Rating: 
Summary: I LOVE THIS CAMERA!
Review: I just got this camera from Amazon yesterday. Already I am taking BEAUTIFUL pictures and downloading them easily to my computer with the USB cables. I am not the most technical person, but I am finding the camera and software easy to use and the instructions clear and easy to follow. The picture quality is fantastic! Much better than the scans I usually do at 300dpi. I really researched this purchase and the features and image quality of this camera far surpasses everything else in the price range. For the features and the 3.3 megapixels most cameras cost twice what Amazon is charging for the S20. And with the camera bag and extra 32 meg compactflash card included Amazon has the best deal on this camera anywhere! Believe me, I checked! I did follow the advice of previous reviewers and got the ac adapter kit and the rechargeable batteries. Most digital cameras eat batteries and I can easily believe that this one is no exception. Even including the extras, this camera is a terrific bargain. I am totally delighted with my purchase!!
Rating:
Summary: Great little camera
Review: I love this little camera. Picture quality is great. On a recent vacation , I took many photos in lighting conditions ranging from brilliant sun to almost total darkness. The resulting pictures were of consistently good quality. I was able to capture close-up pics of a large praying mantis using the macro feature. Again, the resulting photo was of excellent quality. The camera's controls and menus are logically laid out and easy to use. The camera is very compact and easy to carry. It fits comfortably in the side pocket of my motorcycle riding suit. Battery life is reasonable if the LCD display is used sparingly. To date, I haven't found any real cons to this product.
Rating: 
Summary: compatibiluty with windows xp
Review: I owned this camera for a year. Recently, I'd a serious problem to upgrade it to Windows XP. The USB driver WIA 3.9.1. downloaded from Canon site had 2 problems: 1. It failed to pass XP signature check, 2. It won't work. In addition, my XP doesn't show Canon brand name in the Scanner/Printer/Camera field. I suggest that Canon can provide the customers with a free CD upgrade to XP user with a shipping charge.
Rating:
Summary: I LOVE IT1
Review: I RECEIVED THE S20 VALUE PACKAGE ABOUT A WEEK AGO AND IT'S GREAT...ESPECIALLY FOR AN ELECTRONICS NOVICE SUCH AS MYSELF..IT TAKES GREAT PICTURES WITHOUT HAVING TO BE FIDDLED WITH. I WOULD RECOMMEND BUYING THE RECHARGEABLE BATTERY UNIT WITH A COUPLE OF EXTRA RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES (A NON-RECHARGE BATTERY COMES WITH THE PACKAGE AND LASTS ONLY A SHORT TIME, RETAIL COST FOR A REPLACEMENT IS AROUND $15.00) ALSO, THE SOFTWARE IS NOT VERY USER FRIENDLY (FOR AN IDIOT LIKE MYSELF) SO THE PURCHASE OF A BOOK ON THE SOFTWARE IS IN ORDER. ALSO, I HAVE FOUND A GOOD AND I MEAN GOOD COLOR PRINTER IS THE ONLY WAY TO DO A CAMERA WITH THE 3.3 MEGAPIXELS JUSTICE. THEN ENJOY...I HAVE.
Rating: 
Summary: There are better choices
Review: I recently bought the Canon Powershot S20 for my parents. After getting great results from the Canon Powershot G1 I figured that other cameras from Canon must be OK, too. Indeed, it is an OK camera, but not more. The G1 is a SUPERB camera! Many consider it the best consumer digicam. I certainly believe it. Please go to the customer reviews for Powershot G1 to get a sense what it can do. The S20, in contrast, is not up to par. While the G1 takes crispy sharp pictures, S20 takes only passable images. I believe it uses zone focusing like a point and shoot, so the pictures are not sharp. These type of focusing techniques may be OK for a 1 megapixel digital camera, but for a 3.3 megapixel digicam it makes no sense. Now I might be spoiled by the G1, and I might very well be wrong about the focusing technique of the S20. But I suggest potential buyers make at least a comparison with other cameras, particularly the G1, to see the differences. When doing the comparison, make sure to shoot a few outdoor images under various focal length and distance. Don't just shoot far away objects. Then decide it yourself. Another problem is with the rechargable battery. It gives about 50 pictures on a single charge. But there are problems. First, it takes FOREVER to charge up. While my G1 takes about an hours to be charged up (and it takes hundreds of pictures), the S20 battery takes eternity! Worse, the battery suffers from the "memory" problem. You have to completely drain the battery to recharge it in order to keep it effective. I suggest you buy at least one, if not two, spare batteries. If you are even semi-serious about taking good photos you should bypass this camera. You should wait until a new and better model is available, or buy the G1 for about $200 more. If you are satisfied with the point and shoot nature, you don't need the 3.3 megapix! You can save money with a 2 megapix or even one megapix digicam. You'll be equally happy.
Rating: 
Summary: The Powershot S20 is a great buy.
Review: I would strongly recomend this camera, I bought it to supplement my SLR for trips where I don't have room to carry a big camera around. It is very small and fits nicely into my pocket which is great for travel to countries where you don't want people to know you have money. I would definitely recomend buying the rechargeable battery kit, a spare battery and at least 128MB of extra memory. The picture quality is very good especially in the manual mode where you can change the type of light metering, the white balance and many other adjustments.
Rating:
Summary: J. Hummel on the Canon S 20
Review: I'm brand new at the use of digital cameras, but I am really excited about the performance of the S 20. Also high quality photos. I'm amazed at all the features. I'm still learning how to use them well. The power kit is a must, since you can go thru a regular battery in one set of photos. Also the AC adapter is great for computer and television interface...
Rating:
Summary: Great camera, no complaint
Review: It is just more than a year I have bought this camera, it is great especially it is very handy for taking daily family pictures, the quality is good and I've also tried to make prints using printers and through print shop, both are good. Of course, it depends very much on your printer quality as well.
Besides, I have bought IBM 1GB microdrive, very good price performance on storage, I use this when my family went to vacation, such that all photos could be put on the microdrive without taking a notebook with me. With the highest resolution, 1GB microdrive can store more than 1000 pictures. Not bad for even a two-week trip. I would suggest to buy one to two more rechargable batteries, since one battery would roughly take 50 pictures. Three batteries allow you to take 150 picture a day. Though it is over a year, I may still very satisfy with it....
Rating:
Summary: Great deal, great camera.
Review: No one who gets an S20 is going to be disappointed. It is sturdy, well balanced in the hand and has some really great features. Its 3+ megapixel resolution will yield perfect detail on 8" x 10" enlargements. I chose, however, not to keep the S20, but only because the 2x optical zoom was not adequate for my needs (sporting events). It does have a 4x digital zoom, but this particular technology is a poor substitute for an optical zoom (basically, using a digizoom to double the central image necessarily halves the resolution; using the full 4x digizoom on the S20 yields 1/4 the original resolution). However, if a 2x zoom is adequate for your needs most of the time, this is the best camera available at present. The fact that it can use an IBM microdrive instead of relying solely upon CompactFlash memory cards is a really nice bonus.
Rating:
Summary: S20 - Canon must fix magenta problem with s/w patch
Review: The camera is great. I use it with a 350Mb microdrive. I thought that the magenta problem when using the flash at night might have been fixed in newer production models. I was wrong. I really cannot understand why Canon cannot release a firmware upgrade that fixes this issue - after all everything is software controlled. Get your act together Canon - you have a reputation to maintain!
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