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Canon PowerShot ELPH 300 HS 12.1 MP Digital Camera
Labels: Canon Camera
I'm a DSLR photographer who shoots professionally and has managed a
camera store in the past. I wanted something I can take with me
everywhere but still produces good quality shots. I also wanted a camera
that could shoot good looking videos. I researched several models and
after much deliberation decided on the Canon 300 HS. I'm very happy I
did.
Image Quality:
I tested cameras and lenses all the
time while managing the camera store so whenever I purchase a new camera
or lens I always test it. The Canon 300 HS doesn't produce the quality
of images my Nikon D7000 does but I didn't expect it to. The edges get a
little soft with the 300 HS when looking at the image at 100% whereas
the D7000 images are almost tact sharp.
Comparing the 300 HS to
the Canon Powershot SD1000 from a few years ago, the 300 HS blows it out
of the water. The SD1000 is a 7 MP camera. Shooting the same shots on a
tripod with the same focal length on the lens the 300 HS uses its extra
MPs well. When looking at the images from each camera at 100%, at the
wide angle zoom setting and normal zoom setting both cameras have about
the same relative slight softness on the edges. However the 300 HS has
more MP so it actually produces much more detail in the image. I think
it was smart for Canon to keep the MP at 12 because last years models
while being 14 MP (SD1400) didn't give any extra detail from what I
could tell than the 12 MP version (SD1300). The SD1400 was basically
just creating larger files. When zooming in the telephoto setting the
300 HS clearly produced a sharper image than the SD1000. Often cameras
have sweet spots in the zoom range in which it will produce crisper
images. The 300 HS has consistently good sharpness throughout it's zoom
range.
HS system and ISO:
The image processing with the HS
system truly works to reduce noise at higher ISOs enabling people to
produce better quality images in low light. The improvement in image
quality gets more and more visible the greater and greater the ISO. ISO
400 with the 300 HS was almost as good as ISO 200 on the SD1000. ISO 800
on the 300 HS was a tad better than ISO 400 on the SD1000. ISO 1600 on
the 300 HS was between ISO 400 and 800 on the SD1000. ISO 3200 on the
300 HS produced the same quality of image (noise) as ISO 800 on the
SD1000. A 2 stop in film speed improvement is big.
1080p video and slow motion:
With
good light, the 300 HS produces wonderful smooth 1080 videos. If you
look at a lot of HD videos from compact cameras the video often looks
jumpy. From what I've seen it wasn't until you got to the Canon G12 or
Panasonic LX5 that the video looked smooth. Both of those cameras only
shoot 720p whereas this camera shoots 1080p. The video also very good
detail. It truly looks HD.
If you are wanting zoom and continuous
AF with your video this camera is the one you want compared to the 100
HS which doesn't allow you to zoom. The continuous AF with face
recognition is stellar with this camera in video mode. I was videoing my
wife while she was driving. It focused on her face. I switched to the
scenery outside. It immediately focused on that. I then went back to my
wife and it found her face and focused on it right away. I even videoed
her reflection in the rear view mirror and it found her face in the
mirror no problem and focused on it. AMAZING!!!!
Commenting on a
complaint I've read about the zoom being slow in video mode. If you like
getting motion sickness whenever someone rapidly zooms in or out during
their video this is not your camera. As smooth looking as the video is,
the zoom is also. The smooth zoom creates nice looking transitions
instead of warp speed ahead looks.
The slow motion is a fun
feature that works well. You need to have good lighting though. In low
light even with high ISO's it produced very dark videos. In a review
someone commented that it should have sound with the slow motion video. I
honestly don't know how that could work unless you want to listen to
everything at 1/5 it's normal speed. I think it's a good thing that it
doesn't have sound with the slow motion videos.
AF:
I
commented on AF partially in the video portion of the review. It does
have several AF modes for various situations. The face detection works
great. If you have a person in the picture but want something other than
the person to be in focus you will need to change AF modes from face
detection. The reviewer that had the problem with the 300 HS focusing on
things he didn't want the camera to focus on likely didn't have the
correct AF mode for the shooting situations. The 300 HS does have a
center AF if you prefer that.
Areas for Canon to improve on with the 300 HS:
The
camera is so well thought out that I'm surprised Canon let this slip. I
love having a wide angle zoom go down to 24mm. It's great for scenery
and photojournalist type shots. If you shoot at the widest angle zoom
and use the flash, the lens on the 300 HS blocks the flash's exposure on
the bottom right corner of the image. The corner is completely black.
If you zoom in a bit so you aren't at the widest angle setting when
using the flash you will be fine. Still all Canon had to do is not put
the flash so close to the lens.
When shooting video in lower light situations the video does start to get noisy and grainy quicker than some other cameras.
Conclusion:
All
in all this is a wonderfully thought out camera with great image
quality and image processing and it shoots stellar videos for it's
compact size.