Summary: This camera definitely earned its keep

Comment: I used this camera for many years and received a lot of enjoyment from it. It took wonderful pictures and was very durable. It met its maker when it took a pretty hard whack from a boulder in a fast-moving river. I, unlike the other reviewer, could not get it to rewind that last roll of film. I definitely miss it! I'm looking to find something comparable in a digital model but it's proving to be quite difficult.

Summary: The best at what it does

Comment: I'm a former professional photographer who went through every technological innovation in imaging during a long career, from 4X5 press cameras to digital.

The Canon Sure Shot A-1 is one of my all time favorite cameras, out of dozens I have owned. It's incredibly rugged and easy to use in any situation. It has sloshed around in sea water in the bottom of a kayak and worked beautifully in sub-zero temperatures on ski slopes. The high-eyepoint viewfinder means it's easy to frame the image with one eye for the camera and the other for oncoming waves.

The lens is extremely sharp and the moderate wide-angle view makes it useful in all kinds of situations. If I had to carry just one camera to get me thorough any situation, this would be it and, in fact, that's exactly what I've done, many times.

Summary: Guess what camera needs a wrist strap?

Comment: We purchased the camera to use on a snorkeling cruise. Sadly, the camera drifted away during one of our dives never to be seen again. Had the camera come with a wrist strap instead of a neck strap this would not have happened. Needless to say, I am very disappointed in this camera.

Summary: Best thing ever - until it dies

Comment: Take all the advice you can about pre- and post-water care for these cameras, and in fact, read up on other models' tips, because even though I would rinse this camera carefully, its own manual is not as stringent about after-dive care. As a result, this, the very best water camera I had ever bought (I took it to 40 feet, no problem) totally and terminally punked out on a short snorkeling excursion due to leakage. And once it leaks, it's over. To its credit, it did rewind the already-shot film before it gave up the ghost, a truly valuable death-throe. So take GREAT care of it and you will never have reason to complain. It corrects for underwater optics and it also works well on land. It does like to turn itself on (the "on" dial is quite slippery) so keep tons of extra batteries (C123A, $$$) around. Takes delightful pictures; I would buy it again. And I have to because mine died.