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Customer Reviews for PowerShot SD780 IS
PowerShot SD780 IS
Average Customer Rating:
(188 Reviews) 188
Rating Snapshot (188 reviews)
5 stars
121
4 stars
40
3 stars
11
2 stars
6
1 star
10
158 out of 188(84%)reviewers would recommend this product to a friend.
Customer Reviews for PowerShot SD780 IS
Review 1 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: JF
Location: Dunedin, Florida
Used this product for: more than 1 year
Expertise Level: Advanced Amateur
Canon Enthusiast: 1 to 5 years
Product replacement: Yes
Picture Quality Rivals National Geographic
Overall Rating
Features
5
out of
5
Performance
5
out of
5
Price/Value
5
out of
5
Quality
5
out of
5
Satisfaction
5
out of
5
Date:October 16, 2011
Although I don't know first hand, unquestionably National Geographic photographers use Canon cameras. However, I doubt they use the Powershot, which is made for consumer use and not professional.
Little by little I've gotten better at using the Powershot's features, but for the most part I just point and click. No offense Canon, but sometimes a good photo is based on the right time and place. However, Canon does get credit for being able to capture those opportune moments with picture quality at National Geographic level with just a point and click.
You can bet my next camera will be an SLR as well as a Pro Camcorder. But don't think for a second I'll give up my Powershot. I've had my SD780 for over 2 years. Even though I'll upgrade to an SLR, Camcorder, and maybe even a different Powershot, I'm not doing so because of needing something better, just different. Any camera by Canon...is good for life.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Review 2 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: ParkviewJosh
Location: Akron, OH
Used this product for: Less than 1 month
Expertise Level: Casual User
Mostly used for: Family & Friends
Canon Enthusiast: Less than 1 year
Product replacement: Yes
Great Little Camera
Overall Rating
Features
5
out of
5
Performance
5
out of
5
Price/Value
5
out of
5
Quality
5
out of
5
Satisfaction
5
out of
5
Date:January 8, 2011
Pros: good battery life, Good Low-Light Performance, Nice features/settings, excellent image quality, durable, Bright LCD, Lightweight/Portable, Simple controls/menu, easy to use
I got the SD780 for Christmas and I love It. I got It solely for the HD video, the small compact size and the 12.1mp. I am not really a camera buff but to me this camera Is amazing.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Review 3 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: RaceFan
Location: Florida, USA
Used this product for: Less than 1 month
Expertise Level: Hobbyist/Enthusiast
Product replacement: No
Great little camera
Overall Rating
Features
4
out of
5
Performance
5
out of
5
Price/Value
5
out of
5
Quality
5
out of
5
Satisfaction
4
out of
5
Date:November 10, 2010
Pros: optical viewfinder
Cons: no usb charging
I Really like this little camera. It is very compact, takes excellent pictures, and has an optical viewfinder which I find necessary for using in bright direct sunlight here in Florida. It is fairly easy to use after spending just a few minutes with the instruction manual.
I just wish it would charge the battery through the USB cable as does every other small electronic device I use.
Come on Canon, how difficult is that to achieve.
But all in all very good value in a small package.
I just wish it would charge the battery through the USB cable as does every other small electronic device I use.
Come on Canon, how difficult is that to achieve.
But all in all very good value in a small package.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Review 4 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: superman567
Location: NC
Used this product for: 6 to 12 months
Expertise Level: Hobbyist/Enthusiast
Product replacement: Yes
Great little camera
Overall Rating
Features
4
out of
5
Performance
5
out of
5
Price/Value
4
out of
5
Quality
5
out of
5
Satisfaction
5
out of
5
Date:October 27, 2010
This is a great camera, i had an older Powershot and I have been much happier with this newer one. It is so small you can take it anywhere with you and it takes good pictures for vacations. Definetly worth the money!
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Review 5 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: howajo
Location: Texas
Used this product for: more than 1 year
Expertise Level: Advanced Amateur
Product replacement: Yes
perfect if you need a great performing TINY camera
Overall Rating
Features
5
out of
5
Performance
5
out of
5
Price/Value
5
out of
5
Quality
5
out of
5
Satisfaction
5
out of
5
Date:September 18, 2010
Pros: great all rounder, tiny so you can keep it with you, good looking 720p video, clear bright screen even in daylight, price, great macro shots
Cons: tiny d-pad is not compatible with big ol' thumb.
This this is incredibly small and slim, and takes marvelous pictures and beautiful 720P video. It's kind of a mid level camera, not only pricewise, but also because it's what I would call a mid to advanced level novice camera. You can use it on "Auto" but to really make it shine, you're going to have to dig in and learn all it's features. Once you've done that, you can take very nice pics in almost any conditions.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.
