Canon PowerShot D20 Digital Camera Review

Handling

The D20's smooth, rounded body can be a bit difficult to hang on to, especially when it's wet. There's nothing to grip on the front of the camera, and while the camera looks like it's wrapped in rubber or some other kind of textured material, it's actually just plastic. But thanks to the curves, it's comfortable to hold, and the textured thumb-rest on the back provides leverage. It's not perfect, but not so bad overall.

The added bulk makes it a little too beefy for pants pockets (though with its rounded corners and smooth finish, it could fit). Cargo pockets, jacket pockets, and purses can all hold it easily.

Buttons & Dials

The D20's button layout is pretty typical of a point-and-shoot. On the rear, there's a four-way pad, menu button, movie button, and zoom controls (for waterproofing reasons, most tough-cams don't have use a traditional zoom tilter). Up top, there's a power button, shutter button, and playback toggle.

It feels like it's exactly one button short of a full set. An extra multi-function button would've been great. The lack of a delete button threw us off most often, and we wish that there was room on the four-way selector for an exposure compensation button. But otherwise, it's a fine control set, laid out logically, and it mostly stays out of its own way.

Display(s)

The 3-inch, 461,000-pixel LCD is big and bright enough to be visible in bright daylight. It's a bit grainy in low-light, and there's a slight lag. Not the best tough-cam LCD we've seen, but it's about what we expect to see in this class.

Image Stabilization

Stabilization is most effect with Powered IS turned on, producing 10% better edge sharpness than without any stabilization. This won't have a huge impact in terms of real-world performance—maybe enough to take the shutter one stop below 1/30s and still get a crisp shot.