Product Tour
The A1100 IS ($199 MSRP) is a 12.1 megapixel digital camera equipped with a 1/2.3-inch CCD sensor. It has a focal length of 6.2 - 24.8mm and an aperture range of f/2.7 - 5.6 (35mm equivalent: 35 - 140mm). The camera has a 4x optical zoom, a 2.5-inch LCD screen and a small optical viewfinder. These last three specs account for the main differences between the A1100 IS and the more expensive A2100 IS, which has a 6x zoom and a 3-inch LCD screen, but does not include a viewfinder.
The camera is quite pocket portable, although it isn't the smallest model out there. It has a slight redesign over last year's A1000 IS and A2000 IS, which both lacked a rounded grip on the right side of the camera. The model is available in gray, blue, pink, and green.
Front
The front of the Canon A1100 IS is rather traditional. The 4x optical zoom lens is located in the center of the model and it automatically extends from the camera when you turn it on. A flash is located in the upper right corner and a small microphone just above the lens and to the left. The A1100 also has an optical viewfinder, which is at the top center of the camera.
Back
The back of the A1100 IS prominently features its 2.5-inch color LCD screen. The screen is glossy and smooth, which makes it quite prone to fingerprints and scratches and the tiny optical viewfinder is located just above this screen. An array of buttons make up the right side here: Playback, face detection, and print picture are clustered at the top, a directional pad with a variety of settings is below, and the display and menu buttons round out the bottom. The directional pad offers the following controls: exposure adjust, flash setting, self-timer, focus setting, and function/set in the center.
To the left of the playback button is a small speaker that provides audio when you watch your recorded videos.
Sides
The right side of the camera doesn't have any buttons or controls, but it has a DC input and USB port—both covered by a single piece of rubberized material. The USB port also doubles as an A/V output (using a provided cable). Below this is a silver loop for attaching the included hand strap.
The left side doesn't have anything going on. Only two little screws and a swath of gray plastic are located here.
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Top**
On the top we have most of our important controls. The on/off switch is up here, in the center of the camera and the shutter button and zoom toggle are located on the far right. Between these two round buttons is a mode dial that features a variety of settings and shooting modes—program, auto, easy, portrait, landscape, night portrait, kids and pets, indoor, scene, and movie.
From this angle you can get a good sense of the shape produced by the A1100 IS. The body of the camera is mostly rectangular, save for a small bump on the right side that protrudes outward (like the lens). This extra chunk of plastic is meant to provide an extra grip for your right hand, but it doesn't work perfectly. It is definitely an improvement over last year's A2000 IS and A1000 IS, which had straight, angled edges, but there still isn't much there for you to get a good hold on the camera.
Bottom
The memory card and battery compartment are both located on the bottom of the A1100 IS behind a sliding door. The camera runs on 2 regular AA batteries and can capture images to SD/SDHC Memory Cards, MultiMediaCards, MMC Plus Cards, or HC MMC Plus Cards. The camera comes with a 128 MB SD memory card and two regular AA batteries.
A tripod mount is also located on the bottom of the A1100 IS.
Hardware
Viewfinder
It may be tiny, but the A1100 IS features an optical viewfinder above its LCD screen. Viewfinders are becoming less common on compact digital cameras, so it's nice to see Canon include one here. It is definitely something you'll be glad to have on a bright, sunny day when all the LCD screen does is blind your eyes with glare.
Interestingly, the more expensive Canon A2100 IS does not include a viewfinder and has a slightly larger LCD screen instead.
LCD
The A1100 IS has a 2.5-inch color LCD screen with a 115,000-pixel resolution. The LCD offers 100% coverage and takes up a good portion of the back of the camera. In comparison, the A2100 IS has a 3-inch LCD screen. This takes us to one of the primary differences between the two cameras—the larger LCD on the A2100 vs. the optical viewfinder on the A1100. Keep in mind the A2100 also costs an extra 50 bucks.
Flash
The flash on the Canon A1100 IS is located in the upper right corner of the camera. It is small and will likely be in the way of fingers when you take a picture—especially if you have large paws. The flash can be set to auto, red-eye reduction, auto red-eye correction, flash on, flash off, FE lock, and slow synchro. Canon lists the flash range as 30 - 400cm (1 - 13 feet) when the ISO is set to auto and the zoom lens is at its widest angle. According to Canon the recycling time is 10 seconds or less.
