Canon PowerShot ELPH 510 HS Digital Camera Review

Conclusion

What a disappointment. Here we've got a corner of the market that isn't yet crowded to capacity, an area currently led by Casio which–and no offense to Casio here–is no Canon, and the arrival of a brand new, expensive contender with an exciting spec sheet and a history of competence in the product line.

Then we get it in our hands and...touchscreen. Okay, bad sign.

Clumsy interface. Uh-oh.

Noise at ISO 100. Game over.

While not a terribly bad camera, the PowerShot ELPH 510 HS offers nothing that can't be found elsewhere for less money. And specifically, yes we're talking about the Casio ZR100. Canon's model lags behind in the handling of noise, cleanliness of lines and geometry, physical handling, video mode capabilities, and of course high speed shooting–Casio's specialty.

While we cannot recommend a purchase, the 510 HS has a few qualities we'd love to see in a future, better model. For some reason the behavior of shutter release buttons varies wildly from camera to camera, even within the same company or the same series. The 510 HS has a good one, not too stiff, good tactile feedback, easy to shoot with. In fact, construction of the 510 HS is quite solid overall, particularly the sturdy lens barrel. We definitely think the glass inside needs to be adjusted to reduce chromatic aberration, but the barrel itself is a quality piece of hardware. Finally the color accuracy, not for still shooting but while recording video, is amazing. We're not sure how Canon accomplished this rare feat, but if it was anything other than an accident, we'd love to see it in another model.

The PowerShot ELPH 510 HS would be a phenomenal $200 camera, but as a $350 "Performance and Style" model, we think this one is destined for obscurity. While some of its features left us wondering what to expect from the ELPH lineup next, this particular iteration is a miss.