Rating: 
Summary: Weak flash
Review: The built-in flash of Pro 1 is very weak. I use this camera mostly indoor now because we just had a baby. Almost every time the pictures have dark corners (not my shadow, BTW). Last week we brought some relatives to Luray Cavern in Virginia, the flash illustrated the people ok but not the stone columns behind. The built-in flash on my brother's old 3.2 mp Olympus did the much, much better job. Finally I decided to buy a external flash ($100+). Now the problem is solved.
Rating: 
Summary: I love my Powershot Pro1
Review: The PowerShot Pro1 is a camera designed to be familiar to current Canon owners, easy enough to use for first time buyers and yet still provide a semiprofessional feel and feature set. Canon has borrowed from its professional lens line to put an L quality label on the lens system to indicate that this is a new lens and it has been designed to fulfill the high resolution requirements of an eight megapixel CCD. In use the Canon felt slightly slower than I was expecting, certainly not much faster than the G5 and I didn't see any marked improvement in speed overall from that camera.Overall image quality was good, that L lens proving it can deliver the resolution and that Canon's reliable DiGiC image processor can turn out a quality image with good tonal and color balance and no noticeable artifacts. Http://www.powershotpro1.com
Rating:
Summary: The best of the 8 megapixel digicams
Review: The Powershot Pro1 is the best all-around 8 megapixel digicam. It is compact (unlike the Olympus 8080, Sony F828, and Konica Minolta A2); has a fast 28-200 lens (Olympus only goes to 140mm equivalent, Nikon doesn't allow wide angle); and allows for fine adjustment of focal length (Olympus and Nikon use a crude zoom lever that makes it difficult to zoom exactly as you want to). An additional important point is that the Powershot can actually be used in RAW mode: the Olympus, Sony, and Nikon cameras lock-up for a while after taking a picture in RAW mode (this means the camera is not usable for up to 12 seconds after a RAW picture is taken). Perhaps the closest competitor to the Powershot Pro1 is the Konica Minolta A2, but the A2 has an old lens design that lacks the resolution of the Powershot Pro1, and the A2 is much bigger, lacks the high resolution LCD screen on the Pro1, and has limited movement of its LCD screen. The A2 has a very high resolution viewfinder, but with a good LCD screen (like the Pro1), using a viewfinder is not preferable (for me at least). The A2 also has been noted in online reviews to have quality control problems. Comparisons aside, some reviewers here have suggested that the Pro1 has "slow" autofocus and that the LCD screen freezes for a moment as the autofocus operates. The conclusion given is that the Pro1 is therefore difficult to use with moving subjects. The difficulty, however, is primarily with photographic technique rather than the camera's autofocus system. Because of the sensor size and lens design, the Pro1 has a large depth of field, meaning that subjects will appear in focus over a fairly large distance. Even at the telephoto end, the depth of field for a portrait (e.g. 100mm) at f/4.5 will be sufficient that you can pre-focus the lens and follow a moving subject easily. The shutter response is very very fast when the lens is already at its focus point. This is a standard technique often overlooked by people who never used a manual focus camera. And this technique is far better than relying on the autofocus system in any of the 8 megapixel cameras: none of them is faster than intelligent pre-focusing! The Pro1 makes this even easier by allowing the user to store a focus distance in the Custom1 and Custom2 settings. This is a terrific camera. No camera is perfect, but the Pro1 makes the best compromises in its class. And for those worried about image noise when looking at photos magnified on screen: this is eliminated from actual prints using any of several noise reduction software packages. Don't be afraid to use 400 speed on the Pro1, put the file through good noise reduction software, and print it. The result will still be very nice.
Rating:
Summary: Great design, fair image quality
Review: This is by far the best sub-SLR digital camera out there in my opinion, but it still isn't perfect. The image quality beats the pants off of what any of my previous Sony's could do. The color accuracy is much better, and overall exposure is much more balanced. However, the Pro 1 suffers from grainyness in all images - even ones taken in bright sunlight. Shadowed areas look pretty awful when you zoom in on them. But, since we're talking 8+ megapixels, that grain is usually not noticable at all at viewing sizes. It's only when you zoom in that you can see a large amount of grain, but even bright blue skies look like sandpaper when you start to zoom in.
