Canon PowerShot SD600

I primarily use the Canon Powershot SD600 for eBay and blog photos, and needed something that would take good inside pictures, sometimes in low light. Overall, I am extremely happy with this camera. The photos have all been very nice quality, and the video is surprisingly good for such a small camera. The majority of photos we've taken since purchase have been indoors with Auto mode. Auto mode auto focuses, decides whether flash is needed or not, what speed to take the picture at, etc. You can select the quality and size of your pictures on the easy to use screen menu, which also allows you to choose Macro (close-up), Kids & Pets (speed for fast-moving objects), etc. You can view images either through the viewfinder or on the camera screen. It's extremely versatile and simple to customize.

Downloading photos is a cinch. The cord plugs into a USB port on your computer, and if you have Windows, it will automatically call up Photo Wizard (or Picture It) to download. You can also use the software that came with the camera. The only downfall is that the camera locks up when you download too many photos; I can't download more than 40 photos at a time. This is okay with the 16 MB memory card they give you, but if you buy an optional larger card you can have hundreds or thousands of photos to download. It's a bit inconvenient to have to download in small chunks.

There are a few quirks. Videos can only be about 3 to 3 1/2 minutes long, even if you have the card memory to film a longer one. Also, some of the buttons and functions are hard to get to. They cram a lot of functions on one button, and sometimes you'll select Macro instead of Night Shot or something similar. Further, the function menus are handy but they take up a lot of the screen room. Lastly, in Auto mode, the flash is often used when it's not needed, and requires manually turning off the flash or taking photos in Manual mode instead.

All in all, for the price, this is an excellent camera. The price is amazing ($210-$250), the camera is compact and durable, and offers so many options and such good photo quality that it just can't be beat.