The Canon Elph 300 HS is a really popular and a very good digital camera.  It is packed with features, is really thin, and does it all very well.  It’s hard to beat this thing.

This thing is tiny and light – 1 inch thick and 5 ounces, respectively.  It sports a really nice 2.7 inch screen, 24mm wide-angle lens, and 12MP resolution.  It also does 1080p video – and it does it well.  The video is smooth (I can’t stand choppy digi cam videos – trust me, they are legion) and looks amazing on playback.  The focusing on the video is nice too in that it transitions between subject.  Yes, that means that the focus takes a little time, but I prefer that to whip-lash focusing.

Low-light shots are also done pretty well, thanks to the HS higher ISO settings.  That will keep most people happy.  If you are looking for a higher end camera replacement, forget about it.  This camera isn’t that.  But, if you are looking for a great all around camera that travels well – really consider this one!

Specs:

Image Capture Device

Type
12.1 Megapixel, 1/2.3-inch CMOS

Total Pixels
Approx. 12.8 Megapixels

Effective Pixels
Approx. 12.1 Megapixels

Lens

Focal Length
4.3 (W) – 21.5mm (T) (35mm film equivalent: 24-120mm)

Digital Zoom
Approx. 4x

Focusing Range
Normal AF: 2.0 in. (5cm) – infinity (W), 3.0 ft. (90cm) – infinity (T)

Macro: 1.2 in. – 1.6 ft. (3 – 50cm) (W)

Autofocus System
TTL Autofocus

Viewfinders

Optical Viewfinder
N/A

LCD Monitor
2.7-inch TFT color LCD (wide viewing angle type)

LCD Pixels
Approx. 230,000 dots

LCD Coverage
Approx. 100%

Aperture and Shutter

Maximum Aperture
f/2.7 (W) – f/5.9 (T)

Shutter Speed
1 ? 1/2000 sec. 15 – 1/2000 sec. (Total Shutter speed range)

Exposure Control

Sensitivity
Auto, ISO 100/200/400/800/1600/3200

Light Metering Method
Evaluative*, Center weighted average, Spot**

* Facial brightness is evaluated in Face AiAF.

** Fixed to center.

Exposure Control Method
AE Lock

Exposure Compensation
+/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments

White Balance

White Balance Control
Auto*, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom

* Facial color is evaluated in Face AiAF

Flash

Built-in Flash
Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Auto Red-eye Correction, Flash On, Flash Off; FE Lock, Smart Flash, Slow Synchro

Flash Range
1.6?11.5 ft. (W), 3.0?6.6 ft. (T) (50cm?3.5m (W), 90cm?2.0m (T))

* Image brightness may diminish depending on the shooting distance

Recycling Time
10 sec. or less (battery voltage: 3.7 V)

Flash Exposure Compensation
N/A

Shooting Specifications

Shooting Modes
P, Auto¹, Movie Digest, Portrait, Kids & Pets, Smart Shutter², High-speed Burst, Best Image Selection, Handheld Night Scene, Low Light, Fish-eye Effect, Miniature Effect, Toy Camera Effect, Monochrome, Super Vivid, Poster Effect, Color Accent, Color Swap, Beach, Underwater, Foliage, Snow, Fireworks, Long Shutter, Stitch Assist, Movie³

*Videos are recorded by pressing the movie button

¹Smart Auto also available for videos

²Smile, Wink Self-timer, Face Self-timer

³Standard, Super Slow Motion Movie, Miniature Effect for Movies (Videos are recorded by pressing the movie button)

Photo Effects
My colors Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin, Darker Skin, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Color*

*Adjustment of contrast, sharpness, saturation, red, green, blue and skin tone are available

Self Timer
Approx. 10-sec. delay/approx. 2-sec. delay/custom Shooting start time (0 – 10 sec. (in one-second increments), 20/25/30 sec.) and number of shots (1 – 10 shots (in one-shot increments)) can be specified.

