This basic APS camera along with some additional features are noteworthy: You can select (3) different print sizes: 1. Portrait 2. Wide 3. Panoramic (great for landscape shots). It has an MRC (mid-roll change) feature, which allows you to switch between different types of film i.e. going from a Kodak or Fuji 200 speed film to a higher-grade type 400. It gives you the flexibility, to select the number of prints you want with each particular shot you take (with 10 being the maximum). It gives you the option of having the date imprinted on either the front, or back of the prints. You can also, adjust the camera's functions by controlling things like the shutter-speed, red-eye reduction, flash/no flash, the film's auto/manual rewinder (for an example, if you're at a wedding/graduation ceremony and you don't want to hear the sound of film rewinding, you can disable the auto film-rewinder, which is a big plus), and much more. Sure it costs a little more to devolop APS film than its 35mm counterpart. But think about it...you don't have to mess with the 35mm film, by pulling it over the back of the lens apparatus while inserting it into a complicated, clumsy film winder. We've all been thorough that kind of torture. You know how the film gets jammed sometimes? Whenever this happens, it exposes the lens to dust and oils that accumulates over time, thereby rendering the camera unable to function properly. This camera solves that problem. (It keeps dust and fingerprints out of harms way.) All you have to do, is drop the film into the appropriate slot by opening the camera's (the film's catridge will tell you which direction to put it in, so you're not thinking to yourself: how do I put the darn thing in?) submarine hatch-like door with the turning of a switch, that's located on the bottom left side of the unit, and close it back up. It's that simple, and easy to use. Which is why I bought this camera in the first place.

I've taken lots of cool pictures with it, of the San Francisco Bay Bridges, the S.F. skyline, the Salt Lake (Mormon) Temple, among other noteable U.S. landmarks, mountains, lakes, beautiful sunsets, family & friends, and documenting important events in my life. I wish I could've taken pictures of the World Trade Center, in New York City. I love architecture! (It's to too bad, they no longer exist.) This camera is all encompasing and will fullfil every persons desire to producing great quality pictures. It will preserve lasting memories for years to come.

The Elph 2 does have some drawbacks, many of them inherent to such a small camera and film format. APS negatives are small and don't withstand much enlargement without showing grain. I use 400 ISO film, and the grain on the 4x6 and 4x7 prints is only slight and is fine for snapshots. I've never used the 800 ISO film, which would have more grain, so I can't say if it produces acceptable prints or not. The slower films, i.e. 100 ISO and 200 ISO, have finer grain, so those should be fine. I recommend against using the panorama format with APS cameras because the small APS negatives really cannot withstand that much enlargement. The panoramics are grainy. The only issues I have with the Elph 2, specifically, are: The viewfinder isn't very good -but they never seem to be in small cameras, and I've seen much worse in 35 mm point-and-shoots. And I would have preferred that the lens zoom out more. The Elph 2 only zooms out to the equivalent of 58 mm on a 35 mm camera, so you have to get pretty close to people, in particular. The newer Elph Z3 zooms out further, but is a significantly larger camera and, in my view, not as attractive. I prefer the Elph 2 for its smaller size, but you might want to check out the Elph Z3 as well.

Canon makes an accessory silver neck chain for use with all of their Elph cameras. It's a great convenience to have the camera around your neck at social events, while playing with your kids, anytime you might want to literally point-and-shoot. And it saves you from having to hold onto the camera all the time. I love the neck chain!

My first roll of pictures didn't turn out so hot, since the zoom isn't all that powerful, I was getting pretty close to my subjects, and chopping off their heads even though I could see them in the viewfinder. This was remedied by acutally reading the owners manual and finding out that the black lines at the top of the viewfinder are for framing the close up shots. Now, they turn out great. My photos are very close in quality to the ones I take with my Canon and Nikon SLRs, and I think that is due to the quality of the place I take them to be processed.

The only reason I would not give this prouct five stars is the small amount of zoom. I guess it's better than nothing, but not much!

As for the defects...the feature that lets you imprint titles onto the back of your photos does not work. The pictures aren't as good quality as the ones you get out of 35mm cameras, & I noticed the red-eye reduction on the camera doesn't work very well. I'm not sure if that's just the elph2 because my friend has a regular elph and it takes better pictures.

I've only owned a line of CANON cameras, which I must admit is the BEST. The first Canon I had was one of the 35mm Sureshots, and it took EXCELLENT pictures. I didn't treat it very well though-cracked the flash window which eventually fell out, and dropped it so many times the lenses shutter window stopped closing completely..but even after all that it continued to take the best pictures. It finally stopped functioning after 2yrs. My next Canon(also 35mm) also took excellent pictures, but I lost that running around Universal during HHN, which is why I turned to the elph2. If you have a knack for losing things, the Elph line is perfect, however if you don't care for size and more for picture quality I suggest the 35mm. I highly recommend Canon if you plan on buying any 35mm camera and as for APS, I think the ELPH line is definitely the most attractive and convenient.

