love but I get tired of lugging it around everywhere so I decided to look for a compact full featured point and shoot. Being a Nikon fan I was having a tough time deciding between the Nikon S8000 (which has 10x zoom and a 3.0 inch non-touch screen) and the Canon SD3500IS (because it was slightly more compact at the cost of a lower 5x zoom but it had a bigger 3.5 inch screen touch screen). It reminded me of trying to decided between a Honda(Nikon) and a Toyota(Canon), both are quality japanese products where you really can't lose either way, the honda feels more sporty but the toyota is more refined. Needless to say I went with the Canon SD3500IS because although a 10x zoom on a point and shoot would be nice my top priority was a compact camera with a proven track record. The Canon SD line has has been around a lot longer than the Nikon Cool Pix line so I feel Canon has much more refinement and experience in the point and shoot category. I think both are really good cameras but for my needs the Canon won out by a slim margin. I've had it for a few days now and here is what I've noticed so far.
Pros: 5x optical zoom, 3.5 inch screen, image stabilization (which seems to be standard now on most point and shoots), really good Auto mode (automatically detects the best out of 20 settings based on the current shooting conditions, save yourself the time of spinning a dial and trying to choose the best macro mode, just put it in auto and be convinced you picture will come out right), touch auto focus(touch what you want to focus on the screen and the camera will lock on the target even if you move the camera around), 24mm wide lens(everything fits in the screen).
Cons: I'm not sure if this is really a con but with the screen being so big and the camera so compact your thumb will definitely get all over the right side of the screen because there is not much extra space on the right to hold it, so make sure you get a screen protector! At the time I write this review the camera has only been out for about a week so I have yet to find a website listing screen protectors for the SD3500IS.
Summary: Great camera but you will want to be careful with the screen.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 57
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