Physical Tour

**Back
**The back of the camera has a black panel on its left side. In it are the LCD, the optical viewfinder and the power button. The LCD takes up 2.5 inches of space, while the optical viewfinder above it hardly takes up a third of an inch. To the right of the tiny viewfinder are two LEDs to indicate when the flash is ready and when the card is reading and writing. To the right of the LEDs is the power button, which isn’t very intuitively placed. Most digital cameras have the power button located on the top, so to find the power button on the back is tough. Finding the black power button on the black panel isn’t very easy either. It blends in so well – until the camera is turned on. Once powered up, there is a green LED that lights up next to the power button.

The top right corner of the camera has a cheap plastic mode dial that sticks out the side. It has a few icons to represent different modes and it also has a tag mark to show where users should turn the dial to activate the modes.

Crammed near the bottom of the silver panel to the right of the LCD are the multi-selector and three buttons. The button above the multi-selector has a LED in its center and lights up when connected to a printer or computer. This is the Print/Share button. Below this is the multi-selector, which has arrows pointing in the four directions and also has icons and letters for the double features the multi-selector performs. The top portion of the multi-selector accesses the ISO settings in recording modes and deletes individual pictures in the playback mode. The right side accesses flash modes and the left side switches the focus mode from normal to macro and landscape. The bottom part of the selector cycles through the burst and self-timer modes. To the bottom left of the multi-selector is the Disp/Back button and to its right is the Menu button.

**Left Side
**The left side is completely featureless. All that can be seen from here is the silver panel on the front half of the camera and the black shiny panel on the back half, with a few screws holding them together.

**Right Side
**The right side of the Canon PowerShot SD700 IS, when facing the LCD, has a big eyelet in the center for easy wrist strap attachment. At the bottom of this side, the side of the battery compartment door can be seen. At the top of the right side is the flimsy door that opens to the DC and A/V / USB ports. The door has a tiny lip for slightly easier prying, but the lip is much smaller than anyone’s thumb.

**Top
**The tri-color design can be seen from the top, where the shiny black panel slants upward toward the left side and the matte silver body is highlighted with polished silver features. There are a few contours where the optical viewfinder sticks out the front of the body and where the flash protrudes just ever-so-slightly.

On the right side of the top is the shiny shutter release button which is surrounded by a zoom switch. The switch has a little bump in the front that is a bit hard to push around. This is for controlling the 4x zoom lens.

**Bottom
**The view from the bottom shows how slanted the two black and silver panels are. The black panel starts small on the left side and slants upward to about halfway up on the right side. Serial numbers and other info are included on the black panel. Slightly to the right half and directly below the lens is the standard quarter-inch tripod mount. The handgrip side is occupied by a battery compartment door that is a little tricky to open.

Components

**Viewfinder
**

The SD700 IS has what Canon calls a "real image optical zoom viewfinder," but its image really isn’t that real. It is completely inaccurate, tiny and blurry, and the lens can be seen in the bottom left corner when in telephoto mode. The edges of the finder are distorted into a blur. The coverage itself isn’t great; when users frame a subject at the lens’ widest focal length, the image shows much more on top than is actually recorded. There is inaccuracy at the telephoto length as well. Another problem with the viewfinder is that the focus cannot be checked in it. Sometimes the view in the finder looks focused, but it isn’t focused at all in the LCD screen. So while having a optical viewfinder at least gives users the option in case the batteries are going downhill, this viewfinder is practically worthless. Avoid it if possible.

LCD Screen
**

**The Canon SD700 IS has a low-temperature polycrystalline silicon LCD that covers 2.5-inches of real estate and has 173,000 pixels on it. The resolution is okay, but still not the 230K that the competition includes. The actual quality of the screen image is disappointing. The screen looks like a television in the days before cable. The image is garbled and looks a little fuzzy, especially in low light. However, though the view is blotched, things look fine once recorded. It’s just the live view that is garbled this way. The LCD screen has a wide viewing angle that makes it easy to gather a group around the camera for a slide show. Best of all, the screen has 100 percent coverage so what is seen is what is recorded in the image file.