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Review 6 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: JP
Location: Columbus, GA
Used this product for: 6 to 12 months
Expertise Level: Advanced Amateur
Product replacement: No
Awesome Camera
Overall Rating
Features
4
out of
5
Performance
4
out of
5
Price/Value
4
out of
5
Quality
5
out of
5
Satisfaction
5
out of
5
Date:September 9, 2010
Pros: picture quality, high build quality, including a viewfinder, semi-manual settings, spot metering, hd 780 video manual exposure ability, easy menu system, very intelligent auto, battery life
Cons: tad faster lens would have been better, could have used full manual controls
I really love this camera. Picture quality is great. I had photo's printed from 4x6 to 8x10, and have been extremely impressed time and time again. Outdoor shots are fantastic, indoor shots are pretty darn good if you're willing to learn how to use the camera (flash, exposure compensation, iso). Lots of cool color setting. HD video is awesome. Friends are impressed at quality (especially at 30fps out of a tiny camera).
Over the weekend I dropped the camera on concrete. to make matters worse, the camera landed on where the lens extends and battery cover. You have no idea how sad/angry i was. that part that extends was bent in two places and wouldn't retract. My wife fiddled with it, no luck. I ended up forcing the lens all the way in to be flush. I proceeded to push the power button and the camera still works!! The battery latch still is intact. THAT'S build quality. (light, light scratches)
I highly recommend this camera.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Review 7 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: photobob
Used this product for: more than 1 year
Expertise Level: Advanced Amateur
Product replacement: Yes
small but small
Overall Rating
Features
4
out of
5
Performance
4
out of
5
Price/Value
4
out of
5
Quality
3
out of
5
Satisfaction
4
out of
5
Date:September 8, 2010
Pros: battery life
I've had the camera for about a year. I bought it primarily for the image quality and size. I shoot quite a bit with my SLR so if I'm looking for fantastic photos I'll use that instead. This was just to be a carry-in-your pocket camera for the occasional trip photo when I didn't want to lug my SLR and lenses around. The 780 performs as I'd expect although I wish the power and shutter buttons were re-designed. They're just too small and my hands are not huge. The menu system is confusing at times for setting the white balance, etc.. overall though, it takes nice photos, fast zoom and is extremely compact. The ergonomics suffer though.
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Review 8 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: zekwean
Location: Vermont
Used this product for: 1 to 3 months
Expertise Level: Advanced Amateur
Product replacement: Yes
Sad over this choice
Overall Rating
Features
1
out of
5
Performance
1
out of
5
Price/Value
1
out of
5
Quality
1
out of
5
Satisfaction
1
out of
5
Date:August 19, 2010
I'm a moderately experienced digital photographer, and carefully studied user reviews on this camera. After much consideration and evaluation, I purchased it. From day one I was disappointed with the results. I don't know if my camera was defective or not, but there is too much light in daylight pictures that washes out color, and the high megapixel count hasn't translated into good distance shots. I have used the camera in indoor and outdoor settings, and have yet to have a satisfactory group of pictures from the camera. I am very, very unhappy with my experience with my Canon. My 3.2 megapixel camera takes better, sharper pictures, and I have returned to using it.
6 of 16 people found this review helpful.
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Review 9 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: OldeGuy
Location: Edmond, OK
Used this product for: Less than 1 month
Expertise Level: Hobbyist/Enthusiast
Product replacement: No
Great Compact Camera
Overall Rating
Features
4
out of
5
Performance
5
out of
5
Price/Value
4
out of
5
Quality
5
out of
5
Satisfaction
5
out of
5
Date:August 11, 2010
Pros: lightweight, easy to use, viewfinder, nice telephoto
Cons: none
The main reason for purchasing this compact camera was the viewfinder. This is a second camera; I use a digital SLR. What a surprise the SD780 takes excellent pictures and is loaded with features. (I wish Canon would keep the SD780 in production.)
