Canon PowerShot ELPH 310 HS 12.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 8x Wide-Angle Optical Zoom Lens and Full 1080p HD Video (Purple)

I had an old canon camera (PowerShot A520 for historians) for 8 years, and it was finally time for a new one. I spent way too long agonizing over which camera to get, but I knew I wanted a Canon without a touchscreen. I hemmed and hawwed over the ELPH 310 vs ELPH 300 and finally choose this one because it can zoom in more, and it was a newer model. Amazon had a great deal on it, so I got quite a chunk of the list price, which was great! I choose purple because it was the most on sale with the pink and yellow color. I wanted the blue, but it was full price. I also bought rooCASE Neoprene Sleeve (Lilac) Carrying Case for Canon ELPH 310 HS Digital Camera which looks very nice with it! Anyway, on to the review! PROS: Takes quality pictures. Really. Some are even comparable to my DSLR camera. I'm not kidding, I was impressed! Color of the camera looks great. It's a matte plastic, that won't show finger marks from holding it. Takes fast pictures You can easily change from auto to manual settings. I love the manual settings, I love to play around with vivid color and toy camera effect and so forth. Super easy, user friendly, everyone can figure out my camera quickly. CONS: The fish eye setting is weak. It doesn't look at all like a real fish eye lens would make an image. However, its not exactly a deal breaker, I don't need Fish Eye anyway. My friends called my camera "heavy" and "bigger than expected." I am used to holding a brick camera that took AA batteries, so this thing is tiny to me. I also don't care if its heavy, because its actually lighter and smaller than my cell phone. It fits easily in my pocket with the sleeve case. I wish it had some grips on it, right where the Canon logo is on the front. It feels like I could easily drop it. Really with these petty excuse for cons, I love my new camera, and I can't believe I waited 8 years to get a new one. If you are on the fence about buying this, wait till it goes on sale (the prices changes daily) to a price you can live with, and get it! It is a great camera.

- Simple to operate, small, excellent results, modest price. The worst part of the ELPH 310HS ( or IXUS 230HS ) is the name. In the USA Canon sells an entirely different camera called the SX 230HS. Ordering the camera or batteries becomes a test of your ability to clarify Canon's terrible nomenclature. There are reviews of this camera that incorrectly refer to it as the ELPH 230HS! Buy a couple of extra batteries from Amazon (NB-4L) for $10 each (get the 1200 mamp type.) Don't get the NB-5L type battery for the 230HS. The $6 Case Logic TBC-302 case nicely holds two extra batteries and the camera. In the "Auto" mode you get good movies and excellent stills. The really nice part is that you get these results without having to bother with camera settings. Switching to the "P" mode gives you more options and settings to play with but, if you just want excellent results leave it in auto. When taking a pic, push the exposure button ½ way down to focus. When the focus area turns green push the button the rest of the way. Focusing generally takes less than ½ a second. If you just push the button all the down you'll often get an out of focus pic. Forgetting to focus may explain why some reviewers are dissatisfied with the cameras output. There are both pro and con arguments for this focusing method. You just need to be aware of how to operate the 310. 11x14 borderless prints exhibit excellent quality when shot in good light. Quality does decrease in darker situations but is still acceptable. All small sensor cameras exhibit that behavior. Facial recognition works most of the time. Pricing is a little strange. At the time of this writing, depending upon color, the price varies from $196 to $230 for the same camera from the same vendor. Why does a blue copy cost 15% more than a purple copy? Probably done by the same genius that named the camera! The ELPH 310HS is an excellent travel camera. I've ordered a second one for my wife.

First, let me say this camera does take some great pictures and it is very easy to use. My complaint comes in by how plastic it feels. It just doesn't feel solid like all the other Canon cameras we have purchased in the past. I love my husband's Canon Powershot 300HS, but I wanted a bit higher zoom. So, I purchased this one. I also purchased the Powershot 510 as well to see which one I would like better. I must say, I am swaying towards returning both of them. This camera feels flimsy compared to the other Canon Powershot cameras. I prefer the non-touch screen of this one vs. the Powershot 510, but overall, the 510 just feels a lot more solid for only around $75 more. The touchscreen on the 510 drains the battery too fast, but this one just doesn't seem to be that durable. As for the zoom comparisons, on the 510 it zooms to 12x, but it is extremely difficult to keep it steady. On this one, the 8x seems about right. So, I am not quite sure which one to keep. I love the new settings for vivid, foliage, miniature, fireworks, fisheye, etc. If it weren't for all these new settings and a higher power zoom, I wouldn't even consider trading up from the 300HS for this one. So, I am torn as to what to do. UPDATE 10/30/2011 - So, I decided to keep this one instead of the 510. It still feels kind of plastic to me compared to older models we have. However, I have been thoroughly impressed with the video, picture and color quality. The battery longevity helped to make this decision as well.

bought this camera now knowing exactly what to expect, but I love it. I take amazing pictures for a digital camera. the auto setting is very accurate as well. I recommend this produce for sure for anyone who wants a digital small camera that captures colour very well

I read reviews on this product before I purchased one. The quality of the camera is not great, certainly far below the quality of sony cybercam I had before. I used a class 10 32GB memory card, but only be able to record 20GB video and photo. Not sure why. The video takes up a lot of space, can only record about 40 minutes video with 32 GB card. The quality of the photo and video are great though, better than my old sony. The size is great, carry around conveniently. However it lacks the stability capability, and is not good for recording when moving. I would hope to buy a better camera next time. This is not up to my expectation.

Had this one for a couple of years, still going strong, nice picture quality, reliable, movie stabilizer is a great feature. Good value at the time

This was a gift. Everything was as described and as excepted. No issues.