Wireless Control
N/A

Continuous Shooting
Approx. 3.4 shots/sec. (in P mode)

Approx. 8.2 shots/sec. (in High-speed Burst)

Image Storage

Storage Media
SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card, Eye-Fi, MultiMediaCard, MMCplus card, HC MMCplus card

File Format
Design rule for camera file system, DPOF Version 1.1 compliant

Image Recording Format
Normal, Fine

JPEG Compression Mode
Still Image: Exif 2.3 (JPEG)

Video: MOV (Image: H.264; Audio: Linear PCM (stereo))

Number of Recording Pixels
16:9

4000 x 2248 (Large), 2816 x 1584 (Medium 1), 1920 x 1080 (Medium 2), 640 x 360 (Small)

3:2

4000 x 2664 (Large), 2816 x 1880 (Medium 1), 1600 x 1064 (Medium 2), 640 X 424 (Small) 4:3

4000 x 3000 (Large), 2816 x 2112 (Medium 1), 1600 x 1200 (Medium 2), 640 x 480 (Small) 1:1

2992 x 2992 (Large), 2112 x 2112 (Medium 1), 1200 x 1200 (Medium 2), 480 x 480 (Small)

Number of Recordable Images

Image data

Note: N=Normal F=Fine
Storage Capacity varies depending on camera settings. This data is estimated from Canonfs standard shooting conditions. Figures for Movie Mode represent total capacity of the particular media.

Time of Recordable Movies

Movie data

Playback Specifications

Playback Modes File
- Stills & Videos: Auto Rotate (Automatic vertical/horizontal detection), Image Advance (Operation Tools, Transition effects, Scroll Display), Rotate, Favorites, My Category, Smart Shuffle, Filtered Playback, Slide Show (Playback Interval, Repeat, Effect, Playlist)

- Still Images: Single, Index (4-100 thumbnails), Magnification (2-10x), Information Display, Red-eye Correction, i-Contrast, Trimming, Resize, My Colors, Focus Check, Histogram, Overexposure Warning – Videos: Normal Playback*, Slow Motion**, Special Playback, Editing, Resume *Auto settings available in 5 levels

** 5 levels (including normal playback), sound not available.

Erasing Specifications

Erase Modes
Select image, select range, all images (all filtered images)

- The image data in the memory card stored with the Design rule for Camera File systems format can be erased (however, protected images cannot be erased). – Using the Movie editing function, sections of the movie (1 sec. increments) can be deleted.

Interfaces

Video Out
NTSC/PAL (dedicated connector (female) with unified type of digital, audio and video)

Mini-HDMI connector

Audio Out
Stereo (dedicated connector (female) unified type of digital, audio, and video)

Other
Mini-HDMI cable: connection to high definition monitor; SD Memory card slot; direct connection to Canon SELPHY Compact Photo Printers, PIXMA Inkjet Photo Printers and PictBridge-compatible printers via camera’s USB 2.0 Hi-speed cable

Power Supply
Battery Pack NB-4L, Compact Power Adapter CA-DC10 (when used with DC Couple DR-10) Approx. 220 shots Approx. 5 hours

Power Source
Battery Pack NB-4L, Compact Power Adapter CA-DC10 (when used with DC Couple DR-10)

Shooting Capacity
Approx. 220 shots

Playback Time
Approx. 5 hours

Physical Specifications

Operating Temperature
32-104°F/0-40°C

Operating Humidity
10-90%

Dimensions (W x H x D)
3.63 x 2.20 x 0.77 in. / 92.2 x 55.9 x 19.5mm

Weight
Approx. 4.97 oz. / 141g (Including batteries and memory card)

Approx. 4.30 oz. / 122 g (Camera body only)

Note: 26 display languages provided (English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Simplified/Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Korean, Greek, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Thai, Arabic, Romanian, Ukrainian, Farsi). All data are based on Canon’s Standard Test Method. Subject to change without notice. Canon, DIGIC, ELPH, PIXMA, and PowerShot and SELPHY are registered trademarks of Canon Inc. in the United States and may also be registered trademarks or trademarks in other countries. Microsoft, Windows and Windows Vista are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Mac is a trademark of Apple, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. All other products and brand names are registered trademarks, trademarks or service marks of their respective owners in the United States and/or other countries.

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