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Review 10 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: Willie
Location: Oklahoma
Used this product for: 6 to 12 months
Expertise Level: Hobbyist/Enthusiast
Product replacement: Yes
Replacement Camera
Overall Rating
Features
5
out of
5
Performance
4
out of
5
Price/Value
5
out of
5
Quality
4
out of
5
Satisfaction
4
out of
5
Date:August 10, 2010
Pros: pictures in low light, battery life, ease of use
Cons: door to connections is poor design and weak
This camera is a replacement and upgrade of an older Canon Camera. I have been using it for 8+ months to take pictures of people, flowers, mountains and other objects. I have used it to take pictures of bright snow scenes to dark closeup flower pictures. I find that using the scene mode is very inportant to have reasonable focus and exposure. When I take time to take a good picture the camera does its part. Movies with sound are great and can be converted to any format. Battery life has been so long that I actually misplaced the charger. The camera is small and light so I have it with me a lot more of the time.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Review 11 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: Frogger
Used this product for: 6 to 12 months
Expertise Level: Hobbyist/Enthusiast
Product replacement: Yes
Video quality
Overall Rating
Features
4
out of
5
Performance
3
out of
5
Price/Value
2
out of
5
Quality
5
out of
5
Satisfaction
4
out of
5
Date:July 19, 2010
I got this camera as a Christmas gift and I did a lot of research on it. In the beginning, I was very pleased with the quality and performance. Recently though, the video quality has gone downhill. Whenever I upload a video and I want to watch it, the video gets choppy and skips really bad. It only just started doing this so maybe I accidentally changed the settings but I don't recall doing anything to mess it up. Maybe I can figure out how to stop it in the future, as of right now though, everything I tried has failed.
1 of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Review 12 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: Connect4
Great Value
Overall Rating
Features
4
out of
5
Performance
4
out of
5
Price/Value
4
out of
5
Quality
4
out of
5
Satisfaction
4
out of
5
Date:July 10, 2010
Needed something to get me good pics in a jiffy and this camera does the job. Easy to carry and takes great pics.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Review 13 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: adv
Location: Williamsport, PA
Used this product for: Less than 1 month
Expertise Level: Advanced Amateur
Product replacement: No
Hooray! Tiny camera with a viewfinder
Overall Rating
Features
4
out of
5
Performance
4
out of
5
Price/Value
4
out of
5
Quality
5
out of
5
Satisfaction
5
out of
5
Date:June 28, 2010
Pros: good battery life, Nice features/settings, durable, Bright LCD, Lightweight/Portable, Simple controls/menu, easy to use, optical viewfinder
I bought this camera because I wanted a pocket-sized digital camera with a real viewfinder. This is a vanishing species, but if you're over 40 (I'm 66) and have normal age-related presbyopia (difficulty with close focus) using a screen on the back of the camera to frame pictures becomes increasingly uncomfortable. The viewfinder isn't 100% accurate, but it's much better than nothing. The camera is nicely made, very easy to carry around, and takes decent pictures. Are they up to the quality of an SLR? Well, no. If you want pictures of that quality,and all the extra features, you're going to have to lug around a bigger camera, as I do often. But if you want a tiny camera that performs nicely, this is an excellent one.
24 of 25 people found this review helpful.
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Review 14 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: Papa
Location: Milwaukee WI
Used this product for: 6 to 12 months
Expertise Level: Casual User
Product replacement: No
Love it - Love it
Overall Rating
Features
3
out of
5
Performance
4
out of
5
Price/Value
3
out of
5
Quality
4
out of
5
Satisfaction
4
out of
5
Date:June 18, 2010
Pros: Nice features/settings, excellent image quality, Bright LCD, Lightweight/Portable, easy to use
Cons: Short battery life
This is my first digital camera and I love it. It is simple to use for a beginner and it has many features that I intend to learn & use. It does not need all the "bells & whistles" to produces pictures that trap the memories to the max.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Review 15 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: Jodi202
Location: Washington, DC
Used this product for: 6 to 12 months
Expertise Level: Hobbyist/Enthusiast
Product replacement: Yes
LOVE THIS CAMERA!!!
Overall Rating
Features
5
out of
5
Performance
4
out of
5
Price/Value
4
out of
5
Quality
5
out of
5
Satisfaction
5
out of
5
Date:June 13, 2010
Pros: good battery life, Good Low-Light Performance, Nice features/settings, excellent image quality, Bright LCD, Lightweight/Portable, Simple controls/menu, easy to use
Purchased this camera in December 2009 and love it more everyday. I wanted something lightweight and slim to carry but still wanted a lot of features. I generally use the "Program" feature to play around with settings. Have used most of them by now, including video and stitch assist, and am very pleased. The only down-side to this camera (and I do mean ONLY) is the "Auto" setting. Used it yesterday for probably the first time and while I was pleased with the way it focused my shots (even when I was unsteady taking them), they came out a little blurry when I transferred to my computer. Also found that the flash was a bit too strong for my indoor shots and tended to wash people out, depending on the angle. This could be shooter-error though. Not sure about durability b/c I've been handling this thing more carefully than an infant, so obviously no problems yet. I love this camera and have recommended it to all of my friends (and even a few strangers).
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Review 16 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: YY
Used this product for: Less than 1 month
Expertise Level: Casual User
Product replacement: No
Where's the Time-Lapse?!