**Flash
**The Canon PowerShot SD700 has a built-in flash with these modes: Auto, Auto with Red-Eye Reduction, On, On with Red-Eye Reduction, Off and Slow Synchro. The red-eye reduction modes send out very fast flashes instead of the long strobe some models use. This seemed to work just fine as there were no red eyes staring back from the test shots. The flash can reach from 1.6-11.5 ft in wide and 1.1-6.6 ft in telephoto when the ISO is set to auto. The flash in telephoto is a bit weak; most subjects are farther than 6.6 ft away when the telephoto is in use. The flash cannot be used in the macro mode; rather, it shouldn’t be used. The macro mode does not disable the flash, but the flash sure washes out anything closer than 1.6 ft. There is no flash compensation mode, which would have been useful for the macro mode; coverage is fairly even. Canon’s specs claim it takes "10 seconds or less" for the flash to recycle, but it doesn’t take nearly that long at all. It seemed to recover quickly.

**Zoom Lens
**The SD700 IS has a 4x zoom lens, which is a nice change from the usual 3x lenses on most compact models. The lens, which extends from the camera body in two segments, is protected by two plastic doors that snap shut and are sturdier than in previous models. The 4x zoom lens reaches from 5.8-23.2 mm, which is equivalent to 35-140 mm in 35mm photography. The lens shows some barrel distortion around the edges, but it’s only really noticeable if a face is too closely framed. The lens can focus as close as 0.79 inches in wide macro and 1.3-2 ft in telephoto macro. Normally, it can focus from 1.5 ft.

The Canon branded lens has a wide f/2.8 aperture in the widest focal length, but it quickly shrinks to f/5.5 in telephoto. Controlled by the zoom switch surrounding the shutter release button, the Canon lens has about 8 stops in its range of focal lengths.

The response of the lens to the control is a little strange. When the control is tapped in the telephoto direction, the lens will zoom in a lot and then out a little. It does this fairly quickly, but it still looks odd. Even odder is the noise that the auto focus system makes; I sounds like harsh, ugly static. More specifically, like the television static recorded on the cursed videotape from "The Ring". Creepy.

The most marketed feature of the SD700 IS is its image stabilization technology. It has two modes: Continuous is on at all times and Shoot Only activates when the shutter release button is pressed halfway.

Design / Layout

**Model Design / Appearance
**The Canon PowerShot SD700 IS has a sleek design that features three colors on the body: ice metal silver, moonlight silver and ebony black. The sleek body is in harmony with the stylish Digital ELPH line. The SD700 has the Perpetual Curve design that was introduced on the SD500. It has a thicker right side that is curved like a moon for more comfortable handling. The metal body has plenty of highlights that make it attractive.

**Size / Portability
**The Canon PowerShot SD700 IS is smaller than many of its Digital ELPH siblings. It measures 3.56 x 2.22 x 1.04 inches and comes with a wrist strap that attaches to the right side. It is very portable either on the wrist or in a pocket. The digital camera has more heft to it than anticipated, but it still isn’t heavy at all. The small SD700 goes flat when the lens retracts and the camera powers down. Sturdy plastic doors snap closed on the lens when powered down; this protects the glass from scratches and dings and makes the SD700 even more portable.

**Handling Ability
**The body is mostly flat, but its perpetually curvaceous frame is a bit thicker on the right side where the hand grips the digital camera. There is no real right-hand grip, but the thicker portion gives users a little more substance to hang on to. The SD700 wasn’t built for long photo shoots in the hot, dry sun. It is made for pulling out of a pocket and snapping a few shots before being stowed away again. With that concept in mind, Canon didn’t include too many features to make handling incredibly comfy. Portability beat out comfort this time, although handling is certainly not a pain.

**

Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
**Everything is miniaturized on the Canon SD700. The buttons are small and squashed at the bottom of the back instead of being spaced out. The mode dial is incredibly small and impossible to turn. Okay, not impossible. But its side has tiny tag marks like the side of a dime, and it’s about the thickness of a dime, too. The cheap plastic dial protrudes only slightly from the right side of the camera, so users have to really dig their fingernails into the dime marks to rotate it. The mode dial doesn’t lock well into position either. It is like turning on a burner on a gas stove that has a single Low to High dial; there are no stops in the dial, so it’s easy to over-shoot and under-shoot.