1. Its portability.
2. 3 different shot formats: regular, HD and panoramic (which in the right situation I find is a must).
3. Very easy to use!

There are a couple of features which I haven't found to be that great though.

1. The zoom is 2 1/2. Not altogether useless but not that powerful either.

2. If you take a lot of different pictures: panoramics, HDs and regular all on the same role prepare to pay a lot to get your film developed. 3 roles 2 25s and a 40 cost me around $ to get developed. So just be prepared.

Over all this is a quality camera and well worth the money for anyone looking for a point and shoot.

My Elph takes beautiful photos, so long as I get them developed at a reputable place (smaller photo joints might forget to reset their enlargers for panoramic prints, and the prints are grainy and weak, which is a bummer).

I love the APS format film and only wish that more people would make frames and albums to suit them!

The size of the Elph 2 is ideal. I take the camera fishing, skiing, and on all other trips. If fits on one's belt like a pocketknife, ready for action. With a camera this convenient and unobtrusive, I find myself taking more pictures and therefore having a much better record of my trips.

Functionality - very good. This is certainly the best camera in the Canon APS line - a great impovement over previous models. It is important to pay attention to the automatic features of the camera; turn off the flash if your subject is far away and use the focus hold feature to be sure the right object is in focus. Be careful with action shots as the shutter can take its sweet time on occasion.

Photo quality - this seems to be the most sensitive issue amongst reviewers. I agree with one other reviewer here in saying that the key is the processing location - it is important to find a place that processes APS film well. I spent some time in the desert with friends, we all had cameras - SLR, 35mm P/S, and my Canon APS. Having developed my pictures at a good local place, my pictures turned out the BEST compared to my friends. In fact, I have taken some pictures with this camera that look professional in quality. However, I have gotten rolls developed at other places and the pictures were completely uninspiring. The difference is remarkable.

I would dock this camera 1/2 a star for aesthetics. The original elph was quite unique visually. This camera, though perfectly nice, is not very intersting. The face is a bit crowded and it looks like all the other silver cameras out there.

I would certainly recommend this camera to those of you looking for a travel camera with few compromises and a price that doesn't make you nervous about using it.

I wanted a camera that was small and easy-to-use. Well, you couldn't get any smaller or easier than this one. The camera is about the size (if not smaller) of a pager with the same sized carrying case.

The instruction book may look a little frightening at first (about 200+ pages) but that's only because it's in about 5 different languages. Speaking of which, there is a special function where you can add phrases like "I love you", "Happy Birthday", "Happy Holidays", etc. on the photos when you take them. The phrases can also be put on the photos in English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese, and (I believe) Italian.

The modifying LCD display on the back takes a little getting used to, especially using the plastic attachment on the strap to push the buttons. Once you've conquered that, you're over the only major hill of operating the camera.

The camera has 3 photo sized-settings: regular, panoramic, and what I like to call the 'extra friend' feature which gives a little more room in the exposure to get that extra person in the shot. :)

I've used about 5 rolls in the camera so far. The view finder adjusts to the type of exposure you've selected, making it that much easier to use. Play careful attention to what you've got in the viewfinder, otherwise you might get guillotine photos ( people with heads chopped off in the picture).

Other special functions include a timer and a 'nightime city' type exposure, in which the lens stays open longer to pick up the city lights in the background of a night shot (still have to practice that one).

One final note on getting the film processed: Make sure you note on the development envelope that it's APS film. Most envelopes already have a box to mark off for it, but some out there haven't woken up to the 21st century yet.

Whether you're a professional or amateur, this is an excellent camera to have for those Kodak moments you keep missing.

So far, I've used it mostly indoors, and am extremely pleased with the results. They are far superior to what I was getting with my older Pentax point-and-shoot. There is red-eye with certain eye colors, but that's easily fixed by scanning the picture into the PC and manipulating the image, then having it printed from a floppy.

I like the APS film format and have found that the 400 speed Kodak gets great results. You won't even need the flash for a lot of your indoor shots when you go with the 400. I also like getting the contact sheet instead of a bunch of negatives. I've mainly stayed with the "classic" mode, but the other two are nice to have if you need a wider field of view for your shot. I have heard that with APS you cannot get great quality with enlargements bigger than 5 x 7, but I don't usually enlarge them anyway.

