Canon PowerShot SD30

Reviewed October 2005

Interface & Software

Interface

Probably because the PowerShot SD30/IXUS i Zoom is so compact, it has few external controls. This, in turn, places a greater demand on the menu system of the camera and its clarity becomes even more critical than it would be otherwise. This is where the multiple shooting modes of the SD30 become a bit of a strain, as navigating through all the menus, or even getting a firm grasp of what is available and remembering what to do to get there, becomes a bit impractical. The other sections of the menu , shared amongst all modes, are much easier to remember, and understand.

The middle section, Setup, serves to establish the most basic configuration of the SD30 including such things as the interface's language, how it displays images and information, and the sounds produced by the camera as it is being used:

• Mute: On or Off, serves to turn off all sounds produced by the SD30.
• Volume makes it possible to adjust the volume of all the sounds over a range of 5 steps or Off:
  • Start-up Volume,
  • Operations Volume,
  • Self-timer Volume,
  • Shutter Volume,
  • Playback Volume.
• Info Display: controls the display modes of the SD30:
  • Shooting Info: On or Off.
  • Review Info: On or Off.
  • Replay Info: Detailed or Off.
• LCD Brightness: makes it possible to adjust the brightness of the screen over ± 7 steps.
• Power Saving:
  • Auto Power Down (On or Off), controls if the camera powers down when inactive.
  • Display Off serves to set the delay until the LCD monitor turns off automatically (10, 20, 30 seconds or 1, 2, 3 minutes).

• Time Zone: Sets Home or World time, a second time zone that can be used while travelling with the camera.
• Date/Time: serves to set the internal clock and calendar of the SD30.
• Clock Display: sets the length of time the clock remains on the screen (between 1 and 3 seconds) when the button has been pressed for more than a second.
• Format: serves to format an SD card.
• File Numbering: On or Off, decides whether or not images' file numbers restart at 1 every time a memory card is formatted or a new card is used.

• Create Folder has two options:
  • Create New Folder: to save images into a new folder
  • Auto Create: Off, Daily (Monday through Sunday) or Monthly. Creates new folders as required based on the day or month.
• Auto Rotate: On or Off, decides whether images captured vertically will be presented that way on the monitor in playback.
• Language: English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Greek, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, or Japanese.
• Video System selects the video out signal: NTSC or PAL.
• Reset All: returns the camera to its original defaults.

Included with the PowerShot SD30 are 2 printed manuals: one called Basic Camera User Guide, the other Advanced Camera User Guide. Regrettably, to the user trying to get comfortable with the camera and its functions, this turns out to be an unnecessary complication. Too often, the user is bounced from one manual to the other, and the logic behind having some information in the Basic manual versus the Advanced one, or vice versa, is far from obvious. The result is that the instructions lack a logical flow and organization.

Clearly, a single well-organized instruction manual, as had been previously supplied with Canon cameras, would have been more efficient.

Software

A single CD-ROM is included with the PowerShot SD30, Canon Digital Camera Solution Disk (version 25), and the disk contains software for both Macintosh and Windows-based computers:

Macintosh:

• ImageBrowser 5.5
• Photostitch 3.1

Microsoft Windows:

• Zoom Browser EX 5.5
• PhotoRecord 2.2
• PhotoStitch 3.1
• Camera Twain Driver 6.6
• Camera WIA Driver 6.4
• ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5.5
• Apple QuickTime

ZoomBrowser is the primary support tool for the SD30. ZoomBrowser is designed to be used to download images from the camera once it is connected via USB, or show images already stored on the computer's hard disk.

It is also designed to organize photos, sort them, and even to print them. Folders can be selected on the left side of the programs window, and the contents of the folder shown on the right in a variety of presentations that include thumbnails, or detailed views that includes the shooting data and a histogram.

Images can also be double-clicked to open them in a separate window where they can be adjusted for colour, tone, saturation, brightness and contrast.

Photostitch is the other main program included for both Windows and Mac. It is designed to assemble series of images captured using the Stitch Assist mode of the SD30 into single panoramic images.

Finally, Windows users will be able to use PhotoRecord, a program that serves to create photo albums. PhotoRecord allows adding frames to the images and organizing the images over backgrounds which form part of the album pages.