Debuting as the Canon IXUS 850 IS in Europe and the Canon PowerShot SD800 IS, the 7.1-megapixel digital camera comes with a host of new technologies. The new Digic III processor in the camera recognizes, tracks, and focuses on faces. Other components include a 3.8x optical zoom lens and a 2.5-inch LCD screen. Not to be forgotten is the optical image stabilization system that makes up the “IS” in the camera’s name; the SD800 is only the second camera in the Digital ELPH line to include the technology. The SD800 IS was announced on Sept. 14, ten years after Canon introduced its trendy Digital ELPH line. The Canon PowerShot SD800 IS will be available in October for $399.
The ever-important Func./Set menu contains the image size and compression items. The SD800 has a 7.1-megapixel image sensor that allows the following image sizes to be captured: 3072 x 2304, 3072 x 1728 (widescreen), 2592 x 1944, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, and 640 x 480. While there is no 3:2 formatted image size, users can activate a “3:2 guide lines” feature in the recording menu that superimposes lines on the live preview. The compression can be set to SuperFine, Fine, or Normal. The Canon PowerShot SD800 IS records JPEG images.
Picture Effects Mode
Like its other PowerShot siblings, the Canon SD800 has a wide variety of picture effects particularly with its My Colors mode. These effects can be applied in both the recording or playback modes: Vivid, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, and Custom Color. Accessed with the Func./Set menu, the My Colors options are quite extensive. The Custom Color option allows a lot of flexibility that was previously only enjoyed in editing software. With it, users can adjust in five steps the contrast, sharpness, saturation, skin tones, and red, green, and blue channels. The adjustment function lets users who are in a rush or who are computer-phobic to steer clear of editing software and directly print pictures that are tailored to the photographer’s preferences.
