Yes, indeed the three holes at the top of the camera are for the camera's speaker, not the microphone… sorry about the little mistake there, I must have dozed off while writing the review and mentioned the microphone twice.

Lucky for you, the Canon SD980 is one of the top cameras on my 'to-review' list at the moment. It's Canon's first touchscreen camera and I make it a practice to review cameras that people (such as yourself) would like to see. Look out for the review of that camera soon (towards late September or October I expect, though if you want, I will keep you informed of the exact day when my review comes out)

This SD780 you are reviewing looked like it would meet my upgrade needs just right, and after using for a few weeks i once again agree with your reviews.

I did have two comments about the “microphone”…

1) You mention correctly in the article that the microphone is located at that little hole in the front. But then later you say one of the three things on top is the microphone… Actually, those little holes on top are for the “Speaker” (not for the microphone) for beeps and the like generated by the camera as well as for listening to video playback.

2) This microphone does WONDERFUL compared to the one in the Powershot A480!!
The microphone in the A480 seems to be designed for BBQs and birthday parties, NOT for full-on Metal concerts at point-blank range in front of the speakers (*duh*). It would distort the sound badly if very loud at all. This SD780 you are reviewing here actually adapts to very loud sounds (rapidly, i might add) so that you can record even loud bands at close range. The audio may be a bit weak on the bass, but at least it is not distorted.

The last upgrade i am contemplating will be the SD980 (similar to SD780 except for a much wider wide-angle, 24mm instead of 33mm; plus a 5x optical zoom). A wider angle is all that i feel like i am missing on the SD780, so i can hardly wait for your review of THAT camera (SD980) later on!

I just hope they keep the better audio recording from the SD780 when they release the SD980.

THANK YOU once again for reviews that are so helpful –roseman

-Auto is when the camera will select a value between 80/100 to 200/400 for minimal noise in photos
-Auto High is kind of like a high sensitivity mode and the camera will automatically push ISO up to 800, if need be (depends on lighting and surrounding conditions). This is done in order to increase shutter speed, hence reducing the chances of a ‘blurry shot’ being taken. However, do expect additional noise in photos.

You can also set ISO yourself in ‘P’ mode (Program). ISO 80/100 for bright light/outdoors/when the camera is on a tripod, ISO 200-400 in dim conditions (ie indoors, evening shots) and ISO 800 for shots in lower light (such as nightclubs, event halls and such).

Hope this helps,
Brad

Now that i have been using the A480 “starter” camera, i am seriously thinking of upgrading to both Image-Stabilzation and also better Low-Light handling (”Pub shots” as you call them, and nightclubs, people and bands).

This SD780 is looking like a perfect upgrade, especially since i still tend to mostly just point-and-shoot, not really wanting to fiddle much with most manual controls.

But i am curious, what is the difference between ISO “Auto” and ISO “Auto high”?

thanx! –roseman

Accuracy? Yes, the viewfinder is accurate for just about everything (the crosshairs inside indicate the center of the frame) except close-up shots. But coverage? No, the viewfinder doesn’t cover the entire frame, so you might not be able to see if anything unwanted comes into the actual picture’s edges.

To answer your main question, I would say that a wide-angle lens certainly comes in handy in a lot of situations – group photos, landscapes, indoor shots, etc and 10 vs 12 megapixels of resolution isn’t a huge difference, not enough to be a deal-breaker (in my opinion). 10 megapixels is already more than enough for large prints at home, unless you’re planning to make billboards.

In most cases, the PowerShot SD880 is certainly the more versatile camera, between the mentioned two – bigger screen, 50% better battery life using the LCD, wide-angle lens, sufficient resolution with a slightly faster burst speed…

If you’ve previously owned another digital camera, think of the number of video clips you’ve recorded in the previous 6 months, and how many times you’ve ‘wished’ you could have recorded video at higher resolutions? That could help decide whether you really need the SD780’s HD movie mode, depending on how often you’re going to record movies.

I’m trying to decide between Canon’s Powershot SD780 and SD880. I’m torn between the 12 megapixel resolution and high definition movie mode on the SD780 and the wider angle lens and faster aperture of the SD880. Also I’m wondering about the optical viewfinder on the SD780 since its battery life isn’t spectacular. It looks so tiny, does it actually give a reasonably accurate frame of the shot? Finally which camera would you say produced the better picture? I’ve seen other reviews that slammed the SD780 for really poor detail and high noise (Imaging Resource)

I love your site, it’s wonderfully informative and a huge help in picking a camera! Thank you!