Digital Home Thoughts: Finally...A point And Shoot I Can Live With! The Canon Powershot SD800-IS Reviewed

What's in the box?
Canon wouldn't win any prizes for being overgenerous with their box contents...

Includes:

• Manual;
  
• Software CD;
  
• 16 Megabyte SD card (really, Canon, why bother?);
  
• RCA cable (use it to hook the camera up to a television);
  
• Wrist strap;
  
• Mini-usb cable

First Impressions:
When you first hold the SD-800 in your hand, the first thing you notice is that it's not as slender as some of the higher-end digital cameras out there, and it's certainly a bit heavier. In fact, there is a certain "chunkiness" to it. That being said, it fits comfortably in your hand and is easy to operate with one hand. My only gripe ergonomically is with the awful power button. It's flush with the case, and nearly impossible to use. I often find myself holding the camera with one hand and pressing the power button with the fingernail of my pointer finger to turn it on. Not good, Canon.


Figure 1: The world's worst power button. For some reason, and I can only guess it's for sleekness, they made the power button flush with the case.

Another thing you'll notice is that the viewfinder is extremely small. Frankly, on a point and shoot camera you shouldn't be framing any shots through the optical viewfinder anyway, but it's still worthy of note.


Figure 2: The back of the SD800. Simple controls, a good-sized LCD, and an overly small viewfinder adorn the back of the case.

The screen is a good size for a smaller point and shoot. At 2.5", pictures are easy to frame and detail is easy to see. All in all, the SD800 is a very nice camera in a very nice package.

Out and About
On the first day I took the camera out for a real spin, the first thing I noticed was how responsive it was. You can go from power-on to taking your first shot extremely quickly, a welcome change from most of the point and shoot cameras I've used over the years.


Figure 3: Even in odd lighting conditions like the NYC Subway, the SD800 is pretty sharp and takes excellent photos.

Another thing you can't help but notice is how good the image stabilization works when taking night shots. The picture below was taken, handheld, in Queens, New York.


Figure 4: The fact that you can take a shot like this, handheld, is a testament to how well the optical image stabilization actually works.

You can see that there's no visible signs of motion shake despite using a 1/4 second shutter and ISO 100 while slightly zoomed in order to fill the frame with the subject. In other words, the camera is extremely stable when taking pictures in most conditions. The shot below is also handheld, from my office roof and slightly zoomed:


Figure 5: Slight zoom of the NYC skyline at dusk; a tricky shot without some kind of IS.

After my first night out with it, I was very impressed. Usually these were shots I could only get with my Rebel, but the SD800 was starting to win me over.

I also liked the choice of color modes in the camera. Although I tend to leave it on "Vivid" which makes colors pop a little more, you can set it for Neutral, B&W, Sepia, Darker Skin-tones, Lighter Skin-tones, enhance Red Green or Blue individually, and even set custom colors. A word of warning, though. You're better off leaving Black and White for your software to handle. Chances are it'll do a better job anyway!

After shooting a few shots on "opening night," I also realized just how fast this camera was ready to take another shot. Performance is excellent, and the camera is ready almost immediately to take another shot.

Finally, the video. One of the nice things about this camera is the relatively high-resolution video. At 640 x 480 with 30 frames per second, video is really good. The SD800 does have a built-in microphone, and with a 2 gigabyte card, it can capture a little over 16 minutes of high quality video. At the lower 320 x 240 setting, you add an additional 16 minutes, all at 30 frames per second.