Canon PowerShot E1 Review Discussion

[David Rasnake]

To generalize a bit about corporate personalities, Canon isn't known for being very adventurous. It's become a widely shared aphorism in the imaging world that Canon takes the conservative approach, building cameras that are, for the most part, predictably good – but predictable just the same.

I'm betting dispensers of this nugget of general accepted wisdom (myself included) did a collective double take a few months ago when Canon announced that it was bringing a new sub-series of its PowerShot A line to market, embodied solely in its first generation by the Canon PowerShot E1.

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[rutherford1]

Awesome Pic. Thanks for your review.Images look very temptive

[kennyadcock]

David, thanks for such a detailed review. I am in the market for a "sub-$200" digital camera, and this review has helped. You seemed to return over and over to the aesthetic exterior of this camera with distaste. As you pointed out, you are not the target market for this product.

Everything you pointed out about this camera tells me that you know what your talking about, except when it comes to the "look and feel". You are assuming only "preteens" could possibly be attracted to such a "bubblegum wrapper" camera. And that the added $20 would obviously price this camera out of reach. I wanted to share with you a situation I think might be more common than you realize.

My wife (an adult of 31 years) has been on me to get a simple "point and shoot" camera for those fun, spontaneous times with the kids - backyard blowup pool, pillow fighting on the bed, falling asleep with the dog on the sofa, etc. - so prior to a pending summer trip, I break down and start comparing. Aesthetics aside, in a side-by-side comparison, I carefully weigh the pros and cons of a dozen cameras. I get down to 4 comparable models (Pentax P70, Casio Exilim EX-Z250, Canon Powershot E1 and Kodak EasyShare M380). I call my wife over to the computer to get her thoughts on the selection before we go buy it and she says, without a moment's hesitation, "I like the pink one".

Of course, I started pointing out this fact and that one and she says, "I have no idea what AiAF TTL 9-point auto focus is or any of that other stuff. If these four are all pretty good, I like the pink one." And, after reading your review, I agree with her. Personally, I don't care what the camera looks like. She'll use it more than I will, but if she is going to buy a plastic, bubblegum machine, at least I will know that under that "cute" facade is a real camera, not the toy you assume a "tweeny" would want. If dad is going to buy his 12-yo daughter a camera, he too might like to feel like at least he is not wasting his money on a disposible pretend camera.

Thanks for the insightful article. It truly was a great help.