PowerShot Pro1 Digital Camera (8.0MP, 3264x2448, 7x Opt, 64MB CompactFlash

Manufacturer: Canon
Model: 9140A001
Max Focal Length: 50.8 mm
Max Horizontal Image Resolution: 3264 dpi
Max Aperture: 8 1/f
Image Format: JPEG|RAW
Average User RatingAverage User RatingAverage User Rating: Number of User Reviews: 12

Reviewed by: azjoe35 from AZ on Dec 6, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 7 Months

Strengths: Clear pictures, flexibility (AE settings, manual focus ability), sturdy frame, many options.

Weaknesses: Lense ring required (included) to attach any filters. Using this with built in flash will create a slight shadow at the bottom of the picture due to size of ring.

Summary: (Edited December 06th by azjoe35) Over-all the camera is wonderful with the exception of the weakness above and the fact that 2 filters at wide-angle leaves slightly darkened corners in the picture. The battery life is good but you only have about 14 shots when the "fuel gauge" alerts you that you are getting low. I found a great 2nd battery on E-bay for about $14. There is quite a bit of noise at 200 and 400 ISO but 50 and 100 are flawless. There is enough flexibility to allow me to be creative. This was important to me coming from 26 years of 35mm SLR shooting. There are 3 choices if you want to shoot "Fine" "Superfine" and "Normal" I find little difference in either so I stick to Fine and get many more pictures.
1. I find the built in flash surprisingly powerful for most of my usage. There are many thoughtful options (to many to list) that took me awhile to remember them all. Overall it's a great camera except for the filter ring issues.

Reviewed by: kenthomas from NC on May 19, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 7 Weeks

Strengths: Excellent pictures,great macro mode

Weaknesses: Extremely slow auto focus,no focus assist light

Summary: If you had the best camera there was, that took the best picture possible, what would be the point of having it, if it was unable to get a focus, and you kept missing your moment. Extremely hard to focus at evening light, overcast day, or in a well lite room. On a $1000 dollar camera you would think it would have a focus assist light.

Reviewed by: monty697 from CA on Apr 29, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 3 Weeks

Strengths: nice macro mode, picks up lots of detail, sturdy build, long battery life.

Weaknesses: Extremely slow auto focus. menu buttons scattered all over.

Summary: This was suppose to be canon's flagship. Yet I feel it was one of the worse canon's i've owned and I had quite a few. This camera is very awkward to hold and one can get tired very fast. Try to take a picture of anything moving and you can forget about it as it will probably take you twenty shots before you get one to come out right. A VERY disappointing camera. Stay away, far away from this one.

Reviewed by: WarrenFwy from CA on Jun 17, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 3 Weeks

Strengths: Excellent pictures, easy to use, sturdy build, good focal range, strong flash

Weaknesses: Pricey batteries

Summary: I got this camera to replace my aging Canon SLR film camera -- with a wide-angle lens and 70-200 mm zoom I was carrying almost 8 pounds of camera on backpacking trips. With the Pro1, I've got the same focal length range in a 1.5 pound package.

I love the way the camera feels in my hand, and the variety of positions I can hold it. The metering is excellent and it's been taking great pictures. I don't share the criticism of some other reviewers about focusing time -- it seems to lock in within a second or so even indoors -- certainly faster than I can focus my SLR. This is a complex machine with a 28-200 mm focal range -- it's not a simple fixed-focus point-and -shoot. All that complexity and the associated glass results in some loss of light-gathering ability, but this is a compromise I'm used to in zoom lenses for my SLR.

I'd recommend everyone to read the reviews at dpreview.com -- the most comprehensive, technical, and unbiased reviews I found on 8 megapixel cameras. I tried a few of the others, but the Nikon 8700 felt plasticy and the Sony F828 felt good but was huge and heavy. The reviews saying the Minolta has trouble focusing at infinity scared me away from using it for landscapes.

I find the Powershot Pro 1 easy to use for quick snaps, with enough versitility to bracket exposures and change manual settings to suit the most difficult or most creative situations.

Reviewed by: point1 from NY on Apr 16, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 1 Weeks

Strengths: 8 MP, canon L-lens 28-200mm,auto or manual everything, bright LCD screen and viewfinder, and CD software.

Weaknesses: High price, no focus-assist lamp, and no camera case.

Summary: The Powershot Pro1 is a high-featured point-and-shoot type camera with an exceptional lens. While testing the camera during the week, picture qualities were excellent. The ability to have direct printing features built into camera for most new canon printers, this was an added bonus. All major buttons are easily accessible. To know all the buttons, the user must read the manual thoroughly.

Focusing on the camera was a little slow, but most pictures with slight movements are acceptable. Three weak features on camera that I experienced are (1) no focus-assist lamp during low light picture situations, (2) when using the included filter adapter attachment, built-in flash does not cover picture at wide-angle setting (28mm); The appearance of dark spot on bottom center of picture, (3) you can only use the included lens hood without the filter adapter attachment.

Overall, this camera would have been excellent if the three items were addressed. But I would still recommend this camera on it's strengths.

