Canon PowerShot SD800 IS First Impressions Review

The Canon PowerShot SD800 IS comes with ZoomBrowser EX, ImageBrowser, and Photostitch software to view, organize, and edit pictures.

The SD800 has a small rubber door on the right side that opens to the single multi-port on the camera. The port accepts mini-B USB 2.0 hi-speed cables and AV-out cables. In the setup menu, the USB mode can be set to Auto or PictBridge and the AV mode can be set to NTSC or PAL viewing standards. These cables are supplied with the camera, but the optional power adaptor is not. The power adaptor hooks into a small cover within the battery compartment door.

 

The SD800 has a designated Print button that transfers print orders directly to PictBridge compatible printers. The print orders are actually prepared in the Print menu located in a tab with the playback menu. Users can scroll through the pictures by file number, date, category, and folder and select quantities from 0-99 images. Using the Canon Selphy CP or ES printers, passport-sized pictures can be printed and a “movie print” mode is functional.

 

This Digital ELPH comes packaged with the NB-5L rechargeable lithium-ion battery and charger in the box. The battery is not very impressive. It can get about 270 shots per charge or can playback for 360 minutes, according to Canon’s spec sheet. At a time when the average compact camera’s battery can snap about 350 shots per charge, the SD800 is a bit behind the curve. The camera does have plenty of battery-sucking features though: 2.5-inch LCD screen, face detection auto focus, and optical image stabilization.

 

The Canon SD800 IS comes with a 16 MB SD card that will only fit four pictures at the finest resolution.  Users will want to invest in some memory. The camera accepts SD, SDHC, and MMC cards and is suited for larger capacity cards too with its exceptional organization. Pictures can be filed into categories and navigated to quickly with the “jump” button.