Canon PowerShot A1300 16.0 MP Digital Camera with 5x Digital Image Stabilized Zoom 28mm Wide-Angle

As a full time professional photographer for 15 yrs. now retired, I was dissapointed not to find a quality pocket camera with an

optical viewfinder, until now. I consider this a critical part of any camera that is not an SLR. LCD screens should not be the only

finder on a camera. I have been using the A1300 for a few weeks now. It has performed perfectly in a great variety of situations

and lighting conditions in both auto & program modes. The viewfinder tracks with the optical 5X tele. very well. Am very serprised

at how good the 20X digital zoom & stabilization are.The LCD is bright and adjustable. In the real world of point & shoot photography, not lab tests, this ultra compact took really good photos! Very happy it uses AA cells. I use Ni.Mh rechargeables &

always have extra Alkalines along.

. Batt. life has been good. This is the easiest, most fun and now my go to camera. The A1300 is a

Very well thought out and executed point & shoot camera. Thanks Canon for making something we really need at a very

affordable price!

I purchased this camera as a replacement for my Nikon Coolpix that quit working after less than two years and probably less than five-hundred pictures. I use this camera when I am backpacking as it is very lightweight and uses standard AA batteries. My first experience was this month on a fifty mile hike of the Foothill Trail in South Carolina. There are many waterfalls and beautiful views and I wanted to take some great pictures. I was extremely happy with the results. I returned home with about sixty photos and loaded them to Picassa with the idea of editing and correcting any problems before sharing them with friends and family. None of the sixty needed any retouching. They were perfect both in exposure and color rendetion. Some of the pictures were taken at night of my campfire with the camera set on the A (automatic) position. They were great.

As usual, buying through Amazon was a perfect transaction.

Buy Canon PowerShot A1300 16.0 MP Digital Camera with 5x Digital Image Stabilized Zoom 28mm Wide-Angle Now

For background: we've had a Canon A20, with a magnificent 2 Megapixels (grin), for the last 10 years. One was stolen in airport baggage (my stupidity for packing it). I was thankfully able to buy a replacement A20 on e-Bay. So we have been quite content for about 10 years. This A20 has been bulletproof, you might say. Fast Forward to 2012. My spouse wanted a smaller, lighter camera--No problem...

...But I wanted an optical viewfinder--BIG problem; hardly anyone makes them any more. Thank you Canon, for still providing this feature.

For those of you wondering what is this -an optical viewfinder? It is simply a camera that you place up against your cheek, and perhaps use the zoom buttons, to compose the picture. This is how you used to do it with film cameras, before LCD screens were even invented. Single-Lens-Reflex (SLR) cameras, that cost vastly more, use this method, although with vastly improved optics. The alternative is to hold your (non-viewfinder) camera out at arm's length. Which results in:

-Get out your glasses, cuz you can't see enough detail on the toy screen.

-Then, when you finally see your pix, you realize that your cam is unsupported--this will cause BLUR. So you have to take another...

-Then, you hit your forehead with your fist (in anguish) as you realize that the sun is shining so strongly that you cannot see anything on the little screen at all.

Then, you retire to the bar and regret not buying a camera with an optical viewfinder. Get 'em while they last. For the price of a bottle of Champagne, you could have bought this camera. Attention: you can still use the LCD screen at arm's length on this camera if you wanna.

The other reviews are great; I wanted to call out great emphasis on the viewfinder. Sports and wildlife photographers rely on such viewfinders, since they can track, zoom, and compose a shot (in a fraction of a second) which would be impossible with an LCD display.

For those of you thinking of using a cellphone or an i-Pad for photography, fuhgettaboudit. Their pix are horribly granulated (few pixels & small sensors), and as with any handheld, the blurring is atrocious. I know; I've tried. Try not to shame yourself by sharing such pictures.

This camera is magnificent. Over the years I have done darkroom film development, printed enlargements from the negatives, carried camera bags full of changeable lenses for my SLR, had slide projectors; now this is all I need. I can't imagine spending money on a more expensive camera, unless you want to move up to a nice SLR, but that will be bulky and heavy. This cam is 6oz, versus 12.5 for my beloved old A20.

