for the big shots

The Powershot Pro1 is the best all-around 8 megapixel digicam. It is compact (unlike the Olympus 8080, Sony F828, and Konica Minolta A2); has a fast 28-200 lens (Olympus only goes to 140mm equivalent, Nikon doesn't allow wide angle); and allows for fine adjustment of focal length (Olympus and Nikon use a crude zoom lever that makes it difficult to zoom exactly as you want to). An additional important point is that the Powershot can actually be used in RAW mode: the Olympus, Sony, and Nikon cameras lock-up for a while after taking a picture in RAW mode (this means the camera is not usable for up to 12 seconds after a RAW picture is taken).

Perhaps the closest competitor to the Powershot Pro1 is the Konica Minolta A2, but the A2 has an old lens design that lacks the resolution of the Powershot Pro1, and the A2 is much bigger, lacks the high resolution LCD screen on the Pro1, and has limited movement of its LCD screen. The A2 has a very high resolution viewfinder, but with a good LCD screen (like the Pro1), using a viewfinder is not preferable (for me at least). The A2 also has been noted in online reviews to have quality control problems.

Comparisons aside, some reviewers here have suggested that the Pro1 has "slow" autofocus and that the LCD screen freezes for a moment as the autofocus operates. The conclusion given is that the Pro1 is therefore difficult to use with moving subjects. The difficulty, however, is primarily with photographic technique rather than the camera's autofocus system. Because of the sensor size and lens design, the Pro1 has a large depth of field, meaning that subjects will appear in focus over a fairly large distance. Even at the telephoto end, the depth of field for a portrait (e.g. 100mm) at f/4.5 will be sufficient that you can pre-focus the lens and follow a moving subject easily. The shutter response is very very fast when the lens is already at its focus point. This is a standard technique often overlooked by people who never used a manual focus camera. And this technique is far better than relying on the autofocus system in any of the 8 megapixel cameras: none of them is faster than intelligent pre-focusing! The Pro1 makes this even easier by allowing the user to store a focus distance in the Custom1 and Custom2 settings.

This is a terrific camera. No camera is perfect, but the Pro1 makes the best compromises in its class.

And for those worried about image noise when looking at photos magnified on screen: this is eliminated from actual prints using any of several noise reduction software packages. Don't be afraid to use 400 speed on the Pro1, put the file through good noise reduction software, and print it. The result will still be very nice.

This is my 5th digital and the best of the lot. I have been getting consistently sharp pictures with a huge amount of detail and correct color saturation from day 1.

I love the swivel LCD and found the camera to be easy to operate.
If all you are going to do is point and shoot this is the camera for you. If you like control of aperture, shutter speed, white light etc....., this is also the camera for you.

I like to keep the camera at super fine resolution and find the amount of detail this camera picks up astounding. Even if I crop out a tiny section of the image the resolution is excellent.

The battery life is very good. Most people will need a 512 MG or larger card though. Maybe an extra battery too.

What could make the camera better? Perhaps a lower price tag, and an inexpensive camera case. My poor camera sat around unprotected for 2 weeks! I know, not all camera come with a bag or case in their package, but it would have been nice.

Bottom line is the picture quality is one of the best of the 8 MGP digicams out there right now. The small size is a definate plus for me, and it starts up quickly and handles very well.

Not the best in lowlight situations, but for me the other advantages outnumber this one feature.

As a botanist/ecologist/photographer I do a great deal of plant photography. I have used Canon products for years and swear by them and rarely at them. The Pro1, though, leaves a lot to be desired for my purposes. The EOS 10D does far better even with lower resolution. The Pro1, for the purposes I need, is not very suitable. (See my review of the PowerShot S1 IS).
But as a photgrapher who has been published around the world, mostly medium and large format photographs, I think for most people the Pro1 would be a very good choice. It has excellent construction and the image quality is superb with very true color, much better than most. If you don't want to mess with RAW image processing, you can photograph using the Super high resolution Large (gives you a JPG image) and get excellent results that compare very favorably with RAW processing and none of the fiddling with RAW. The availability of a 28mm equivalent wide angle is also very nice and not all that common.
The sharpest aperature to use is f5.6 or f6.3. The images are just a hair softer at larger or smaller apertures. Even the digital zoom will produce a pretty decent image at 14x, but gets worse at maximum digital zoom. Usually digital zoom is pretty worthless, but when you start with 8 megapixels you can still end up with a suitable pixel count after all the digital footwork that goes on in the camera. But generally you are still further ahead shooting at maximum optical zoom (no digital) and cropping, if you don't mind some additional digital manipulation antics to improve things.
So, all in all, I highly recommend this camera to anyone who needs high resolution and compact size. It is a good buy. But for really good macro photography I recommend a digital SLR and a top notch macro lens. If you only do a little macro work and are not real fussy about having razor sharp images then this camera will do fine. Sometimes it would almost match the 10D, but not quite. For all other uses, the camera is great.