Canon PowerShot A3100 IS

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Canon PowerShot A3100 IS

Prasad Naik, Jul 13, 2010 1254 hrs IST

A low-cost 12.1 MP point-and-shoot camera that's low on features but gets the job done

Good design, large display, simple operation, good image quality, optical image stabilization

Poor image adjustment option, no optical zoom while recording videos, slow performance

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Being a basic point-and-shoot camera, the image adjustment options are pretty low. From the mode dial you can switch to the Program mode, which is where you get to access all the features of the camera; Auto mode, which disables most of the settings; and Easy mode, which disables all the settings for a simplified shooting experience.

Other options on the dial include portrait, landscape, night snapshot, kids & pets, indoor, scene modes - which includes FaceSelf Timer that automatically starts the countdown timer when it detects a new face in the frame - low light, which boosts the ISO levels but drops down the resolution to 2 megapixels, super vivid, poster effect, beach, foliage, snow, fireworks and long shutter - where you get to choose the shutter speed manually from 1 second to 15 seconds.

Overall we found the menu design and layout of the interface extremely intuitive and even beginners - whom the camera is targeted at - won't have any trouble operating it.

Performance of the camera was slightly on the slower side. The time from starting the camera and taking the first shot is 2.53 seconds. The shot to shot time is around 2.47 seconds, while on using the flash it increases to 3.56 seconds. Opening the image viewer was a bit slow (2.82 seconds), as was moving from one image to another (0.84 seconds). The zooming and panning was quick though.