This camera has everything my wife wanted. It’s small, it’s red, it’s stylish, it’s red, it’s cute, it’s red, it has very few manual controls, it’s red, Canon sells a nice leather case to fit it which is red, oh and did I mention it’s red?

That’s about where the good stuff ends. I should say the camera appears to be well built. It is totally a point and shoot camera as there are no manual controls to speak of. This is all fine if that is what you want.

The big problem is that picture quality is absolutely horrible. Anything over ISO 200 is worthless as the pictures are very noisy and grainy. In Auto mode, ISO is automatic and not user changeable. Using the underpowered flash, the camera picked ISO 640 which rendered a picture that was full of visable noise and artifacts. Outside in the bright sun, it picked ISO 400 which is borderline of the camera’s limits.

Doing some testing in P mode. I did some sample shots using ISO 80, 100, 200 and on up. If using ISO 80 or 100 and the flash, your range is about 7 feet max. With this combination, the pictures were relatively noise free. For any distance over 7 feet though, the pictures are way underexposed at those ISOs. You must bump ISO up to 400 or more and then noise becomes an issue again.

Comparing the output of this camera to the old 4mp A85, the A85 blows this camera away. Looking at similar shots, the A85 produces relatively noise free pictures which are well exposed and saturated. The SD780′s pictures are noisy and lack the saturation and contrast of the A85.

This camera may be ok for outdoor shots on a bright day where you can manually keep ISO below 400 but indoors and using the flash the camera will be marginal at best and only good for snapshots at 4×5. Forget about 12 megapixels. Unfortunately, this has become a big selling point that is meaningless for point and shoot cameras. Actually, more megapixels is a detriment with these cameras. Current technology is not good enough to pack that many pixels into such a small area without introducing tons of noise. The pictures produced by these 12 megapixel cameras are so noisy that you can’t blow them up any larger then their default 4×5 because the quality so bad. If they took this same camera, lowered the sensor to 6 megapixel, and then had you compare the output of 6 and 12, you would be amazed at how much better the lower pixel count looked.

In any case, this camera has one big pro, it’s red!!!

EDIT***********

I just wasn’t comfortable with the camera as most reviews are rather good and I wasn’t happy with it. So, I exchanged it for another hoping the results would be better. Well, I can honestly say, “ITS STILL RED!”. Nothing has changed with the replacement.

I like taking black & white and sepia pictures – this camera is nice because it has 2 photo “modes” (if that’s the right word to use). I have the first set to take normal pictures and the 2nd set on black & white.. so if I ever want to switch to taking a black and white or sepia picture, I just flip a switch and I’m in the 2nd mode in no time. Likewise, if I decide I want or don’t want a flash, the flash is very easy to quickly turn on and off.

As with all cameras, you have to read the manual to learn how to use all the features and get the very most out of your camera, but most things are self-explanatory and VERY easy to use. I use a LOT of the features on this camera.

The video is HD quality (I believe)…so when I take video to watch on our big HD tv, I leave it in HD mode. However, I lessen the quality sometimes because my computer has a hard time keeping up with the quality and speed of the video…

I also recommend the accessory pack that comes with the extra battery and the case – not necessary, but they’ve definitely come in handy. Get the case so your screen doesn’t get scratched in your pocket or your purse!

This is my first 12 megapixel compact camera. Compared with previously owned 3 megapixel Canon compact, I had 3 years ago (sorry can’t remember model, but it used 4 AA batteries), this is so much better.

+ Light, compact, perfect for travel;

+ Battery last forever;

+ Image quality is often very comparable to Canon Rebel XTi;

+ HD video in a pocket format is one of the best features;

- Digital zoom is totally useless unless you zoom only one point over optical;

- Low light gives grainy and bad quality pictures, image stabilizer really doesn’t help in such circumstances.

- flash turns on in Program mode after restart, even after turning it off.

Note about memory cards. There is a lot of confusion and hype about speed and compatibility.

I personally tested it with the following- Lexar SDHC 8GB class4 premium 60x; PNY 1GB SD; Transcend 2GB miniSD trough miniSD adapter. Video and picture taking works on all of them. While small cards fills very fast it does not affect video or photo quality and recording in any way.