Reviews for Canon PowerShot SD870 IS 8 Megapixel Compact Camera - Silver

Great camera from Canon

Strengths: Wide angle. Fast. Battery life. After shot is taken, it zooms in to focused areas so I can check focus, blinks, etc.

Weakness: White balance is off for indoor pics.

No real complains. I carry this around when I want to take videos or if I don't want to carry my SLR.

Face detection works reasonably well. After the picture is taken, it can zoom in to the focus points so you can check the result.

Battery life is pretty good. That's important since the camera doesn't have an optical viewfinder (OVF) which means the LCD needs to be on all the time. On that note, I haven't missed the OVF yet.

White balance is often incorrect for indoor pictures and movies (e.g. picture/video come out too yellow or too blue). Luckily it is easy to override.

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Canon SD 870 IS, best camera!

Strengths: wide screen, clear picture, high quality

Weakness: None

Once I got familiar with some of the shooting methods, this camera has been my favorite companion during travel. Easy to view with its 3" LCD screen, and excellent pictures with its wide angle shot. Video taking and sound recording worked well. I haven't tried all shooting methods, but so far all pictures turned out great, and pictures of night views without tripod were beyond my expectation! It would be better to get an extra battery or recharge the battery before taking an all day trip. The battery indication fooled me as it dropped faster than expected from 3/4-full to empty.

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PowerShot SD870

Strengths: Compact size, excellent photos

Weakness: No optical viewfinder

The SD870 is small (3.65 x 2.32 x 1.02 inches) with a 35mm equivalent focal range of approx. 28mm - 105mm. This gives you great wide-angle shots. It feels very solid and can be easily carried in a pocket or purse. It has a large 3 in. LCD that works great indoors and out, but lacks an optical viewfinder. Canon claims to have improved the scratch resistance of the LCD but I would suggest purchasing a protective cover such as ‘da Protector (www.daprotects.com) because this camera is going to wind up in your pocket. This is a reliable ‘point and shoot’ camera that will produce sharp, well exposed photos in wide variety of shooting conditions. Power on until the first picture is taken is about 1 second and I don’t notice any shutter lag. Optical, rather than digital, image stabilization is used and it can be activated for focus and shooting or just shooting. A choice of focus and metering methods is offered including face detection. Whenever a human subject(s) enters the frame, focus locks on up to nine individuals at once. There is no time lag. This is really nice for group shots. The camera offers four main modes: full auto, manual where numerous setting adjustments can be made, scene (portrait, kids, indoor, etc.) and movie. It comes with a 32 MB card and is SD / SDHC / MMC card compatible.
You’ll definitely want to purchase a higher capacity high-speed card. Overall, I’m very pleased with the camera.

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Little Giant in a small package

Strengths: Quality,Size,Screen,Wide Angle,battery life,video quality,sound recorder,software, the list goes on and on!

Weakness: 32MB card,no case included

This is an amazing little full featured camera. I was looking for a camera that had everything I could get without going to a bulky full size SLR. I think I have found it in the 870IS. It's a bit pricey but you can tell there is a reason why. It is a quality built camera with some amazing features. I just wish they would have packed at least a 1GB card with it. Over all this camera is worth the few extra dollars to get a better cut fine little diamond. Canon proves size does matter and can be very effective.

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Best Canon Pocket Digital ! ! !

Strengths: Very LARGE 3 inch screen Better switches Small & light

Weakness: Realy none...best pocket digital camera I've ever had.

Fantastic large LCD screen at 3.0". Very clear & don't need or miss the viewfinder that kept the screen smaller on earlier models.
Improved switches by not having the camera/movie/view in a single switch which often resulted in accidentally putting camera in movie mode after viewing last picture. Now the review function is a separate switch by itself.

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Excellent Camera

Strengths: 3" LCD, Light weight, fast startup

Weakness: LCD is a little grainy in low light, but pictures come out great.

The SD870 has a nice feel and takes great pictures. The image stabilizer feature works very well. It only compensates your hand moves, not the object you are taking. The wide angle lens is great for taking close up shots. I highly recommend this camera.

