Product Tour
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS is small and cute, with subtle curves that many will find attractive. Although not quite as small as the super-thin ultra-compacts, this camera will still fit easily into most pockets. The 3-inch display on the back has not only been increased in size from its predecessor, but also boasts double the resolution.
Front
On the front of the Canon PowerShot SD970 IS you see the closed 5x optical zoom lens taking up the most space. Sitting right along the edge of the lens is an autofocus assist lamp, while just above and to the right of the lens is the built-in flash.
Back
On the back of the SD970 IS you see it's biggest upgrade, the 3-inch 461,000 dot LCD display. To the right of the display you see another change from its predecessor, the new arrangement of controls. In the center is a 4-way control with a rotating dial around it. Above and below are four triangular buttons. There's also a small LED indiator light on the back.
Sides
The left side of the Canon PowerShot SD970 IS doesn't have any features, but on the right you'll find covers for the camera's two ports separated by a lanyard loop.
Top
On the top you'll find the expected shutter button, with a zoom control surrounding it. Just to the left is the power button and to the left of that is a three-way switch that moves between Auto, Standard and Movie capture. Just in front of the switch are what look like the camera's speaker and to the left is what is likely a pinhole microphone.
Bottom
The bottom of the SD970 IS has a metal tripod mount, which is centered under the lens, exactly what we like to see. To the left of that is a door that covers the battery and memory card slots.
Hardware
Viewfinder
As with most modern point and shoot cameras, the Canon PowerShot SD970 IS does not have an optical viewfinder.
LCD
The big upgrade on the Canon PowerShot SD970 IS is a larger 3-inch LCD display wth a high-res 460,000-dot resolution. This increase in size and detail will help you compose and show off your shots better.
Flash
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS's built-in flash sits right above and to the right of the lens on the front. This proximity canl cause red-eye issues, but we weren't able to test it on our pre-production sample. Canon rates the flash out to a range of 11 feet.
Lens
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS lens is nothing particularly special; you have a 5x optical zoom lens with a focal range from 37mm to 185mm (35mm equivalent), identical to its predecessor. Frankly it's a little disappointing that Canon has not taken this opportunity to add a wider angle lens to the SD970 IS, at a time when many manufacturers are doing so. This means shooters will have much less flexibility at the wide end.
Jacks, Ports & Plugs
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS has two ports, both found on the right side of the camera. Each has its own cover. On top you'll find the mini HDMI port for outputting the HD video the SD970 IS is capable of recording, along with high-def photo playback, to an HDTV.
Below that is a mini USB port for data connections.
Battery
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS's power is found under a cover on the bottom of the camera, right next to the memory card slot. Canon rates the battery for 270 shots, which is just about average.
Memory
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS supports standard SD and SDHC memory cards, which are available up to a maximum capacity of 32GB. The slot is found right next to the battery beneath a cover on the bottom of the camera.
Design & Layout
Design & Appearance
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS probably falls in the cute, rather than sexy category. It's got nicely curved lines but isn't as slim as an ultra-compact. It's only available in a single bronze tone so there will be no opportunity to match the camera to your outfit (unless you choose to wear bronze).
Size & Handling
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS's isn't as tiny as some compacts, which means you actually have something to hold onto. One bonus of moving the flash to the right of the lens is you don't have to worry about your fingers covering it up as they bend around the front. The back is a bit more problematic as there's really no room for your thumb rest. We imagine most people will rest their thumb on the 4-waycontroller, or hold the camera between two fingers on the top and bottom.
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS is not the smallest and lightest camera on the planet, but it's still comfortably pocketable. It measures 3.73 x 2.24 x 1.04 inches (94.7 x 56.9 x 26.4mm) and weighs in at 5.64 oz. (159.9g), although that doesn't include the weight of the battery or memory card.
Menu
As is typical of Canon's point and shoot cameras, you have a very simple tabbed interface in the main menu, with the first tab showing the options for your mode (usually shooting or playback), while the second tab gives you setup options like time and date. The reality is that you likely won't spend much time in this menu once you've got the camera set up the way you like. Instead you'll use Canon's Function Set menu to make most common shooting adjustments.
The Function Set menu can be accessed by pressing the center button on the 4-way controller. Depending on your mode the options available will change, but at its most extensive it will allow you to change shooting mode, ISO, white balance, My Colors, metering, compression (image quality), recording pixels (image resolution) and drive mode. Canon has also changed the layout of its Function Set menu in its new cameras, in a way that we think is an improvement. The new layout puts two bars at the left side of the screen. The first bar allows you to move between top level options. Once you've found the one you want, press right on the 4-way controller to see the specific settings available for that option. That leaves the rest of the screen available for useful explanations of what you're actually selecting.
Ease of Use
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS offers two levels of use, depending on whether you have the switch on the top set to Auto mode or Standard mode. In the former there's really nothing for you to do. If you go into the Function Set menu you have only two options, image size and quality. This is an excellent mode for those who don't want to fiddle with camera controls.
