WiFi is the keyword for the
Canon PowerShot SD430, also Digital IXUS Wireless
in Europe, a palm-size 5-megapixel compact with a 3X optical
zoom that can print wirelessly to a Canon PictBridge compliant
printer, or transfer images to a wireless capable computer.
The top of the SD430 is typical
of the SD camera series: the 2-stage
shutter release is a round chrome button, and it is ringed
by the zoom control. Pushed to the left, the zoom control
moves the lens to the wide angle end, pulled to the right,
it moves the lens to the telephoto setting.
In common with other Canon compact cameras, the zoom control
also serves to review images in an index format with 9 images
per screen when pushed towards ,
or zoom into an image up to 10X when pulled towards .
In addition to its 2-inch,
118,000 pixel LCD monitor, the SD430 is equipped with
an optical viewfinder that can be used to extend the life of
the battery, or when the monitor is difficult to see under direct
sunlight.
Two small LEDs are positioned
on its right, the top one indicating focus (green), or focus
difficulty and/or potential camera shake (yellow); while the
bottom one indicates the flash status (charging or ready).
The other external controls are on the right side of the
SD430, starting with the Mode Switch, which controls
the three basic camera modes:
Still Image Mode,
which offers a choice of 12 shooting modes,selected in the Function Menu(see further):
Auto mode,
allows the camera to select all settings.
Manual mode also
leaves the camera in charge of selecting the shutter
speed and aperture, but provides controls over all
other parameters through the Function menu
(see further for a detailed list of the settings
available in the Function Menu). The Manual
mode also allows for exposures as long as 15 seconds,
once the Long Shutter option has been enabled
in the Rec. Menu. Moreover, the Manual mode also
allows shooting panoramas using the Stitch Assist
mode, another function enabled in the Rec. Menu.
(More details about the Rec. Menu can
be found in the Characteristics section of
the review.)
Digital Macro
is a mode that combines the macro focus mode with
the use of the 4X digital zoom to increase the apparent
magnification. The mode allows the camera to focus
on a subject that is 3 to 10 cm (1.2 to 3.9 inches)
from the front element of the lens, then uses the
digital zoom to crop the centre of the image and
then interpolates the cropped section to the image
size currently in use, causing some loss of image
sharpness.
Portrait mode
uses a large aperture so that the subject is in
focus while the background is blurred, an effect
that becomes more pronounced when the telephoto
is used.
Night Snapshot
optimizes sensitivity for the capture of subjects
in front of night scenery so as to limit the need
for a tripod.
My Colours
mode makes it possible to alter the colours recorded
by the camera using any one of a group of options:
Positive Film intensifies the reds,
greens and blues.
Lighter Skin Tone makes skin tones
lighter.
Darker Skin Tone makes skin tones darker.
Vivid Blue emphasizes blues.
Vivid Green emphasizes greens.
Vivid Red emphasizes reds.
Colour Accent makes it possible to
select one colour from all those showing on
the monitor, and then capture the scene with
all other colours except that one converted
to black and white.
Colour Swap makes it possible to select
a colour, chosen from those showing on the monitor,
and swap it for another also chosen from those
showing on the monitor.
Custom Colour makes it possible to
adjust the colour balance freely between red,
green, blue and skin tones to obtain subtle
effects.
Exposure compensation is not possible with this
mode.
And a choice of 6 other Scene modes, which are selected
by pressing the MENU button
Kids and Pets
optimizes shutter speed and sensitivity to capture
fast movement and action.
Indoor sets the
white balance to Tungsten, and uses the flash only
when necessary.
Foliage accentuates
greens to give foliage and plants richer colours.
Snow takes the
brightness of snow into account during the exposure
to make snow appear white and not grey, as is usually
the case unless exposure compensation is used.
Beach, like Snow,
automatically compensates the exposure to take into
account the reflectivity of water.
Fireworks sets
a 2-second exposure time, the focus to infinity
and forces the flash off to capture fireworks displays.
The use of a tripod is necessary.
Playback Mode, which
serves to review images and video clips on the 2-inch
monitor, or a television.
Movie Mode, which
offers four options for movie recording:
Standard allows
choosing the resolution (640 x 480 or 320 x 240
pixels) as well as the frame rate (30 fps or 15
fps). The maximum movie size is 1GB and the 4X digital
zoom can be used while recording.
Fast Frame Rate
uses a 60 frame per second (60 fps) recording
rate so that fast moving subjects can be recorded
and played back at a slower frame rate. Only 1
frame size is available, 320 x 240 pixels, and
the recording is limited to a maximum of 1 minute.
Compact serves
to capture a low resolution (160 x 120 pixels) movie
at 15 fps for up to 3 minutes, making the movie
suitable as an attachment to an e-mail.
My Colours offers
the same flexibility as the Standard mode, but adds
the possibility of changing the image colours prior
to shooting the movie.
During movie recording the sound is recorded monaurally
(with the exception of the Fast Frame Rate mode which
is silent), the optical zoom is locked at the first
frame while the exposure and white balance are adjusted
as needed. The 4X digital zoom is enabled.
The next external control
below the Mode Dial is the Print/Share button:
The button serves to start
the automatic transfer of images when the camera is
connected to a computer, with a USB cable or wirelessly;
or starts the printing process when the camera is connected
— once again with a USB cable or wirelessly —
to a PictBridge, Pixma, or Selphy DS
compliant printer.