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Great Camera

Strengths: * 3 inch LCD Screen * Easy access to important functions * Battery life * Ease of shooting, reviewing, deleting retaking * Various Auto settings for numerous shooting conditions

Weakness: * Power button easy to press instead of shutter * No optical viewfinder * Battery/media compartment door mechanism dodgy

I am happy with this camera so far. The LCD screen is a big deal for reviewing pictures that you'd potentially want to retake. The IS function is a handy functionality for a point-and-shoot. Also love the lens which allows you to capture more people in the shot!

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Great camera

Strengths: Huge LCD, face recognition and image stabilization

Weakness: easy to press the wrong button

This has to be one the best cameras, if not the best one, in this price class today. I was blown away by the gorgeous big screen. At first, I was hesitant to buy a camera without a viewfinder, but then I realized that I was hardly ever using the viewfinder on my old S70, and it has a much smaller LCD than the SD870. With the much larger LCD, there is even less reason to use the viewfinder.

I very impressed the number of useful features that this camera has, compared to my older PowerShot which is only about years older. In particular, I like the image stabilization feature, and the face detection feature. One can configure the camera so that after you take an image, the LCD will zoom in on the face of the person in the picture, so that you can check that they were not blinking.

I also like the gyration feature which senses if you rotate the camera, and will change the orientation of the pictures to match the way you are holding the camera. It is great when you are showing the pictures that you have on the camera while on a trip.

On the down-side, I find it easy to press the wrong button by mistake. I don't know why they used such a big button for sending pictures directly to a printer. It seems like such a waste of space for a rarely used feature.

Other PowerShot cameras would have a mechanical wheel that you could turn to choose different modes, such as "portrait", "night shot", etc. This camera only has a sliding button, and with only three settings: Automatic, Custom and Movie. When in the Custom mode, you slide your finger in circle on top of a tocuh-sensitive ring to select between the various modes, "Kids & Pets", "Aquarium", "Fireworks", etc. Although I like these novel picture modes, I found that the touch-sensitive control makes it too easy to change the picture mode by mistake.

Make sure to get a fast memory card. I got one called Ultra III, which seems to be one with the fastest read and write speeds out there. Flipping through pictures and taking multiple pictures in close succession is a breeze, and I think the speed of the memory card is an important reason why.

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Great Canon Compact Camera

Strengths: wide angle image, stabilized optical, 3.0 inch LCD display

Weakness: LCD display under low light

This camera is the best compact digital camera in the market so far. The picture quality is amazing. with 28mm - 105mm wide angle zoom lens, you can get better view than other 35mm camera. The optical image stabilizer works great. With 17 shooting modes, you can easily use it for diffrent scene. The Only thing I don't like is the LCD display under low light. The image looks crudely, But It will not affect picture quality.
Overall, I Like this camera very much.

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Reply by member: Paul79UF
Nov 11, 2007

Hi Robert.

All of the Canon Powershot cameras will temporarily boost up the sensitivity of the image on the LCD in low light situations to allow you to better compose the picture.

Then when you take the picture, the flash will fire and the resulting image will look clear and sharp without the fuzziness you saw on the LCD.

Report this as innapropriate

Great compact camera

Strengths: wide angle imaging, macro feature for extreme close up, face recognition, very large LCD screen and stabilized optical

Weakness: buttoms are a little small

I bought this mainly because it has wide angle lens, image stabilizer and new DIGIC III processor. To my surprise, there is a macro feature on it which allows you to take extreme clean close up images. This camera takes beautiful, crisp clean pictures. This a excellent choice for its picture quality, fast performance, build quality, attractive, nice LCD and simple to use after reading and understanding the manual so you will have the maximum experience. The compact size enables camera to easily be carried in coat pocket or purse. It is a great point and shoot camera!

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870IS Powerful yet compact

Strengths: HUGE LCD Screen, lots of options to select, macro mode, decent zoom for a little camera, little to no shutter lag, image quality is great, image stabilization, auto-rotate

Weakness: shutter is noisy when it opens and closes, LCD gets "pixely" sometimes in low light conditions and you don't see clear image until after the shot is taken, low light flashless can be pretty grainy.