Reviewed by: hannama on Apr 25, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 14 Days

Strengths: zoom range, though it's not unique

Weaknesses: Focus locking is very slow, no AF assist light, struggles at evenings outdoors,or under normal lighting in the living room

Summary: I must say taht Canon has made a pig's ear of this model with little regard to their reputation! It's impossible to take pictures of children unless you freeze their motion for a few seconds!!to allow the focus to lock and release the shutter, the magic moment by then is certainly screwed!! Similarliy, any slightly moving object is a nightmare to take picture of. I've owned the Minolta Dimage 7i, Nikon coolpix 5700 and Sony F828 and was delighted. Very disappointing experience. Buyers be ware!

Reviewed by: vkmeinhold from FL on Apr 16, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 6 Days

Strengths: Fantastic photos. Solid, well built, fast startup, intutive menu. A great snapshot camera.

Weaknesses: not quite comfortable in my hands. LCD viewfinder vs optical. Zoom not very smooth - seems incramental.

Summary: This is my 6th digital camera, I started with the Casio QV10 in 1996. Im a graphic designer using my camera for work - but more often in leisure.

I bought the PowerShot Pro 1 as a smaller supliment to my Canon EOS 10D, which is too large for many informal situations.

Its hard to take a bad picture with the PowerShot Pro 1. Time after time - each shot comes out exposed and focused great. If you want great image quality on the fly - this camera can not be beat, even rivals my EOS 10D (L glass).

Just get a big memory card - 8MP images eat memory cards for lunch.

Reviewed by: splint on Dec 22, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 4 Months

Strengths: Very easy to use. Great sharpness, Super Makro is great. Good batteries that last long. Easy to update new software by USB-cable. Very many, to comfort an ambitieus photographer.usefull possibilities.

Weaknesses: Taking pictures of moving things or people is almost impossible. The camera is too slow... Focussing in low light is worse. Using 200 and 400 ISO deliveres pickled pictures.

Summary: It should have an imagestabilzer, it's too slow for taking action pictures. Therefore not useable in low light conditions, but still it is for 8 out of 10 pictures a great camera with perfect image quality. The large moveble display is great for taking pic's from all angles.
If they remove the weaknesses it's a superb camera.

Reviewed by: lareba from CA on Apr 19, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 3 Weeks

Strengths: It takes excellent pictures. It's hard to take a bad one. I love the swivel LCD screen. The camera is easy to use, once I read all the instructions. It is substantial feeling and has a snappy start up

Weaknesses: A little heavey for me because my last one was a Canon A80(which was alittle too light), but for the added resolution the trade off is fine. Would've been nice to have an inexpensive camera case added

Summary: The camera is great for the novice or the pro. Most newbies can take the camera out of the box and have excellent image results. The pros will have fun with all the bells and whistles. I am still learning about these, and look forward to getting to know the camera more intimately. I just got a small camera bag for this little jewel. I will have no problem taking anywhere I go without a ton of equipment to lug around.

When it comes down to it the picture quality is one of the best out there. The colors are true, and I never have gotten more clear sharp images. I keep it at the Super fine setting and am amazed at the detail this camera picks up. One of the good things about this is that I can crop a tiny part of the picture and still have fantastic resolution.

Reviewed by: horseflyhill from NC on Jul 14, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 2 Months

Strengths: Compact size, ability to have a decent focal length lens.

Weaknesses: I have not personaly experienced the problems with low light that others seem to have done.

Summary: I am finding that with the swivel I can take pictures from varying perspectives without having to lie down, or otherwise come up with possibly dangerous positions when taking pics outdoors. I find the fill in flash work well. When taking low light pics, I am using slow shutter speeds and a very small tripod I almost always carry with me. The timer helps a lot in this situation also.
My last Canon was a T90. Avery fine camera pre-auto focus. I still use it from time to time. But this one is now my baby.
I switched from a Fuji finepix 6900. I am well satisfied. If you research the camera before buying as I did, you won't be dissappointed. I got exactly what I was expecting.

Reviewed by: summerwind from CA on May 8, 2004
Rating:

Experience:

Strengths: DSLR quality pictures without the Post processing. colors are to be seen to be believed. AF is the most accurate i've seen in some time. excellent ergonomics, buttons are where they should be.

Weaknesses: none

Summary: the menus are very well laid out and none of the phony baloney gimmicks like you see in the other brands are there to confuse you.
the only limitation is when using the zoom above 85mm in real low light, but who uses a zoom at 85mm or more in a dark room?..........like i said above, the AF is so accurate, that you can go all day shooting without ever wondering if the shot will be sharp..........i like my DSLR's, and usually don't use program modes on a camera, but the Pro1 i have is used in "P" mode all the time........the exposures are always right on the money and the AWB is the most accurate i've ever seen.
the camera is small enough that you just dont's mind carrying it everywhere, but it's robust enough so that you don't feel like you are holding a toy.
i run prints directly from this camera to my i900D printer, and it's a real joy not to have to post process all my shots.......Canon got it right on this one!!

Reviewed by: blvilla23 from IL on Apr 4, 2004
Rating:

Experience: 3 Days

Strengths: Viewfinder & LCD excellent, great flash, filter adapter & lens hood included, nice size (expected it to be larger from preview pictures), histogram (only in review mode). Good pictures indoors & out.

Weaknesses: Location of delete button, no firewire, usb 1.1.

Summary: (Edited April 04th by blvilla23) This is my first digital camera. The camera comes delivered defaulted to continous AF mode. The noise the motor makes is not loud but you can silence the camera by changing the AF to single AF. The metering in manual mode takes some getting used to for a beginner like me. It would be nice to have live view histogram like the Olympus 8080.