My review of the Canon SD500 (IXUS 700), cross-posted on DPReview.com:

Opinion
The one takeaway about this camera is it’s speed. Amazingly fast start-up, half-press to full shutter release and shot-to-shot make this an ideal camera if you’re dealing with moving subjects like kids or animals.

My previous digital was a Minolta F100 that suffered from a slow lens and degraded performance once the rechargable double-As ran down, especially with the flash. The SD500 has none of those problems, with a powerful flash, fast lens and great speed and performance.

I was always a fan of my in-laws’ G2 and this camera is a fine extension of the PowerShot line. Tiny. Fast. A good interface and easy to use controls. I especially like the scene modes and white balance presets.

Problems
Not so much problems as a laundry list of annoyances, all of which I can live with:

1) No persistent battery indicator. All you get is a message shortly before you need to change power sources. Invest in a second battery.

2) No ISO information on Auto ISO-recorded images. No idea why this is the case, but it is annoying. Trying to find a fix. Comments welcome. 🙂

3) Canon’s filenaming, especially the folders. Our Minolta would arrange folders on the SD card by date. No such luck with a Canon camera.

4) Auto White Balance can be flaky. We’ve seen some overexposed images. Better to use appropriate scene mode or adjust the white balance to a preset within manual mode.

5) AiAF is also flaky. We’re using the Manual mode and turning the AiAF off. Seems to have worked.

6) Macro mode wants you really close and prefers the wide angle. 5cm means you’re standing awfully close to you subject. The good news is the results are good and the digital zoom works well. Better macro/digital macro then I had been lead to believe.

Pics to come most likely after our vacation.