The PowerShot Pro1 is equipped
with an 8.3 million pixel CCD of which 8 million are effective
when capturing its maximum image size of 3264 x 2448 pixels.
The CCD has a starting sensitivity of 50 ISO, but can be set
to 100, 200 or 400 ISO, or set to Auto, which lets the camera
adjust sensitivity as required.
The lens uses both fluorite and UD (Ultra-low dispersion) glass to minimize
chromatic aberration, and aspherical lens elements to minimize distortion.
Moreover, the zoom is driven by Canon's famous Ultrasonic motor, allowing
it to transit from wide to telephoto in approximately 1 second when the
Mode Lever is held towards the Rec side while turning the zoom ring.
The 7X optical zoom offers a focal
range of 7.2 to 50.8mm, the 35mm equivalent of a 28 to 200
mm zoom. Apertures start at f2.4 at
the wide angle end, and f3.5 at the telephoto end, closing
down to f8.
This aperture range works in
combination with shutter speeds that cover from 1/4000 sec.
to 15 seconds in the Tv and M modes; 1 second
in all other modes (P and Scene modes) except
for the Auto mode which has a minimum shutter speed
of 1/8 second. Furthermore, with all images captured at shutter
speeds of 1.3 second or less, noise reduction is automatically
applied to the image.
The lens barrel itself is labelled with both its actual focal lengths and
their 35mm equivalent, a feature first noted on Minolta cameras.
The front of the Pro1 has a release on the lower left
near the lens barrel that makes it possible to remove the
front lens trim and mount converter lenses: Tele-converter
TCDC58A, or Close-up Lens 500D.
In addition, the Pro1 is supplied with a lens hood and a filter adapter.
The lens hood is designed to prevent reflections on the lens for the
entire focal range of the lens without causing vignetting. However, it
must be removed when the flash is used as it will cause a shadow. The
filter adapter clips onto the front of the lens making it possible to
use 58mm diameter screw on filters.
Still images can be captured in either of two file format: RAW or JPEG.
Canon's RAW format is a proprietary format that captures the output of
the CCD without processing the image, and saves it using a non-destructive
compression that can be reversed when the image is read with the supplied
software. RAW images can then be adjusted for white balance, contrast,
sharpness and saturation and re-saved using a non-lossy format
such as TIFF or BMP. Alternatively, images can be saved in JPEG format
at any one of three compression levels, Superfine, Fine, and Normal.
Five image sizes are available with the PowerShot Pro1.
Selected in the Function menu (see the Ergonomics section
for a list of the other settings found in the Function
menu), the sizes are:
Large: 3264 x 2448 pixels
Medium 1: 2272 x 1704 pixels
Medium 2: 1600 x1200 pixels
Medium 3: 1024 x 768 pixels
Small: 640 x 480 pixels
Function menu, exposure compensation, white
balance, metering, and focus(see
the Ergonomics section of the review for a description) — a
number of other camera settings are located in the Recording
menu.
As with most other Canon cameras, the Pro1 has a three-part menu. The
content of the first part changes according to the capture mode in use,
but the second and third parts of the menu — Setup and My
Camera — are common to all modes and to the playback mode.
The Recording menu provides controls for:
Rec Menu for the Program Mode.
Flash Synch: selects First or Second curtain.
Slow Synchro:On or Off, starts
the slow synch flash mode.
Flash Adjust:Auto or Manual (in
the Tv, AV and M modes only).
Red-eye:On or Off. When On a bright
white LED located below the flash head is turned on before
the photo is captured to reduce the red-eye effect.
Flash Pop-up:On or Off. Selects
whether or not the flash pops up automatically when the
camera decides the light is insufficient.
Continuous Shooting: selects Standard or High
Speed modes.
Self-timer:2 seconds or 10 seconds.
Wireless Delay: sets the delay for the Remote
control shutter release (None, 2 seconds or 10
seconds).
Spot AE Point:Centre or AF Point.
Decides whether spot metering follows the AF point, or
if the spot metering function always takes place at the
centre of the frame.
ND Filter: On or Off. The Pro1 is
equipped with a Neutral Density filter that
restricts the amount of light coming into the camera effectively
almost doubling the aperture range of the camera.
