Introduction

The SD780 is due to hit store shelves in March for around $280. That's a reasonable price for a camera that looks this good on paper and even better in our hands. Of course, our final verdict will have to wait until we get the camera into our labs.

Product Tour

Overview

Canon is marketing its ELPH series as fashion accessories — accessories with decent still photography capabilities. The SD780 IS is supposedly Canon's thinnest camera ever and looking at this slim profile, we believe it. Plus, there's the 12.1-megapixel stills and 720p video.

The camera comes in four different 'bold' colors: gold, silver, black, and red. As we take our tour around the camera, it's hard not to notice the shining surface above all else. As a simple point-and-shoot camera, there aren't a lot of buttons, switches, and knobs to clutter the aesthetic. This makes the SD780 less threatening, but also a little more robust: fewer switches means less to break.

All in all, there aren't a lot of architectural surprises here. The battery/card slot is on the bottom, the LCD is next to the four-way directional control on the back, and the zoom toggle and shutter button are on the top.

The Canon PowerShot SD780 Digital ELPH is hitting stores this month at a $280 MSRP.

The SD780 is a slim, shiny beacon of a camera.

Front

The main attraction on the front of the SD780 is the small, 3x optical zoom lens. With a 5.9-17.9mm focal length and an aperture range of f/3.2-f/5.8, Canon is really trying to pack in as much as they can, given the incredibly slim profile. The lens automatically extends when the camera is powered on and retracts (with an automatic lens cover) when the camera powers down. The lens is accented by a flat, brushed metal ring.

Features on the front of the SD780 are well laid out, though not much here will surprise you.

Below and to the right of the lens is a minuscule hole that marks the location of the camera's microphone for picking up audio during video recording.

Above the lens is a small lamp that emits a Focus Assist beam, red-eye reduction lamp, or self-timer lamp, depending on the circumstances. To the left of the lamp is the built-in flash and to the right of the flash is the front end of the tiny viewfinder.

Back

The back of the camera is dominated by a 2.5-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD. Above the LCD is that tiny viewfinder and two small indicator lamps. In the upper-right corner is a port cover (complete with flimsy rubber tether) that houses the camera's HDMI and USB/AV terminals. While the mini-HDMI is a universal output, the USB/AV jack is a proprietary one that will only work with the included cables.

The LCD and control pad are the highlights on this side of the camera.

Off to the right of the LCD is the meat of the SD780's controls. At center stage is the four-way controller — also called a directional pad or 'd-pad.' The four-way controller serves as the primary means of navigating the menus and is also your quick link to tele macro, exposure, flash, and self-timer. In the center of the d-pad is a Function/Set button, which brings up the camera's quick menu and is generally the 'Enter' key of the digital camera world.

Three more buttons and one small switch round out the offerings on the back of the SD780. Above the control pad is a button for entering Playback mode and a switch for choosing between Auto mode (for still  photography), Manual mode (for still photography) and Video mode. In the lower-right is the Display button and Menu button.

Sides

The sides of the SD780 are nothing to write home about. The only real feature — aside from the camera's slim profile — is the wrist strap anchor on the right, which lets you attach the included wrist strap and reduce drop-over-the-railing, warranty-voiding incidents.

There isn't much to see here—except for the SD780's ultra-slim profile.

Top

The top of the camera is home to the zoom lever, which engages optical and digital zoom while shooting and gives you a closer look at your captured photo during playback. The zoom lever also surrounds that all-important shutter button, which functions in the traditional manner: press halfway to focus and all the way down to take a photo. Near the center is the small on/off switch and a couple holes representing the speaker for system sounds and video playback.

Conspicuously absent is any kind of mode dial, which is to be expected with these ultra-slim cameras. The mode dial that's sometimes found on the top of digital cameras has been reduced to a tiny switch and relocated to the back.

A zoom lever and shutter button take center stage here.

Bottom

The bottom of the SD780 features exactly what you expect to find on the bottom of a camera: a tripod mount. But there's also the camera's dual battery cavity / memory card slot. As is now customary on Canon point-and-shoot cameras, the rechargable battery and SD/SDHC card both reside in one enclosure.

They can't fit much on the bottom except for the tripod mount and battery/card slot.

Hardware

Viewfinder

The viewfinder on the PowerShot SD780 is absolutely minuscule and, frankly, very uncomfortable to use. You'll really have to jam the camera up against your nose (watch out for greasing up your LCD) in order to make use of the viewfinder. Many of the other models in the ELPH lineup don't bother with the viewfinder; we're not sure why Canon has decided to put one on their slimmest ultra-compact. There's something to be said for having a backup on sunny days, but we expect that the vast majority of users will use the LCD for the vast majority of their photography.