I've been looking to replace my old Sony Cybershot for about a year now. I have a DSLR but need a small camera that is easy to carry everywhere. (You just can't lug a DSLR everywhere). I wanted something with good image quality, yet something that was small enough to slip in my pocket. This camera does the deed. The image quality is very nice and it is VERY SMALL. It could be too small for some users. I have small hands and find that is is almost too small.

The image stabilization works very well. I have purposely tried to take pictures while shaking a little bit and the pictures come out pretty well.

The large LCD screen is beautiful. It's crazy to compare it to my old camera. It looks like a TV screen to me! Sometimes it can't keep up with it's 8 MP though because everything occasionally looks grainy in the LCD until the picture is shot-then it is clear.

This camera is not great for low-light shooting. It does have ISO options but it isn't really usable over 400 if you want to print out a decent size picture. If low-light shooting is a primary use, there are definitely better camera choices but for an all around camera, I am happy with this purchase.

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Can't beat it for the money!

Strengths: large LCD screen, good array of manual settings for a pocket camera, superior quality to other cameras in same class

Weakness: battery & SD card access door feels like it will break each time I open it. Auto-white balance indoors is a little yellow (manual white balance adjust fixes this though, but it's an extra step)

I hear many people ranting and raving about their consumer grade digital cameras (To be fair, I won't name the brands), but I kind of laugh when they say "I've got 8MP and all these different auto modes like snow, museum, etc...) after seeing the results of a similar type camera utilizing all the different modes, I see grainy, washed out, out-of-focus shots. The cameras take forever to boot up, and there is a long lag time inbetween shots even with high speed cards installed. The time between pressing the shutter button and the unit actually taking the picture renders These cameras ability to capture the moment useless.

But with the Canon PowerShot SD870 IS, all the above statements are not true. This camera actually has nice color tones and can take sharp action shots The large LCD makes it very easy to frame your subject(s), and even though it may get a bit grainy in low light conditions, the actual picture comes out fine. Start up time is almost instant, time between shots is fast, and when you press the shutter, it takes the picture.

So there is more to purchasing a digital camera than how many MP it has. I've seen 13 MP camera's take lousey pictures compared to this camera. I am extremely happy with it. It is as easy or as complicated to use as I want it to be; meaning I can just use it as a point-and-shoot when I'm feeling lazy, or I can switch to manual mode and take advantage of the multitude of user settings not always offered with other same type cameras.

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3" Viewfinder ultracompact camera

Strengths: 3" Viewfinder, small, easy to use, Nice for the wife to take pic because it had a kids functions in it.

Weakness: Picture outdoor with face detection feature doesn't work too well with children?

After spending more than a months on researching find the best bang for the buck camera. I think this one is the top 3 choices. The picture can go up to 8MP so it can be very easy to enlargement for printouts. Nice 3" LCD viewfinder, very first to take the first shot and subsequent shot.This camera does everything well - best of all is the auto ISO with true image stabilization and wideangle lens - a truly powerfull combo of features. Battery life is good for way more than 250 shots if mostly not using flash.

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Great camera

Strengths: Face recognition, large lcd screen

Weakness: Setting picture modes via menu

Absolutely loved taking pictures with this camera. Purchased for a vacation and used it for the past week. The large LCD screen is very nice for looking at the pictures that were just taken. The face recognition does seem to enhance the picture focusing, and does certainly tell you where the camera is focusing on. I did take many pictures on the 5MP mode by mistake.

Switching between special modes is not as easy as camera's with a dial setting, but there appears to be no location to add a dial with the larger LCD.

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Excellent Performance Compact DC

Strengths: wide angle shooting, Optical Image Stabilizer, big LCD screen, 3.8x optical zoom

Weakness: buttons are small to me

This is my third DC and it delivers better quality and performance than my other two old DC. It has 28mm wide angle lens which allows me shoot more areas. OIS (Optical Image Stabilizer) is very useful for daily shooting to ensure my pictures don't get blurred when my hands don't hold it firmly. But when shooting in the dark night(low light), I still need a tripod in order for better and stable picture quality. LCD is big and it doesn't consume too much battery life because this one is using low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD. 3.8x Optical zoom is better than other DC's 3.0x in the market because I am able to zoom even closer. This camera is made of steel and this makes me feel very comfortable when holding it. Overall, I don't find anything bad about this camera and I am very happy to get this one. Light weight, easy to carry, very stylish, memory card is cheap to get, very good picture quality, etc...

