Canon Powershot - SD1000 photography
June 2nd 2008 09:47
Some photos taken with the Cannon Powershot SD1000 Digital Elph
The Cannon Powershot SD1000 - a users review
Capturing those momentous moments has never been easier with the new Cannon Powershot SD1000. It truly is a little wonder of a camera and at only 1.9cm thick, it's a handy size to throw in your bag ready for every outing.
It offers you a 3x zoom lens equivalent to 35-105mm, a 2.5 inch LCD screen and a 7.1 megapixel sensor. The SD1000 has Face Detection and Noise Reduction technologies plus a new Red-Eye Correction feature in Playback mode. It also features a range of ISO speeds up to 1600 including an ISO Auto Shift function which helps avoid image blur if the camera shakes.
So, want to know more? Read on to find out...
Build Quality
The Cannon Powershot SD1000 has a quality build design with a simplistic and clean, smooth metallic finish. It is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, and without the memory card or battery fitted, it weighs just 125g.
It is comfortable and easy use despite it's small size. The SD1000 grips well in your hand and is not at all slippery. You can comfortably take pictures with one hand and the camera feels naturally supported by both thumbs while pressing the shutter button with your right finger. There is nothing flimsy about the buttons either. They are well made and easy to operate.
There is even a well designed tripod mount positioned near the centre of the camera's underside, usually an after-thought on a digital camera like this.
Controls/Features
Being a point and shoot camera the Cannon SD1000 has only 9 external controls making it functional and straightforward to use. It doesn't feel crowded with controls - a very clever design considering its large 2.5 inch LCD screen. There is also an optical view finder which is very handy when the LCD screen is hard to use, for example in
bright sunlight. However, I did find it a little small and you will probably use the LCD screen the majority of the time. All the external controls are labelled using the usual industry standard terminology and symbols.
Manual Features
The Function button leads to the My Colours option, revealing the Custom Colour Menu and this includes several pre-set looks like Vivid Green and Positive Film. If you want to gain a particular effect, then these are a fast way of achieving that.
The Shooting Mode menu offers other exciting options like Colour Swap and Colour Accent. Colour Swap enables you to pick a colour in the image and completely swap it for another and with Colour Accent you can select one colour and make the rest black and white.
The Manual Mode gives you more access to advanced features, for example, white Balance and ISO speed. Unfortunately, this camera does not afford full photographic controls like aperture or shutter speed. However, it's point and shoot at its best!
Face detection is a very handy feature for the novice point and shoot user. However, it does seem rather difficult to find in the Cannon Powershot SD1000 compared to other cameras who have a dedicated button. On the Cannon Powershot SD1000 you press the Menu button then find the AiAF mode options and select it from there.
Menu System
This has a dedicated button under the navigation pad and is very user-friendly and isn't too complex. This is mainly due to the main features being located in other parts of the camera. The 3 icons along the top of the LCD screen lead to a set of sub menus and just 6 options are available on the large LCD screen at once so it isn't too cluttered.
Start-up Time and Focusing
The operational speed of the Cannon Powershot SD1000 is really quite fast, especially for a camera in this class. It only takes about ½ a second from turning on the Cannon Powershot SD1000 to being ready to take a picture. To zoom from the longest to the widest focal length takes about 2 seconds and the camera easily and quickly focuses in good outdoor light. It also contains a focus assist light which helps focusing in low light or indoors. The storage of pictures is fast - about 1 second. This allows you to keep snapping away whilst each photo is recorded onto the memory card. The shooting rate is 1.7 frames per second, average for a camera in this range. This rate is maintained right up until the memory card reaches maximum storage.
So all in all, the Cannon Powershot SD1000 is a really fantastic point and shoot camera, well built, user-friendly, operationally fast and it's stylish. Have fun capturing those once in a lifetime, precious moments with this great little camera.
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