Yet another SD in the family

The 7-megapixel SD1000 is the least expensive model in the current generation of Canon’s popular ultra-compact Elph (Ixus in Europe) digital cameras. Our family already has two cameras in this model line purchased over the last couple of years (an SD200 and an SD300), and we’ve been pretty happy with them, so it wasn’t a difficult choice when we needed another compact camera and the SD1000 was on sale. After using it for a few weeks I’d say it’s another winner for Canon. It’s almost identical to our previous models (which is a good thing), but with a couple of nice improvements and some small tweaks to the user interface. However, it’s not all great - I do see some minor new problems and some old ones that haven’t been addressed.

No question that the best feature of the SD-1000 is its small size and light weight. It slips easily into any pocket, and it’s light enough and rugged enough to carry anywhere. That’s the main reason why we use our older SD cameras more than any other cameras we own. The best camera in the world can’t take the shot if it isn’t there.

In terms of features, the SD1000 is pretty basic modern digital camera. It has a 7.1 Megapixel sensor, and a 3:1 optical zoom lens covering a typical range equivalent to 35mm – 105mm in traditional terms. It has a nice bright hi-res 2.5” LCD, plus a zoom-linked optical viewfinder (increasingly rare on recent compact digital cameras). Compact lithium-ion rechargeable battery. No optical image stabilization – would be nice to have, but it adds extra size, weight and cost to the higher-end SD models. The SD card slot now accepts SDHC cards (up to 8 Gbytes capacity at least – we tried it). The Digic II processor of our previous-generation SD models has been replaced by the faster Digic III processor with updated firmware, and the USB interface is now USB 2.0 instead of USB 1.1.

Canon has experimented a bit with the physical control buttons and switches on some of the recent SD models, but the controls on this model are identical to the previous generations aside from minor rearrangement and re-sizing. Aside from the bigger LCD screen and the fact that this camera is available with black trim as an option to the all-silver look, there’s virtually no difference. That’s obviously good for users of previous models who are already accustomed to the controls. The controls on the back of this SD model are flat and flush with the back of the camera. I guess the idea was to make it slide even more easily into a pocket, although I don’t recall any problem with the slightly raised controls on previous models. Some people have said that they find the flatter controls harder to use, especially if you have fat fingers and short fingernails, but I don’t find it to be a problem.

The 2.5” LCD on this camera is excellent. It has fine resolution, high brightness, and high contrast. It still isn’t sufficiently visible to use in bright sunlight, but it’s among the best I’ve seen on any camera (for the size). And Canon still found room to include the zoom-linked optical viewfinder. Some of Canon’s other compact SD models make the trade-off to drop the optical viewfinder like most of the competition and go with a larger 3.0” LCD, but my preference is always to have the optical viewfinder. There are just some situations where you really need it: e.g., bright sunlight, near darkness, or low on battery power and want to keep the display off.

The 3:1 zoom lens appears to be the same as that used on our previous SD models - no extra-wide angle here, but it does go a little wider than some. Unfortunately this lens apparently has only one fixed aperture = f2.8! (see http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/SD1000) A neutral-density filter is used to simulate a higher setting of f8. Other computed f-stop values may be seen in the EXIF data when the zoom is used, but the ND filter won't change aperture-dependent values like the depth of field. One effect is that the corners of the image are a bit soft in focus in all lighting conditions; normally this would improve in brighter light with most lenses when using a reduced aperture. In any case, you’re starting to hit the optical resolution limits of the lens here, which makes going to higher resolutions like 12 Megapixels in these compact cameras pretty ridiculous. The lens has a slight barrel distortion at wide angle, but no worse than other compact zooms, easily correctable with a radial distortion filter on the PC.

Auto-exposure is usually pretty good, but I think the SD1000 over-exposes slightly in many cases. In side-by-side comparisons our different cameras make slightly different exposure judgments, and while sometimes one will look better than the other, it’s difficult to say that any one is consistently better than the others in all circumstance. It may be that this 7 megapixel sensor in the SD1000 has less dynamic range – in direct comparison shots I notice more often that the bright highlights are blown out with the SD1000 at the same time as the shadow detail is noisy. Color balance is excellent for the most part – probably the best of any of the cameras, although as with all of them it sometimes has problems with white balance under artificial lighting. When I compare the shot to the real scene, I can see that greens come out a bit too yellow and reds are a bit over-saturated, but the effect is usually pleasing and natural. Flash exposure is very good, even at close range. The flash is small of course, and only adequate for shots under 10 foot distance, typical of most compact cameras. At full wide angle the corners of the shot are not fully lit. At least it charges fairly quickly.