The best part about this camera is literally being able to take it anywhere, and being able to take candid shots without people being aware of the camera. Once they do see it, they will want to hold it and they'll have lots of questions about it, because it's so cool.

If you need instant feedback on whether your shot turned out the way you wanted, then you would be better off going with the digital version, but if you want a very good film camera that is the ultimate in portability, you cannot go wrong with the Canon Elph 2.

I recently noticed the picture quality at a wedding. A group of four people took the same shot and my pic turned out darker than the rest. The difference can be seen in many photos.

My regret is not researching this camera before purchasing it. I guess I'm back to my old, clunky 35mm.

Over all, the camera is good as its own, but not the end result it produces.

I've been looking for a small, light weight camera which takes good quality pics under $250 for the passed 6 months, I even bought another 35mm, tried it and returned it back. APS is a new ball game to me, so I did alot of research. Elph 2 "IS" the smallest and the lightest camera I found, I kept looking around and saw it anywhere from ... to ... online and in stores. Finally I bought it in a store for ..., on sale. I figured if I don't like it, I can always return it back for a refund.

After the first 15 pics delevoped by a local CVS store, here is what I concluded.

All close, indoor shots, using red eye reduction, all ...! Every picture came out with bright red eyes, scarry! Indoor shots, further out came out good, not great. All outdoor shots, on a sunny day, some bright, some shady areas, all came out perfect, all crisp, nice bright colors, nice facial features, excellent background focus with good curve lines.

The zoom is fast, all the camera features are easy to use, the size and weight of the camera is great, fits into my shorts pocket, now I end up taking in everywhere! I only had it for 1 week so far.

Overall, outdoors are the best, which is the main reason I got this camera, for indoor, I'll keep using my older 35mm. So it's a keeper!

The camera has one major design flaw: the viewfinder. For some reason, the viewfinder view doesn't show all of the picture you're taking. At most distances, the viewfinder crops off about 14% of the entire border of your actual shot.

Even stranger, during close-ups, the viewfinder view shifts upward about 20%. There is even a horizontal line imprinted in the viewfinder, to remind you where the "real" top border of the close-up photograph is.

Also, the general view thru the viewfinder is irregularly blurred-- the focus appears uneven in certain areas.

Odd, that a camera of such otherwise superb craftsmanship should be equipped with a faulty or cheap viewfinder. Maybe they ran out of cash when they got to that part, or it was Japanese New Year's and they were all hung over.

As to its good points, let's also skip the photo quality. Who cares about the PICTURES it takes? Big deal. No, the Elph 2's most pleasant function by far is to be gloated over, fondled, and showed off to friends.

The smooth, sleek little metal case, all those intricately machined and polished parts, the delicate whirr of film drive and motorized zoom lens, the inset buttons, the heft-- all this in an object the size and shape of a pack of cigarettes.

If you actually do take pictures with it, make sure to do so in a crowded place such as a zoo or amusement park. This way, as many people as possible can observe and covet your nifty, feature-packed little gizmo.

I purchased this camera based totally on its size and "pocketability". After playing with it for a few weeks I've learned that it's quality is superb (all metal case), the controls are intuitive (the shutter is surrounded by the zoom lens and the rear of the camera contains a panel that monitors all vital functions of this great little camera). The photos are surprisingly clear for an APS camera, with three versatile formats controlled by a toggle switch adjacent to the eye piece.

My only dislike about this camera is that the red-eye function is not as effective as it could be. Most indoor photos still have this problem when developed. Another small glitch not with the camera but with the photo processors is the IX date function does not always appear on the film when developed. I was told that not all processors use equipment that is compatible with the IX date function.

Panoramic shots using 200 speed film (I personally prefer Fuji Nexia)are very clear with very little grain.

Overall I'm very satisfied with this purchase. As a matter of fact, based upon my satisfaction with the APS ELPH2 I purchased a Digital Elph three weeks after this camera.

The ELPH2 is a must have if you're looking for a moderately priced, quality point and shoot APS camera.

The controls are just fabulous - the best is the zoom lever - immediate zoom speed without a lot of time lapse. The actual zoom ratio isn't that great but you have to give up something for its size. It's got all the standard red-eye, fill-in, timer functions, plus a bunch of nifty time-date-stamp buttons. The back display gives you all the info in logical layout.

The only thing you need to watch out for is the standard 2-step focus and shoot process. Because this gem is so small, it's easy to move the camera while trying to get a good shot. And if you're thinking about the Elph 1 versus Elph 2 - I've seen 2 of the Elph 1's in the camera shop with its flash stuck in the up mode.

I recommend this camera to everyone I see. It's a joy to use.