There are few buttons on the camera body and most are adequately placed. The power button is located on the back instead of the top, though. This isn’t a huge deal, but it’s definitely different than most digital cameras. Several people who picked up the SD700 at the trade show immediately asked, "How do you turn this thing on?"

Menu
**The menu on the SD700 IS is nearly identical to those on other Digital ELPHs. The Canon menus are split so that the frequently used options are accessed by pressing the Func/Set button, and the other stuff is filed under the Menu button. The menus are organized logically and there is always an onscreen instruction on how to take a step back, so if users push the wrong direction on the multi-selector, they don’t have to close and re-enter the menu. The Func/Set button accesses the following menu, which has live views.  **

The above menu is from the "manual" mode, where the most options are available. This menu shortens in all of the scene modes to include the exposure compensation, compression and image size settings. In the auto mode, only the latter two options are available. The rest of the menus can be found by pushing the designated Menu button. In the shooting modes, there are three tabs with different colored icons on them. The left tab is red and has a camera icon on it; the following is the menu from the recording tab.  

The yellow tab in the middle has a tool icon on it and represents the lengthy setup menu. It has a very long list of buried features.  

The blue My Camera tab is on the right and has the following options: Theme, Startup Image, Startup Sound, Operation Sound, Self-timer Sound, and Shutter Sound. The various images and sounds are the same that are included on other Canon PowerShots in the past year. There is plenty of howling, chirping, and beeping available at various decibel levels. The playback mode menu has four tabs, two of which are the setup and custom tabs. The main playback menu is the first tab. 

The final tab in the playback menu is specifically made for direct printing. It includes options to print, select the number and quality of images and prints, select all the images, clear all selections and change print settings. From here, users can order an index print or add dates and files numbers to the pictures. Overall, the menu system is quite lengthy and the split system may be a bit confusing for beginners. However, it is easy to navigate through with the multi-selector and a few practice run-throughs will turn beginners into experts.

**Ease of Use
**The Canon PowerShot Digital ELPH series is supposed to be easy to use and intuitive for point-and-shooters, and the SD700 IS succeeds in many ways. This digital camera has a designated print button, making direct printing easy. It also has automatic modes that limit options and keep things real simple. The Canon SD700 has a few quirks like the split menu system, but keeps its setup simple otherwise.  

Modes

**Auto Mode
**The automatic mode is represented by a red camera on the troublesome mode dial. If users can find its position, the camera is thrown into a technophobe-friendly mode. Only the image size and compression can be changed in the shooting menu, and there’s not much else to do other than point, zoom and snap the shot.

**Movie Mode
**The Canon PowerShot SD700’s image stabilization system comes in handy in the movie mode, where little jumps and bumps are most noticeable. The movies are recorded with monaural audio in 630 x 480 or 320 x 240 at either 15 or 30 fps. The faster frame rate makes movement look much smoother in the video. These resolutions also apply to special effects movies: Color Swap and Color Accent. The SD700 also has a Fast Frame Rate movie mode that records 320 x 240 pixels at a buttery smooth 60 fps for one minute. This is great for recording racecars and other speedy subjects, but watching it on a television screen will still look pixilated because of the lower resolution. A smaller 160 x 120 pixel movie size is available for emailing to the grandparents. It shoots 15 fps for up to 3 minutes. Regular movies have a limit of 1 GB.

The video quality looks great until the digital zoom is used. The 4x digital zoom is available, but should be avoided because it causes the image to degrade into a pile of colored boxes. Unfortunately, the optical zoom cannot be used while recording. The options that are available in this mode include white balance, color effects, frame rate, and size. Overall, the movie mode is decent and the effects are fun to play with.

**Drive / Burst Mode
**The burst mode on this Canon is one of the most impressive on a compact model. Canon included a DIGIC II image processor that claims speedier times and its 2.1 fps burst seems to be a result of that. While many compact digital cameras have the 2.1 fps burst, not very many have the SD700’s stamina. I snapped 27 shots in the continuous shooting mode before the camera ran out of memory; it may be able to go even more. The point is that the PowerShot SD700 is fast and can be fast for an extended period of time.

