Canon - PowerShot SD1000 / Digital IXUS 70 Digital Camera Review

Overall 4.52 of 5 view all 48 reviews

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MsMichelle661
Bakersfield, CA

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The best camera for storing family memories.

a person who enjoys quality, family's manager of memories

Pros

size, Good pictures, clear photos

DEC

2007

The Canan Power Shot SD1000 is an ultra compact (3.38 x 2.11 x 0.76 in.) camera with 7.1 Mega Pixels and a 3x optical zoom and Canon's new DIGIC III processor. I purchased this camera am my family's main camera. My criteria were: small enough to take anywhere, good pictures of people/kids, fast response to photo kids on the move, and good quality movies (camcorder replacement). The SD1000 is a great fit and the only real compromise I have to make is no optical zooming for movies, and dealing with red-eye in almost all indoor pictures. My specific thoughts on this camera are:

Size: Perfect, tiny size that easily fits into jeans pockets. Most of my missed photo opportunities were because I didn't have a camera on hand and this camera eliminates that because you can easily fit it into a pocket any time

Image Quality: Outstanding for such a small package. Great photos under all types of lighting: inside and outside, and even under lower-light conditions. The face detection is also very helpful and produces outstanding pictures of people. I think taking people pictures is where this camera really excels. Colors are outstanding and are realistic but with a nice punch. The default sharpness setting it a bit soft for my taste but you have full control of sharpness, contrast, saturation, skin tones, and colors under the custom colors setting (The control is great but the location under custom colors in the menu is a bit odd.)

Movie Mode: Good quality videos that rival video cameras (except while zooming, unfortunately.). Movie files are in motion jpeg format very large at 2MB per second, but you can record clips up to 4 GB. There are several settings to choose from including resolutions of 640x480 or 320x240 and frame rates of 15 or 30 frames per second. There is also a high speed option of 60 fps at the lower resolution and even a time-lapse option that lets you take pictures at 1-2 second intervals for up to 2 hours. The down side to movies is that you can not use the optical zoom while recording. You can use the digital zoom up to 4x, but the image quality degrades and becomes rather pixilated at high digital zoom. In addition, there is no optical or digital image stabilization so you have to have a very steady hand or your movies will end up being very shaky.

Build Quality: The body feels very solid and high quality. My only complaints are a flimsy battery compartment door, small plastic lever that holds the battery in place, and the zoom rocker feels a little bit loose. In general, a very well built camera that I have carried around for hours in pockets and it still looks and functions like it was brand new.

Battery: So far, so good! I charge the battery after each day of shooting and I am yet to see a low battery indicator so I am happy. I plan to purchase an additional battery and have found high capacity, generic batteries for around $10 so battery life shouldn't be a problem. In addition, this camera has an optical viewfinder so you can extend the battery life significantly by turning off the LCD display.

LCD Screen: Very impressive 2.5" display with excellent definition. It is also covered by a scratch resistant cover. Overall I am very pleased with the display and have yet to have it washed out in daylight pictures. It is also very nice for viewing images.

Extras:
Optical Viewfinder - Very nice to have in a camera this size! this works well under direct sunlight or when trying to conserve battery life.

Color swap - Allows you to swap one color for another in pictures.

Color accent - A very cool feature where the image is black and white except for a certain color that you designate. This feature is very easy to use and really adds an artistic touch to pictures. Example: beautiful pictures of my 2-year old daughter where only her pink jacket is colored.

In-camera red-eye removal in review mode - You can eliminate a lot of red-eye directly on the camera in review mode. This would be much nicer if it was done automatically, but still gives pretty good results.

Overall I am very happy with this purchase and very impressed with the camera and pictures that it produces. I would definitely recommend this camera to anyone wanting a pocketable P&S camera with great image quality.

Canon - PowerShot SD1000 / Digital IXUS 70 Digital Camera is recommended by MsMichelle661

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MsMichelle661 wrote on Dec 4, 2007 at 10:05PM

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More Canon - PowerShot SD1000 / Digital IXUS 70 Digital Camera reviews

Canon looked to the very first ELPH for inspiration when designing the PowerShot SD1000 Digital ELPH, and came up with a quintessential iteration of the icon: slim, clean-lined and fully flat. Inside, the SD1000 Digital ELPH looks only to the future: 7.1 megapixels, a 3x optical zoom and advanced DIGIC III ensure top-quality images, while focus is fast and sharp and red-eye is automatically corrected. The large and more colorful LCD screen now has a tough, anti-reflective coating that makes it as durable as it is beautiful.
Key Features	Image Sensor Type CCD Resolution 7.4 Megapixel Optical Zoom 3x Camera Type Ultra-Compact Weight 0.28 lb. Family Line Canon PowerShot
Lens	Interchangeable Lens Not Interchangeable Lenses Optical Zoom 3x 35mm Zoom Lens 35 - 105 mm Digital Zoom 4x Focus Type Autofocus Focus Range 12 in. to Infinity (w) Macro Focus Range 1.2 - 19.2 in. (w) / 12 - 19.2 in. (t) Focal Length 5.8 - 17.4 mm
Image Quality	Camera Resolution 7.4 Megapixel Image Resolutions 640 x 480 • 2592 x 1944 • 2048 x 1536 • 1600 x 1200 • 3072 x 2304 • 3072 x 1728
Video	Video Resolutions 320 x 240 (QVGA) • 640 x 480 (VGA) • 160 x 120 Video Speed 30 fps Video Format AVI • Motion JPEG
Exposure Control	Aperture Range f2.8/f4.9 (w/t) Shutter Speed 15 - 1.3 sec White Balance Auto • Manual • Daylight / Sunny (Preset) • Cloudy (Preset) • Fluorescent (Preset) • Tungsten (Preset) Frames Per Second 1.7 Frames
Storage	Memory Type Multimedia Card • SD Card • SDHC Card Compression Modes Fine • SuperFine • Normal Compression Type JPEG • EXIF 2.2 • DPOF 1.1 File Size (High Res.) 2.97 MB (43 images on 128MB card) File Size (Low Res.) 0.08 MB (about 1,600 images on 128MB card)
Flash	ISO Speeds Auto • 100 • 200 • 400 • 800 • 1600 • 80 Flash Type Built-In Flash Functions Flash Off • Auto Flash • Red-eye Reduction Flash • Slow Sync • Forced On
Viewfinder / Display	Viewfinder Optical LCD Panel With LCD Panel LCD Panel Size 2.5 in. LCD Screen Resolution 230,000 pixels LCD Protected Position Without LCD Protected Position
Interfaces	Interface Type USB 2.0 Video Interface Video Out
Power Supply	Battery Type Proprietary Lithium Battery Life 210 Images
Included Features	Self Timer 2 Sec. • 10 Sec. Built-in Microphone With Built-in Microphone
Dimensions	Width 3.38 in. Depth 0.76 in. Height 2.11 in. Weight 0.28 lb.
Miscellaneous	Included Accessories Software • USB Cable • Video Cable • Hand Strap • 32 MB Memory Card • Lithium Battery • Battery Charger • Audio... Release Date March, 2007 MPN PowerShot SD1000 Product ID 40940649 Exterior Color Silver
Product MPN	MPN PowerShot SD1000

Canon - PowerShot SD1000 / Digital IXUS 70 Digital Camera

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