Canon ELPH 500 HS B | Brown

This is the second Canon Elph 500HS that I bought. I bought the first one about a year ago and it takes such excellent indoor pictures that I bought a second one as a backup in case they become unavailable.After a through evaluation of the first 500HS, I discovered that it could take less sharp pictures when shooting in Auto mode. But by just flipping the switch from Auto mode to the camera icon (P-Mode), this camera always takes sharp pictures. Don't worry, shooting in P-Mode is exactly like shooting in Auto mode where you can just point & shoot with full auto everything. I did find that the default setting for the 500HS tends to overexpose slightly so I set it's exposure compensation to -1/3 for both outdoor and indoor pictures and the exposures are perfect. You only have to do this once and the camera remembers it even when you power it off or remove the battery for charging. Exposure compensation cannot be set in Auto mode so that's another good reason to set the camera to P-Mode.The lens on this camera is exceptional with a F2.0 aperature when not zoomed, which lets in a LOT of light for exceptionally good low light indoor images. Compare to the usual F3.3 aperature on most other compact point & shoot cameras which does not let in as much light. Plus this camera uses a BSI (Back Side Illuminated) CMOS sensor to capture the image which is a later technology to capture more light and therefore have less noise in low light images. The combination of the F2.0 aperature and the BSI CMOS sensor results in exceptional low light indoor image quality. I bought 3 other compact P&S cameras prior to buying the Elph 500HS, and returned all 3 because they took such poor low light indoor images. They all had enough noise in low light images that the cameras did excessive noise reduction which made their low light images have a smeary water color look. The low light images from this Elph 500HS has substantially less noise so Canon did not have to do excessive noise reduction on the images. This results in natural looking and SHARP indoor images. --- Any camera can take good outdoor images but the true test is noise free, sharp indoor images.Folks who buy a compact point & shoot camera like this Elph 500HS don't normally want to fool with manual controls. But the 500HS does have Aperature and Shutter priority modes for folks who do like to control those parameters. This camera uses a touch screen which reviewers find not as good as an iPhone, but shooters who buy this camera don't want to fool with controls anyway. Actually, the touch screen is better when selecting images to playback. Just flick the zoom ring to the left to display small thumbnails (more presses = smaller thumbnails) and then touch the image you want to display on the screen. This is much easier than using navigation buttons to select an image for playback.To record video, when you're taking pictures, there's a small red icon on the screen. Just touch that red record icon and the camera starts recording video. Then touch the red stop icon and the video recording stops. Couldn't be simpler.Finally, this camera has a forward facing flash that doesn't pop up out of the camera. My wife would hate having a flash pop up under her finger when shooting indoors. Plus that would force her to hold the camera a little differently which she wouldn't want to do.My wife and I both love this camera.

Like many, I have a DSLR and a dedicated video camera, but wanted something smaller and pocketable that I could take with me everywhere. While I would have loved something in the category of a Canon S95 or S100, they are really so significantly out of my price range that they were out of the question as a second camera. The Nikon P300 was closer on price, and had a couple extra features the Elph 500 HS lacked, but for the money, the Elph 500 HS seemed to give me most of what I wanted so I thought I'd give it a try.Physically I love this camera. It feels solidly built. The brown color is a nice change from silver/black and it still looks like a serious camera. I like that there's a separate button for image review, which only warrants its separate button status because it also acts as a power button; if you press it while the power is off it turns on for image review but doesn't extend the lens. The camera is pretty heavy for its size; I don't mind it, but it's a bit too thick and heavy to carry in a shirt pocket. The one dislike I have about the controls is the zoom control which is a little small.Of course the main feature of this camera is the touch screen. I'm not a big fan of touch screens since physical buttons can often be operated by feel while you of course have to look closely at a touch screen to use it. I was a little bit concerned about how good this one would be, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The screen is responsive enough as far as pressing buttons is concerned. Any operations that involve dragging your finger across the screen I find a little frustrating. But overall, the enhanced capabilities offered by the touch screen (such as touch focusing, being able to quickly select an image to view, and being able to reassign virtual buttons) really outweigh the occasional menu annoyance. The little mini-stylus provided on the wrist strap might be helpful to some but I don't use it.I am pretty happy with the low-light performance, which was one of the key features for me since I'm not a fan of indoor flash. Between all the various features of the camera, I can get away without a flash more often than I can on my DSLR, which is good because the Elph's lens partially blocks the flash at close distances. I really love the image stabilization. It makes a HUGE difference for both stills and video. There is even a slow-sync flash to help with those low-light flash exposures, so you can expose both the subject and background properly as well as employ some creative techniques. Some of the low-light (or high-speed) modes are rather gimmicky in my opinion because they reduce the resolution to 3MP but in some cases you don't care.I was looking for some amount of manual control. The Elph 500 has a (relatively narrow) exposure override, aperture priority and shutter priority modes, but few options for available shutter speeds and apertures, so it's somewhat limited in flexibility, and without a physical controls (like a jog wheel or dial) it can be a little tedious to select your settings. I also find the 15-sec max exposure time to be a bit arbitrary and limiting. I guess I can understand the lack of 'bulb' setting since there's no remote shutter release. There is no manual focus other than locking the focus on infinity, but touch focusing, possibly assisted by AF lock, mostly replaces manual focus.Auto mode takes some getting used to. I think people expect a failproof 'auto' mode, but the reality is that cameras do not necessarily always make the same decisions a photographer would make. This is why the manual modes are handy to have, and I think in a lot of cases it's also why people can be disappointed in how their pictures turn out if they shoot in full auto. It is possible, for example, for the camera to choose a focus point that you wouldn't choose, but that's why it SHOWS you what it's focused on, it can show you a zoomed-in closeup of that area, and you can override the camera's choice if you want. Another example - auto white balance can result in changing white balance across a series of shots if lighting conditions change slightly. Full auto often results in a great picture, just not always! Basically I would suggest it takes some practice to learn how to make the camera take the shot you want, even in full auto.Some really great time-saving features: I love the ability to scroll through pictures by tapping on the side of the camera, so that you can keep your fingers away from the screen. I like being able to put some particular often-used functions (like ISO setting) in unused 'button' spaces on the touch screen. Blink detection actually turns out to be pretty handy, quicker than trying to look closely at faces yourself after you take every shot. The battery charges quickly (but of course it runs down quickly too). Power-on delay is short, zooming is quick, and focusing is reasonably fast.Some things I don't really care for: as many have said, the door covering the USB and other ports is horrible, but I personally don't use those ports, preferring to pop the card out and transfer everything to my computer, rather than print directly from the camera (which works great though), plug the camera into the computer, or view images/movies directly on my tv. Some of the shooting modes are not really that useful, either because they reduce the resolution to accomplish them, they don't work particularly well, or they are special effects that would be better applied in post-processing rather than a permanent part of your shot, but I guess they're there for people who do not want to have to do any post-processing. The super-slow-mo movies are rather gimmicky and the quality is really ragged but my kids LOVE watching themselves be silly in slow motion.Overall I think it was a good choice. I personally wouldn't want this as my ONLY camera, and it's probably a bit of overkill for a really casual photographer for whom a $100 model would do fine, but it works great and fits my needs perfectly.

