When my trusty old point and shoot 35mm finally died, I went looking for a new camera with one thing in mind: convenience. My first few rolls had very disappointing picture quality.. as the images were fuzzy, and anything less than perfect light had a large impact. While I thought being able to switch sizes between normal, wide, and panoramic, was a huge draw, the panoramics come out quite fuzzy and grainy as they just magnify the limitations of the format.
And, for these lower quality photographs, you have to pay more to get them developed! Both the film and the developing are significantly more expensive than my 35mm days. I have heard that picture quality can vary based on who develops them, but I have yet to find a winner in that department.
Basically, I got what I wanted: A camera that was easy to use, not a pain to carry around, and with a decent amount of features. But as I said, I am not much of a photographer, now I feel that with the ELPH, I could never become one. On my last vacation, we made sure any ’’good picture opportunities’’ were taken with a different camera instead of/along with the ELPH, just so we wouldn’t be stuck with ’’a good picture ruined by a bad photo.’’
While the size and ease of use of the ELPH are quite attractive, be warned. That convenience becomes awfully expensive in terms of poor photo quality and film costs.