Canon PowerShot SD750 and SD1000 First Impressions Review

by Emily Raymond
Published on March 20, 2007

Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour
Components	Design / Layout
Modes	Control Options
Image Parameters	Connectivity / Extras
Overall Impressions	Conclusion
Photo Gallery

The Canon PowerShot SD750 doesn’t have room for an optical viewfinder, but the SD1000 does. The SD750 uses its LCD screen as a live preview, which is larger but less battery efficient; that will be discussed more in the next section. The Canon PowerShot SD1000’s optical viewfinder zooms when the lens zooms, and remains surprisingly accurate throughout. Some optical viewfinders are horribly inaccurate and cause portraits to be headless and such. This viewfinder sees a smaller view of what is actually recorded, but it is centered so at least no information will be lost. The only drawbacks are its size (it’s tiny, but there’s not much room for much else) and the blurry edges in the corners of the window.

 

The LCD screen is another area where the cameras differ. It measures 3 inches on the SD750 and 2.5 inches on the SD1000. Both models have 230,000 pixels of resolution on the low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT displays. The resolution is much better than its predecessors that had 173,000 pixels on their LCD screens. Canon calls its new screen “Pure Color” and flaunts its wide viewing angles, scratch resistance, and anti-reflective coating. The screens did have impressive viewing angles in all directions, although it wasn’t as good viewing above and below than side to side. While it had an anti-reflective coating that reduced glare from the lights, that coating didn’t seem to work at all when a fingerprint greased the screen. The LCD screens of the cameras at the show were greased up from hundreds of people picking them up and playing with them and putting them down. The grease only reflected the lights from above, which made them look so much dirtier.

 

The display info on the screen can be changed with the display button. While shooting, the info only appears or disappears – unless users have set grid lines or 3:2 guide lines to appear in the setup menu – or the image can be free of info. The SD1000’s screen also turns off. Both cameras have brightness adjustments in the setup menu with 15 levels. Both LCD screens are 100 percent accurate, which make them great viewfinders until put in direct sunlight. I didn’t get to see the LCDs under the light of day from the convention center, but there’s a reason Canon hangs onto its optical viewfinders and it’s probably because it’s superior when shooting in bright light.

 

The built-in flash units are located in the upper right corners of the fronts; this is just where the left fingers wrap around the camera, so the flash may be blocked if users aren’t careful. The flashes are virtually the same component with identical specs. The flash reaches 1.6-11 ft when zoomed out and 1.6-6.6 ft when zoomed in. Canon also claims that the flash is effective from 1-1.6 ft in the macro mode, but it was too powerful and kept blowing out objects within that range. There is no flash compensation either, so users have to rely on the one flash power there is. It looks bad when subjects are closer than about 3 ft, but beyond that it looked decent on the show floor. The right side of the multi-selector accesses the off, on, and auto flash modes, while the recording menu turns on the red-eye reduction and slow sync. The flash units are just average for compact digital cameras; they definitely aren’t standout.

 

The PowerShot SD750 and SD1000 have the same Canon 3x optical zoom lens. It measures 5.8-17.4mm and moves through the range with a zoom ring that surrounds the shutter release button atop the camera. The ring is small with a small nub on the front that the finger can push around to activate. It isn’t very comfortable or sensitive. It stops at 6 focal lengths within its range and doesn’t move very smoothly; it seems to backfire for a quick moment before settling on a focal length.

 

The Canon lens is equivalent to 35-105mm, which isn’t remarkably wide but certainly could be worse. The lens extends from the cameras in two segments and isn’t large at all. The max aperture when zoomed out is f/2.8, which has become the standard for compact digital camera lenses. When zoomed in, the aperture closes to f/4.9. Of note is the 4x digital zoom that can be turned off in the setup menu, and probably should be since it degrades image quality when used. Overall, the Canon lens is decent but – once again – not standout. It has a typical 3x range and uncomfortable control, but hardly any distortion at all. We would have liked to see these digital Elphs up to 4 or 5x optical zoom by now, but this gives us something to look forward to in the next batch of updates.