If you do want to adjust the controls, however, you can put the SD970 IS into Standard mode. Here you have access to all the features in the Function Set menu. We found the layout of the SD970 IS controls very easy to use. Basically every major setting can be adjusted using the 4-way controller. The rotating dial around the control also makes it very easy to scroll through long lists.This means even in the more advanced mode the SD970 IS is a very easy-to-use camera.
Modes
Auto Mode
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS offers two different automatic modes. The first is the full Auto mode that you can enter by setting the mode switch on the top to Auto. In this mode the camera takes care of just about everything for you. There are no exposure or focus controls and the Function Set menu offers only image quality and size options. If you want more control you can move the switch on top to Standard.
In Standard mode you find yourself in Program mode by default. Here the camera takes care of exposure for you, but every other control, including exposure compensation, focus, ISO, white balance, etc. can be adjusted.
Movie Mode
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS has joined the avalanche of cameras that are introducing HD video recording, in this case at a maximum resolution of 1280 x 720 and 30 frames per second. We like that Canon went with the H.264 codec, which is more efficient than the Motion JPEG format you see on some other cameras. You can also record video at lower resolutions if you wish. When in movie mode you can adjust white balance and use Canon's My Colors feature, but that's about it. Canon has also added a mini HDMI port to the SD970 IS that will allow you to connect the camera directly to an HDTV to show off your videos.
Drive/Burst Mode
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS offers a single burst mode, called Continuous, which takes photos at a maximum of one frame per second.
Playback Mode
Playback mode on the Canon PowerShot SD970 IS can be entered by pressing the dedicated playback button just above the 4-way controller. Once in playback mode you can change the information on the display using the Disp button. You can move between photos using the 4-way controller or the rotating dial, with a pleasant transition effect. You can also zoom into a photo or zoom out to a thumbnail view using the zoom toggle. Your editing options in playback mode include rotate, red-eye correction, trim and resize. You can also apply Canon's My Colors effect in playback mode (see below).
Custom Image Presets
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS has an interesting method of accessing your scene modes. Instead of having a specific scene mode available on the mode switch, the scene modes can be accessed via the Function Set menu when in Standard mode. By default you find ourself in Program mode when the mode switch is in Standard, but just enter the Function Set menu and below Program you'll find the long list of available scene modes. These include Portrait, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Fireworks, Creative Light Effect, Aquarium, Underwater, ISO 3200, Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Color Accent, Color Swap, Digital Macro, Long Shutter, Exposure Zoom and Stitch Assist.
Controls
Manual Controls
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS does not offer any manual control over exposure or focus.
Focus
Three automatic focus modes are available on the Canon PowerShot SD970 IS. These can be accessed by pressing left on the 4-way controller when in Standard mode. Your options are Normal, Macro and Infinity.
ISO
ISO can be set when using Program mode via the Function Set menu. Here you can set the ISO to Auto or choose a setting between 80 and 1600. There's also an ISO 3200 mode available as a scene mode.
White Balance
As with most other common settings you use the Function Set menu to adjust white balance on the Canon PowerShot SD970 IS. Your options are Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H and Custom. That last allows you to set the white balance manually using a white card, which is a nice feature to see on a mid-range camera like the SD970 IS.
Metering
Three metering options are available, which can be adjusted in the Function Set menu. These are Evaluative, Center-Weighted Average and Spot metering.
Shutter Speed
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS offers shutter speeds ranging from 15 to 1/1600th of a second. This is an average range, with a bit more room at the long end than we usually see. There's also a long shutter shooting mode available, although we're not sure how long a shutter speed this uses. Canon does indicate that at shutter speeds above 1.3 seconds you can expect to wait twice as long for an exposure as a noise reduction algorithm actually takes two exposures in an attempt to remove noise.
Aperture
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS has a pedestrian maximum aperture of f/3.2 at the wide end and f/5.8 at the tele end. Frankly at an expected price of $380 we're a bit surprised that the SD970 IS doesn't go down to f/2.8, which would give shooters more flexibility in low light situations.
Image Stabilization
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS uses optical image stabilization to counteract camera shake, about what we'd expect from a mid-range camera.
Picture Quality & Size Options
The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS offers two levels of image quality, Fine and Normal. You can choose from six different image size options, with a maximum size of 4,000 x 3,000 and a minimum size of 640 x 480. There's also a widescreen option at a resolution of 4000 x 2248.
Picture Effects
Canon offers its own My Color feature to provide various picture effects. These include Vivid, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone and Custom.These can also be applied after the fact in playback mode if you wish. My Colors can be accessed in the Function Set menu.
Conclusion
Meet the tester
Alfredo Padilla
Editor
Alfredo Padilla is a valued contributor to the Reviewed.com family of sites.
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