This camera allows ISO sensitivity to be increased all the way up to ISO 1600, although you can limit the auto-exposure to lower sensitivities if you want. I agree with other reviewers that ISO 1600 is very noisy, barely usable. But it's probably not much worse than other similar cameras. ISO 800 is much better, producing usable if noticeably noisy shots, although they are a little over-smoothed by the noise reduction algorithm. The camera offers two auto-ISO modes: normal auto-ISO allows the sensitivity to vary from ISO 80 to ISO 200, while High-ISO mode allows the sensitivity to vary up to ISO 800. Image noise is not a big problem in the normal Auto-ISO mode up to ISO 200, although I think it’s a little noisier than our previous-generation 3 and 4 Megapixel SD cameras at equivalent ISO.

I do have two major complaints with the operation of the SD1000 though:

1. The Flash Off setting is not sticky (at least in the normal Auto mode)
2. The shutter lag is way too long in low-to-medium light flash shots, and auto red-eye reduction makes it worse.

These two things combine to ruin a lot of shots! What happens is something like this: I compose the shot, yell “Smile!”, press the shutter button. There’s a beep and the amber focus assist light goes on. After a second I start to let the camera drop, thinking the shot has been taken. But it hasn’t - after about 2 seconds, the flash goes off, taking a 1/60 sec exposure while the camera is moving. Result – slightly fuzzy and mis-framed flash shot. I have to constantly remind myself to Turn the D**m Flash OFF if I don’t want it, and if I do intend to take a flash shot, be sure to half-depress the shutter button first before taking the shot to reduce the shutter lag. The SD1000 seems even worse than the previous generation SD models in this respect – perhaps because the fancy face-detection AI autofocus is trying to do too much? Of course the problem is exacerbated by the fact that I’m more accustomed to using my Fuji F601z camera, and it always has very little shutter lag, not to mention a manual pop-up flash that makes it pretty definitive whether the flash is going to fire or not. In any case, I strongly recommend that you turn off the red-eye reduction feature on the SD cameras - Canon's use of the focus assist lamp instead of a pre-flash for red-eye reduction is not very effective, and it adds a full second to the shutter lag.

Photos taken with the SD1000 look fairly similar to the SD200, but I found it more interesting to compare it with my Fuji F20 and my older Fuji F601z. For a start it points out the wide range of differences that can exist in exposure judgement and color balance between cameras. Color balance is usually close enough to be corrected to match between cameras, but exposure judgement can make the difference between a good shot and a poor shot. The F601z consistently takes the best shots of the three, with well-balanced exposure, good highlights and shadow detail without excessive noise - but its color is biased a bit green by comparison. The F20 favors brighter areas in its exposure, but it has the lowest sensor noise of the three, so it is normally possible to brighten the shadow areas successfully. The SD1000 typically has the best color balance, but it favors darker areas in its exposure and tends to blow out the highlights. Its more limited dynamic range means that the shadow areas are usually noisy even with the brighter exposure. All three cameras do a reasonable job, but almost anyone would consistently pick the SD1000 shot for color, the F601z shot for most pleasing exposure balance, and the F20 shot for lowest noise when you zoom in. Interesting that all the latest AI auto exposure algorithms don't do a better job than the 2001-vintage Fuji 601z.

The behavior of the SD cameras for long-exposure low-light shots is different from my Fuji cameras. The SD cameras normally produce a default exposure that looks a lot like the actual scene, i.e., dimly lit, while Fuji brightens it up a lot by automatically using a longer exposure or higher ISO. The SD can be made to increase the exposure by manual exposure compensation of course, but the only way to make it take a long exposure is to manually select the “long shutter” mode. When you do select long shutter mode the Canon shot looks a lot like the Fuji shot, but the difference is that the Fuji will auto-expose up to 3 seconds, while you have to guess at the right shutter time on your own with the Canon over 1 second.

