Least Favorite Canon PowerShot
I certainly agree with the reviewers who have been saying the SD980IS produces fine pictures, but not in automatic mode. However, my review is less forgiving. If I buy a PowerShot, I expect it to perform well in ALL modes. I typically prefer to shoot in the manual modes, but there are times when I really like to go fully automatic and not think about settings.
I kept hoping there would be some type of firmware update that would tweak the settings in the automatic mode, but none have been produced yet. In auto mode, the picture quality is the lowest I've seen for any PowerShot, 8MP or greater. I tend to upgrade my pocket camera every year. I don't know if it is something unique to the sensor used in this camera or is a firmware issue.
I've traded my SD980IS for the Canon Powershot SD990IS 14.7MP Digital Camera with 3.7x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver). I was worried, because I was afraid it was an issue with the DIGIC 4 technology, but the pictures with the SD990IS are great in ALL modes.
However, the touchscreen features of the 980IS are fun to use and I like the ease for using the focus features it allows. Intuitive. Also, the VIDEO quality is excellent. Would like to combine the touchscreen features of the SD980IS with the picture quality of the SD990IS.