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Canon PowerShot SD1000/IXUS 70 Digital Camera Review

Others/Miscelleneous by SidneyWong @ 2007-07-20

The Canon PowerShot SD1000 digital ELPH is an ultra compact camera no bigger than the size of a pack of cigarette. In Europe and Asia it is known as Canon IXUS 70. Designed as a point and shoot camera, it contains some features suitable for some tuff tasks in its price range. Let´s find out how this little guy performs.

Software & Conclusion

Software:

The PowerShot came with Canon Digital Camera Solutions Version 30.0 containing:

For Mac:

ImageBrowser 5.8

PhotoStitch 3.1

EOS Utility 1.1

For Windows:

ZoomBrowser 5.8

PhotoStitch 3.1

TWAIN Driver 6.7

EOS Utility 1.1

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Nothing spectacular, however it is easy to use.

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Surprise

More or less a disappointment with Canon quality control. Having a viewfinder is a definite plus for any camera. When there is a "large piece of dirt" inside the viewfinder sitting right at the center is another story, which could only be viewed through the viewfinder. While the fine dusts inside the view finder (cannot be removed or cleaned without taking the camera apart) do not bother viewing too much, the piece of dirt does.

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The dust you are seeing is inside the view finder.

Distortion

Not bad for camera in this size

ISO

I did not test ISO settings, simply due to the fact that high ISO produces "noise" or "high grains". This is no difference than film camera. I'd rather set ISO at below 200 whenever possible; the lower the better.

Pricing

Digital camera market is becoming more competitive. There are many selection in $50 to $400 price range; Canon SD1000 has a MSRP of $299, shopping around you could get one for about $220. The lower end products do not have microphone or sound feature at 5 megapixels and below; lower video resolution and FPS; less preset/programmed functions. Let's not forget the lens quality being the most important element of any cameras.

Driver Support

Driver support for both Windows XP and Vista is important. It also means the SD1000 is able to work in your new PC hardware and operating system down the road.

Power on/off and flash

The time requires to power on the SD1000 with lens extended is amazingly fast. In about a seond, it is ready to shoot. Flash recharge speed is acceptable; it measures about 3 to 5 seconds for full strength flash and about 1 to 2 seconds for fill-in flash. I have no problem at 20 ft using full strength (spot metering).

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There are three more SD series cameras at higher prices than the SD1000.

Thoughts:

Preference & Purpose

Buying a camera is an interesting experience. I notice most buyers follow certain “family tradition”; the name brand their parents or family members used before. Most will buy only brand names that are carried forward with film camera manufacturers such as Nikon, Canon, Minolta, Olympus, etc. The “Sony” generation is a different story.

The traditional SLR size cameras did not go away in the digital world. They remain and gain popularity in recent two years. It is the change in life style together with digital camera technology in recent years that accelerate the growth in compact and ultra compact digital cameras. The ease of carry, fast start up and ready to shot characteristics determine most of the buying decision.

Conclusion:

Canon PowerShot SD1000 is a very good camera for those who are looking for ultra compact for carry. It packs a lot of features. Aperture/Shutter priority will be missed by some users; the lack of stability control is not a surprise in this price range. Some may complain about the battery/SD card compartment not being accessible when it is used with tripod, and prefer side loading instead; a minor inconvenience. Finally, I must mention the provision of LCD grid lines (both vertical & horizontal) necessary for image framing; it reminds me of the 120mm format of the old times.

The biggest draw back on this particular unit is the "blinded" inspector and quality control with the dusty viewfinder (inside and cannot be removed or cleaned without taking the camera apart) and a "large" piece of dirt somewhere in between a prism or mirror from the viewfinder to the lens.

From a scale of 1 to 10

Ease of carry ●●●●●●●●●● 10
Color Balance ●●●●●●● 7
Photo Quality ●●●●●●●● 8
Macro clarity ●●●●●●●● 8
Video ●●●●●● 6
Flash coverage ●●●●●●● 7
Software ●●●●●●● 7
Street Price ●●●●●●●● 8
Quality Control ●● 2

Total Score with the poor quality control 7.0
Total Score notwithstanding the dust filled viewfinder & obstructing image view 7.7

A weighted average would be considered and might apply in future reviews. Let's hope the QC issue is an isolated case here. Overall, I recommend the Canon PowerShot SD1000.

We plan on bringing in a more affordable Samsung S700 in a few weeks.

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Comment from Sidney @ 2007/08/08

Although the SD1000 does not have RAW image capability, the bundle software includes RAW image process. This is good news because I believe Nikon charges for this software.

Canon Customer Service is quite responsive in using email. The review unit "dust inside the viewfinder" required me to send the unit to local repair facility. Rather than doing that, I simply returned it to Sam's Club where I purchased it and I walked out with a new replacement.

The Canon Rebel was also returned to the retailer for replacement when the flash did not work the first time. I wonder what others may experience with Canon quality control.

Comment from wutske @ 2007/08/09

no ISO test ? It's incredibly important to know, film grain or not. Sometimes you have to bump the ISO and it's nice to know whether this will return a useless image or a somewhat usefull image. Some camera's (escpecialy the smaller ones) even have a lot of noise (and noise reduction artifacts) at lower ISO settings.

Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/09

Find ISO setting for me

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...&articID=5 89

Comment from wutske @ 2007/08/09

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmke

Find ISO setting for me

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...&articID=5 89

press up ?

Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/09

lol

didn't see

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PROD...00/SD1000A.HTM

Quote:

Though the SD1000 has an ISO of 1600, the noise levels were too high for my taste. I usually kept it set to ISO 800 or below.

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/08/09

I normally stay away from using any high ISO; no difference than film. Likely compensate by using tripod for longer exposure or fill in flash. Higher ISO means more grains or Noise.

Nikon D40 has ISO starting 200

Comment from wutske @ 2007/08/09

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazyman

sometimes, a tripod or a long exposure isn't always possible or wanted. I usualy stay away from high ISO too, but sometimes you can't do anything but using high ISO. Luckily my camera supports RAW

.

The D40 might start at ISO200, but it has a CCD that is a lot larger, so signal/noise ratio is compareable to a fixed-lens camera at ISO50.

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/08/09

Night vision camera

Most compact and ultra compact Digicams don't have RAW, you have to pay for it.

There is only slight improvement; it is a matter of physics despite image compression. We will get there closer. Otherwise, we don't need flash.

Better to have a fast lens if money is not the issue.

Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/16

IXUS 30 Macro shot, cropped, no resize ->

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/08/16

I'm stealing this picture

Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/16

no manual F setting, otherwise I could have gotten much sharper photo

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/08/16

manual F setting = $$, that's why I'm keeping the oldie

Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/16

Canon G5 on ebay $200

Gdzilla just bought one, Piotke payed his G5 $250 one year ago, also ebay unit. I bought mine in store, $700 total (change $ to € for EU readers

)

Comment from wutske @ 2007/08/16

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazyman

manual F setting = $$, that's why I'm keeping the oldie

Canon A570IS, full manual control for only $177.

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/08/16

Yeah, you are correct; even the SD1000 and Samsung have manual F stop but limited to two settings only.

I meant to say manual focus

Must be old age, I did it twice in two days.

Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/16

sorry for confusion

F I did not mean focus

put aperture

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/08/16

Now you know the difference of age gap

Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/16

are you suggestion "young" people don't mix things up or make mistakes? you are kidding yourself if you believe that

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