ledlob1150's Blog

When the first Canon ELPH hit the shelves in 1996 as an APS film camera, its compact size and innovative "box and circle" design certainly held more appeal than the film format the little camera supported. While APS is a distant memory, Canon continued the ELPH legacy in its digital camera line. In the digital world, the ELPH still looks as sleek and sexy as it did 11 years ago. Although minor tweaks to the design have come over the years, Canon returned the ELPH to its roots shortly after the ELPH's tenth anniversary with the introduction of the SD1000, a camera whose retro look is almost identical to that of the original model.

In addition to its compact size and eye-catching design, the 7-megapixel SD1000 features a standard 3x optical zoom with a 35mm equivalent focal range of 35-105mm, a 2.5-inch LCD that delivers 230,000 pixels of resolution and, a rarity in cameras this size, an optical viewfinder. As is typical for the digital ELPH series, this point-and-shoot camera lacks manual aperture and shutter speed controls, but offers a series of scene modes, exposure compensation, and manual and auto ISO. A new on-demand Auto ISO Shift feature bumps the light sensitivity up to a maximum of 800 with a simple push of a button. White balance options include auto, several presets, and custom (manual). The SD1000 utilizes Canon's DIGIC III processor and offers new face detection technology and in-camera red-eye correction.

Although its auto shutter speed maxes out at only 1/1500 second, long exposures are possible up to 15 seconds (the one way you can set a manual shutter speed, available through the Function Menu). Fine-tuning adjustments, custom settings for the self-timer, stitch-assist for up to 26 shots, and versatile movie options round off some of the camera's most noteworthy features.

To put the SD1000 in perspective: Despite its numerical identification, the SD1000, at $299.99, is about $50 less expensive than its sibling, the $349.99 SD750. The latter is slightly larger and heavier, has gently sloping edges as opposed to square corners, is equipped with a 3-inch LCD, no optical viewfinder, and replaces the SD1000's Function/Set button with a new Touch Control Dial -- one of those love-it or hate-it type of features. Otherwise, the two cameras are essentially the same.

by Theano Nikitas

Heritage. Sure, there are plenty of pocketable digital cameras on the market that are smaller, thinner, have larger LCDs than the SD1000; and there's no shortage of small cameras outfitted in fun fashion colors. But the stylish and diminutive SD1000 not only looks good and fits easily in shirt or pants pockets, but the ELPH line has a track record of good performance and solid image quality on its side. A point-and-shoot interface combined with an intuitive control layout and easy-to-navigate menu system puts beginners at ease, and makes short work of picture-taking for more experienced users. Even without manual aperture and shutter-speed controls, the SD1000's portability and top notch image quality may even appeal to digital SLR users who want a simple, take-anywhere sidekick for quick snapshots.

Front View. Simple and stylish, the Canon SD1000 Digital ELPH looks a lot like the original ELPH.

Face Detection (FD) is quickly becoming a standard feature, and Canon has one of the most responsive and accurate FD technologies I've worked with to date. The SD1000 is equipped with Canon's latest FD technology that not only recognizes multiple faces and helps ensure accurate focus and exposure of subjects. It also analyzes and adjusts flash output according to shooting conditions.

Canon takes a gentler approach to raising ISO to increase shutter speed and avoid blurry images from camera shake than others that tout "anti-shake" features. Other cameras often produce excessively noisy images from their extremely high ISO settings. That's not to say that the SD1000 is free from image noise or that its Auto and Hi ISO settings can't go beyond reasonable limits, but its kept under better control. ISO can be set manually from 80 to 1600, and there's a convenient one-button/one-shot Auto ISO shift that boosts the ISO up to a maximum setting of 800 when implemented regardless of what ISO setting has been selected manually. ISO 800 is the maximum you want to use with the SD1000, so that's what I mean by a gentler approach. You can reach higher if you want to, but the camera's not going to take you there without permission.