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ONE OF THE BEST

Strengths: Speed, ease of use, battery life, overall picture quality

Weakness: Lack of full manual controls, but expected

I have used the Canon SD870 IS and the Canon SD850 IS--I like them both. The SD870 has the wide angle lens, a large 3" screen, and no optical viewfinder. It is quick to respond when you turn it on or when it recycles between shots. It takes nice photos and I'd buy it again in a flash. This model has the battery status indicator (unlike the SD850) and the battery lasts well (tons longer than in ones like the Canon A570 that uses AA batteries). The SD870 is easy to hold, nice looking, solid, and the LCD quality is great. The settings it chooses on automatic are normally very good, though one can tweek them quite easily when needed. I bought this after trying a Panasonic FX33 which has a similar lens range--this has far better color and sharpness. If you want a cute, reliable point and shoot with a normal range of options, this works great and takes very good photos. The flash is not FANTASTIC, but spot focus on the area of a room where you want to shoot and the flash will extend better. Also, if there is natural light shining into a room, this camera will shoot without the flash and pick up the picture pretty nicely.
Outdoors this camera capture accurates colors and brightness, and the software that comes with the Canon cameras has a lot of options for editing. This is a very reliable choice in a point and shoot!

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the Greatest one for pocket

Strengths: wide-angle lens,3" LCD

Weakness: none

I had one of the A series Canon cameras before and it lasted about 6.5 years. When I decided to buy a new one, I looked at the A series again because the picture quality from these cameras is amazing. At the last minute I decided on the Elph series because I find that the more portable the camera, the more likely I am to use it, and the more I use it, the more likely I am going to get excellent pictures. This year's model does not have a viewfinder, but I *never* used the viewfinder on my A series. This one has a bright, big LCD that is easy to see even in direct sunlight. Excellent pictures and and the large LCD screen is crystal clear. load up time is significantly faster than the popular Sony cameras. It's a point and shoot, not load and wait then shoot. The cannon was fast in starting up and was able to point and shoot a picture within 2 seconds. A lot of useful features and some not so useful like the color replacements and enhancements but that might be good for the creative shooter. I normally shoot with a digital SLR and picked this one up for my wife. Actually, I have been using this camera because it was fast and easy while quickly producing excellent results! The printer I am using is the new Epson DASH printer because it produces excellent results and can easily print right formt eh camera using PictBridge.Canon's new interface is slick, and the only thing I would add is WIFI.

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Nice camera: PowerShot SD870 IS

Strengths: Wide lens, image quality, image stabilization, auto-rotate, 3" LCD Screen, Battery life

Weakness: ISO 400 and above are of limited use

I am a Canon fan. SD870 IS is a decent compact DC. It has good image quality (at lower ISO settings), very useful lens range 28-105, adaptable auto ISO-shift function, large and clear screen, fast response. And the print button can be customized. Highly recommend SD870 IS if you want a compact DC.

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Great Canon quality, superb camera

Strengths: Great picture quality, Large 3" LCD screen, plenty of shooting modes, Image Stabilization (IS) keeps picture clear in low light conditions

Weakness: No viewfinder, larger than previous Canon (SD330),

I've always used Canon digital cameras in the past but decided to try a FujiFilm canera after our last Canon SD330 broke. After playing with the FujiFilm for a few days, it was quickly evident that its picture quality was nowhere near that of the Canons. I've now been using the SD870IS for a few weeks and couldn't be happier with my purchase. The camera has great build quality, takes fantastic pictures, and is easy to use. The SD870IS features a wide angle lens, massive 3" LCD screen, and plenty of preset shooting modes. Would definitely recommend!

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Cannon Poweshot SD870 IS Digital

Strengths: large lcd screen, lightweight, compact, lots of options

Weakness: none so far

Great camera for the price. Cannon is known for its quality cameras and I wanted to buy one with a brand name. The best feature is the large lcd screen so my family and I can view the pictures without using a magnifying glass.

