• Response time is OK – nothing to get excited about
• Battery life. .  doesn’t seem great (However I am using the GPS feature AND an Eye-Fi card).  The time it takes that small battery to charge seems a bit longer than it needs to be.
• Hard to keep your finger off the Flash popup
• The lens covering feels flimsy – Need to get a case, wouldn’t just toss it in a bag
• I want built-in intervalometer(timelapse) shooting – Will need to use http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK to get it

Yep – those three specs, screen size, focal length range and audio recording during video are the only noticeable differences. Which one is best for you?  There is actually one more subtle difference, the 3″ screen on the 310 is higher resolution at 416K, twice that of the 100 and 300. Maybe not as a big a difference as 2x the resolution sounds but certainly worth mentioning. My Pick is the HS300, in the way that most ultra compacts get used, having the slightly wider lens start at 24mm is more important than a bit more zoom. Image quality wise all three cameras are going to give you virtually identical results. Note that thee 100 HS looks a tad smaller, it’s not- these images are not to scale. The 310 series does come in a variety of colors, the 100 and 300 stick to black, silver and red. A great soft case these is the Case Logic TBC-302 I also recommend a spare battery and of course an SD Card 8GB is fine  

Canon Elph 500 HS	Canon Elph 510 HS
Screen Size 3.2″ Touch Screen, 4.4x zoom (24-105mm), Stereo Audio	Screen Size 3.2″ Touch Screen , 12x zoom(28-336mm), Stereo audio recording
Buy from Amazon $199	Buy from Amazon $299

The big difference between the 500 series and the 300 series is the larger touch screen. The back of these cameras is domniated by the screen and the touch functionality replacing several physical buttons. The difference between the 500 and the 510 is the Zoom, with the 510 offering a fairly serious 12x zoom in what is still considered a compact and almost ultracompact body. Image quaity between all five of these cameras is going to be virtually identical- they use the same sensor and processor.

Canon Elph 300 HS Back	Canon Elph 500 HS Back
No Touch screen	Touch Screen

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Cape Neddick ("Nubble") Light - Copyright Tobias Gelston

Black Friday Updates 7am

HS300 at $149 -See description below, Excellent buy for a tiny but high quality camera

SX230 at $199 – Very similar in quality and features to HS300 (which is to say excellent) AND adds 3″ LCD screen, 14x zoom GPS for tagging photos – this is a stellar buy – View on Amazon Price includes a 4GB SD card and Mini HDMI Cable

Sony Cyber-ShotTX10 16.2 MP Waterproof Camera is Amazon’s Gold Box Deal of the day and at $169 for a waterproof rugged camera that shoots 16MP and 1080i video is very tempting.  Be warned that this camera is sloooooow, slow to start up and slow to take photo/video.  Also the touch screen that lets you control most of the operations is no fun to use especially once the screen gets wet. . like underwater!!  Amazon’s return policy is good so if you are dying to try out a waterproof camera you could give it a shot. The next waterproof camera I feel comfortable recommending is $100 more, the excellent Panasonic LumixTS3 12.1 MP Rugged/Waterproof Camera Simple controls and truly feels like it can take some abuse and spend some time underwater.

More Amazon Black Friday Deals & BF Electronic Deals

	If I had $200 to spend I would buy the Canon HS300 This little P&S is little! but offers excellent quality, 1080p with stereo audio and the neat feature of slow mo video.  I would spend the extra $50 on an 8GB SD Card (it comes w/ a 4GB and HDMI cable) an Ultra Compact Camera Case and a Joby Flexible Tripod.  NOTE: This Camera at $149 is already blackfriday discounted – Amazon’s price matches the expected door buster price being offered by BestBuy.
	If I had $400 I would buy the Canon PowerShot S100 & that would require me to scrounge a bit for an extra $30 but it wold be worth it.  The new DIGIC 5 Image Processor means fast performance and excellent low light images. Additional features similar to the HS300 above but with a very cool control ring for manual control over a range of settings and GPS for automatic location tagging of your photos.
	If I had $600 I would buy the Panasonic LUMIX G3 Four-Thirds Camera with 14-42mm Lens And just like that we are now in the territory of cameras with removeable lenses – DSLR like – this is not a true DSLR because it doesn’t have a mirror that directs the image that comes through the lens to an optical viewfinder.  What it does have and offers is an electronic viewfinder and a flip out LCD screen with touch to focus (and lots of other touch to do something options)  Fast and silent autofocus, 360 motion panorama and loads of video options.  Downside- battery life isn’t great and additional lenses aren’t cheap.   There are other really close competitors for my heart at this price range.
	If I had $800 I would buy the Canon EOS Rebel T3i with EF-S 18-55m IS Lens You get a whole lot of DSLR for this price- a gorgeous flipity out LCD screen, 1080P recording – in fact the T3i shares same image/video quality with the much more expensive 7D and even offers a few features like video zoom that you don’t get in the 7D.  And for those that dream of going big as a photographer wireless flash control is a cherry on the T3i pie.
	If I had $1000 I would buy the Canon EOS Rebel T3i with EF-S 18-55m IS Lens (yep same as above) and add an external flash like Speedlite 320EX Flash – This is going to do loads for your indoor & outdoor photos and has a video light AND has a remote for triggering the shutter on the camera.
	If I had $1200 I would buy the Fujifilm X100 – this is a DSLR sensor in a small range finder like body with a fixed lens.  Sure you are giving up the versatility of a DSLR with removable lenses and no zoom but what you get is a fantastically peppy camera, superb quality and it is all packaged in a stylish body.