Although the SD1000 is certainly easy to use in its basic auto mode, there are a number of hidden features that will be easily overlooked by those who don't read the manual or spend some time drilling down into the Function menu. Hidden within the My Colors menu, for example, you'll find a Custom button that reveals adjustments for contrast, sharpness, saturation, skin tone and individual red, green, and blue tones. Some Scene modes are also hidden, so it's a good idea to read through the manual. But once you've discovered some of these less-than-obvious options, you'll find that the SD1000 has some surprisingly useful functions to complement its attractive design.

Design. In keeping with the ELPH's original design, the SD1000 is available in black on silver; but if that's too retro for your taste, no worries: the camera is available in silver-on-silver as well. Its small size and light weight are an open invitation to take the camera with you wherever you go and it's as comfortable to wear around your neck dangling from a lanyard as it is tucked away in a pocket or purse. At the same time, the camera is solidly built and capable of withstanding the rigors of being carried around town or on a hike through the woods without worry.

Back View. A flush-mounted LCD and simple layout make for smooth elegance. Unfortunately, the Four-way navigation disk is tough to use accurately with its very flat design.

But as with any small camera, it's important to try the SD1000 on for size to make sure the handhold is comfortable and the controls are manageable. The camera has no grip and not much room to rest your thumb other than on the vertical switch on the camera's rear panel, but I was able to hold the camera easily for extended periods of time without suffering from finger cramps and one-hand shooting was quite easy. My fingers never strayed in front of the lens, the flash or the tiny microphone and the controls, which by necessity are grouped to the right of the LCD, were within easy reach. But my hands are relatively small and those with larger hands may not experience the same level of comfort.

Controls are logically arranged and are reasonably sized considering the limited real estate on the camera's rear panel. The speaker sits to the left of the mode switch, just above the Print/Share button, which can also be programmed for one-touch access to one of a number of functions like Exposure Compensation, White Balance (the full range or Custom only), Movie mode and display off, among others. For my purposes it was convenient to assign Exposure Compensation to the Print/Share button; although when moving between indoor and outdoor shooting, I also liked using it for White Balance presets. The Function/Set, Display and Menu buttons were large enough for easy operation, but I found that the Four-way controller that surrounds the Function/Set button required extra effort to manipulate; not only because it was somewhat less responsive than the buttons, but because I had to depend on my thumbnail rather than the tip of my thumb to press the appropriate mark without accidentally triggering the Function/Set button. The lovely minimalist design is just too flat for a thumb to actuate with accuracy, unless you're really paying attention.

While accessing menus for ISO, flash settings, shooting mode, and focus/distance via the Four-way controller is convenient, the menus automatically close within a second or two, leaving little time to think about what setting to choose. It was mostly annoying when choosing an ISO since all options -- Auto, High, and manual settings -- don't fit on a single screen. If I didn't start scrolling quickly, the menu would disappear and I'd have to start over again. This may be especially frustrating for those unfamiliar with the options offered within each of these quick-access menus. And, activating red-eye reduction and slow synchro flash settings required a trip to the system menu. On the other hand, all menus are easy to understand and navigate. But, as I mentioned earlier, some functions are buried deep within the Function menu, so not only do you have to know they exist and where they are, you have to take extra time to access them. Naturally, the more I used the camera, the quicker I was able to change settings on the fly.

Display/Viewfinder. After using cameras with LCDs so reflective that I could see myself more clearly than the scene I was trying to capture, the SD1000's 2.5-inch monitor was a pleasure to use. It's not perfect and there were times when I had to struggle to compose a scene in bright sunlight or resort to the tiny (and difficult to use) optical viewfinder but it's much better than others when it comes to clarity in bright light. Much of this increased usability is probably due to Canon's new PureColor LCD and its multi-level coating, which is designed to reduce glare and "resist scratches, smudges, and fingerprints." It's not a panacea for keeping the LCD clean, however, as just pulling the camera out of my jacket pocket left fingerprints.