Lens
The A1100 IS has a 4x optical zoom lens with a focal length of 6.2 - 24.8 mm (35mm equivalent is 35 - 140 mm). It has an aperture range of f/2.7 - f/5.6 and a focus range of 50cm to infinity in normal mode.
Using the lens zoom is simple—you just rotate the ring around the shutter button. The lens extends about one inch from the body of the camera when you use the zoom.
Jacks, Ports & Plugs
All the jacks and ports are located on the right side of the camera, behind a rubberized port-covering. The cover provides adequate protection and seals the jacks quite well. Inside is a DC-input (for connecting a power adapter—sold separately) and a USB port that also acts as an A/V output.
Battery
The A1100 IS runs on two regular AA batteries and it comes shipped with batteries so the camera is ready to go right out of the box. There is the option of purchasing an additional power adapter that connects via the DC-input port on the right side of the camera. This adapter will not charge the batteries in the camera and is only meant for running the camera while connected to a power source.
Memory
Loading via a slot in the bottom is the camera's memory card. It can capture photos to SD/SDHC cards, MultiMediaCards, MMC Plus Cards, and HC MMC Plus Cards. The camera comes with a 128 MB SD card, which is enough to get you started, but you'll definitely want to purchase an extra if you don't already own one.
Other Features
The A1100 has a number of face detection features, which may appeal to casual users. The feature will automatically detect faces within the frame and adjust exposure and focus accordingly. Canon includes a face detection self-timer on the A1100 that will detect faces as the timer counts down—a good feature if you want to jump into a photo after you set up the shot. Overall, the face detection features are interesting, but aren't something that prove to be all that useful.
Design & Layout
Design & Appearance
The Canon A1100 IS is available in silver, silver, blue, pink and green. The colors are fairly mild and aren't over saturated so you won't end up getting a camera that looks like a toy. The sleek design of the body definitely looks good and the shape is ideal for slipping in and out of a pocket. The lack of a good, solid grip on the right side of the camera is a problem, however. The A1100 IS isn't as easy to grasp hold of as some of the older, bulkier models. The design is an improvement over the A1000 and A2000, which didn't have any rounded bubble on the right side to wrap your hands around.
Size & Handling
The A1100 has dimensions of 95.4 x 62.4 x 31.0mm (3.76 x 2.46 x 1.22 inches) and weighs a light 155 grams (not including batteries). There are many lighter and slimmer cameras out there, but the A1100 is by no means large or unwieldy. Again, we must mention that some people may find the camera's right-side grip as inadequate, especially if you have large hands.
The flash is placed a bit poorly and may find itself in the way of wandering fingers if you use two hands to hold the camera. The viewfinder isn't very comfortable to use either, but we still applaud Canon for at least including one.
Overall, the A1100 has a solid design, despite our minor grievances. Buttons are well placed, zoom is easy to control and access, and the camera's size is good for pocket transport.
Menu
The menu setup is pretty simple on the A1100 IS. Pressing the menu button brings up two menus—camera and settings. The camera menu houses most of the shooting controls like flash settings, digital zoom options, and autofocus features. The settings menu deals with the camera's internal display, sound, and format options. Additional menu options are located in the playback section.
There aren't any info or assist titles in the menu, which would be useful for certain settings that are confusing or unusual. Other than this, the menus are easy to navigate and control and they aren't overly cluttered with options or features.
Ease of Use
The A1100 is quite easy to use. It features two auto modes (Easy and Auto) and offers a ton of scene and shooting modes that will automatically configure the camera's settings for a specific 'scene.' When you turn the mode dial, text appears on the screen telling you what each setting is for so you don't have to rely on the confusing icons printed on the dial itself.
We could have used some more information in the menus outlining what each setting actually does, but overall the camera is easy to control and get used to.
Modes
Auto Mode
The Easy mode option (represented on the mode dial as a camera with a heart inside) makes things pretty simple for the A1100 IS. In this mode no settings or menus can be activated—except zoom and flash on/off. This is a good mode if you're lending the camera to a novice photographer or if you just don't want to worry about anything manual control related.
Auto mode (also found on the mode dial) gives you a bit more control. Now, most of the menus and buttons can be activated, but the camera will take photos using an entirely automated system (no manual shutter, ISO, exposure, etc.). This is a good step-up option from Easy mode if you want to begin exploring the features included in the A1100 IS.
