This is a compact, easy-to-use, bring the fun back to photography camera that provides Canon's photo quality in a lower cost, compact build. A little bit bigger than the digital elphs, this camera still fits comfortably in a shirt or pant pocket.
The feature set is very basic, and nothing new. It has a "Face select" feature which lets you select which person you want to focus on in a group. On the dial it has four settings: Auto, Easy, Program and movie modes. The auto mode is just as with every other camera, the camera will select the settings it determines best, but you maintain control (if you care to select it) over the white balance and flash. Easy is the same as auto, except no options. Program gives you the option to select among several "scenes": Portrait, Landscape, Night, Kids&Pets, and Indoor (buried in the menu you can also select lesser used scene settings like Beach, Long Shutter, and Fireworks).
The only negative I've encountered with the camera is the relatively slow processor. That is the power up time (the time between turning the camera on and taking the first picture) is average (about 2 seconds), however, the time between pictures is around 2 seconds without the flash to 4 seconds with the flash. If you envision having (or wanting) to take faster pictures, then this is not the camera for you. Similarly, if you want to have any control over settings (i.e. shutter speed if you want to take pictures of your running toddler) this is not the camera for you.
Bottom line:
Canon replaces control and feature selection for extreme ease-of-use. This camera is a solid option for the money, and in case you are considering the A3000 IS, this (the A3100) is well worth the extra $30 (better resolution and faster picture-to-picture time).
The picture quality is great, no blur and vivid colors. Canon PowerShot A3100IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver)
My Canon S410 Powershot gave up the ghost, even after a trip back to Canon for repairs ($100, ouch). I was tired of not having a camera and this one crossed my path at the right time and I bought it after debating for months which camera to go with.
This is MUCH lighter than my Canon S410, and far sleeker -- all the knobs and buttons and whatnot are smooth and out of the way. It won't snag on things like the boxy S410 tended to do. This camera is as light as a plastic disposable camera. I remember my first digital camera back in 1999 which weighed a pound and then some.
The LCD screen is ENORMOUS compared to my old camera(s). It takes up almost the entire back of the camera body. Amazing. The controls are scrunched together compared to the S410 controls. Having had the S410 I was familiar with the Canon layout and the way the camera works, which was nice.
An earlier review mentioned that the startup time and the time between shots was long -- I didn't find that to be the case. It powers up almost instantly, and even taking photos at the largest image size the time between shots is only a second or two. My first digital camera would tend to "submarine" for six or seven seconds between shots!
Overall I'm VERY, VERY happy to have a camera that works again, and the cost wasn't all that much, like half of what I paid five years ago for the S410. Half the cost, half the weight... I still daydream about getting a "real" camera, a digital SLR (DSLR) with a nice heavy L-series prime lens... but it wouldn't fit in my pocket, would it?
Don't hesitate -- this is a beautiful little device, thoughtfully designed and nicely manufactured. If you're traveling or if you're a parent (or both) you know you simply cannot take too many photos. I bought a 4GB card for this, one of those little big-as-your-thumbnail chips, and even at the highest resolution the photos are about 2MB apiece, so you can shoot a lot of photos and never run out of space. Included with the camera was a cable to attach to a television, which I thought was a neat idea. I'll have to play with that sometime.
My only caveat would be based on my experience having sent my S410 in for repair to Canon -- for $100 the repair didn't last long at all, I wonder if they just sent me a refurbished unit they had. Anyway, don't DROP your camera and you won't have to send it in to be repaired.
The first digital camera that I ever bought was a Canon. It was a PowerShot A80 that had 4.0mp and 3x digital zoom. Since then, I have only purchased Canon brand digital cameras. The only reason I stopped using that one was because of age. So I bought the 7.0mp PowerShot SD750 Elph a few years ago. Again, incredible camera. I really liked that it had a lithium battery that was rechargeable. That's one thing I look for in digital cameras.
I bought this camera a few months ago when my SD750's battery couldn't seem to hold a charge (I had 2 different batteries for the camera). So that's when I decided I needed to purchase a new one. When I saw the A3100 IS, I was brought back to my first camera. It also has choices for which type of mode you want to shoot in on the top of the camera. It was a little hard to get used to again, but it's very easy to use. The fact that it has 12.1 mp is definitely a plus. The pictures I take are far superior to what my other cameras took. I do wish that it had HD video, but I'm not complaining about it. The video feature (which I used often) is great. I really like how you can now zoom in and out while filming. My mom's old camera (a Sony) was not able to do that. She now owns a different camera (Nikon) but it isn't as easy to use as this one is.
For anyone who is like me and just likes to take pictures and/or shoot videos, I'd highly recommend this camera to you. It's easy to use and it's pretty compact. Sure it's not as small as the Elph cameras, but it's also not huge. I love the face detection feature as well. I have to say that this is my favorite camera that I have owned so far.'
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