What's that? A teeny tiny viewfinder.

LCD

A glance below the micro viewfinder will make it clear that most of your time with the SD780 will be spent with the 2.5-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD. This is a small display for a digital camera, but it's not surprising considering the minute size of the camera itself.

The 2.5-inch LCD will help you preview your photos and interface with the camera menus.

Within the Settings menu, you can adjust screen brightness to one of five increments, with the default setting in the center. Be careful when brightening or darkening your screen, as it might give you a false sense of what your final image will look like.

Flash

The built-in flash has a range of 11.8 inches - 11.5 feet (30cm - 3.5m) when at maximum wide angle and 17.7 inches - 6.6 feet (45cm - 2.0m) when using the optical zoom. The flash can be set to auto, on, and off. The camera is equipped with a standard red-eye reduction feature, as well as blink detection, which displays a small icon when the camera detects the possibility of closed eyes in a shot.

There are also a couple of extra features that can be implemented to enhance flash performance. One is called FE lock, which allows you to press the shutter halfway, then lock in the exposure for shooting with the flash. The SD780 also has a Slow Synchro feature, which uses the flash plus a slow shutter speed to illuminate your subject while also lightening background objects that are beyond the range of the flash.

The small flash will give you some extra light, but don't expect it to do too much heavy lifting in the dark.

Lens

With an ultra-slim profile like that of the SD780, there's only so much you can pack into the lens. The lens offers just a small, 3x optical zoom lens, with a focal length of 5.9-17.9mm (35mm equivalent: 33-100mm). The aperture range is f/3.2-f/5.8. There's also an optical image stabilizer packed in there somehow. The lens automatically extends when the camera is powered on and retracts (with an automatic lens enclosure) when the camera powers down.

The lens extends and retracts automatically.

The tiny zoom lever isn't much to write home about, but it gets the job done.

Zoom is controlled via a small pivoting lever that surrounds the shutter button. It's difficult to maintain a lot of fine control over the zoom speed with this tiny switch, but there isn't much need with such a small zoom ratio. The Canon SD780 is equipped with a 3x optical zoom and up to 12x digital zoom. As always, we recommend you avoid using the camera's digital zoom, as it deteriorates image quality. If you are not shooting in the highest quality setting, it's possible to use some level of digital zoom without negatively impacting the image. The SD780 has a handy feature that displays the zoom ratio in white when no image deterioration is present and in blue when the digital zoom is beginning to impact image quality.

3.7x digital zoom may be used in the M1 size, 4.6x digital zoom may be used for M2, 7.5x digital zoom for M3, and 12x for S-sized photos. You can also set the digital zoom to 1.5x, 2.0x, standard, and off. The 1.5x and 2.0x settings are utilized in conjunction with the camera's digital tele-converter (see Focus).

Jacks, Ports & Plugs

All the SD780's ports are located in a single recess in the upper-right corner of the back of the camera. The cavity is concealed by a sturdy cover, which is attached to the camera body by a typical, flimsy rubber tether. Included in the cavity is a universal mini-HDMI terminal as well as a proprietary jack that does double-duty, serving the AV and USB connection. Standard RCA cables and standard mini-USB cables will work with the SD780.

The mini-HDMI output and proprietary AV/USB port

Battery

The Canon SD780 comes equipped with a small, rechargeable lithium-ion battery (NB-4L). It shares a compartment with the SD/SDHC card, which is convenient for saving space, but makes it hard to remove the memory card without first removing the battery (especially if you have long nails). As on most digital cameras, there is no DC power input on the camera, so if you need to charge up, you'll have to remove the battery and use the charging station. And since you can't operate the camera while the battery is charging, we recommend you buy a backup battery if you plan on taking the camera out for a long day of shooting.

The rechargeable NB-4L lithium-ion battery

We haven't tested the battery ourselves, but Canon predicts you'll be able to shoot about 200 images with the LCD on and about 500 with the LCD off. Of course, this all depends heavily on how much time you spend setting up shots with the LCD and reviewing photos in playback.

Memory

cards are very popular and easy to use with a variety of computers, printers, etc. A 2GB SD card will hold approximately 626 shots on the highest quality setting or about 11 minutes of video; an 8GB SD card will hold approximately 2505 shots or 43 minutes of video. The number of remaining shots or the remaining video time is displayed in the lower right corner of the LCD when in the appropriate shooting mode.

The SD/SDHC card slot is tucked away on the bottom.