The LCD display also performed well in low light, automatically gaining up even when photographing the dark abyss under my desk. As is common, the LCD's image is a little noisier with gain applied, but it showed less grain than most. A slower refresh rate was also expected under these dimly lit conditions but I noticed no ghosting when moving the camera in these darkened conditions.

Full onscreen shooting information is available with the SD1000's multiple display options, and both a grid overlay and 3:2 aspect ratio guide are available as well in record mode. A histogram accompanies the information display in playback mode. (I address the value of these display options more fully in the Shooting section.)

Performance. Despite the fact that the power button lies almost flush with the top of the camera, it was easy to find by touch, and the little camera was powered up and ready to go in no time. The camera's shot-to-shot speed was equally responsive; and even when using the flash, I didn't have to wait too long to take the next shot, nor was there much hesitation between pressing the shutter and snapping the picture. Continuous shooting speed was respectable as well.

Like most cameras in its class, the SD1000 offers a moderate focal range with its 3x optical zoom lens. But the miniature zoom lever moved the lens smoothly and reasonably fast throughout its 35-105mm focal range. You won't be able to shoot particularly broad vistas with this focal range unless you use the camera's stitch-assist to put together a panorama, nor will you be able to capture distant scenes or subjects with the SD1000's telephoto reach of only 105mm (35mm-equivalent). But for day-to-day shooting I found the 3x optical zoom sufficient.

Battery and card. The SD1000's battery and memory card compartment is nestled on the camera's bottom, covered by a plastic door.

Powered by a tiny rechargeable Lithium battery, the SD1000, when using the LCD, has a CIPA rating of approximately 210 shots on a fully charged battery. Since I generally don't spend a huge amount of time reviewing images in-camera other than to check exposure and focus, I was unable to exceed the estimated 210 shots on a battery charge. Depending on your playback habits, your experience may be different. Unless you think you'll exceed a couple of hundred shots between charges, this average battery life shouldn't be a problem.

A tiny camera, of course, comes with a tiny flash. The SD1000's flash powered down nicely when set to Macro, but not surprisingly, it doesn't have enough strength to reach beyond 12 feet at wide angle. At telephoto, it hardly puts out enough light for good exposures six feet. Note that this is when the camera is locked to ISO 100; when set to Auto ISO, the SD1000 manages good exposures at 11 feet at wide angle and 6.6 feet at telephoto with minimal ISO boost as Canon specifies (ISO 250 and 200 respectively). We also noticed some flash drop-off around the edges of images shot at wide angle.

The camera's automatic face detection (activated from within the camera's system menu) worked quite well and was faster and more accurate than the competition, especially when dealing with multiple subjects. Autofocus was generally quick and accurate with the camera's 9-point AiAF turned on, although on occasion I turned it off since having a single (centered) focus point enabled me to have better control when I wanted to the focus frame to be centered. Otherwise, I'd have to recompose when the AiAF focus points (indicated by green outlined boxes) weren't exactly where I wanted them to be (focusing on the grasses surrounding a flower rather than on the flower, for example). But focusing under low light was respectably fast, thanks to the amber AF assist lamp.

As expected, I was pleased with almost all of my test images. With the exception of a few over-exposed daffodils that were shot in bright sunlight, the SD1000's metering options (evaluative, center, and spot) all did a good job producing well-balanced exposures under a variety of lighting conditions. Colors were rich and accurately rendered and images were sharp.

Shooting. Shooting with the SD1000 was fun. Because the camera is so portable, I found myself taking pictures I wouldn't have otherwise thought about capturing. Rather than rolling my eyes at the thought of carrying a camera on a walk through a local park, I happily slipped the camera into my jacket pocket for traveling to the local park. Once I arrived, I hung it around my neck with a lanyard so all I had to do was lift it to my eye and shoot when I wanted to grab a snapshot. The camera lived on the dining room table so I could pop outside to photograph some spring flowers when the spirit (or the light) moved me. It traveled with me in my purse as well, and was a hit at a small gathering of friends. Never once did I feel that carrying the Canon SD1000 was a burden.