The ELPH 500 HS is easy and fun to use and takes great pictures in automatic and program modes. The special effects are great. The touch screen menus are easy to follow and you can customize them to suit your needs. The large LCD screen is terrific.I was on the fence about a touch screen camera but I'm glad I bought this one. It's easy to use but not as fast or sensitive as a smart phone. That's bad if you like your smart phone but good because it makes it hard to accidentally change a setting. The screen doesn't seem to pick up finger prints as fast as a smart phone either.I also wasn't sure about not having a view finder. With the screen on this camera I can't imagine ever using a view finder, even in bright sun. Not an issue for me.My only caution is to always, always, always use the wrist strap with this camera especially at first. Having the corners knocked off makes it very comfortable to hold but I've also had it slip few times when I wasn't expecting it.Love this camera so far.

I am a passionate point and shoot picture taker. I'm the person in the family who drives everyone crazy at every family affair by taking non-stop pictures. I know absolutely nothing about the technical aspects. I have not been able to take a decent indoor picture. I never wanted to go the route of SLR because of the expense and bulk/weight of carrying a big camera. I have owned Cannon, as well as a Sony, Nikon, Olumpus, and Lumix cameras. I just started using this camera for Christmas pictures. This camera has provided the nicest indoor flash pictures I have ever taken. With some of the pictures the flash didn't go off (so far have only used the automatic setting and I haven't had time how to figure out how to force the flash yet) and those pictures turned out very nice!! Soft and interesting. The pictures in front of the Christmas tree where the flash didn't go off-probably because of the tree lights-turned out absolutely beautiful!! I didn't think I would like the touch screen, but it is easy to read and works well.

PROS:1. Excellent Video clips in rooms like studios, night clubs, or stage events with incandescent light. Much better performance than the newer ELPH 510 and 520 models. Better clips than most high end SLRs. Thats why I bought this camera.2. I like the on off button. Small button must be really pressed and held down to switch on, and wont get pressed by mistake when camera is in my travel case, backpack, or back pocket. (I say this because the Panasonic I bought has a slide on-off switch that always turns on my mistake when the camera is in my backpack, and my battery is drained when I arrive. Very Annoying.CONS:1. Fragile Lens Barrel -plastic and easy to break. I dropped the camera on the rug while lens was out, and it jammed and broke the lens barrel. Repair cost more than the camera. Had to buy another one.2. Fragile leaf lens cover. Camera was in my back pocket in a soft case. I sat on the camera and bent the leaves on the lens cover. Cover sticks opening and closing. This is a common complaint and many owners have dumped the camera as used on ebay because of this issue, but easy to fix yourself. Carefully take off the leaf ring, remove the leaves, press on the leaves on a flat surface to flatten them again, re-attach the springs to the leaves, press the cover back on, good as new. A camera repair shop can do this but charges a lot of money.3. Low light photos are a little grainy. Disappointed for a 12 megapixel camera, but mainly I bought the camera for low light video clips, not for low light photos.In spite of the cons, this is a MUST HAVE pocket camera for short video clips and vacation travel. Videos are rich color and clear in low light. Sad that Canon discontinued the 500 model. I broke another one and amazon is running out of them. The higher models 510 and 520 are not as effective in low light.