Canon PowerShot SD880 IS (silver)
At the time of this review, the Canon PowerShot Digital Elph line featured no fewer than 10 models--not even including lingering older models--so deciphering what makes one better or different than another gets tricky (here's our succinct breakdown)The 10-megapixel PowerShot SD880 IS Digital Elph is the follow-up to the popular SD870 IS, and what a worthy successor it isIt's capable of producing truly excellent pictures for a camera of its size and it has nice components for a sub-$300 model including a wide-angle lens and optical image stabilizationThere are a couple weaknesses, but nothing that keeps it from being an excellent point-and-shoot camera
At 6.3 ounces and measuring 3.7 inches wide by 2.2 inches high by 0.9 inch deep, it'll fit more comfortably in a pants or coat pocket than a shirt pocket, but it's by no means bigCompared with the SD870 IS, the SD880 IS has the latest version of Canon's image-processing engine, Digic 4, jumps from 8 megapixels to 10, and offers a few more scene modesThe 4x f2.8-5.8 28-112mm lens is a highlight of the camera; the wide angle is so nice to have on a camera this small, and it's a tad longer zoom than on the SD870It also records video using the H.264 codec instead of Motion JPEG
Scene modes are plentiful--16 in all--and include Stitch Assist for panoramas and Underwater for use with an optional casingShooting mode lets you go fully automatic with some minor adjustments, or drop it into Program AE, which gives you control for exposure compensation, white balance, tone, and ISO
The directional pad is pretty standard; instead it's the thumb dial that adds interest hereIn SCN mode, the dial is used for rifling through your optionsIt's also used for swapping between Auto and Program in Shooting mode and tone control in VideoIt works well, but you can barely feel stops when spinning the dial making it just a little too easy to switch out of whichever mode you wantThe dial can be used for navigating Menu settings, tooOverall, I like the key design and wheel, but I can also see it confusing new users to the point of frustration
The buttons have a pillowy, convex shape, which is not only attractive, but makes for unmistakable pressesThe Print/Share button can be turned into a shortcut key to access one of nine shooting functions
As for performance, the SD880 IS is fractionally slower than the first-rate SD870 ISTime to first shot is 1.2 seconds and you can shoot again in 1.9 secondsShutter lag was great; just 0.4 second in bright conditions and 0.8 in dimThe only marked decrease in speed is if you're using the flash: the shot-to-shot time extends to 3.2 seconds, which is a generally slow time and nearly a second longer than the SD870 ISThe typical burst speed is a respectable 1.4 frames per secondThe 3-inch Canon PureColor LCD II performed well in direct light and has a wide viewing angle
More impressive than the SD880 IS's speed is the picture qualityColors were always natural and vibrantWhite balance was accurate and pictures showed good detail and sharpness at ISO 200 and belowAlso, if you take a lot of landscape photos, note that the SD880 IS is prone to fringingVideo is better than average considering it tops out at 640x480
Worth noting, too, is Canon's new Intelligent Contrast setting (i-Contrast) that theoretically just opens up shadow areasIt can be applied either automatically when you're shooting or after during playbackI recommend using it only in playback as more often than not it lightened the entire image, not just dark areasIn playback you can apply the effect in gradual levels as well and create a copy, whereas the camera decides on the level if you shoot with it on
There's plenty more to talk about with the Canon PowerShot SD880 IS, but it only reinforces how good a pocket camera it isIf the SD870 IS was on your short list, the SD880 IS is definitely worth the small additional investment