Movie Mode
The A1100 IS is definitely not a replacement for a dedicated camcorder, but it offers basic standard definition video recording. Movies shot with the Canon A1100 IS are captured using the Motion JPEG compression and videos are saved as AVI files. Monaural audio is also recorded along with the video (in the WAV format).
Movies are recorded in standard definition at either 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 and are captured at 30 frames per second. Clips are limited to 4GB in size or 60 minutes in length. You cannot perform an optical zoom while you are recording video (the digital zoom works) and the autofocus feature doesn't appear to work once recording has begun either.
Drive/Burst Mode
The camera has a continuous shooting mode, but it has no manual controls for the feature. Canon lists the continuous shooting at roughly 2 fps, but it felt a little slower than that when we played around with the setting.
The camera has self-timer options of 10 seconds, 2 seconds, face self-timer, and custom. The face and custom self-timers can take up to 10 shots and the custom option can be set to 1-10, 15, 20, or 30 seconds.
Playback Mode
Entering playback mode is done by pressing the playback button on the back of the camera. You can move between thumbnails and full screen images using the zoom toggle and on-screen display is controlled with the display button. A good amount of information is displayed about each image—date, size, time, exposure, shutter, aperture, mode, white balance, and a histogram just to name a few.
There is a digital zoom feature on playback that has 10 increments of zoom for a picture taken at the largest size and quality setting. Other playback features include sideshow, resize, red-eye correction, rotate, I-contrast, and direct to printer options.
Custom Image Presets
The A1100 IS doesn't have many manual control options, but it has a lot of scene modes and image presets. On the mode dial are portrait, landscape, night snapshot, kids and pets, indoor, and scene. When scene mode is selected you can then choose from night, fireworks, long shutter, beach, aquarium, foliage, snow, and ISO 3200. All the modes are represented with icons and text on the screen that give you a better idea of what each setting is for.
Controls
Manual Controls
While the Canon A1100 IS has plenty of scene modes and automatic settings to keep the curious point-and-shooter happy, it lacks most precise manual controls that more experienced users will crave. Program mode is the closest thing the camera has to a manual mode and it only allows you to adjust ISO sensitivity, white balance, image size, color effects, and autofocus method.
There are no manual controls for shutter speed, aperture, or focus. Keep this in mind if you're the type of person who likes to play around with traditional camera settings—as you won't find them anywhere on the A1100 IS.
Focus
Autofocus can be set to center or Face AiAF, which will focus in on detected faces. No manual focus is available on the camera. An orange autofocus assist lamp helps focus in low-light settings.
ISO
In program mode the ISO sensitivity can be set to auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, or 1600. Scene and auto modes each adjust ISO automatically and have specific settings assigned to each. The ISO 3200 scene mode boosts the ISO sensitivity to its maximum (which is higher than you can set the sensitivity manually).
White Balance
White balance presets include auto, day light, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, fluorescent H, and manual. Manual white balance is easy to use, just select the feature and push set when the camera is focused on a white or neutral image.
Metering
The camera has three auto exposure settings: evaluative, center weighted average, and spot. There is also an option for manual exposure adjustment that offers a range of -2 to +2 increments.
Shutter Speed
There is no dedicated manual shutter speed control on the A1100 IS, but Canon lists the shutter speed range as 15 - 1/1600 of a second. To activate very slow shutter speeds, the camera must be in the Long Shutter scene mode which can be set from 1 - 15 seconds.
Aperture
The A1100 IS also has no manual aperture control, but the maximum aperture capable on the camera is f/2.7.
Image Stabilization
The camera offers optical image stabilization and the feature can be set to continuous, shoot only, and panning.
Picture Quality & Size Options
Images can be taken in the following sizes: 4000 x 3000 (Large), 3264 x 2448 (Medium 1), 2592 x 1944 (Medium 2), 1600 x 1200 (Medium 3/Date Stamp), 640 x 480 (Small), and 4000 x 2248 (Widescreen). The camera also has quality settings of fine and normal for each size.
Picture Effects
Color settings on the A1100 IS are vivid, neutral, sepia, black & white, and custom. When custom is selected you can manually fine tune your image's contrast, sharpness and saturation. Eachof those three custom options have 5 increments of control.
Conclusion
Meet the tester
Jeremy is the video expert of our imaging team and Reviewed.com's head of video production. Originally from Pennsylvania and upstate NY, he graduated from Bard college with a degree in film and electronic media. He has been living and working in New England since 2005.
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