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
|
Lastly, there is a purple “Custom menu” that has a portrait icon next to a camera icon. This menu has these options: theme, start-up image, startup sound, operation sound, self-timer sound, and shutter sound. The choices include oddities like howling wolves, twittering birds, alien-like beeps, and – thankfully – the classic shutter sound. There are three choices for each, as well as the option to turn off the image or sound completely.
Navigation is done with the multi-selector, which is uncomfortable to use because of its flat surface and cheap plastic feel. It still works, though – albeit with a bit more force than is usual for this type of point-and-shoot. All in all, the menus are easy to use.
Ease of Use
The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS is very easy to use. All you need to do is turn it on and take a picture. This digital camera is the classic point-and-shoot. It doesn’t have any fancy in-camera help guides, but its layout is intuitive.
|
