What’s new: There’s another review of this camera - this time by dcresource!

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The Canon Powershot SD970 Digital Elph (aka the Digital IXUS 990 IS) is the new model in the extensive Digital IXUS / ELPH line-up of compact and stylish compact cameras.

This 12 megapixel point-and-shoot camera features a 5x optical zoom, a large and high-resolution 3 inch LCD screen, Smart AUTO mode, Blink Detection and Face Detection technologies. It can record 720p HD movies. It is available in Classic Metallic for $379.99

In terms of design the SD970 is a well-made digital camera, with a stylish metal body. It’s quite slim, measuring 2.6cms thick. The camera has relatively few external controls and the menu system is straight-forward.

No wonder – the camera is aimed at the beginners. It offers Program and a comprehensive range of different scene modes as well as Smart Auto Mode which determines brightness, contrast, distance and selects the best scene setting. There’s IS (Image Stabilization) Mode Camera to overcome camera shake.

Camera Reviews:

Digitalcamerareview.com:
The SD970 IS would seem to appeal to folks primarily interested in capturing images without too much effort on their part, as the lack of manual exposure controls leaves user inputs rather limited, but shutter and AF performance are good and image quality and color fidelity are first rate.

Photographyblog:
The PowerShot SD970 IS produces images of good quality. The biggest issue is noise and the images also are a little soft at the default sharpening setting. But the camera handles chromatic aberrations well; some purple fringing can appear only in high contrast situations. Anti-shake feature works very well.
The start-up time is quite quick at around 1.5 seconds and focusing is very quick in good, but Continuous shooting speed of just 1.0 frame per second is slow for this class of camera.

Cameras.co.uk:
The camera has an extra touch of class when it comes to looks, build quality and picture quality. The picture quality is very good indeed. But - it does not come cheap.

Digitalcamerainfo.com:
We applaud the solid metal construction, but it an inch deep, and less pocket-friendly than other, similarly equipped cameras. Its $380 pricetag is too high for a simply point-and-shoot camera; it be would have been appropriate to see manual exposure, aperture-priority and shutter-priority modes, but there’re none.

Dcresource.com:
The PowerShot SD970 produces very good quality photos, at least by compact camera standards. Photos are quite sharp, with less noise and noise reduction than most of its competitors. It does seem to clip highlights quite a bit, though, and purple fringing can be strong at times.

Sample Photo Galleries: cameras.co.uk, dpreview.com, digitalcamerainfo.com, dcresource.com.

Alternatives: Olympus Stylus/Mju 5000 (cheaper, but not the same)

Canon PowerShot SD970 Delph (aka Canon Digital IXUS 990 IS) – Specifications:

• 12.1 Megapixel CCD
• 1/2.3” CCD Sensor
• Maximum Image Size: 4000 x 3000
• 5x Optical Zoom with Optical Image Stabilizer
• Focal Length Equivalent: 37 – 185mm
• Aperture Range: f/3.2 – f/5.7
• 3.0” PureColor LCD II with 461,000 dots
• Smart Auto mode with Scene Detection Technology
• Shooting Modes: Auto, P, Movie and a number of Scene modes
• Sensitivity: ISO 80-1600
• Metering modes: Evaluative, Centre-weighted average, Spot
• Continuous Shooting: 1.0 shots/sec
• Shutter Speed: 15 - 1/1600 sec
• Macro: 2cm
• Motion Detection Technology
• Face Detection Technology plus Blink Detection
• i-Contrast
• Movie Mode :(HD) 1280 x 720, 30fps
• Rechargeable Li-ion Battery NB-5L

Related Posts:

New Canon Digital ELPH Cameras - SD970 IS, SD960 IS, SD780 IS, SD1200 IS
Canon SD 990 IS and Canon SD 880 IS
Canon IXUS 900 review

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 3:02 am and is filed under Canon Cameras. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.