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SD870

Strengths: very sleek, better than the normal SD series camera, more clear picture, Big LCD

Weakness: need an spare battery...Canon should start making power saving batteries

I am a Canon fan..I have SD400 and SD870IS. I like SD870 very much and give 5 star ratings to it. I am in process of buying one more for my in-laws. Dont go for SD1000 or SD850 IS, if you are looking for some sleek camera go for this.

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Simply excellent !!!

Strengths: Great LCD, superb pictures, a lot of functions, small, great battery life, great videos, i just love this camera.

Weakness: The only weakness is the noise at ISO 800/1600 but that's the problem with all compact cameras ... if you don't want noise in your pictures use a DSLR!

There is no better p/s camera out there. I also have a Canon EOS Rebel XSi DSLR but sometimes it's too big to have it with me. So if you want clear pictures in bright sky or in good light the SD870 IS is the best choice. Even in low light I got good pics. There are a lot of manual controls either ... long exposure, etc and the movie mode is excellent with a great sound.

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Excellent Camera

Strengths: Nice large view screen. Intuitive, well thought out controls. Love it!

Weakness: None that I can see

Nice large view screen. Intuitive, well thought out controls. Love it! It is well made and solid in feel, as well. Starts up quickly. Shoots great video...Suggest 4GB memory card if intending to shoot much video as it eats memory compared to photos.

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Great Camera

Strengths: Easy to use

Weakness: none so far

This is great camera and Abe's of Maine is a super supplier of electronics fast shipping. Customer service called and offered better deals on accessories. We will buy from again.

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They keep getting better

Strengths: Excellent display, more intuitive controls with selections easily visible on display, slightly more wide angle lens provides pictures with greater depth, quick selection of "Scenes" for custom shots

Weakness: Not much- perhaps flimsy attachment of terminal cover to access digital or A/V out terminals

My third Canon ELPH and they just keep getting better and getting it right. Comfortable feel, looks great, the LCD screen is awesome. I too worried about lack of optical viewfinder but no problem and say goodbye to squinting. Much easier to scroll through, review and delete photos on camera. Too many good features to review. Get it and see for yourself. You won't be sorry, IMHO.

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Canon PowerShot SD870 IS (Silver)

THE GOOD: Impressive performance and image quality; optical image stabilization; face detection. THE BAD: No manual exposure controls; no optical viewfinder. THE BOTTOM LINE: While the Canon PowerShot SD870 IS doesnt have an optical viewfinder or manual exposure controls, it captures beautiful images with its wide, 3.8x optical zoom lens and ranks among the top compact cameras weve seen.

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Canon PowerShot SD870 IS Digital ELPH / IXUS 860 IS

Testseek.com has collected 57 expert reviews for Canon PowerShot SD870 IS Digital ELPH / IXUS 860 IS and the average expert rating is 81 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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Canon Powershot SD870 receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 2.33 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #403 Compact digital camera of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer features, market value, and a...

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Though it's not perfect, the Canon PowerShot SD870 IS Digital ELPH is a very good choice for those who want an ultra-compact camera with a wide-angle lens, image stabilization, and a huge LCD display. It takes good quality pictures quickly, with an easy-to-use interface and plenty of point-and-shoot features. It remains to be seen how the SD870 compares to its closest competitor, the Panasonic...

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From the first moment you pick up the Canon SD870 IS, it’s clear you’re dealing with a quality product. It feels well built and comfortable to hold, starts very quickly, offers decent wide angle coverage and boasts a huge screen which looks great in use. Photographic enthusiasts will miss full manual control, but then the SD870 IS does a great job in automatic. The slow continuous shooting,...

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For those who love photography, it's the Canon SD870 IS in particular that stands out among Canon's current digital ELPH pocket cameras. Sure, the Canon SD870 has a big 3-inch LCD screen, optical image stabilization, face detection, and high ISO; all the current "must-have" features are there. But the Canon SD870 IS is most appealing for its 28 - 105mm lens. Finding any digital camera with a wide...

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The Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS compact digital camera features a wide-angle 28-105mm zoom lens complete with optical Image Stabilizer to help ensure shake-free photographs. Known as the SD870 IS in the USA, other standout features include a 3.0” PureColor LCD, improved Face Detection Technology and 8 megapixel sensor. Billed as "the photographer's IXUS" by Canon, the Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS...

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