Of course, there were times I wished I had a digital SLR for speed and control, and a long telephoto lens for capturing images of birds in flight. But for casual shooting, I really didn't miss manual controls. The Canon SD1000 was generally fast enough for most situations, and has enough functions to allow some control. I usually kept the SD1000 set to "Camera Manual" so I could access all of the camera's functions (only a minimal number of features are available in Auto mode). Working mostly with exposure compensation, ISO, and white balance, I was able to satisfy the photographic instinct to adjust settings according to subject and shooting conditions. Activating the grid overlay helped me keep horizons even, and I was thrilled to find aperture and shutter-speed displayed each time I depressed the shutter button halfway. With the shutter speed information so readily available, I was able to judge whether and when I needed to either use the flash, increase the ISO, use a tripod, or simply forget about the shot. Though the SD1000 has an ISO of 1600, the noise levels were too high for my taste. I usually kept it set to ISO 800 or below. The full information panel in playback, which includes a histogram, was also very helpful when judging exposure after capture.

Other than the annoyances mentioned earlier -- like difficulty using the Four-way controller and having the ISO menu automatically turn off too soon -- I enjoyed using the Canon SD1000 and made good use of the Function button for a direct connection to many of the settings I needed to change most often. It's not a perfect system, but it works well enough when adjustments are necessary.

Summary. The Canon PowerShot SD1000 is a fine little camera with a number of attributes that will please the snapshooter, and may even attract the more sophisticated photographer who wants a small take-anywhere digital camera. Video fans will appreciate the multiple movie modes, including time lapse and fast frame rate options. Regardless of experience level, most everyone will find image quality more than satisfying, although it's important to maintain control over ISO settings to keep image noise to a minimum. That some features are buried deep within the menu system probably won't bother snapshooters very much, since it's unlikely they'll use them on a regular basis. It will be frustrating to photographers who want to wring every last bit of control out of the camera. But if you're as big of an ELPH fan as I am, you won't let any of those minor drawbacks dissuade you from slipping a Canon SD1000 into your pocket or purse.

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The Canon SD1100 IS Digital ELPH includes an eight megapixel 1/2.5" CCD imager and a Canon-branded 3x optical zoom lens with image stabilization, which covers a fairly standard range of 38-114mm equivalent -- a moderate wide angle to a moderate telephoto.

Exposure is fully automatic, but the user can tweak it with 2.0EV of exposure compensation and four metering modes to handle difficult lighting, including a mode which ties metering to the camera's face detection system.

Thirteen scene modes keep the camera approachable for beginners. A long-exposure mode in the Canon SD1100 IS ELPH lets you set exposure times as long as 15 seconds manually, and a 2.5" LCD display plus an real-image optical zoom viewfinder -- rather rare on digicams these days.

The Canon SD1100 IS sports a fairly wide ISO sensitivity range, from 80 to 1600. The PowerShot SD1100 IS is PictBridge compliant, and so is able to print to any printer that supports PictBridge directly, without the need for a computer in the middle. Images are stored on SD/SDHC/MMC memory cards with a not-so-generous 32MB card in the product bundle, and power comes from a proprietary NB-4L lithium-ion rechargeable battery.

Available from March 2008, the Canon SD1100IS Digital ELPH retails for under US$250. Five body colors are available: silver, gold, brown, blue and pink.

by Tony Gomez

Canon's new SD1100 IS has just about all the bells and whistles you could imagine for a camera that's about the size of a pack of cards.  To start, there's a healthy 2.5-inch LCD monitor, built-in optical image stabilization (that's the IS designation), Face Detection, a small, but still quite useful optical viewfinder, 8 megapixel still capture mode, an excellent 640 x 480, 30 frames per second movie mode, a 3X optical zoom (expandable by 1.6X and 2X), and a host of other cool features that we'll get into later in this report.