The user interface is shared for the most part with other Canon cameras, and Canon has been evolving it for many years with minor tweaks here and there. It has always been among the best available, and it’s better than ever here. The functions are clear and easily accessible, and there’s a wide range of lesser-used options that are still nice to have on occasion. The most commonly-used functions can be accessed quickly with the physical push buttons just as you would want, and you can now customize the less-used Print/Share button to perform your own preferred function. Canon has taken advantage of the larger screen to show more information, such as showing both an icon and a text label. When you make a setting selection, it appears large on the LCD screen for a second, and then shrinks to a small icon at the edge of the picture. Important shot data like shutter speed, f-stop, flash mode, and warnings are shown on the screen when you half-depress the shutter button. In playback mode you can use the Disp button to display quite a lot of useful information about shots, including a histogram. The zoom lever lets you select between full screen and zoomed-in views of one photo, or (in the other direction) a 9-shot overview screen (shows the current photo larger than the rest), and a fast-skip screen that lets you page ahead or back quickly (handy now that you can store a lot of photos on a single memory card). The built-in orientation sensor automatically flips the image on the screen when you flip the camera, as with our older SD models.

Some reviewers bemoan the fact that there isn’t a full range of manual override controls on the SD cameras. To me that seems like a spurious complaint. These are compact snapshot cameras, not professional SLRs. Canon has provided a good set of the most commonly needed override controls, such as increasing/decreasing exposure, overriding the auto-focus, selecting fast or slow shutter speed preference, selecting the ISO sensitivity, etc.. I can usually do what I want, and relatively easily. To me that seems like good design for purpose.

Most of the exotic special functions are things we don’t use, because it’s easier to do them on the computer (e.g. color replacement). As always I have to praise Canon’s excellent Stitch Assist mode for taking overlapping panoramic shots. There’s a very limited selection of Scene modes, at least compared to some other cameras. That’s ok with me, as I wouldn’t use them much. Canon still haven’t added a last-shot sports action shooting mode (continuous shooting but keeps only the last few shots when you release the shutter button to capture the right moment in quick sports action). It still doesn’t have web cam capability (none of the Canon cameras do – apparently they don’t believe in it). The camera can be “customized” by selecting a startup photo to display and assigning custom sounds to the various functions if you really want.

Video mode on the SD1000 is excellent, capturing continuous 640 x 480 x 30 fps video up to a maximum file size of 4 Gbytes (30 minutes). There are even some minor enhancements over the previous models – there’s a super-slow time-lapse mode (capturing single frames every 1 or 2 seconds), and a high-speed mode capturing 60 frames/sec at a reduced resolution of 320 x 240. You can’t use the optical zoom during video capture, but you can use it while paused, and you can use digital zoom during video capture. Sound pickup from the built-in microphone on the front of the camera is adequate. If you want to present your videos (or photos) on a TV, video output quality from the camera with the supplied audio + composite video cable is good, and both NTSC and PAL modes are supported.

The SD1000 still uses the same NB-4L lithium-ion battery and compact out-of-camera battery charger as our previous SD models, which at least lets you charge a spare battery while you are using the camera. The charger is dual-voltage for travellers. The battery is rated for about 210 shots, but in more practical terms we find that battery life is sufficient for a weekend’s expedition shooting, at least when new. Unfortunately the batteries only last a year or two before beginning to fade if frequently used, and new Canon batteries are exorbitantly expensive (about 40% of the price of the camera from local shops, although cheaper by mail order). The replacement brands we’ve tried are much cheaper, but not nearly as good as the Canon original in spite of boasting better specifications. There’s no DC power input to the camera, so you’re always on battery.

This model has the same mini-USB port and AV jack behind the same flimsy plastic cover on the upper left corner of the camera as with previous models. While the cover hinge hasn’t broken on our previous SD cameras, it always seems like it might, and the springy cover makes it difficult to plug in the USB cable easily. I wish Canon had improved this item. The USB 2.0 speed improvement over USB 1.1 in the previous cameras is modest. It’s still not lightning fast transferring large video files to the computer, but any speed improvement is welcome with photo sizes and card capacity getting bigger all the time. You can always transfer the SD card to a computer reader for more speed if you really want.

Unfortunately like most digital cameras the Canon cameras do not present a standard removable drive interface to your PC, instead relying on PTP (picture transfer protocol). Canon provides a decent software suite with the camera, but for the most part I prefer to bypass it entirely and use my own more advanced photo software, so the Canon software and the way Windows handles the special camera protocol just gets in the way.

The package comes with the camera, a tiny 32 Mbyte SD card, the battery, the charger, AV and USB cables, and a lanyard. No case or cover. There's a full printed manual (helpfully split into Basic and Advanced volumes), a Quick Start guide, and a software CD.

Finally, if you're interested in extending the basic functionality of the camera with a little firmware tweaking, don't overlook this: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page