Below this button, the 4-direction
control rings the FUNC. SET button which displays the
Function Menu. The Function Menu provides control over
most of the commonly used settings, and as noted above, serves
to choose the shooting mode, be it when the SD430 is set to
capture still images, or when it is set to capture movies.
The type of option and the availability of others varies
according to the shooting mode. For instance, the Auto
Mode limits the choices that are accessible to the shooting
mode, the Image Size and Quality. All other options are greyed-out.
Similarly, when the camera is set to the Movie mode,
the options are limited to White Balance Photo Effects, Frame
Size and Frame Rate.
The Manual mode, on the other hand, offers more choice:
Shooting mode serves to choose the still image
mode of the SD430, as outlined above.
Exposure Compensation offers an exposure correction
range of ±2 EV in 1/3 EV increments.
White Balance offers the following settings: Auto,
Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent (warm white, cool-white),
Fluorescent H (daylight fluorescent), Custom (set under
ambient light).
Photo Effect changes the look and feel of photos:
Effect Off, Vivid (increases saturation), Neutral (decreases
saturation), Low Sharpening, Sepia, or Black and White.
When the camera is set to My Colours (see
above), the Photo Effect option is replaced by the selection
for: Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone,
Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Colour Accent, Colour
Swap and Custom Colour.
Image Quality: serves to select the strength of
the JPEG compression applied to the images (see the Characteristics
section of the review for more details).
Image Size: serves to choose the still image size,
or the movie frame size. (See the Characteristics
section of the review for more details.)
Moreover, as it does with some other recent PowerShot cameras,
when the FUNC. SET button is held pressed for more than a
second; it displays a clock on the monitor, which changes
as the orientation of the camera changes.
The round directional control that surrounds the FUNC.
SET button serves primarily to navigate the menus, and
review photos in playback, but in addition, each of its four
directions also control settings when the camera is set to
the shooting mode:
ISO
With the Manual
or Digital Macro modes, the up direction
serves to select the ISO Speed: Auto, 50, 100,
200, or 400 ISO.
In addition, the ISO button can be used to lock
the exposure (AE-Lock) once the auto focus has
focused and focus if maintained by holding the shutter
release at the halfway point. Similarly, the button
serves to lock the flash exposure (FE-L) if the
flash is set to Forced On, and once auto focus
has taken place and the shutter button is being held
at the halfway point.
While with the SD430 in
Playback mode, the same direction serves to jump
groups of images, making it possible to search through
a large number of images:
Jump 10 Images: jumps 10 images at a time.
Jump 100 Images: jumps 100 images at a time.
Jump Shot Date: jumps to the first image
of each shooting date.
Jump to Movie: jumps to a movie.
Jump to Folder: displays the first image
in each folder.
The right direction
serves to select the Flash mode: Auto, Auto with
Red-eye Reduction, Forced On with Red-eye Reduction, Forced
Off, or Slow Synchro.
The down direction
serves to select the Continuous mode, which can
capture images at 2.1 frames per second at the highest
resolution and best image quality until the memory card
is full: or select the the Self-timer, which
can be 2 seconds, 10 seconds, or Custom as selected
in the Rec. menu. (See the Rec. menu options in the
Characteristics section of the review for more
information); or return to single shot mode.
While with the SD430 set to
the Playback mode, the same direction serves to delete
images.
Last, the left direction
serves to select either Macro mode, or Infinity
mode. The Macro mode allows the camera to focus on a
subject that is 3 cm (1.2 inches) from the front element
of the lens at the wide angle end, and 30 cm (12 inches)
when the zoom is at the maximum telephoto setting. While
Infinity mode locks the focus at infinity, ideal to
capture distant subjects and ensure that the auto focus
does not select a closer subject.
Moreover, when the camera is set to the Manual,
Digital Macro, My Colours or Movie
mode, the left arrow serves to lock the Focus
(AF-L) once the focus is set and maintained by
holding the shutter release at the halfway point.
Two more buttons round off
the external controls of the SD-430:
The MENU button, on the right, displays the menu
appropriate to the current camera mode (menus are covered
in the Characteristics and Interface and Software
sections of the review).
The DISP. button, on the left, controls the way
information is displayed on the monitor either in capture
or playback mode, and turns it off.
In a capture mode, the camera
normally displays camera settings on the left, top and right
sides of the screen, while the bottom is reserved for the
aperture and the shutter speed, which are displayed when the
shutter release is pressed halfway.
Pushing the DISP. button once removes the information
superimposed on the screen, leaving only the AF Area and,
of course, the aperture and shutter speed when the shutter
release is at the halfway point. A second press of the button
turns off the monitor, conserving power when the optical viewfinder
is in use.
With the camera set to the
Playback mode, a captured image is normally displayed with
its file name, position within the group of images on the
card, its resolution and quality and the date and time at
which it was captured.
Pressing the DISP. button once adds a histogram, and
below, using symbols, all the basic shooting data including
the capture mode, metering, exposure compensation, effect,
flash mode, ISO, white balance, image size and file size.
Pressing the button a second time turns off the monitor, intended
for when images are being viewed on a TV.
With some minor differences,
the PowerShot SD430 will be instantly familiar to anyone who
has used a Canon compact camera. And, with one exception,
the design is user-friendly and very well-finished. The exception
however, is the labelling of the functions assigned to the
4-direction controller. The controller's surface is finished
in a slightly dull metal while the icons indicating the functions
are slightly shiny, resulting in icons that are distinctly
too difficult to see under most circumstances, and which often
require the user to change the orientation of the camera to
decipher them.
Introduction
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or zoom into an image up to 10X when pulled towards 
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