The burst mode can be activated by pushing the bottom of the multi-selector, which also cycles through the self-timer options. The self-timer can be set to take a picture after 2 or 10 seconds of delay and can be customized to delay for 0-10, 15, 20, or 30 seconds and then take 1-10 consecutive pictures.

**Playback Mode
**The playback mode has its own position on the mode dial, at the end so it cannot be over-shot. Pictures can be viewed one by one or in groups of nine images. Each picture can be magnified 2-10x with the zoom toggle. An auto rotate function can turn individual pictures the right way, so if users spin the camera around the picture will spin too so that the users’ view is always right-side-up. Pictures can be rotated manually in the playback menu too.

Pictures can be erased as single files or all at once, and can be protected from deletion altogether. Histograms and file info can be viewed when the Disp. button is pushed. In the playback menu, voice memos up to 60 seconds can be added and slide shows can be played, complete with transitions. When scrolling through pictures with the multi-selector, users can jump ten images or to the movies. Video clips can be played back at regular speed or in slow motion for the instant replay. They can also be scrolled through frame by frame for a better view of the top snowboarder face-planting into the snow. The movies can be cut in half and the beginning or end can be saved as a new file or can overwrite the longer version.

One of the new features on the SD700 IS is the availability of the My Colors modes in the playback menu. Previous models could only access the options before recording, but the effects can now be added in playback. On the whole, the playback mode is very thorough and makes users ache for more resolution on the LCD screen.

**Custom Image Presets
**The ‘SCN’ position on the mode dial houses 11 scene modes: Portrait, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Underwater, Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Color Accent and Color Swap. Indeed, the latter two options are located in a slightly different space than previous PowerShots. Instead of being primarily located in the My Colors mode, they are found among the scene modes.

Changing the scene modes can be done within the Func/Set menu. Small icons appear on the menu, but the text appears on the LCD screen when scrolled over. Many of the exposure controls are automatic, but users can still adjust the white balance, image size and compression. The Underwater scene mode is a little plug for Canon’s optional underwater housing that can be purchased for the SD700.  

Control Options

**Manual Control Options
**There is a "manual" mode but it is a bit of a misnomer. It isn’t really manual. Sure, users can still set the white balance, exposure compensation, ISO and metering modes. But they can’t adjust the shutter speeds and apertures like traditional manual modes, so this is more like a Program mode. The Canon SD700 IS isn’t the best camera for enthusiasts or photographers who want manual control over shutter speed and aperture.

**Focus
***Auto Focus
*Canon uses its AiAF through-the-lens system on the SD700. The system can be turned on and off only; there are no auto focus framing or auto focus control modes. The auto focus mechanism makes itself known within the Canon lens. It makes a quick noise that sounds like television static, but at least it functions quickly.

*Manual Focus
*The Canon SD700 IS does not have a manual focus option.

**Metering
**The metering mode can be switched in the "manual" modes within the Func/Set menu. It shows a live view of the Evaluative, Center-weighted Average and Spot metering options. There are no brackets or boxes to show where the PowerShot is metering from though, so there’s no telling how large or small the metering area is. This would have been helpful for the spot metering, which is supposedly smaller than the center-weighted average mode and is always linked to the center of the frame.

**Exposure
**The exposure modes on the tiny dial include an auto mode, a "manual" mode, the scene position and a movie mode. The "manual" selection can also select Digital Macro, My Colors and Stitch Assist modes. In the manual mode and the scene modes, the exposure compensation can be set to +/- 2 EV in 1/3 increments. There is a live view so users can keep their images from looking blown out. There is also a live histogram that can be viewed when the Disp. button is pushed.

**White Balance
**The white balance options are located in the Func/Set menu, complete with live views. Here are the options: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, and Custom.

In the mixed lighting of the convention center, the automatic white balance mode didn’t fare well at all. The Canon booth had some big, lit up red signs along with other lights that moved around, so the auto white balance mode seemed to pick up some of the red tones. The manual mode worked much better. It was easy to set with the on-camera directions. Users need only to frame something white and press the Menu button. This sets the white balance, which looked much more accurate than the automatic mode.

