The Bottom Line: This Canon PowerShot SD990 is a nice compact point and shoot camera, and has an impressive 14.7 Megapixels, but even though the quality of photographs is quite good under normal lighting conditions, I was quite disappointed with the quality of shots in bright daylight or darker lighting conditions. It is overall a nice compact digital camera, but I feel that is is quite overpriced for what it does, and there are more affordable options (from Canon as well) that do just as good a job, if not better. Image Quality With 14.7 Megapixels, most people will think that you are bound to get perfect photos every time. Unfortunately, pixels are not everything, and higher is not necessarily better. Under normal lighting and contrast conditions, this camera performed extremely well. Colors were accurate, contrast was good, and skin tones were accurate as well. As soon as I took the camera outside in bright sunshine, especially in back lit situations, the auto focus and face detection did not know where to focus anymore and had a very difficult time finding its main focus point. When shooting in darker conditions, the photos can get quite grainy. Also, with a 3.7x (36-133mm) zoom lens, you may hope to be able to get up close even from a distance, but the quality of photos really suffer a great deal, and makes photos quite fuzzy if you extend the zoom all the way. Performance This is overall a nice little camera, if a bit overpriced. It creates nice photos but it does have some negatives. The face detection is great under normal lighting conditions but awful if you have very bright lighting, or in low light. The quality of photos will vary greatly based on the lighting conditions, and failed to impress me in harsher lighting conditions. It has a difficult time giving an accurate white balance under artificial lighting, and I usually have to adjust it when editing my photo on my computer. The 3.7 x lens is also a bit disappointing and photos become quite grainy if you extend the lens to get closer. A positive is the SD990's optical image stabilization, which does a make a difference in how sharp your photo will come out when using a slower shutter speed. Ease of Use I have to admit that I have always been a fan of Canon Point and shoot cameras, even though I prefer Nikon for DSLRs, because I have always had an easier time learning a new point-and-shoot camera functions on a Canon, than I have a Nikon. Canon is very intuitive to use and will allow most people to start using their cameras right away. This definitely also applies to this Canon SD 990. Battery Life You can take about 200 to 300 shots on one charge, which is pretty average for a point and shoot camera. Portability Very compact, sturdy and light, this camera is great for traveling. I normally use a DSLR for my travel shots, but sometimes I do not want to carry around a heavier DSLR, so I will use this one instead, and as long as lighting conditions are easy to manage, I am able to take really nice photos.

frnchey75

USA

I bought this camera for times when I didn't want to carry around my heavier Canon digital SLR.  It's a great camera that allows you to shoot nice pictures in Auto mode or have some fun and be a little more creative in other modes.  I really like the image stabilization feature -- I used it to great effect when I was shooting pictures at a school musical.  I was able to turn off the flash and still take some really great pics without a tripod.  I've used the manual mode to set the ISO on my own and also used a couple of the Special Scene modes (SCN).  I'm still enjoying trying new options and "playing" when I have the time.  I've been very happy with the quality of the pictures that I've taken with this camera.  It is a bit heavier than other "snapshot" type cameras, but not enough that I would move to a different camera.  It still very compact in size and I often just put it in my purse or in my pocket.  My only nit is the graininess at higher zoom levels.  But it's a small price to pay when compared to all the other features.

johnsongm100

Osseo, MN

The Canon Power SD 990 IS (Image Stabilizer) (Digitial ELPH) is "too easy" to operate. This sleek, brushed aluminium, chrome, and lightweight camera operates with a lithium battery so you can keep a charge for a longer period of time. If you are not real "camera savvy" place your camera on "Auto" and let it make all the decisions for you. To download your photos just place the USB cord into your computer (connected to the camera also) and the camera will lead you through the download of the photos. Pictures will be stored on both the camera and the computer until you specifically delete your photos from the memory card. Emailing some photos may be a little cumbersome because of the quality of the photos...14.7 megapixels. Canon partnered with Coach in this instance and you can buy this camera as a gift pack including a Coach camera case and photo holder. I have black dogs and could never take decent pictures of them because of their darkness....this camera can finally capture their beauty.

alper12

Schertz, TX