Design & Layout

Design & Appearance

Aesthetics are very important in the high fashion world of ultra-compact point-and-shoot cameras. The Canon PowerShot SD780 is, in fact, a very attractive digital camera. Canon delivers on its promise of an exceptionally slim design. There are also the four 'bold' colors: gold, silver, red, and black. We think the gold model was especially nice and would appeal a large variety of users.

The buttons are well laid out and give the camera a simple, elegant look. As with other entries in the ELPH series, Canon is high on the curves here. But it's not as round as the SD960, which looks a little too much like a 1950s kitchen appliance. The brushed metal, the slim profile, and the architectural simplicity combine for an altogether pleasing aesthetic.

Size & Handling

Canon is certainly marketing the SD780 as the most compact of its digital camera lineup. Sure, it might be a little snug in the front pocket of your skinny-fit jeans, but most people would consider this a pocket camera.Measuring 3.43 x 2.15 x 0.72 in. (87.8 x 54.5 x 18.4mm) and weighing in at just 4.06 oz. (115g), the SD780 is the smallest from Canon and is smaller than most point-and-shoot cameras from other manufacturers.

The Canon SD780 in hand

Some ultra-slim cameras are so small that they just don't feel comfortable in larger-than-child-sized hands. The SD780 largely avoids that fate, being surprisingly comfortable to use. The buttons are all within easy reach, including the four-way directional controller, which rests easily beneath your thumb. You'll probably need to keep the tip of your middle finger perched on the front of the camera in order to keep in balanced during one-handed shooting, but it's surprisingly intuitive.

Menu

As with most of the Canon point-and-shoots, the SD780 has a quick menu, accessed via the Function button, which brings up the more commonly used options, such as ISO, white balance, and aperture. This is a nice interface, though not quite as slick as the beautiful menu system on the Canon SD960. When you want to make more complicated adjustments, you can press the Menu button to access the camera's administrative menus. In photo mode, everything is divided into two tabs: photo settings and camera settings. Video mode has a different first tab (video settings) and the same camera settings in the second tab.

Perhaps our biggest complaint about the menu structure of these Canons is the designers' decision to split functions across two different places. There's nothing wrong with having features accessible in a quick menu, but they should be duplicated in the camera's main menu as well. It's never fun to be left guessing

The main administrative menu on the Canon SD780

Menus are navigated via the four-way directional controller on the back of the camera. There are 26 display languages available. As is true on most Canon cameras, the menu display is clear and presented in a refreshingly large font. The physical act of menu navigation rarely feels like a chore on the SD780.

Ease of Use

One of the factors that makes the SD780 easy to use is the clear manner in which information is displayed on the screen. Though some data is presented in the form of inscrutable icons, you can usually glance at the LCD and quickly determine your ISO, shutter speed, and white balance preset, as well as your image quality setting, remaining battery life, and number of shots or video time you have left. It's an interface that's easy to access and easy to understand.

The buttons and switches are all well positioned and nicely responsive. Perhaps the one deficiency in controls is the design of the four-way directional control pad, which lies at the same elevation as the Function/Set button at its center. It can be quite easy to accidentally hit the center button when you're trying to select one of the directions instead. Having a little bit of a fingernail will help you hit the correct button, but having very long fingernails will make life difficult.

Modes

Auto Mode

Still photos can be taken in either auto or manual mode. In full auto mode, the user is prevented from making any adjustments at all: the entire quick menu is locked out except for changing the capture size. Even the scene modes are inaccessible while in easy mode, which seems a peculiar feature to hide from the easy mode user.

When you're shooting in Manual mode, you can select a Scene Mode, which will automatically tailor your photos to whatever specific shooting conditions you select. This will lock you out of making manual image adjustments, as the camera is attempting to do this for you based on the selected Scene Mode. (See Custom Image Presets, below.)

Movie Mode

The Canon SD780 records video at a 30 frames per second frame rate in one of three possible qualities: 1280 x 720, 640 x 480, and 320 x 240.

Several of the manual controls and special features available for still photography are also available in movie mode. For instance, you can choose between regular movie mode, color accent, and color swap. (See Picture Effects.) The most glaring absence for movie recording is the inaccessibility of the optical zoom. Only digital zoom can be used while recording video.

To enable automatic focus for capturing videos, you push the shutter halfway down. Once you've engaged the shutter button fully, video will begin recording. Brightness and tone will adjust automatically while recording, but focus will remain at the same level. There is also a small amount of on-board video editing available, including the ability to trim the beginning and end of videos in one-second increments.

