Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon Powershot E1 10MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (White)

I just needed a camera for fun..and I have had a Canon before. I didn't like that my old one had a rechargeable battery that didn't last long so I am really happy to find one like my old one that is a million times better in quality and it takes real batteries that LAST!! I LOVE IT!! Takes great pictures and it's super easy to use...comparing it to my old one (which was an Elph), it takes much faster pictures although you do have to hold the shutter button down to take a picture which is annoying to have to tell other people using it. Overall I highly reccommend it..takes great pictures!!!

I've had this camera for a few days, and already I love it. The points that have charmed me so far:

1- very low shutter lag. you can take a picture quickly, and capture exactly the scene you want (not the scene 2 to 5 seconds after you point your camera).

2- takes standard AA rechargeable batteries. also, you can turn off the LCD and use the old school view finder to save battery power in a pinch.

3- the 'print' button is programmable, so you can use it for a variety of other functions (useful to me because I almost never plug my camera directly into a printer).

4- the whole design of the camera is intuitive and easy to use.

The only less-than-stellar aspect of this camera is its size. It's not bulky, but there are much tinier cameras in this class on the market. I wasn't quite prepared to remove a star for that, though, as a reduction in size would likely mean an increase in price. I think the trade-off is fine.

Overall, I highly recommend this camera for point-and-shoot purposes. It's easily my favorite of the ~5 digital cameras I've owned over the years.

Admittedly I would give this 4 1/2 stars but I can not so I settled for 5 since I do feel it is better than a 4. I will cover why in the cons.
Overall after trying around 8 cameras I finally found one that does everything I need. The pictures turn out true to life and that is what matters. Most cameras can shoot outside well but when it comes to indoor people shots I do not want the faces blurred or washed out in color. This camera gets it perfect each time on the portrait mode with face detection and marco set to on. This camera might not be the smallest or the lightest but it is easy to use and rounder battery area makes it stable in my hand. For me there are 2 things Canon could have done to improve this camera. Get rid of the view finder and make the screen bigger as they did on the SD790. Who even uses the viewfinders anymore with on screen pictures? Next make two versions of the camera with and without the smaller squared lithium batteries. This would give people the option of having a slimmer camera or for those that like the bulk.


Pros:
*Plenty of room to customize settings
*Takes top notch videos, get yourself a 8gb+ memory card and you can take hours of great videos without the need for a camcorder
*10mp does not blur out like a few I have tried. The pictures stay crisp
*Around 12 scene modes not include easy, auto, program & ISO. To find the extra scene modes set the camera to SCN and hit the function button. From there you will see more scene options. Most of them you can control the settings.A more practical list of scenes that would be used more daily.
*Zero red eye problems
*Comes with 1 small set up booklet and the rest is on the CD. This is nice as I often lose booklets and then there is finding a place to store them.
*This camera might be targeted at tweens & teens but trust me any age will find this camera useful. I am not even close to being a teen.
*Did I mention true to life pictures? If so it deserves another mention. Rarely are the colors different from real life. Usually it is neon colors that turn when photoed which is typical with most cameras. Everything else is just right in color.
*Can do some customizing in video mode & you can zoom in video mode. A few cameras I tested did not zoom or zoom well
*The hole for a camera stand is in the middle. Way too many cameras have them on side which can cause stand problems.
*The curve for the batteries makes it very easy to hold and adjust the zoom. It also makes hitting the shutter button easy.


Cons:
*A little heavy and bulky but no different in size and weight than most AA holding battery cameras. As I mentioned above the camera is steady in the hand. Not a pocket camera. Get yourself a camera case.
*4x optical zoom is ok but 5x+ would work better for this camera. If you go past the optical zoom the digital zoom is worthless. Even going into setting of the optical zoom past around the 3rd adjust could render blurry pictures. Make sure to use the Marco mode on when doing the zoom. I have also found that even if not shooting people keeping the face detection on really helps when zooming.
*Easy to use for the most part but I had to do a little searching to figure out how to get to the other scene modes.

About the color:
*It is not as pink as you see pictures. It is a muted baby pink. I would say several shades lighter than the picture.

How they could improve it:
*Typical size screen but they could have upped the camera appeal and look with a 3inch screen. That extra little bit makes a huge difference
*Plenty of practical scene modes but a few more would be nice for traveling
*Instead of a turn dial for the shooting options & scenes then having to click function for the rest, it would have been nice to have one button that shows all of the shooting options/scenes
*It has an easy face detection button but if they had that one also have the function of finding more than more face that would be really nice and less work.
*Different sound options. Most cameras come with different button/shutter sound options so you can change the sound. This has only volume.
*Because of the camera not being as small as others Canon could have offered a sleek case combo pack

I realize I have mentioned the camera being bulky but I would like to stress it is not huge. When you compare it to say the Canon SD1100 IS yes it is bigger and heavier but the quality of this camera for me is 3xs better than the SD1100 IS. I have tested several Canon cameras and few other brands. This camera out ranked all of them and this is the one I am keeping. Sometimes we have to compromise quality for size.

I have used this camera a lot since I purchased it and everyone ask me about it. At a New Year's party a few had been shocked at the price compared to their much higher priced cameras that had been taking less than perfect pictures & often having to retake the picture. When I get a chance I will upload a few pictures to help readers see the quality.

I bought this cool little blue camera for myself for Christmas. I've been using the Canon PowerShot SD400 Elph 5mp 3x Zoom for the past few years and have really enjoyed it; however, this new camera blows it out of the water!
Besides falling in love with the look and style of the E1 (it's the most beautiful shade of robin's egg blue I've ever seen), the pictures I've taken are incredible both in detail and clarity. And I'm equally impressed how close you can get to your subject with the zoom. I was going to get one of those Flip camcorders but the Movie Mode on this is perfect for capturing quick clips.
The functions are all quite simple to use, you really don't even have to read the manual. It also has an "Easy" mode, excellent for anyone who might be intimidated by cameras. I feel this would be a perfect camera for both ends of the spectrum, from the novice to the more experienced. I'm in love with it! Canon makes wonderful products.

I had purchased a Canon A1000 IS in the summer and found this to be a powerful, small camera. I used the Canon comparison to compare the A1000 and E-1 and found them to be the same camera except for cosmetic differences. I bought several E-1 cameras as Christmas gifts for women in my family. It is small, easy to use, has both an LCD viewer and a view finder so that the sun and other bright lights do not overwhelm the LCD viewer. A novice user can put it on Easy mode and do quite well, leaving only the composition of the photograph as a challenge. I set my wife's camera and that of her sister on Automatic. Frankly, Automatic is a little better in program selection and is just as easy to use as is Easy mode. For more challenging photographs, you can select Portrait, and other Scene modes so it is versatile. It is small enough that I can carry it in a jacket pocket and I used one at the Tulsa State Fair 2008 so I had a ready camera with good capability without carrying a lot of weight. Arthritis has helped me to decide on items of less weight and bulk. The photographs I took of KOTV Channel Six personnel using the Portrait Mode turned out excellent and yes, I worked them in Photoshop CS4 but I had good sizes to begin with. The image size is 10MP so it is adequate for most prints for those who would tend to buy this camera. It is pretty as well as functional and its availability in several colors lets you buy it for family members without young women thinking you got everyone the same thing. Overall, it is an excellent choice.

Stephen