Look and feel. The Canon SD1100 has a simple, yet supple feel. Corners taper softly, quite a change from the SD1000's hard angular design. It's actually a little thicker than the SD1000, perhaps to accommodate the new image stabilization system inside; but the controls are essentially unchanged. The shutter button is flat and easy to find, with the zoom toggle surrounding it. On the back you'll find the 2.5-inch LCD and a selection of controls. The mode switch is on the upper right, with choices of Still Record, Movie Record, and Playback modes. The other buttons and the multi-controller are flush mounted, and a soft press activates them.

One feature in particular that I appreciate is the way you can reprogram the function of the Transfer button just right of the LCD screen. You can set it to one of a number of functions, including Face Select, EV compensation, White Balance, Custom White Balance, Red-Eye Correction, Digital Tele-converter, Display mode, Record Movie, Display Off, or Play Sound Effect. Because I often switch between Still and Movie mode, I chose Record Movie, which instantly drops me into Movie mode and starts recording.

An optical viewfinder also graces the SD1100. This is a rarity in digital cameras in this size category, and Canon is to be commended for keeping it in such a small digital camera. There are many scenarios in which having an optical viewfinder is huge benefit, such as in overly bright environments where you can't see the LCD screen very well, or in very dark places where it's hard to judge framing.

Of course, these viewfinders are seldom accurate, so be aware that you're going to capture more than you see through the optical viewfinder. According to our tests, you see 84 percent of the view at wide angle, and only 82 percent at telephoto.

On the bottom of the Canon SD1100 is a nice surprise: a metal tripod socket that replaces the plastic one on the SD1000.

Lens. The zoom is a 3X optical zoom equivalent to a 38-114mm lens, with digital enhancements of 1.6X and 2X. This means that effectively the zoom is about 60mm on the wide end at 1.6X digital zoom, and 182mm on the telephoto end. From a practical standpoint, I'd keep the digital zoom at 1.6X maximum because digital artifacts start creeping in if you blow the images up significantly. Another problem is that using this digital zoom mode eliminates your wide angle photography ability, so it's probably best to stick to the traditional digital zoom if you use it at all.

Canon pioneered Optical Image Stabilization many years ago in its camcorders and in special IS lenses made for its larger EOS digital SLRs. It's a tribute to their genius that they have evolved the design of their image stabilization hardware to fit inside the Canon SD1100 IS, the smallest of their pocket digital cameras. Canon uses optical image stabilization, where the actual elements of the lens are shifted to stabilize any shaking. This form of image stabilization is arguably the better of the various forms of IS available today.

Function. The Function menu sets commonly-changed items.

Menu. The Main menu sets everything else.

Interface. The menu system in the Canon SD1100 is a little confusing unless you're already familiar with Canon cameras. It's the Menu system that must be mastered before you can become really adept at setting up the camera for the many shooting conditions you might encounter. There are two menus, and two ways to enter them. To enter the Function menu, you must press the Func./Set button. You are presented with a left column and a lower row that is used to set all the controls for the Canon SD1100. At the lower row are the menu controls for selecting either the Automatic or Manual mode.

There are also special Scene Modes for selecting shooting conditions that will help you take better pictures under specific shooting conditions: Portrait, Night Snapshot, and Kids and Pets. The Manual mode allows even more controls, with selections for JPEG resolution: Superfine (least compression), Fine (moderate compression), or Normal (the most compression). The lower row also controls the capture image size.

For the finest print quality, images should be captured at Large/SuperFine resolution. For sharing images on the Internet, you select select Small/Normal for images that are lower in resolution, but very quick to upload and download, but if you ever plan to enlarge your images, be sure to stick with the Large/Superfine resolution, since images shot at lower resolutions, or compressed too much can never be upsampled. 