Drive/Burst Mode

The SD780 doesn't offer much in the way of a Drive or Burst mode. There is a continuous shot, which will allow you to take approximately 0.8 images per second as long as the shutter button is engaged. Most cameras offer a bit more in this department.

As with most digital cameras, you also have a self-timer, which is one of the four functions easily accessed on the four-way directional control. You can customize the self-timer for 0-30 seconds and 1-10 shots. There is also a face detection self-timer, which will automatically take a picture when a new face enters the frame.

Playback Mode

Playback mode is accessed via the clearly marked button on the rear of the camera. The Canon SD780 uses typical four-way controller buttos during playback. Pushing the playback button will bring up the most recently captured image, while left and right on the control pad will cycle between images.

By pressing the Display button during playback, you can cycle between the isolated image, a simple information display, detailed photo data, and a focus check display. The simple information is limited to shot number, date and time, etc., while the detailed display includes an exposure histogram, size, and image settings, including aperture, shutter speed, and white balance. The focus check display allows you to evaluate the sharpness of your image by zooming in on a particular area.

In any display type, the zoom lever will allow you to zoom in on a portion of the image during playback. Simple rotating, resizing, and cropping options are also available. Though they may not see as much use from the average consumer, Playback mode also allows you to use iContrast dynamic range enhancement and red-eye removal in post-production.

In addition to the traditional method of cycling through photos, there are also a couple of different thumbnail views, including one that shows 100 images onscreen at once. There is filtered playback, which lets you sorts through images by date taken, categories, and folders. These filters can also be applied when putting together a simple slideshow.

As with most digital cameras, there is also an instant playback immediately after a photo is taken. You can increase the length of time for review and the amount of information displayed with the review.

Custom Image Presets

Judging on menu layout, it seems that Canon expects users to rely largely on the camera's built-in scene modes to make automatic image adjustments for them, rather than delving into the manual controls that give you finer control over your image. The primary scene modes available are: Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, and Indoor. There is a fifth setting, called Special Conditions, that allows you to select more specialized environments: Sunset, Fireworks, Long Shutter, Beach, Underwater, Aquarium, Foliage, and Snow. There's an eighth Special Condition called ISO 3200, which boosts the ISO beyond what is normally available. (See ISO.)

When any of these modes is selected, ISO, white balance, and other manual controls are disabled.

Controls

Manual Controls

The SD780 is strictly a camera for point-and-shooters; users looking for more control over manual controls are likely to be disappointed with the offerings. The camera relies heavily upon scene modes for giving users control over their images. What little is available in the way of manual controls is found primarily in the Function menu: ISO, white balance, and some color settings. There's also an exposure compensation option easily accessed via the four-way directional controller.

The FUNC. SET button provides access to limited manual controls.

Focus

As with the vast majority of digital cameras, pressing the shutter button halfway will activate the autofocus system. The focal range at maximum wide angle is approximately 1.2 inches (3cm) to infinity, while the focal range when using optical zoom is 17.7 inches (45cm) or more. Using digital zoom, the focal length is 33 to 400mm (35mm equivalent).

There is a focus assist lamp that can be enabled to help the camera focus in low lighting conditions. This lamp doubles as assistance for red-eye reduction. There are several different ways you can let the autofocus take over. There's Face AiAF, which will use Canon's face detection technology to find faces in the frame and use those as the focal points, and Center, which will simply focus on whatever is in the center area. (You can adjust the size of your focal center using the menu system.)

If you're using Center, you can take advantage of the AF Lock, which lets you press the shutter halfway to focus on your center point, then push left on the directional pad to lock in that focal length. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there's Servo AF, which keeps adjusting focus, even while the shutter is pressed halfway. And in any of these scenarios, the user can take advantage of AF-Point, which lets you zoom in to magnify your subject for focus assistance.

The SD780 also comes equipped with digital tele-converter for helping to increase the focal length by an equivalent of 1.5x or 2.0x. The digital tele-converter, however, will cause image deterioration at the two highest quality settings.  A 1.5x digital tele-converter can be used on the M2, M3, or S settings, while the 2.0x digital tele-converter can only be used at the M3 or S settings without image degradation.

ISO

ISO can be manually selected from one of seven settings: auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600. Pressing halfway on the shutter button during auto mode will display the ISO that has been automatically selected by the camera. Certain scene modes will automatically boost ISO. There is also a scene mode available in Special Conditions that allows you to shoot at ISO 3200. This setting also automatically adjusts image size to the M3 option (1600 x 1200 pixels).