Safety Shift:On or Off. Safety
shift lets the Pro1 automatically override user settings
in the Tv and Av modes should these be incorrect.
MF Point Zoom:On or Off. When On
and Manual focus is used, the centre point of the frame
is enlarged on the display to help focus accurately.
AF Mode: decides whether the autofocus is Single (activated
when the shutter release is pressed), or Continuous.
Digital Zoom:On or Off. A 3.2X
digital zoom is available with the Pro1 which crops the
central portion of the frame (not available with the RAW
format or with the Super Macro mode). Digitally zoomed
images are interpolated to the selected image size and
can be very grainy.
Converter: sets the zoom of the Pro1 so it can
be used with optional lens converters (Tele-converter TCDC58A,
or Close-up Lens 500D).
Review: Sets the length of time during which a
just captured image is displayed (Off, 2 through
10 seconds).
Colour Space:Sets whether still images
are recorded in the standard RGB colour space or Adobe
RGB colour space (Standard or Adobe RGB).
Reversed Display:On or Off. Decides
whether or not the image is horizontally reversed when
the LCD monitor is facing the front of the camera (as in
a self-portrait).
Super Macro: sets the lens to the Super Macro
setting. (See the Test Photos section of the
review for an example of the Super Macro mode.)
Intervalometer:Allows setting the camera
to shoot automatically at a selected time interval (1 through
60 minutes) for up to 100 shots if there is sufficient
memory card capacity.
Save Settings: allows saving current settings
into either one of the two Custom modes (C1 or C2).
In Playback, the options appropriate for this mode are also
presented in the first section while the other two, Setup and My
Camera remain unchanged:
Protect: serves to prevent images from an accidental
erasure.
Rotate: allows rotating an image by 90° or
270°.
Erase All: erase all non-protected images.
Slide Show: plays back still images in an automated
slide show. Up to 3 slide shows can be set-up, images can
be individually selected, and display timings can be set.
Print Order: serves to select images that will
be printed on a DPOF compatible printer, or service. The
Pro1 supports Direct Print, DPOF, and PictBridge making
it possible to print directly from the camera to a printer
supporting any of these protocols.
Transfer Order: selectsimages that will
automatically be downloaded to a computer running the included
software.
As explained above, all the menus of the PowerShot Pro1 — the
recording menus of all modes and the playback menu — offer
two other sections: Setup and My Camera. The
contents of the Setup menu are covered in the Interface
and Software section of the review. The My Camera menu
is a standard feature of Canon cameras and allows the owner
to modify the way the camera starts up along with the sounds
it makes.
The Pro1 can be personalized
using themes which consist of a start-up image which
is displayed on the screen and a sound, and a series of other
sounds that follow the theme which are applied to a variety
of other camera activities. While, by default, only 3 Themes
are loaded into the camera, by using the included software
these can be replaced by over 40 other themes. Alternatively,
sounds and images can be mixed and matched at will, and even
a photo captured with the Pro1 can be used as a start-up image.
The Pro1 provides a CompactFlash Type
II slot and is able to use both Type I and Type II CompactFlash
memory cards or Microdrives. The slot is on the right side
of the camera, and its solid door also covers the battery
compartment.
Canon is retailing the PowerShot
Pro1 with a 64MB High Speed CompactFlash Type I card, allowing
the camera to store:
RAW
Superfine
Fine
Normal
3264
x 2448
6
17
29
62
2272
x 1704
—
30
54
110
1600
x 1200
—
61
109
217
1024
x 768
—
107
189
349
640 x
480
—
241
393
676
A rechargeable Lithium ion battery powers the
PowerShot Pro1. The battery is held in place by an orange spring
loaded clip that maintains the battery in place when the compartment
door is opened and the memory card extracted.
In addition, a charger/adapter (CB-5L/CG580 or CA-560) can be purchased
separately to power the Pro1 for an extended period.
The DC-IN jack, along with the USB port and the Audio/Video
(AV) jack are found on the lower part of the Pro1's back. Just
like the card and battery compartment, a spring-loaded solid
plastic door covers the connections.
The AV jack is on the right, and the signal output by the Pro1 can be set
to NTSC or PAL in the Setup menu. The DC-IN jack is next, at the centre,
and the USB connection, 1.1, is at the far left.
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