Along the left column you also select the type of metering (Evaluative, Center Weighted, or Spot). Evaluative is the default metering mode, but the Spot setting is great for difficult lighting situations. White Balance is also selectable here (Automatic, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Manual). Finally, manual exposure override can also be selected through 12 different offsets in 1/3EV settings.

Face Detection. Before you even half-press the shutter, the Canon's Face Detection finds and brackets all the faces it it recognizes. When you press the shutter release, it picks the faces it can keep in focus and puts a green box around them. After capture, it zooms in on the most clear face it found so you can check focus and exposure. You can use the zoom toggle to get in closer, and press the Set button to switch between the faces to check them all.

Special Features. Face Detection is the newest buzzword for most of today's point-and-shoot digital cameras. Canon's version of face detection performs very well in scenes that have a moderate amount of light. The Canon SD1100 found faces quickly and accurately, even from a surprising distance. The Canon SD1100 not only sets autofocus with its face detection algorithm, it also sets exposure; quite useful since having the face exposed properly is key to a good portrait.

We live in the era of High-Definition TV, so it was really nice to see that the SD1100 IS has two features that make it easy to capture shots ideal for viewing on your wide-screen HDTV: the Widescreen mode and the Stitch Assist Mode. Widescreen is a special mode that captures an image at a 5-megapixel resolution of 3264 x 1832 pixels. When you view this image on the SD1100's built-in LCD monitor you'll see black bars at top and bottom, the so-called letterbox mode. This is OK because the LCD monitor was only designed to show images that were captured in the more standard 4 x 3 capture mode. But when you watch the Widescreen captured images on your HDTV set, thanks to a provided AV output cable, it will look much more dramatic. You'll still see a black bar at the top and bottom because all widescreen TV's have a larger screen size. 

To enter the Canon SD1100's Widescreen capture mode, you press Func./Set and select WS (Widescreen) from the row at the bottom of the LCD screen. This is where you also select the six other image size modes (including the 8-megapixel maximum size for best print quality, all the way down to low resolution 640 x 480 for quick uploading and downloading). In my opinion, once you start shooting in Widescreen mode, you may never want to go back to the normal mode, especially if you watch the image playback on HDTVs, or if you make DVD slide shows based on these widescreen images.

The Canon SD1100 IS also has a great movie mode -- 640 x 480 resolution at 30 frames per second -- but they also have several lower resolution versions that are very useful if you were shooting video for e-mail or for websites. The image quality rivals MiniDV recordings on camcorders.

Storage and battery. The video recording time at the highest quality is about 16 minutes for a 2GB SD card. So if you want to shoot an hour epic, be prepared with an 8GB SDHC card.  These cards are essentially commodities today at under $100, with 16GB and 32GB versions becoming available later in 2008. A 4GB SDHC card will also hold about 1118 Large/Superfine shots.

The Canon SD1100 uses the same NB-4L 3.7V 760mAh lithium-ion battery as its predecessor, which can capture 240 shots, which is about average. Note that the plastic battery door seems quite fragile, but should be fine if the camera is treated with the care that all camera components demand.

Another feature that Canon has been promoting for almost as long as they have been making digital still cameras is the Stitch Assist mode. In this mode you can shoot a sequence of overlapping images and have the bundled Stitch Assist program stitch or blend them into a new, seamless, wider-than-widescreen image. The trick to make this work right is to shoot with the right amount of overlap. Canon makes this easy by retaining a small amount of the previous image to allow you a fast way of getting the proper overlap.

Stitched. Making a quick panorama is easy with the Canon SD1100, and tells a better story about your surroundings. (Images are stitched in the computer after capture.)

Stitch assist works in the horizontal mode, and you can shoot successive images in either a left or a right direction. If your overlap doesn't fall within the proper range, you will get a noticeable seam at the overlap points. The panoramic stitched effect is startling. It can even be made comic if you have a person staging themselves in different parts of captured images -- a process that can have your friend and their many digital clones reacting in the same panoramic scene. 

