Review of Canon PowerShot SD960 IS: For the Amateur Photographer

After getting years of use from my HP PhotoSmart camera, I was ready to upgrade to something newer. The Canon PowerShot SD960 IS was released in 2009 along with a few other Canon cameras. Falling in the middle price-wise, I choose the Canon PowerShot SD960 after reading reviews and comparing the various Canon's in the store. I could have paid $50-100 more for the next version up, but I knew this Canon would satisfy my needs so I saved my money.

This particular Canon has been a great improvement over my old HP, but any of the recent releases will please anyone who is looking to upgrade from an older camera. The Canon takes great photos and after some practice I have been able to produce nice pictures in almost any setting or situation. Below are the features I like, don't like, or find useless about the Canon PowerShot SD960 IS. Hopefully this will help you in your buying decision! You can read the technical specs on BestBuy.com

What I Like:
+The Canon Powershot SD960 is definitely Sleek & Slim. While I usually keep it in a camera case for protection, it can easily be placed in a purse, coat pocket, or pants pocket. I don't recommend leaving it in a pocket too long for fear of damage, but it's nice to be able to tuck it away rather than leaving it out unprotected when you want easy access.

+The photos are almost always great quality and large enough to print 8"x10" and up. Even if you don't think you'll print anything larger than 8"x10", it is still good to have the camera set to the maximum resolution as this allows you to crop out parts of photos when you want to print just a portion of a larger picture.

+Taking photos or videoing is a snap - literally. If you know how to snap a picture, you can figure out the Canon pretty easily. This also makes it easy to pass the camera to others when you want them to take a photo of you.

+I can zoom with ease whenever I'm trying to capture an object at a distance. It zooms in and out fast which is very useful when I'm trying to capture moving objects - such as kids running around.

+The large screen gives a crystal clear view of what I'm about to photograph. The Canon takes widescreen photos as desired which is great for taking landscape shots! It adds a few extra inches to each side of the photo and makes the scenery pop. Note: widescreen should be avoided when taking photos of people because the aspect ratio is not ideal for printing to 4x6.

+A turn dial allows scrolling through photos that are on the memory card. This makes it easy to flip through photos very fast, so you can easily fast forward to a different group of photos when viewing.

+For organization, I can create a folder for any occasion and then have all photos I take go into that folder. Photos can also be moved into folders after the fact using the camera menu. The real great feature is that the camera can be auto set to create a folder each day, week or month. I love the auto folder feature as my photos are now automatically organized by date and if I leave photos on the camera for awhile, I don't lose track of which ones belong to which day.

+I did not think this camera had a setting for Panoramic because Best Buy's guide said that it did not. I was pleasantly surprised to find the Stitch Assist option on the camera which let me take one picture after another, leaving part of the photo on the screen so I could properly line it up. Although there seems to be no way to stitch the photos ON the camera, once download to the computer the software makes this a breeze. Further, the software allowed me to fix/change the auto stitching that occurred and specify where images should stitch.

+Program mode gives so many options that it may take some getting used to. Point & Shoot users may not ever venture into program mode, but for me I've found it to be a great learning experience! I can set the camera up based on where I am (indoors, outdoors, sunny, cloudy, snow, aquarium) as well as adjust various features including white balance, ISO, brightness and other things. Learning to use these features has made me an even better photographer as I no longer use the "auto" setting in most cases. The best part is that the camera remembers your settings even when you turn it off. My old camera always reset to auto when it was turned off, but this canon keeps the settings so I don't have to change them until necessary.

+I use the Kids and Pets setting anytime kids are around and it really does make a difference. Kids don't sit still for long so I need my camera to react quickly. There is still a slight delay as the camera still has to focus, but the photo is taken in about half the time as a regular photo and yet still comes out clear (as long as the kid wasn't running away from me at the time!)

+ISO1600/ISO3200: I never knew much about ISO settings until I got the Canon PowerShot SD960! Changing the ISO setting allows the user to control how fast the shutter moves and capture better photos in dark or otherwise bad environments. Using the ISO1600 setting, I was able to take semi-clear images of action on stage when the flash was not allowed. The photos came out decent at this event, even though we were sitting in the highest seats of the balcony. ISO3200 is even faster and returns even better pictures, however the camera only allows you to use this setting for smaller images.

+Continuous shooting is great for capturing action shots. As long as I have this setting on, I can hold down the shutter button as long as I want and the camera will take photo after photo after photo. If you aren't sure exactly when to click at a sporting event, for example, you can hold the button the whole time your child is kicking the soccer ball and one of the shots is bound to turn out.

+The camera has options for Black and White, Sepia, Vivid and Neutral, just like most cameras.

+HD Video is a fabulous feature. I can create large high quality videos with this camera that can then be put on DVD or shared online through sites like Shutterfly. I will never get a digital camcorder as long as I have this camera because I am satisfied with taking just a few short video clips at special events.

Minor Annoyances:
-I found that the screen easily gets and keeps finger prints, but when taking pictures, I don't even notice the finger prints. The prints and smudges are only really noticeable when the camera is off and the screen is black.

-The wrist strap hooks on in the same place where you plug in cords to transfer photos. This means the strap is usually in my way when I'm trying to plug in my transfer cord. I thought that was a strange design but it's only a minor inconvenience.

-The camera records videos in MOV and that is the only option. MOV is, in my opinion, a pain in the butt. It doesn't work with Windows Media Player nor Windows Movie Maker. It basically forces you to download QuickTime which I sometimes have problems with. I really wish I had the option to choose MPEG or another more accepted format. Luckily my website accepts and plays MOV files, but I can't send a MOV file directly to a lot of people who don't have QuickTime. Also, luckily I have Pinnacle Studio 12 which now works with MOV files.

Useless Features:
You can tilt the camera to flip through the pictures as you view them. This is completely useless and I wish they would have not even spent time figuring out this feature. It is already super easy to scroll through pictures with the side to side buttons, or by turning the scroll wheel, so tilting the camera to see pictures is useless. Besides the fact that this doesn't seem to work most of the time.

The software is useless. It's one of the worst software packages I've tried with a camera. There seems to be no way to delete images from the camera using the software, nor rotate the images, unless I'm totally clueless. As a computer savvy person, I found the software to be way too simplistic. You will need the software to stitch together panoramic images as stated above, but other than that I don't see any reason to use it.

Overall:
The Canon PowerShot SD960 IS has been a great investment! After months of use I am still finding the same great quality and it just gets easier to use as time goes on. I now use my camera every day in every situation and have yet to find any major problems with it. Look for it at Best Buy today! Enjoy!