Compact Camera

This is my first digital camera. I used to use one at work, an Olympus, and it worked great with very good closeups. I than took a 1 week digital photography class with excellent results using the supplied Olympus camera. All the photos were sharp, including closups although the camera was big and heavy in my opinion with a small display.

I bought the Canon SD500 just before starting on a train trip across Canada. I wanted a camera that was small with optical zoom and a 2.5 inch lcd. Unfortunately none that met my exact specifications were available.

The Canon SD500 camera met my expectations for size and the lcd was acceptable, although it is hard to see anything on it when the sun is behind me. The "stitch function" and "night shot" really work well. The resulting photos are excellent.

I also get some shots which are not sharp and flash pictures taken inside during daylight come out somewhat dark and sometines aren't sharp.

Occasionally the camera doesn't come "on" but the lens extends. Turning it "off" and than "on" again makes it work.

The battery life is very good. I can shoot over 200 pictures with the lcd on and sometimes with flash, with power to spare.

Closeups are another matter. I seldom get a good photo using the close focusing (macro option). This has always been a problem with this camera.

I'm basically satisfied with the camera and I would recommend this camera with reservations. I would not recommend it for closeups. There is really a high grade point and shoot camera, so don't expect to get good results from a moving train or of moving objects, bears for example. You can't really control the shutter speed or even know what it will be.