Overall Rating
Features
3
out of
5
Performance
5
out of
5
Price/Value
4
out of
5
Quality
5
out of
5
Satisfaction
4
out of
5
Date:June 12, 2010
Pros: Good Low-Light Performance, Nice features/settings, excellent image quality, Bright LCD, Lightweight/Portable, Simple controls/menu, easy to use
Cons: less features
My brother has the older version of Canon Powershot (8MP), which I borrowed from time to time. I've grown especially attached to the Time Lapse feature. When I got the newer version, I was so excited! It's much slimmer and the pictures are in amazing quality! I LOVED it... until I realized that it was missing time lapse. Shouldn't the newer (and more expensive) version have more features, or at least the same ones? Other than that, I love it. The size and quality are...wow! However, I would recommend Canon's last version; I'd give up the slimness of my camera for those features it's missing.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Review 17 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: B^!!^J
Location: SW Florida
Used this product for: Less than 1 month
Expertise Level: Advanced Amateur
Product replacement: Yes
Sadly, It's Not What I Hoped! :(
Overall Rating
Features
4
out of
5
Performance
2
out of
5
Price/Value
3
out of
5
Quality
4
out of
5
Satisfaction
2
out of
5
Date:June 11, 2010
Pros: Lightweight/Portable, easy to use
Cons: Poor image quality, disappointing overall
I bought this camera during a sale anxious to see how great my pictures were going to be jumping from my 6MP SD600 to this 12MP SD780. Boy, was I disappointed! The ONLY way the SD780 beats the SD600 is by being smaller! When I take pictures of my cats with the SD600 I can count the cat’s eyelashes - the same picture, the same distance, same cat, same position, same lighting, the SD780 just pixilated under high magnification. Trust me, I took time to read the manual and I did have the SD780 set to the Kids & Pets mode. This didn't happen just once, but picture after picture, head to head, the SD600 beat the SD780. Eventually, I gave up, returned the SD780 and polished up my beloved SD600!
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Review 18 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: Avzz
Used this product for: more than 1 year
Expertise Level: Hobbyist/Enthusiast
Product replacement: Yes
Great Camera.
Overall Rating
Features
4
out of
5
Performance
4
out of
5
Price/Value
3
out of
5
Quality
4
out of
5
Satisfaction
5
out of
5
Date:June 10, 2010
Okay guys I've had this camera for a year now and it is truly amazing. It takes great pictures during the day and at night =] i honestly can't be happier with it. In fact, for Christmas, my family and I bought my father one because he loved mine so much!!!! I love the camera's speed, it rarely takes blurry pictures. Plus, its very compact and slim. It also has good battery life and is durable. If you drop it because your as clumsy as me, it well not break. It's easy to use and its great! so really think about it and enjoy!
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Review 19 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: Ashley G
GREAT camera!
Overall Rating
Features
5
out of
5
Performance
5
out of
5
Price/Value
5
out of
5
Quality
4
out of
5
Satisfaction
5
out of
5
Date:June 7, 2010
Pros: excellent image quality, Lightweight/Portable
This camera is amazing! I love the quality of the photos it takes! The feature that is has to isolate a single color in a picture is fantastic!
Overall a great camera for the price. I Highly reccommend it to friends!
Overall a great camera for the price. I Highly reccommend it to friends!
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Review 20 for PowerShot SD780 IS
Nickname: OCpinoy
Location: Orange County, CA
Used this product for: 1 to 3 months
Expertise Level: Hobbyist/Enthusiast
Product replacement: No
An Oldie, But A Goodie
Overall Rating
Features
4
out of
5
Performance
4
out of
5
Price/Value
4
out of
5
Quality
4
out of
5
Satisfaction
4
out of
5
Date:June 4, 2010
Pros: Good Low-Light Performance, Nice features/settings, Bright LCD, Lightweight/Portable, Simple controls/menu, easy to use, love the black-on-black finish!
Cons: can't optically zoom while recording video, ccd-sensor lens flare
Though this is last year's cam, there are quite a few features it has that I prefer over this year's lineup. I like not having a wide-angle lens because of the distortion that WA creates, & its omission makes this cam's seemingly-lacking 3x opt zoom acceptable. I also like the SD780's zoom-ring lever compared to the current style. I initially thought the optical viewfinder would be nearly useless, but I'm using it almost all the time now on bright days because, even though the LCD display is quite good, it's sometimes not enough to compensate for very bright sunlight. The 780 can continuously record up to ~20-25mins High Definition video, whereas many of the current SD's (including the brand-new SD4000) are restricted to "up to 10mins" of Hi Def video clips. Overall, I'm pleased with the SD780 & would recommend it to a friend.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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