**ISO
**The new SD700 publicizes its high ISO 800 rating as being part of the camera’s anti-shake capabilities. The high ISO can be set along with the image stabilization system to reduce blur in dimly lit photos. The ISO can be set by pressing the top portion of the multi-selector which cycles through the options: Auto, High ISO Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400 and 800. Previous Digital ELPHs have included standard ISO ranges to only 400, so it is nice to see the norm climb a little higher. The SD700 IS includes Canon’s newly developed 6 megapixel sensor, which is designed to suppress noise better than previous models. That is yet to be tested, so check back for the full review.

**Shutter Speed
**Despite the place on the mode dial with a camera icon next to an ‘M’, there is no true manual mode. The shutter speeds cannot be manually adjusted. Instead, the camera automatically selects them from the 15-1/1600th of a second range depending on the selected mode and the subject and lighting it meters. When the camera selects a shutter speed between 1.3-15 seconds, usually in the night scene modes, the camera also activates its noise reduction system.

**Aperture
**The Canon branded lens is a 4x zoom lens, which is a first for the Digital ELPH series. The small lens has a wide f/2.8 aperture at the wide 35mm end, but shrinks quite a bit to f/5.5 in telephoto. This can be somewhat offset by the image stabilization and high ISO, but is still unfortunate since using as low an ISO as possible is best for keeping noise down.  

Image Parameters

**Picture Quality / Size Options
**The Canon PowerShot SD700 IS has several image sizes that can be selected from any mode from the Func/Set menu. Normal, Fine, and SuperFine JPEG compression modes can be found nearby. The largest size is 2816 x 2112 pixels, with the next few being 2272 x 1704, 1600 x 1200 and 640 x 480 pixels. There is also a widescreen-optimized 2816 x 1584 pixel size for panoramic shots. These selections are made user-friendly; they also list the number of shots the camera take at that image size considering space left on the card. This number changes as users scroll through the options.

**Picture Effects Mode
**One of the improvements the SD700 IS makes from its predecessors is the availability of the My Colors mode. In older models, users could only use the interesting effects before recording. Now they can be added in playback as well. The recording mode options include the following: Vivid, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone and Custom Color. The Color Swap and Color Accent modes are available from the scene mode menu.

This is a different setup than in previous models; they used to be all grouped together. The placement and execution of the My Colors modes aren’t intuitive. While reviewing the SD700 at the Canon booth, at least three people came to the counter, played with the camera and had trouble finding the color modes. None of them got the Color Swap to work in the recording mode. I tried it and it does work, but the on-camera instructions get a bit lost amidst all the other viewfinder information.

The Color Swap option is cool (once users get it to work). By pressing a few buttons and arrows, users can swap the red on the Canon sign in their captured image with the white color of the nearby wall in the same frame. This would be great for those family reunion pictures when Great Uncle Hal wears his bright orange shirt instead of the classy white everyone else is wearing. The Color Accent mode lets users highlight one color and then turns the rest of the image into muted black and white colors. The Custom Color mode is a mini editing program and lets users adjust red, green and blue channels, as well as the saturation, contrast and sharpness – all in +/- 2 ranges.  

Connectivity / Extras

**Connectivity
***Software
*The Canon PowerShot SD700 IS comes packaged with a Canon Digital Camera Solution CD-ROM, although the specific version is not known. PowerShots in the past year have come with version 26.0, so it is expected that the SD700 will have at least that. That software included a stitching program for panoramas, viewing browsers and basic picture editing.

*Jacks, Ports, Plugs
*On the right side of the camera, there is a flimsy door that houses the DC in and A/V / USB jacks. The USB uses the 2.0 high-speed setup and the A/V-out jack is NTSC and PAL format selectable. The port door itself fits okay into the body, but has a very small thumb grip to pry it open.

Direct Print Options
*

*From the playback menu, users can specify their direct printing needs. It is here where they can choose when, what and how many of each image to print. Users can select all of the images at once or scroll through and pick and choose. They can also add file numbers and dates to the prints. Index prints can be made as well as standard prints.