I find that most of my relatives and friends take lots of pictures (be it on a cellphone or camera) and then never DO ANYTHING with them. They are not shared with anyone, and mostly just sit on chips or CDs in drawers. So it is worthwhile to point out that this camera includes Canon's album software; the chip pops out for easy unloading (or use the cable connector)--to help us get organized.

If you would like a case for this, consider the "Lowepro Tahoe 10 Digital Camera Bag (various colors)" which is a softcase. I've done trial fits at Beste Buye and it works fine. I ended up buying the Kodak "Essentials" hard case. The Case Logic units that I tried were a tad too small.

A final word on chargers and batteries. There is no charger. This cam uses two AA batteries; if you need them they are globally available from Topeka to Taipei to Tuscany. If you buy a charger camera, consider: You have one more charger to carry. You already have phone chargers, GPS chargers, Blackberry/i-Pad/PC chargers. Some have two different cables: one 12-volt for a car, and one 120-volt for the wall. Does your cam charger work on dual-voltage 120/220? If not you will need to buy a second one (220v) at great expense for overseas travel. Not to mention another prong-converter for when you finally travel overseas. Ugh. [But do see notes on rechargeables in the Comments On This Review, below]

Shopping notes: This camera does NOT come with a memory card (but does have batteries). Amazon has a good 4GB SD card for about $6. Add it to your shopping cart. When checking out, do NOT buy either of these things with 1-Click, or you will lose free shipping. Add them to the cart, then go to checkout, then change the shipping method to "free shipping", then complete.

Please comment if you have issues and I will try to address them. Cheers y'all.

xxx ooo xxx

PS. For me the image size is important for some of my software (it probably won't matter to most people) so just be aware: The A1300 can be set to take 640x480, 1600x1200, or any of 3 even larger formats. My old A20 could take 1024x768 format, but that is not available on the A1300.

Read Best Reviews of Canon PowerShot A1300 16.0 MP Digital Camera with 5x Digital Image Stabilized Zoom 28mm Wide-Angle Here

Canon A1300 Sure Shot

Pros Has an optical viewfinder !! a must have in bright sunlight

Uses two AA batteries !! can buy at almost any store

Confortable in your hand and fits nicely in shirt pocket or purse

Takes a very good still photo

Takes a very good HD Video with good single audio (non-stereo)

Can also take a fairly good standard video with single audio good for saving SD Card space

Audio sounds fairly good when having to video in gusty wind conditions as compared to some other brand cameras

Very easy to use and easy to switch back and forth from Auto to Low Light, etc and easy to switch back and forth from flash and no flash

Video button on back is separate from the still shot button on topI like that because I take mostly videos

Very good camera for the price

Cons The videos and still photos are occasionally very blurry and non-usable as though the auto focus has failed

( I just turn the camera off and start over again (reboot) and then it is fine )

The optical viewfinder does not show the zoom in/out when videoing but the the LCD does show the zoom in/out while videoing

Does not come with an SD Card Camera does not have any internal memory so you must buy an SD card

Standard AA batteries last only about one hour when videoing I recommend using the rechargeable batteries to save money

Conclusion I like this camera and I would give this camera at least a four star if it were not for the above listed cons This camera is an

inexpensive point and shoot pocket camera and I recommend this camera.

Want Canon PowerShot A1300 16.0 MP Digital Camera with 5x Digital Image Stabilized Zoom 28mm Wide-Angle Discount?

Smal portable camera east to operate even without reading a manual if you are used to digital camera, excellet picture quality, even when in moving car the stabilty is supurb. Zoom is good except the last 6x zoom which is digital once it hits the limit of the optical zoom the digital is almost worthless. However for fast snap shots on the fly it's a nice working camera and the price is about right. This was used to replace a Pentax digital camera. The pentax would not accept the 64 gig flash disk but the A1300 does. Easy to handle comfortable to hold and like that it's not just another sqware box. Night flash works good and face detecton is nice too. would buy another one.

After haveing this camera for a short time have found that the memory card and battery has issues. Buyer beware of this issue you will try to take a picture and it dies out have tried new batteris and everything sending it to factoy for repair