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Introduction
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01.Physical Tour
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02.Components
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03.Design / Layout
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04.Modes
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05.Control Options
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06.Conclusion
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07.Specs / Ratings
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08.Comments
Canon PowerShot E1
Previous: Page 4
ModesNext: Page 6
ConclusionManual Control Options
We were quite surprised at the level of manual control afforded by such an obviously point-and-shoot oriented camera. For one, you can manually set the shutter speed. It's not an easily accessed option since you have to select exposure compensation then hit the Display button, but it's more than you'll find on most simple point-and-shoots. You can set a manual white balance, another rarity in this category, and a customizable self-timer that lets you choose how long of a delay you want, and how many shots to take when the delay is up. Finally, there's a user customizable button on the rear, which activates printing while in Playback, but can be user-defined to handle exposure compensation, white balance, manual white balance, red eye, digital tele-converter (essentially a type of digital zoom), shooting grid or ISO.
Focus
Auto Focus
Auto focus was fast and accurate. Facial recognition can handle up to nine faces at a time, of which you can decide whose face is the most important. If you use center focusing, you can turn on a focus assist option, which enlarges the center of the frame to help make sure everything is sharp. In addition to Face Detect and Center focus modes, there's AiAF, which will choose from one of nine squares in a grid to focus on.
ISO
The ISO runs from 80 to 1600, with an extended 3200 mode that only shoots at 1600 x 1200 pixels.
White Balance
In addition to auto white balance, presets for Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Fluorescent H are provided (flash and shade are MIA). The key feature here, though, is the ability to shoot a neutral surface to create a custom white balance reading, a real find in a $200 camera.
Metering
On the E1, the metering can be set to Evaluative, Center Weighted or Spot, offering some welcome flexibility for those interested in venturing beyond Auto.
Shutter Speed
The shutter speed range is from 15 - 1/1600 seconds. The 15 seconds at the high end is quite impressive for such a basic camera, but 1/1600 is very slow for action photography. We were surprised to find an manual shutter speed control, even if it is hidden away in the exposure compensation settings.
Aperture
Unfortunately, unlike shutter speed, there is no way to manually control the aperture setting. The aperture runs from f/2.7 at the widest angle to f/5.6 at maximum telephoto.
Image Stabilization
Another plus for a $200 camera, Canon has incorporated its optical image stabilization system in the E1. You can set it to be off, constantly active, only active at the moment of shooting, or for panning mode (which only cancels vertical movements).
Picture Quality / Size Options
Image size ranges from 3648 x 2736 to 640 x 480 and can be set to three levels of image quality.
Picture Effects Mode
Surprisingly for a point-and-shoot aimed at a young audience, there are no crazy image effects or filters here. One would at least expect the option to draw funky frames around the images, or something of the sort. The only image tweaking available is making image tone adjustments. There's Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black and White, and Custom which lets you adjust contrast sharpness and color at ±2 levels each.
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