Canon PowerShot SD700 IS First Impressions Review

Model Design / Appearance
The Canon PowerShot SD700 IS has a sleek design that features three colors on the body: ice metal silver, moonlight silver and ebony black. The sleek body is in harmony with the stylish Digital ELPH line. The SD700 has the Perpetual Curve design that was introduced on the SD500. It has a thicker right side that is curved like a moon for more comfortable handling. The metal body has plenty of highlights that make it attractive.

Size / Portability
The Canon PowerShot SD700 IS is smaller than many of its Digital ELPH siblings. It measures 3.56 x 2.22 x 1.04 inches and comes with a wrist strap that attaches to the right side. It is very portable either on the wrist or in a pocket. The digital camera has more heft to it than anticipated, but it still isn’t heavy at all. The small SD700 goes flat when the lens retracts and the camera powers down. Sturdy plastic doors snap closed on the lens when powered down; this protects the glass from scratches and dings and makes the SD700 even more portable.

Handling Ability
The body is mostly flat, but its perpetually curvaceous frame is a bit thicker on the right side where the hand grips the digital camera. There is no real right-hand grip, but the thicker portion gives users a little more substance to hang on to. The SD700 wasn’t built for long photo shoots in the hot, dry sun. It is made for pulling out of a pocket and snapping a few shots before being stowed away again. With that concept in mind, Canon didn’t include too many features to make handling incredibly comfy. Portability beat out comfort this time, although handling is certainly not a pain.

Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
Everything is miniaturized on the Canon SD700. The buttons are small and squashed at the bottom of the back instead of being spaced out. The mode dial is incredibly small and impossible to turn. Okay, not impossible. But its side has tiny tag marks like the side of a dime, and it’s about the thickness of a dime, too. The cheap plastic dial protrudes only slightly from the right side of the camera, so users have to really dig their fingernails into the dime marks to rotate it. The mode dial doesn’t lock well into position either. It is like turning on a burner on a gas stove that has a single Low to High dial; there are no stops in the dial, so it’s easy to over-shoot and under-shoot.

There are few buttons on the camera body and most are adequately placed. The power button is located on the back instead of the top, though. This isn’t a huge deal, but it’s definitely different than most digital cameras. Several people who picked up the SD700 at the trade show immediately asked, “How do you turn this thing on?”

Menu
The menu on the SD700 IS is nearly identical to those on other Digital ELPHs. The Canon menus are split so that the frequently used options are accessed by pressing the Func/Set button, and the other stuff is filed under the Menu button. The menus are organized logically and there is always an onscreen instruction on how to take a step back, so if users push the wrong direction on the multi-selector, they don’t have to close and re-enter the menu. The Func/Set button accesses the following menu, which has live views.  

Shooting Mode	Manual, Digital Macro, Stitch Assist Left to Right, Stitch Assist Right to Left
Exposure Compensation	+/- 2 EV in 1/3 steps
White Balance	Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom
My Colors	Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Color
Metering	Evaluative, Center-weighted Average, Spot
Compression	SuperFine, Fine, Normal
Image Size	Large, Medium 1, Medium 2, Small, Postcard, Widescreen

AiAF	On, Off
Self-Timer	10 sec, 2 sec, Custom (1-30 sec delay for 1-10 shots)
AF Assist Beam	On, Off
Digital Zoom	On, Off
Review	Hold, Off, 2-10 sec
Grid Lines	On, Off
IS Mode	Off, Continuous, Shoot Only, Panning
Date Stamp	Off, Date, Date & Time
Long Shutter	On, Off

Mute	On, Off
Volume	1-5 steps for Startup, Operation, Self-timer, Shutter, and Playback
LCD Brightness	+/- 7
Power Saving	Auto Power Down On and Off, Display Off 10 sec-3 min
Time Zone	Home, World
Date/Time	Date, Time set
Clock Display	0 sec-3 min
Format	OK, Cancel
File Numbering	Continuous, Auto Reset
Create Folder	OK, Cancel
Auto Rotate	On, Off
Lens Retract	0 sec, 1 min
Languages	English, Swedish, German, Spanish, Turkish, French, Russian, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Greek, Dutch, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hungarian, Italian, Thai, Arabic
Video System	NTSC, PAL
Print Method	Auto, PictBridge
Reset All	OK, Cancel

Transition	Off, Fade 1, Fade 2
Slide Show	All Images, Date, Folder, Movies, Stills, Custom
My Colors	Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Color
Sound Memo	Record (to 60 sec), Stop
Protect	Set, Cancel
Rotate	Set, Cancel
Erase All	Cancel, OK
Transfer Order	Order, Mark All, Reset