My Olympus camera was about 2 and half years old so I had to get rid of it. It was way too buggy: (1) battery dying too quickly, (2) taking pictures took forever, (3) XD cards cost more and would corrupt every time I put it in a reader – lost 100+ photos this way, and (4) it was so bulky.
I opted for a Canon branded camera for a couple of reasons: (1) I have a Canon camcorder (ZR850), (2) great reviews, (3) affordable.
I bought the camera from Amazon so I could make use of my Prime membership ($75/year), plus it was cheaper there too. At a local Best Buy, it would have been $15 more plus tax. Amazon doesn’t charge tax!!!
Canon SD1000: $167
Kingston SD: $25
Lenmar extra battery: $14
Pros:
- Lightweight
- Small (fits in my tight jean pockets)
- SD cards (so cheap to buy, $25 for Kingston 4GB)
- Long lasting battery
- Color swap, color accent shooting modes
- Different shooting modes
- Shoots video w/ 3 different settings
- Battery charges in 1 hour 30 mins (not that long)
- Easy to use interface
- Rechargeable battery only $15 or less (Lenmar)
- Interface is not sluggish at all
- Buttons are not hard to reach/find
- Start-up is less than 2 seconds
- 7.1 MP is more than enough
- Viewfinder (great for conserving battery life)
Cons:
- Runs on a rechargeable battery, not AAs
- Battery doesn’t charge in 15 mins like AAs
- Movies come out in .AVI, not .MOV
- Would not sync to my Mac (Leopard OS), had to buy SD card reader
- 30 fps at 640×480 video mode takes up a lot of SD space