Canon PowerShot ELPH 330 HS 12.1 MP Wi-Fi Enabled CMOS Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom 24mm Wide-Angle Lens and 1080p Full HD Video (Silver)

I have just finished taking my new Canon PowerShot ELPH 330 HS camera through a lengthy shakedown cruise. I have learned a number of things about it and will share my findings as clearly as I can.You should know that I have far more digital cameras than one person should own. My experience with them over the years has given me some degree of confidence in what I say about the Canon ELPH 330HS. This is my second Canon camera. I also own a Canon PowerShot SX230 HS which is similar in several ways.I am an avid amateur travel photographer and my remarks are influenced by using my cameras extensively for that purpose.I hope the following observations will help you make a decision about the Canon PowerShot ELPH 330 HS.Pros:* The camera is quite small and a true pocket dweller.* Mine is silver in color and it looks great.* It takes excellent pictures with the AUTO setting, but there are many options for those who think they can do better manually.* It has an extensive of list of shooting modes for every situation.* It has face recognition along with blink and smile shooting features.* The low light capacity of the camera is outstanding.* 12.1 megapixels put a lot of detail in the pictures.* The 10x optical zoom is plenty and the anti-shake feature keeps them crisp.* The image stabilization feature works very well and it is automatic.* Close-up shots are beautiful.* The WiFi feature is outstanding technology and that makes this camera special.* I use the WiFi in my ELPH 330 HS for wirelessly transferring photos to both iOS devices and PC computers. That is amazing.* The camera stores images on SD memory cards so pictures can be shared with a computer that way too.* Using the WiFi one can also upload photos directly to social networks or email.* I used the free Apple app Camera Window to connect with my iPod 5g and it worked better than the Canon suggestions found in the DVD instruction manual.* Paring with a PC computer is a bit tricky, but it can be done by ordinary mortals.* The display window on the camera is large and bright.* The 330HS movies are excellent and there are a number of shooting options available.* There is even full HD video in stereo sound available.* The fit and finish are very good and that means this is a solid high quality camera.Cons:* Setting up the WiFi feature is not all that easy even though some of it is automatic.* WiFi photo transfer is somewhat slow, but no problem.* The camera controls are not made for large fingers.* I miss the manual shooting mode wheel--poking around on screen based options is too slow to be useful if scenes, locations and objects change rapidly.* The instruction manual on the provided DVD is confusing for setting up WiFi.* The Hybrid movie feature is strange and seems to have limited purpose.* I have yet to determine what the body of this camera is made of. It seems very light in weight which suggests plastic, but maybe aluminum.* One can get bogged down and confused by the myriad of options available and it is difficult to find the way back out of unwanted settings. There is a way to re-set everything just in case.That is about all of the first impression information I can offer. I plan to carry my new ELPH 330 HS to Europe later in the spring and hope to take advantage of the WiFi features for sending photos back home to friends and relatives while I am traveling abroad.UPDATE:I have just returned from two weeks in Great Britain and almost 700 photos taken with my Canon ELPH 330 HS and I was very satisfied with the how it performed. This little camera did everything I asked of it. Transferring all of those pictures to my iPad and to my Windows 7 laptop via WiFi was a perfect addition to the many other features. I am even more impressed with this camera after putting it to a very rigorous test. I bumped the camera around a lot on our trip and without a case on it. I even dropped it once and it kept on ticking. As a travel camera it is the best of the bunch as far as I am concerned.

I wanted something better than my note 2 phone camera. All the shots I got from the canon were mostly blurry and throwable. It has slightly less noise for indoor shots compared to my phone, but that's about it. Ideo also looks terrible, and things get ugly when you zoom. It is also very hard to hold since it is small. Image preview is archaic and the resolution really sucks. Subpar lcd. I know its only for a quick preview, but why am I downgrading so much from my better phone camera with far better screen and everything else? If you are gonna say something stupid like oh i didn't adjust manual controls properly or held the camera still, this is a POINT AND SHOOT and should function as such. I am not oblivious to photography and even with the proper setup and patience, the images arent that much better. When you finally say effff it I'm gonna just POINT AND SHOOT, my camera phone pummels this blurry poorly exposed mess. The wifi setup is so convoluted and unrewarding i dont know why I bothered getting it to work when its just so glorified and clunky image uploaded to my phone. I'd rather just take it on my phone than, and enjoy it on a great looking large screen I can pinch yo zoom, pan around, edit, and darn share.

This is a great pocket camera. It is exactly the same size as my old Canon 110HS which has only 5X optical zoom. The 330 has 10X. The optical image stabilization works very well and low-light photos are quite good up to perhaps ISO 800, not bad at ISO 1600, and acceptable but not great above that. When you want a low-light photo you go to a function called 'Hand Held Night Scene.' After the picture is taken the camera spends few seconds processing it -- I imagine it is taking out the colored snow that would otherwise be present while preserving as much detail as possible. It does a good job of it, even better than my Panasonic FZ150's software. At 6400 the photo would produce an acceptable 4x6 print, but some detail in the image is lost. Considering that this camera fits in a pocket and costs a small fraction of the price of a more-sensitive DSLR, this is excellent low-light performance. Sometimes you have only enough light for a photo at ISO 3200 or 6400, and I'd rather have a well-exposed picture lacking a little detail than no picture at all. Images taken in relatively good light at, say, ISO 800 or less, are sharp and clear with excellent color.Video at 1080p is excellent, and compares well with the video from my Panasonic FZ200, a much more expensive camera.The wifi worked well with Windows 7 and works with 10 but connecting is difficult.The camera uses the old style Canon batteries, the NB4L, not the NB11L that is used in the 110HS. I don't know why they moved back -- both batteries are excellent -- but I'm glad they did. I have lots of NB4Ls and chargers for them from older Canon pocket cameras. Some batteries I use are the Lenmar and Powerextra brands (available on Amazon) and I find they work as well as the Canon originals.I bought another 330HS in June 2014, not on Amazon -- the manufacturer discontinued the camera and the price on Amazon shot up (perhaps a reflection of the regard in which it is held by owners). I got it on eBay at the original price of $200. Then in October the lens cover got slightly dented and wouldn't open or close completely. My fault. But Canon repaired it at no cost to me. It took a total time of 8 days including shipping both ways. At a later time I sent it in for a similar repair and Canon sent me a new Canon 340HS, a much inferior camera.I have since bought several more Canon 330HS cameras as gifts for my grandchildren. I would have bought current new cameras on Amazon, but Canon's pocket cameras now come mostly with the older Digic 4 or Digic 4+ processor. The Digic 5 in the Canon 330HS and the Canon 110HS, previously reserved for expensive Canon DSLR cameras, is faster and much better for low-light pictures. Also, the current Canon pocket cameras tend to have smaller maximum lens apertures. The 330HS is f3.0 and the 110HS is f2.7, compared to f3.6 on other Canon pocket models. Again, the 330HS and 110HS have the advantage in low light. So I end up buying used 330HS cameras where I can find them, mostly on eBay. If you choose to do that, check the seller's ratings.