Canon PowerShot SD970 IS (silver and gold)
A 5x zoom lens and a 12-megapixel resolution isn't much to get excited about these daysJam them into a somewhat unattractive compact body and they become even less of a reason to drop nearly $400 on a point-and-shoot cameraThat's what's wrong with the Canon PowerShot SD970 ISIt does take a very good photo, but so do many of Canon's Digital ElphsIt's a nice enough camera, but not a standout in the company's crowded ultracompact lineup
The silver-and-gold SD970 is a little boring compared with other models in Canon's point-and-shoot lineupsThe body and control design of the SD970 may be new, but it's similar to another Digital Elph model, the SD880 ISYou get two buttons for playback and printing (though the latter is programmable) at the top, in the middle is a scroll wheel surrounding a four-way directional pad centered with a Func/Set button, and below that are Menu and Display buttonsIt works well, but the SD880 IS' controls look and work betterHowever, that camera's LCD has half the resolution of the SD970's noticeably superior display
In general, the camera is simple to operate, though its outward appearance may have you thinking otherwise because of all the labels and buttonsThe biggest hurdle is Canon's revamped context-sensitive shooting menu reached by hitting the Func/Set buttonIt looks good, but takes some getting used to, especially if you're upgrading from an older Canon PowerShot
One of the biggest issues with this model is its lensYes, you get a little extra zoom for a pocket camera, but it's slow with a maximum aperture of f/3.2 and fairly narrow at 37mmThese specs would be more forgivable if the price on the SD970 wasn't so high; but it is, so they're not