The SD100 / IXUS II is the
newest addition to Canon's line of Digital Elph/Ixus cameras.
Like the SD10, which was reviewed last month, the SD100 uses SD memory
cards.
Like some other cameras recently released by Canon, the SD100
is a marriage of old and new elements. While the overall appearance
of the SD100 shares much with other cameras in its family, there
are some styling differences — most notably the lens trim — along
with differences in the shape and layout of some of the controls.
.
The top right of the SD100 provides a zoom control ring around the shutter
release and the power switch.
The Mode Switch is placed
at the top right of the SD100's back, and has 4 positions:
Auto mode in this mode
the SD100 controls most camera settings, including sensitivity.
Manual mode allows selecting
sensitivity, metering pattern, white balance, and the long
shutter mode.
Movie mode allows capturing
video clips at any one of three sizes, 640 x 480 (30 second
clip); 320 x 240 (3 min. clip) and 160 x 120 (3 min. clip),
and all at 15 frames per second. AE, AF, zoom setting and
white balance are locked at the first frame.
Playback mode.
On the back of the SD100 the right
side of the 1.5 inch (118,000 pixel) LCD monitor is reserved
for a 4-direction control with a speaker directly above it. The
4 directional buttons which are used to navigate the menus provide
alternate functions when the SD100 is in Recording mode:
In addition when the shutter release is held halfway down, the metering
button serves to lock the exposure (AE Lock) or when the flash is
forced on, the flash exposure (FE Lock).
The down arrow starts the continuous
shooting mode (2.2 frames per second with the Large/Fine
image setting); or the Self-timer (10 or 2 seconds delay
as selected in the menu).
The left arrow selects first, the Macro
mode, which allows focus from 10 to 47 cm (3.9 to 18.3
in.) in wide angle and 23 to 47 cm (9 to 18.3 in.) at the
telephoto position; and second the Infinity mode (landscape)
which sets the lens to its hyperfocal point
so as to capture sharp images of objects both far and near.
The right arrow serves to choose the Flash
mode: Auto, Red-eye Reduction Auto, Forced On, Forced
Off, Slow Synchro.
The remaining four buttons under
the monitor are:
FUNC.
Calls up the Function
menu in the Recording modes, and is used to delete images
in Playback. The Function menu provides access to the most
often needed settings. (See the Characteristics section
of the review.)
DISP.
In the Recording
modes, Display offers 2 different views or turns
the monitor off. The first view only indicates the AF frame
on the live image, the second view adds current camera
settings. In Playback, the button cycles through a view
that has a limited amount of information overlaid on the
image, to one that adds the shooting data and a histogram,
and finally to a view that only shows the image (shown
at left).
MENU
Calls up a three
part menu which has a first section that corresponds to
the mode in use, while the two other sections are shared
by the recording and playback modes.
SET
Confirms specific selections,
such as formatting or selecting the long shutter mode.
To conserve battery power, or when
the ambient light is too bright to use the LCD monitor, the PowerShot
SD100 provides a bright and useable optical viewfinder. When
the viewfinder is in use, and the LCD monitor turned off, pressing
any of the controls causes the monitor to turn on so the new
setting can quickly be made and verified.
Although the PowerShot SD100 is
very compact it is quite useable. The placement of the SD100's
controls leaves plenty of room to hold the camera comfortably,
and the only aspect of the design that is less than ideal is
the Mode switch's shape which makes too easily moved to another
setting when it catches on something.
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Introduction