White Balance

You can perform a manual white balance, allow the camera to set white balance automatically, or choose one of five white balance presets: Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Fluorescent H. (Fluorescent H is designed for daylight fluorescent or daylight-type fluorescent lighting.)

Metering

Metering can be adjusted to either evaluative (whole screen), center weighted average (to meter the whole screen but prioritize exposure in the center of the frame), or spot metering (to disregard the edges and meter only on the center). Pressing up on the four-way directional controller during shooting mode allows you to set an exposure compensation to one of 13 increments between -2 and +2.

There is also an AE Lock, which lets you press the shutter halfway, then push up on the control pad in order to lock in a specific exposure setting. This is helpful when you're letting the camera adjust exposure automatically, but want to have some control over the choices being made. There is an FE Lock, which accomplishes the same thing when you have the flash activated.

Another feature, called iContrast, automatically compensates dynamic range for faces/subjects that appear dark in certain shooting conditions.

Like nearly every point-and-shoot camera these days, Canon has thrown in its face detection technology. On the SD780, face detection will pick out up to nine faces when the shutter button is engaged halfway. Detected faces will be prioritized for focus and exposure. Face detection is automatically disabled if you turn off the display and rely on the viewfinder for shooting photos.

Shutter Speed

The Canon SD780 does not offer manual control over shutter speed, instead letting the automatic controls take over. The automatic shutter speed range is 1 - 1/1500 seconds.

In addition to the range of shutter speeds you would use in ordinary shooting conditions, you can also set the shutter speed to 1-15 seconds in order to record long exposures. This is obviously more effective when the camera is placed on a tripod.

Aperture

The SD780 does not allow direct control over aperture. The aperture range is f/3.2 - f/5.8.

Image Stabilization

The Canon SD780 has image stabilization, which allows the camera to make adjustments for natural hand shaking while shooting both still photos and video. You can set the stabilization to Continuous (always on), Shoot Only (only active in the moment of shooting), and Panning, which will disregard horizontal shifting, but adjust for horizontal shake.

Picture Quality & Size Options

Photographs may be captured in one of two qualities: fine and normal. There are also six different size options: L (4000 x 3000), M1 (3264 x 2448), M2 (2592 x 1944), M3 (1600 x 1200), S (640 x 480), and W (4000 x 2248).

Picture Effects

The Canon SD780 has a number of digital effects that range from useful, fine-tuned control over image details to novelty effects that are just as easily accomplished in Photoshop (or avoided altogether). Options include: Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, and Vivid Red. There is also a Custom Color option that allows the user to tweak contrast, sharpness, color saturation, red, green, blue, and skin tones independently from one of five different levels. These color options can also be added in post-production during Playback mode.

Canon also includes a couple of color controls that go beyond the ordinary scene modes and digital effects. There is a Color Accent feature, that lets you pick a single color and change everything else to black and white. And there is a color swap feature that lets you exchange two color values being recorded.

An extra little perk included in the SD780 is stitch assist, which lets you take a series of up to 26 photos that can be easily stitched together in post-production to create a wide panorama.

Conclusion

The Canon PowerShot SD780 IS Digital ELPH is a skinny little camera that seems to pack quite a punch. Of course, looking good on paper and looking good in our labs are not always the same thing. Sure, 12-megapixel stills are an alluring promise for a camera this compact. But the lens and the processor might not produce the quality we're looking for.

Our first impressions? The SD780 is packed full of beginner-friendly features like focus assist tools, face detection, and scenes modes. It has a super slim profile and an elegant aesthetic. And it shoots 720p video. But with a small LCD, unwieldy control pad, and few manual controls, performance will be the only thing that can bring the SD780 to the attention of more serious photographers.

Likes * A nice ultra-slim, elegant design * Clear information and displays * Intuitive controls * A huge laundry list of auto features, scene modes, focus assist tools, face detection, etc. * Colors will appeal to a wide demographic

Dislikes * 720p video, but with no optical zoom and few image controls available * It's too easy to hit the Set button when you're trying to push a direction on the four-way control pad * The minuscule viewfinder is pretty superfluous * No manual control over aperture or shutter speed * Options spread across two separate menus

Introduction

The PMA (Photo Marketing Association) trade show gave us a sneak peak at the latest ultra-slim digital camera from Canon, the PowerShot SD780 IS Digital ELPH. With its impressive small measurements, 12-megapixel still photos, and 720p video, the SD780 is Canon's latest attempt at combining high performance and high fashion.

The SD780 is due to hit store shelves in March for around $280. That's a reasonable price for a camera that looks this good on paper and even better in our hands. Of course, our final verdict will have to wait until we get the camera into our labs.