Canon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph Camera, a Review

The Canon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph Camera is a small camera with a lot of power. It takes great pictures, videos and has the memory to last. The price at two local stores in the Chicago area was $249.95, but is available even cheaper through discounts.

The camera is very rectangular and light. It fits great in a pocket or purse. It is a 7.1 Megapixel camera that weighs only 4.41 ounces. Its large 2.5 inch LCD monitor, which is 2" wide by 1.5" high, gives a true feel of how your shot will look. It is large enough to do edits in the camera, which is another great feature. The picture is clear and sharp, with true colors.

The PowerShot can use either SD, SDHC, or MMC Memory Cards, and a 32mb SD Memory Card is included. With this level of camera, they should include at least a 256 mb card, as a 32mb card doesn't give you very much room for images if you are using it on a vacation. Since memory cards are now getting very inexpensive, I chose a 2GB card, which was $15.95 at a local store.

Since most Kodak and Sony Picture Stations use these cards, and a lot of home printers and Printmates, it is easy to print pictures by inserting the card directly into the printer's card slot. It can also print pictures loaded to a computer equipped to receive the card, or from the camera directly to the computer by using an optional cable.

The camera uses a Lithium Ion Rechargeable Battery Pack, which was one of the reasons I chose this unit. Many small digital cameras use AA batteries. While you can now get better rechargeable AA batteries, I have come to prefer the lithium battery packs from past experiences.

With a fully charged battery pack, you can shoot about 210 images with the monitor on, or about 600 with the monitor off, according to the manual. This is close to real world use, although if you shoot a lot of video, the battery is used up more quickly than when you are shooting stills.

The following is based on a 2GB SD Memory Card.
640x480 - 6981 Images
1600x1200 - 1903 Images
2048x1536 - 1207 Images
2592x1944 - 784 Images
3072x2304 - 647 Images
1600x1200 (Postcard Mode) 3306
3072x1728 (Widescreen) 860

The lens on this Canon is 35-105 mm. This provides 3X Optical and 4X Digital. With both combined, you can get up to 12X zoom. I have had occasion to go this close, and it worked very well. The pictures were still very detailed.

Both the optical and digital zooms work well, and are employed using the same button. There is a very clear difference between the two, as one is a smooth zoom and the other jumps up to closer intervals.

The digital macro is 1.2 - 3.9 Inches, and gives dramatic results. It is an easy-to-use feature, and will get you to experiment with this option if you are not familiar with it.

You can also shoot video with sound (AVI Format). My previous camera did not have the sound feature so I didn't take too many family videos. But I have stopped bringing my camcorder along to group functions because the video feature of this camera works so well.

Based on a 2GB SD Memory Card, you can get the following results:
Standard Quality 16' 21" (limited by memory card)
Compact Quality 174' 31" (continuous limited to 3 min.)
Fast Frame Rate 23' 15" (continuous limited to 1 min.)

You can also do time lapse up to 2 hours. This is a great feature to use for special visits with those older folk, the kids love to see them.

This may sound like a commercial, but this camera is a pleasure to use. Previously, I had a Nikon 775, which was a 2 megapixel device. I was always impressed with the quality of the pictures from that camera. But the Canon is lighter, smaller and shoots faster. The continuous mode varies based on the speed of the memory card being used; the manual rates it at 1.7 shots per second.

I recently had the chance to use the night snapshot mode, which uses the flash in low light conditions. You will probably need a tripod or level surface to support the camera when using this mode, as I got some blurring when holding it in my hand, but the quality was very good.

Another similar mode is the fireworks setting. This is similar to night snapshot, but the shutter stays open longer to maximize the movement of fireworks. This mode will also benefit from the use of a tripod or a solid surface for balance. I used this at an evening car show, shooting various historic autos. The colors were brilliant, and they seemed to sparkle as if they were sitting in the sun.

Many accessories are available, including an external flash, and an AC adaptor. The AC adaptor is useful if you are not near a computer and need to review or delete a lot of images or videos.

This camera has an excellent red-eye correction as you shoot, and also allows you to correct red-eye after the shot is made. This works very well, and I have used it several times. It works better for people than for animals, as the camera detects the red in the eye automatically.

The Zoom Browser software that comes with the camera provides many functions, including remote shutter, which allows you to control the camera when connected to the computer. You can also stitch pictures together to make a panoramic picture. I have used this with my Nikon, and it works very well.

There is also video editing that can be done in the camera and on the computer. You can add text to videos, and combine them into one video using the Zoom Browser software.

The Zoom Browser feature, along with red eye correction, zoom and macro features, and its excellent portability, make this a terrific camera for scrapbookers. This camera can go anywhere so you can capture the shots you might have missed.

Moving your pictures back to the camera, as long as they are unaltered and were taken with the camera, is a versatile feature. You would use this to show family and friends without having to print them out, or to take them to a printshop.

You can also set up new startup images and sounds for the camera and upload them. You can upload serious sounds, funny sounds, but if you like taking pictures of sleeping pictures or timid creatures, don't use this feature. You can turn the sound feature off, but if you forget, you can make a tired mom very upset when you wake up her napping toddler.

For a point and shoot, this camera has some manual over-rides. It is a very good value, especially for this price bracket. For those who will not use most of these features but want an automatic camera that takes excellent shots, I would still highly recommend it for them.

To sum up, this Canon PowerShot SD1000 digital camera is available in silver or silver/black, is fully flat, with 7.1 megapixel digital ELPH with 3x optical zoom lens. It has face detection technology and red-eye correction, with vivid high-resolution 2.5-inch LCD screen with scratch-resistant anti-reflection coating for easy on-camera viewing and durability. Five movie modes include 30 fps VGA, time lapse and fast frame rate, and a print/share button for easy direct printing and downloading. I would give it a rating of 4.8 out of 5.