Image Quality. As with any digital camera that's as small as the Canon SD1100 IS Digital ELPH, there are compromises. But thankfully I didn't find many compromises in the nature of image quality, which was excellent. Naturally, as ISO increases, quality degrades, but we found the printed results to be quite good, with even the ISO 1,600 image preserving enough quality for a decent 4x6. The ISO 80 and 100 images were capable of withstanding up to 13x19-inch print sizes, despite a little softening in the corners.

There is some chromatic aberration in the wide angle shots, but it's not very bright, so it's not very noticeable except at high magnification or large print sizes. And despite the slight softening in the corners at wide angle, the rest of the frame at is quite sharp, ditto for telephoto. Macro mode was good, capturing a very small area (smaller is better, meaning that you can get closer to your subject), though the flash did overwhelm the exposure system at this distance, an unsurprising result.

Bling. The real bling here is the SD1100's performance at ISO 800.

Optically there's some average barrel distortion at wide angle, but no detectable pincushion at telephoto, which means that the lens does pretty well for such a small design.

Color from the Canon SD1100 is pretty accurate, with only the reds and cyans being slightly oversaturated, and hue is pleasingly accurate overall.

See the Optics and Exposure tabs for more on the Canon SD1100's image quality.

Shooting. I used the Canon SD1100 in a wide variety of lighting environments, from indoor incandescent and fluorescent to bright outdoor sun. For the indoor scenario, I chose the Manual mode because that allowed me to preset a manual ISO setting.

In one particular case, I chose ISO 800 because I was shooting small items of jewelry in an antique shop in Palm Springs, California. I was handholding the Canon SD1100 and also shooting in macro mode, so I really needed the ability to shoot at higher shutter speeds to capture sharp images without significant image blur. (Many thanks to Route 66 West Antique Shop in Palm Springs, California and owner Matt Burkholz for allowing me the use of their store to shoot the great jewelry and art pieces.)

Depth and detail. Outdoors at ISO 80, the Canon SD1100 showed its full potential.

Most of these macro shots were taken with the lens wide open at f/2.8, but at speeds that varied from 1/30 to 1/400 second, depending on the lighting. Many of the captured macro images exhibit limited depth of field, but that's expected at f/2.8. If I could have selected a higher f-number like f/5.6 or f/8, I could have expanded the range of focus; but that's not possible with the Canon SD1100. Though it's called Manual mode, aperture and shutter settings are still under the camera's control.

I also used Automatic White Balance in this shop, and I was satisfied with the results. On closer inspection of the jewelry images, you can see some digital noise, but this is expected when shooting at ISO 800. It was an acceptable compromise in order to get sharp, blur-free images. 

Macro. Though the Canon SD1100 IS is still set to f/8, the closer range decreases the depth of field, making a nice portrait of this cactus blossom.

In outdoor environments, I chose the Auto ISO mode. I visited a desolate village called Pioneer City near Yucca Valley, California. Because of the bright outdoor sun the ISO was automatically set to 80. This meant the image quality would be as noise-free as possible.  This was confirmed when I zoomed in on the captured images of amazing rocks, flowering purple cactus, and other interesting plants in the area.  I would expect that large 13 x 19 blowups of these images shot at ISO 80 would be excellent, revealing all their detail.

Appraisal. The Canon SD1100 IS is a full-featured point-and-shoot digicam that really impresses. It offers all the best feature sets of 8MP resolution, Image Stabilization, Face Detection, Widescreen/Panorama Stitch, Movie Mode, Macro mode, and much more, all in the size of a pack of playing cards. If you crave compactness without sacrificing too much, the Canon SD1100 really delivers. Probably the only real compromise is the "mere" 3x zoom, while some of Canon's more expensive models offer 3.8 and 4x zooms.

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