Sold in North America as the Canon
Powershot SD110, the newest arrival in the Digital Elph
series, the camera is also sold in Europe as the Digital
IXUS IIs.
Not surprisingly, the SD110 is extremely compact, measuring 85 x 56 x 23.9mm
(3.3 x 2.2 x 0.9 inches), and finished in metal that has champagne colour
overtones.
The SD110 is the newest incarnation
of the S110,
and as with other recent Digital Elph/IXUS cameras, the SD110
is compatible with SD memory cards.
The shutter release with the
large zoom control ring are closest to the edge, followed by
the power switch which is part of a raised area that encompasses
all three. In between, a small green LED indicating the camera
is On sits astride the back edge of the raised area, allowing
it to be visible from the top and the back.
As is so often the case, the optical zoom control also controls the playback
mode's digital zoom:
Wide
angle
Displays
nine images as thumbnails
Telephoto
Magnifies
an image up to 10X
The Mode Switch, in the upper right corner of the back, serves to select:
Playback Mode
Auto Mode: the camera handles everything, leaving
the user to set image quality and size.
Manual Mode: offers the greatest amount of control
available on the SD110. Control is available for Exposure
Compensation, White Balance, Sensitivity (ISO), Image Effects,
Image Size and Quality. In addition, the long shutter mode
can be enabled from the main menu, allowing the camera
to capture exposures as long as 15 seconds.
Video Clip Mode: records clips with sound
at any one of 3 frame sizes and at 15 frames per second:
640 x 480 pixel for up to 30 seconds.
320 x 240 pixels for up to 3 minutes.
160 x 120 pixels for up to 3 minutes.
Auto exposure, auto focus, white balance, and zoom
setting are locked at the first frame, and the digital
zoom is unavailable.
The SD110 is equipped with a 1.5
inch, 118,000 pixel LCD monitor below which is a row of
5 buttons. Starting on the left, the first button SET serves
to confirm some selections. MENU displays the menu appropriate
to the camera's mode: Recording, or Playback. DISP. (Display)
controls the LCD monitor, and its overlays. In the recording
modes, the button cycles between a display with the current
camera settings overlaid on the image, to one which only shows
the AF area, to turning the LCD monitor Off. In Playback the DISP. button
can be used to show a histogram for the image under review.
The fourth and last button under
the LCD screen, FUNC., calls up the Function menu
which is overlaid on the image (see the Characteristics section
of the review for details on the Function menu). In
Playback, the button can be used to delete images .
The remaining controls are on the right side of the monitor, an arrangement
made possible by the change to a memory format that does not require as
much space as it had on earlier versions of this camera
First, at the top is the Print/Share button
which has a blue LED at its centre:
Printing selected images when the camera is connected
via USB to a printer that either supports PictBridge or
Canon's Direct Print. Or, when connected to a Windows
computer, selecting images for transfer.
And below is the 4-direction control
that serves to navigate the menus, and which also provides functions
when the camera is in the recording mode:
Metering is selected by pressing the control at
the top. Three patterns are available: Evaluative, Centre-weighted,
and Spot.
Flash modes are cycled through by pressing the
control to the right: Auto, Auto with Red-eye Reduction,
Flash On, Flash Off, SLow Synchro.
Pressing the button towards the bottom engages the Continuous
shooting mode first. In this mode the camera records
continuously while the shutter release is held down. The
camera is able to capture up 10 shots very quickly (approximately
2 frames per second) until its buffer memory is filled,
at which points it slows down to about one frame per second.
Pressing the control twice turns on the Self-timer. Two delays
are offered, 10 or 2 seconds, which needs to be preset in the Recording
menu.
Pressing the control to the left, the Macro mode
is engaged first, allowing the camera to focus on a subject
from 10 to 47 cm (3.9 to 18.3 in.) at the wide angle end
of the zoom, and from 23 to 47 cm (9 to 18.3 in.) at the
telephoto end.
And pressing the control twice places the camera at Infinity focus,
ideal for landscapes.
Switching to a smaller memory
card format has allowed Canon to make the SD110 more ergonomic.
The right side of the camera's back is now able to have some
controls since the space internally is not taken up by a card
slot. The upshot is a more functional design that improves operating
the camera while still retaining its small size.
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Introduction
Wide
angle
Displays
nine images as thumbnails
Telephoto
Magnifies
an image up to 10X
.