There is a designated direct print button on the camera body that has a lighted LED when connected to a printer. Of course, Canon recommends using its own printers but the SD700 can connect to any PictBridge compatible printer. To attract some business, Canon threw in some incentives to use its printer lines. An ID Photo Print mode and a Movie Print mode are only available when photographers use the Canon CP and SELPHY Compact Photo Printers.

*

Battery
*The Canon PowerShot SD700 IS uses a rechargeable lithium-ion NB-5L battery. It lasts about 240 shots with the LCD on and 700 with it off. It comes with a CB-2LX battery charger in the package.

*Memory
*The Canon PowerShot SD700 IS comes with a 16MB SD card and no internal memory. It accepts SD or MMC cards, so users should plan on getting one or the other in addition to the tiny included card. The 16MB card is enough for four full-resolution pictures or an entire 6 seconds of 640 x 480 pixel, 30 fps video.

Overall Impressions

**Value
**The Canon PowerShot SD700 IS is the first Digital ELPH with optical image stabilization, so perhaps that is why the price is a somewhat steep $499. This price may have been fine last year, but the price of digital cameras has gone down considerably in the past year. Many 6 megapixel digital cameras are selling for a hundred bucks less and still have good feature sets. So while the SD700 IS is a cool camera, it’s not a cool deal.

**Who It’s For **
Point-and-Shooters – The SD700 IS was built for these consumers with its many scene modes and ease of use. As part of the Digital ELPH series, the SD700 IS is a portable point-and-shoot model that is incredibly stylish at the same time. This PowerShot is also equipped with image stabilization so that even point-and-shooters can get blur-free shots easily.

Budget Consumers – The Canon SD700 IS does have 6 megapixels, a 4x zoom lens, and an image stabilization system, but its $499 price tag may still be a bit too much. Some of the older Digital ELPHs may be put on sale because of the new releases; this could be an option for the penny pinchers. The SD700 itself is not a big bargain though.

Gadget Freaks – While these sorts of folks will have fun shooting video with and without the image stabilization system, there really aren’t too many other gadgets to keep them busy.

Manual Control Freaks – This Canon has a camera icon on the mode dial with ‘M’ next to it, but it’s not a manual mode. Not fully manual anyway. Shutter speeds and apertures cannot be manually adjusted, but ISO, white balance and exposure compensation can. Manual control freaks will still be a little disappointed.

Pros / Serious Hobbyists – This digital camera is not geared toward the professional audience. It doesn’t have manual control to satisfy their appetites. Still, it’s not a bad camera so perhaps these people would use the SD700 for a trip to the beach or a backpacking trip where space is limited.

Conclusion

 

Conclusion

The Canon PowerShot SD700 IS has some hits and misses. Its hits include the 4x zoom lens with image stabilization. The new stabilization system has three modes – continuous, shoot only and panning – that work well. There is a high ISO 800 setting that aids in low light and also helps to keep pictures from getting blurry; this is especially nice when coupled with the image stabilization. The SD700 has 6 megapixels on a newly developed sensor that was designed to suppress noise from the higher ISO setting. This appeared true in our initial look at the camera, but check back in a month or two for the full review to truly explore this claim. The camera body is a hit with its tri-color design and Perpetual Curve shape. It also has a durable metal body with a 2.5-inch LCD screen that can be viewed at almost any angle.

The Canon SD700 IS has some misses with a few features. Its metal body is great, but it has a tiny and cheap plastic mode dial that is hard to get into position. Its mode dial has what looks to be a manual mode, but its ‘M’ label is misleading as users cannot manually adjust the shutter speeds and apertures. The 4x zoom lens is fine, but the auto focus system inside it is quite noisy. The interesting My Colors modes are great to have in both recording and playback, but users still have problems implementing the effects. Canon included an optical zoom viewfinder on the SD700, but its inaccuracy and poor quality make it only a space waster instead of a functional viewer.

The Canon PowerShot SD700 IS will retail for $499 in April, which is a little pricy considering other models coming out this year. The SD700 is cool and its hits are bigger than its misses, but its price tag is still inflated compared to its competitors. When money is taken out of the equation, the Canon SD700 IS provides a lot of very cool features in a very attractive and easily portable body. It might be wise to wait it out a bit until the price drops and the value catches up to its features.