The only other problem I can report is an apparent dead-pixel problem with their CCD's. I bought my Pro 1 and a few days later I noticed that all of my shots had a spattering of red pixels in areas of the images. Ends up there were quite a few 5+ dead pixels on the CCD, so I returned it to the store and exchanged it for another one. Two weeks later I noticed a single (but very large) dead pixel on the CCD. I haven't dealt with that yet since I need the camera right now, but if that dead pixel continues to bug me I'll probably complain. So, since I got two separate Pro 1's and *both* had bad pixels on the CCD, I'd encourage you to test your Pro 1 as soon as you get it and look for bad pixels.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, with a couple of minor flaws
Review: This is my 3rd Canon Digital camera - Powershot G2 and G3 were the previous ones. Took 20,000 pics with them. Things I love about the Powershot Pro1:
-takes excellent macro (close-up) photos. The clarity is incredible, especially when using the "Super Macro" mode.
-Color is exccellent.
-Moveable LCD panel on back. I take mostly nature shots - closeups. This allows me to take photos from positions I could never get into without the moveable panel. Shoot from under flowers, raise the camera up to shoot down onto flowers that are above my head, etc.
-battery life is superb - about 400-600 or more photos per charge.
-the 7x zoom is awesome. From 30 feet I can take a photo of a 2" diameter flower and see the details of the flower in the resulting pic.
-Many advanced features. READ THE MANUAL! You won't discover this camera's full potential until you do. Drawbacks:
-The first Pro1 I got had dust and fibers INSIDE the lens. I was able to trade it for another one 2 weeks later after I discovered the flaw - the dust and fibers were only visible when examining the lens in sunlight. One of the replacement camera they were going to give me also had dust inside the lens.
-This second unit I had became defective after 2 weeks. The zoom lens started moving in and out with jerks - sticking. So now I am on my 3rd Pro1 unit. Hopefully the problems with the prior ones are not typical!!
-Slow focussing and composition, as mentioned in other reviews. Not as much of a problem for me, as I do mostly plant photos. But it has caused me to miss butterfly shots.
-The lens cap is a pain to put on and remove. A simple push-on one would've been MUCH better. And I am wondering if the necessary action of squeezing the two little tabs all the time caused the failure of my 2nd unit (lens movement sticking - this action may be always pushing the lens from side to side, and cause the mechanism to wear prematurely?
-Have to watch exposures. I find my photos are often overexposed. I have learned the conditions under which this happens, and have learned to compensate for it (which is easy to do). But this was an issue with the G2 & G3 also.
-Regular macro mode is poor at auto-focussing. However, the "Super-Macro" mode is VERY good at auto-focussing. So far, I HIGHLY recommend this camera. I have taken 4000 pics with it in the 40 days I have had a Pro1, and I like it a lot.
It has very advanced features, and even has more features than the Rebel. For example, you can select center-spot metering - can't do that on the Rebel except in Manual mode (if I recall correctly). It is "pseudo-SLR" in that the vewfinder displays the same info as the LCD panel. The zoom is excellent, although some people don't like the "zoom-by-wire" aspect of it.
Rating:
Summary: This camera is a Gem
Review: This is my 5th digital and the best of the lot. I have been getting consistently sharp pictures with a huge amount of detail and correct color saturation from day 1. I love the swivel LCD and found the camera to be easy to operate.
If all you are going to do is point and shoot this is the camera for you. If you like control of aperture, shutter speed, white light etc....., this is also the camera for you. I like to keep the camera at super fine resolution and find the amount of detail this camera picks up astounding. Even if I crop out a tiny section of the image the resolution is excellent. The battery life is very good. Most people will need a 512 MG or larger card though. Maybe an extra battery too. What could make the camera better? Perhaps a lower price tag, and an inexpensive camera case. My poor camera sat around unprotected for 2 weeks! I know, not all camera come with a bag or case in their package, but it would have been nice. Bottom line is the picture quality is one of the best of the 8 MGP digicams out there right now. The small size is a definate plus for me, and it starts up quickly and handles very well. Not the best in lowlight situations, but for me the other advantages outnumber this one feature.
Rating:
Summary: Take the time
Review: This is the fifth digital camera I have owned...I've had 12 35mm cameras before this. Without a doubt this is the best of the lot! I have taken 5,000 pictures and movies with it alreadyand have learned that you must be patient initially to see just what this incredible Canon product can do. All the criticisms of it are from people who seem to think you should use the automatic settings for all the extreme types of photos. This is not the case. Just like any pro type camera, there are times when you should crack the manual and try all the myriad of settings. Believe me you will not be sorry if you do just that.
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