Canon Powershot SD1100 IS

Model Design / Appearance
Canon’s SD-series of digital cameras has always been “fashion-forward,” but the SD1100 makes another forward step with its availability in five trendy colors. Canon titled the colors as follows: Rhythm & Blue, Swing Silver, Melody Pink, Bohemian Brown, and Golden Tone. We reviewed the Bohemian Brown camera, and it has a nice shimmer in its sheen.

The camera body is built mostly from plastic, with a thin aluminum plate covering most of it. It is very light and very portable, but some components like the battery compartment door feel like they could be broken off if accidentally pulled beyond the point they are built to go to.

Size / Portability
The Canon SD1100 IS is very small and light with its 3.42 x 2.16 x 0.87-inch dimensions and 4.5-ounce weight, but it is larger than its predecessor. The SD1000 measured 3.38 x 2.11 x 0.76 inches, although it came in at the same weight.

This Digital Elph can fit in a pocket, much like the other cameras in the trendy point-and-shoot lineup. The body is fairly flat, so it will slide right in – no hand grip or anything protruding to catch on your pocket or poke your hip.

It comes with a tiny fabric wrist strap that attaches to a tiny loop on the right side. The Canon SD1100 is made to dangle from your wrist or neck at a party – and make you look “fashion-forward,” as Canon puts it.

Handling Ability
The old Canon PowerShot SD1000 has sharper edges and a boxier form. The SD1100 IS has softer edges but still isn’t much more comfortable to hold. Canon looks like it made some sort of attempt by making a little pinch in the right side of the camera body where the middle finger grips the camera. The camera is so small and light that it can be held and used with one hand without much of a problem, although two hands are always recommended for a more stable grip.

Overall handling is as expected for a tiny digital camera. The SD1100 is made for an occasional out-of-pocket picture, so handling was sacrificed for a convenient and compact body.

Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
The camera is tiny, and so are the controls. The miniature Canon SD1100 IS has a shutter release button on the top that is nicely sized but quite smooth. It doesn’t travel as smoothly as some other camera’s shutter buttons, but the people who use this camera probably won’t care. The power button is also miniscule.

The buttons on the back are more reasonably sized, although their issue seems to be more about labeling. There are so many icons crammed onto the controls that it’s a little hard to pick them out. Once you get used to navigating the camera without looking at the icons, this won’t be a problem.

The controls aren’t made to be comfortable. The zoom control nearly punctures your index finger when you rotate it to zoom in and out. The multi-selector on the back of the camera is completely flat so it takes a little more force than usual to give it a push in the right direction.

Menu
The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS has a menu system that is nearly identical to other PowerShot siblings. There is an easy-to-access Function menu that appears along the left and bottom edges of the live view. The view changes as you scroll through the options: for instance, scrolling right in the exposure compensation portion of the menu makes the live image on the screen appear brighter and brighter.

Exposure Mode	Auto, Manual, Digital Macro, Portrait, Night Snapshot, Color Accent, Color Swap, Kids & Pets (Indoor, Sunset, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater)
Exposure Compensation	-2, -1.7, -1.3, -1, -0.7, -0.3, 0, +0.3, +0.7, +1, +1.3, +1.7, +2
White Balance	Auto, Day Light, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom (set)
My Colors	Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom (Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation, Red, Green, Blue, Skin Tone all with +/- 2 adjustment in full steps)
Metering	Evaluative, Center-weighted Average, Spot
Compression	SuperFine, Fine, Formal
Image Size	Large, Medium 1, Medium 2, Medium 3, Small, 2M Date Stamp, Widescreen

The Function menu appears when the central button in the multi-selector is pushed, but the standard Recording menu appears when the intuitive “menu” button is pushed.

AF Frame	Face Detect, AiAF, Center
AF Frame Size	Normal, Small
AF-Point Zoom	On, Off
Digital Zoom	Off, Standard, 1.6x, 2.0x
Flash Settings	Slow Synchro (On, Off), Red-Eye Correction (On, Off), Red-Eye Lamp (On, Off)
Custom Self-Timer	Delay (0-30 seconds), Shots (1-10)
AF-assist Beam	On, Off
Review	Off, 2-10 seconds, Hold
Review Info	Off, Detailed, Focus Check
Auto Category	On, Off
Display Overlay	Off, Grid Lines, 3:2 Guide, Both
IS Mode	Continuous, Shoot Only, Panning, Off
Set Print Button	Not Assigned, Face Select, Exposure Compensation, White Balance, Custom White Balance, Red-Eye Correction, Digital Tele-converter, Display Overlay, Rec. Movie, Display Off, Play Sound Effect
Stitch Assist	Left to Right, Right to Left, Start

Like other Canon PowerShot digital cameras, this menu system shows three color-coded folder tabs along the top edge with icons on them. The Recording menu has a red camera icon. The second icon is a yellow wrench and represents the Setup menu, which has the following options.

Mute	On, Off
Volume	Startup, Operation, Self-timer, Shutter, Playback all with 1-5 volume levels
LCD Brightness	+/- 7
Power Saving	Auto Power Down (On, Off), Disp. Off (10 sec-3 min)
Time Zone	Home Time Zone (set on world map), World
Date/Time	Date, Time, MDY order, Daylight Saving Time
Clock Display	0 sec-3 minutes
Format	Low Level Format (On, Off), Cancel, OK
File Numbering	Continuous, Auto Reset
Create Folder	Create New Folder (On, Off), Auto Create (Off, Daily, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monthly), Time (1-24)
Auto Rotate	On, Off
Lens Retract	0 sec, 1 minute
Language	English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Korean, Greek, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Thai, Arabic, Romanian, Ukrainian
Video System	NTSC, PAL
Print Method	Auto, PictBridge
Reset All	Cancel, OK

Components	Page 5 of 13		Modes
Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS Digital Camera Review Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour	Testing/Performance	Components
Design / Layout	Modes	Control Options	Image Parameters
Connectivity / Extras	Overall Impressions	Conclusion	Sample Photos
Specs / Ratings