Canon Powershot SD1100 IS

Viewfinder
The biggest difference between the Canon SD1100 IS and its sibling model, the SD750, is that the SD1100 has an optical viewfinder while the other camera opts for a larger 3-inch LCD screen.

This camera’s predecessor, the SD1000, also has an optical viewfinder. They appear to be the same. The SD1100’s optical viewfinder sits above the lens on the front and LCD on the back, and is incredibly tiny; you have to hold your eye right up to it to use it, which could be a problem if you are a spectacles or sunglasses user. The LCD screen will likely be the favorite preview choice over the viewfinder, although it’s nice to have the optical finder for when the battery is running low and you still want to snap a few pictures. Turning off the LCD will save a bit of juice on the battery.

The SD1100’s optical zoom viewfinder is accurate when the lens is zoomed wide; it crops from all edges so the recorded image won’t be as tightly cropped as how you saw it in the finder. The accuracy gets far worse as you zoom in, though; the optical viewfinder shows more on the top of the image and much less on the bottom, with only about 40 percent of the final recorded image showing up in the viewfinder.

To make matters worse, the optical viewfinder’s glass is low quality and looks blurry in spots. If your battery is running dry, your best bet is to turn off the LCD and keep the lens zoomed out while using the optical viewfinder.

LCD Screen
The low-temperature polycrystalline silicon LCD remains unchanged from the SD1000. The new SD1100 IS has the same 2.5-inch LCD screen with 230,000 pixels and a 100-percent accurate view of the recorded image – an improvement from the optical viewfinder.

Canon has dubbed the technology on the SD1100’s LCD as "PureColor II." This features the monitor’s scratch resistance, wide viewing angles, and anti-glare capabilities. The surface does seem resistant to scratches, but it attracts fingerprints and feels greasy after a few minutes of normal use (because the camera is so small, the right thumb ends up greasing the right side of the LCD).

The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS has very wide viewing angles on its LCD screen. You can see the image on the screen from above, below, and to the sides of the head. It has some of the widest viewing angles available, making this camera a nice candidate for teenagers who want to show off slide shows with their friends gathered around the camera. The LCD wards off most harsh glare, but translates it into a purple tint instead of a blinding white reflection on the screen.

All in all, the SD1100’s LCD screen is decently sized and has great resolution and very wide viewing angles. It’s great for using with the live view and for checking out captured images in Playback mode.

Flash
The SD1100’s flash is not changed from its predecessor. The flash is inconveniently located in the upper right corner of the front, where the left fingers wrap around and often cover it – causing unevenly-lit images.

There is a bright spot that appears in images; it is shifted slightly to the left. The flash isn’t very powerful. It reaches from 1 to 11 feet when the lens is zoomed out and shortens to 6.6 feet when the lens is zoomed in (and the ISO is set to auto). The flash only looks more uneven when the lens is zoomed in; the bright spot looks like it has shifted to the upper left corner of the image.

The flash modes can be changed by pushing the right side of the multi-selector. Simple Auto, On, and Off modes are found here. Slow Synchro, Red-Eye Lamp, and Red-Eye Correction options can be turned on and off in the Recording menu. Don’t expect the flash to capture much action in a sequence. It takes the camera about six seconds to recover between shots that use the flash.

Overall, this PowerShot’s flash is poorly placed, weak, and uneven.

Zoom Lens
The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS has a 3x optical zoom lens that is the same zoom rating as its predecessor but has a slightly narrower range. The older SD1000 has a 35-105mm equivalent lens. The SD1100 has a 6.2-18.6mm lens, equivalent to a 38-114mm lens. It reaches a little farther, but won’t get the wide-angle shots that are nice for landscapes or photographing large group portraits.

The lens is controlled by a tiny plastic ring that surrounds the flat shutter release button. It is horribly uncomfortable as it has a sharp little nub at the front that is the sole provider of traction in order to rotate it. This control isn’t very sensitive. It allows you to stop at six different focal lengths throughout the zoom range, but it makes a unpleasant whining noise and seems to backfire a bit before settling in. This can make composing a shot difficult; you zoom in and frame, but the camer than backs out a bit and ruins your composition.

The optical zoom cannot be used in the Movie mode, but there is 4x digital zoom available. The digital zoom degrades the image quality quickly and should be avoided when possible.

The biggest upgrade on the SD1100 from its predecessor is optical image stabilization. The image stabilization options are tucked away into the Shooting menu: the system can be set to Off, Continuous, Shoot Only, and Panning. The Continuous mode makes for the smoothest view, but sucks the battery dry faster. The Shoot Only option is more energy efficient and has the same effect upon recorded images – they do come out with less blur. The Panning image stabilization only corrects vertical movements so it doesn’t try to correct the horizontal motion you use to track subjects. All in all, the image stabilization is a great feature to have, and the iamge stabilization on the SD1100 works well. And this feature at this price point is a first for Canon.