Canon PowerShot SD780 IS

Overview

Canon is marketing its ELPH series as fashion accessories — accessories with decent still photography capabilities. The SD780 IS is supposedly Canon's thinnest camera ever and looking at this slim profile, we believe it. Plus, there's the 12.1-megapixel stills and 720p video.

The camera comes in four different 'bold' colors: gold, silver, black, and red. As we take our tour around the camera, it's hard not to notice the shining surface above all else. As a simple point-and-shoot camera, there aren't a lot of buttons, switches, and knobs to clutter the aesthetic. This makes the SD780 less threatening, but also a little more robust: fewer switches means less to break.

All in all, there aren't a lot of architectural surprises here. The battery/card slot is on the bottom, the LCD is next to the four-way directional control on the back, and the zoom toggle and shutter button are on the top.

The Canon PowerShot SD780 Digital ELPH is hitting stores this month at a $280 MSRP.

The SD780 is a slim, shiny beacon of a camera.

Front

The main attraction on the front of the SD780 is the small, 3x optical zoom lens. With a 5.9-17.9mm focal length and an aperture range of f/3.2-f/5.8, Canon is really trying to pack in as much as they can, given the incredibly slim profile. The lens automatically extends when the camera is powered on and retracts (with an automatic lens cover) when the camera powers down. The lens is accented by a flat, brushed metal ring.

Features on the front of the SD780 are well laid out, though not much here will surprise you.

Below and to the right of the lens is a minuscule hole that marks the location of the camera's microphone for picking up audio during video recording.

Above the lens is a small lamp that emits a Focus Assist beam, red-eye reduction lamp, or self-timer lamp, depending on the circumstances. To the left of the lamp is the built-in flash and to the right of the flash is the front end of the tiny viewfinder.

Back

The back of the camera is dominated by a 2.5-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD. Above the LCD is that tiny viewfinder and two small indicator lamps. In the upper-right corner is a port cover (complete with flimsy rubber tether) that houses the camera's HDMI and USB/AV terminals. While the mini-HDMI is a universal output, the USB/AV jack is a proprietary one that will only work with the included cables.

The LCD and control pad are the highlights on this side of the camera.

Off to the right of the LCD is the meat of the SD780's controls. At center stage is the four-way controller — also called a directional pad or 'd-pad.' The four-way controller serves as the primary means of navigating the menus and is also your quick link to tele macro, exposure, flash, and self-timer. In the center of the d-pad is a Function/Set button, which brings up the camera's quick menu and is generally the 'Enter' key of the digital camera world.

Three more buttons and one small switch round out the offerings on the back of the SD780. Above the control pad is a button for entering Playback mode and a switch for choosing between Auto mode (for still  photography), Manual mode (for still photography) and Video mode. In the lower-right is the Display button and Menu button.

Sides

The sides of the SD780 are nothing to write home about. The only real feature — aside from the camera's slim profile — is the wrist strap anchor on the right, which lets you attach the included wrist strap and reduce drop-over-the-railing, warranty-voiding incidents.

There isn't much to see here—except for the SD780's ultra-slim profile.

Top

The top of the camera is home to the zoom lever, which engages optical and digital zoom while shooting and gives you a closer look at your captured photo during playback. The zoom lever also surrounds that all-important shutter button, which functions in the traditional manner: press halfway to focus and all the way down to take a photo. Near the center is the small on/off switch and a couple holes representing the speaker for system sounds and video playback.

Conspicuously absent is any kind of mode dial, which is to be expected with these ultra-slim cameras. The mode dial that's sometimes found on the top of digital cameras has been reduced to a tiny switch and relocated to the back.

A zoom lever and shutter button take center stage here.

Bottom

The bottom of the SD780 features exactly what you expect to find on the bottom of a camera: a tripod mount. But there's also the camera's dual battery cavity / memory card slot. As is now customary on Canon point-and-shoot cameras, the rechargable battery and SD/SDHC card both reside in one enclosure.

They can't fit much on the bottom except for the tripod mount and battery/card slot.