Canon PowerShot SD990 IS (silver)
Top Elph for the moment, the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS has the highest resolution in its family--15 megapixels--but otherwise its specs fail to impress given its price tagThat said, the SD990 delivers excellent photo quality, it offers plenty of shooting options, and its looks--while not for everyone--are characteristic of Canon's recent willingness to play with design
The follow-up to the Canon's SD950 IS, the SD990 IS shares its predecessor's body designIt's pocketable, though not ultracompact slim, at 3.8 inches wide by 2.5 inches high by 1.1 inches thick and weighing 6.5 ounces with SD card and batteryThe right side has a slight inward curve that provides a comfortable gripWith your middle finger in that nook and your pointer finger on the shutter button, your thumb naturally rests on the left of the mode dial, which slopes downward to the left and positions so your thumb rests solidly between it and the raised edge surrounding the 2.5-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD screen
Below the mode dial, you'll find the rest of the camera's buttons, except for the on/off button located to the left of the shutter and its surrounding zoom ring on topThe only problem here is that the zoom ring's tiny nub is so small that steady control could be tricky for some usersOn back, the little directional pad for menu navigation and quickly changing flash, ISO, drive mode, and focus is encircled by a rotating ring that makes zipping through options fastIt's particularly handy when shooting in Special Scene mode (SCN), with its 16 shooting selectionsIn the center lies a Func button for accessing mode-specific settingsEverything is a touch cramped for my big, clumsy thumb, but average-size or small hands shouldn't have a problem navigating
Above the LCD is an optical viewfinder for those times when the LCD may be impractical or operating in the new Quick Shot modeAs with all point-and-shoot cameras, you shouldn't count on the optical finder for accurate framing, since it doesn't show the entire frame, as the LCD does, and tends to cut off a significant portion of the frameIn Quick Shot mode the camera automatically adjusts focus and exposure for either faces detected in or at the center of the viewfinderThis is all so you can shoot without prefocusing via a half-press of the shutterIt works as advertised and does well with moving subjects like animals, kids, and sporting events
If you want more control over your results, the camera offers both Program AE and Manual modes; in the latter, you're limited to a choice between two apertures at any given focal length, and there are no semimanual priority-exposure modesOr if you want nothing to do with settings, you can switch it into Auto, of courseIt supports move capture, but only at 30fps 640x480, unlike the 720p HD video available from other manufacturers' similarly priced models
The 3.7x f2.8-5.8 36-133mm-equivalent lens is typical point-and-shoot, disappointing considering the camera's flagship statusThe less-expensive SD880 IS has a 4x f2.8-5.8 28-112mm lens--a hair longer, but much widerIt does provide optical image stabilization to combat image blur from hand shake at slower shutter speedsThere's face detection, too, that locates up to nine faces in the frame and automatically sets exposure, focus, and flash accordinglySensitivity ranges from ISO 80 through ISO 1,600Though Canon does include an ISO 3,200 scene preset, it lowers the resolution to 2 megapixels
Performance is mixed with the SD990 IS, but respectable overall and generally better than its predecessorFrom off to first shot takes nearly 2 seconds, which isn't great and slower than beforeAt between 0.5 and 0.6 second under most conditions, shutter lag is pretty good, and its typical shot-to-shot time is on par with the category at 1.9 secondsTurn on the flash though and you'll be waiting 3.6 seconds between photosContinuous shooting averaged a decent 1.3 frames per second
Photo quality is consistent with other Canon SD-series cameras: excellentColors are accurate and well saturated, and exposures tend to be accurate, even in some tough situationsCanon does an excellent job of keeping ISO noise under control through ISO 200At ISO 400, noise becomes noticeable on monitors, but shouldn't cause problems with prints and doesn't cause any noticeable loss of shadow or fine detailAt ISO 800, noise becomes much more noticeable and some, though not all, shadow detail is lost while most fine detail remainsYou should still be able to get decent prints, especially at smaller sizesAt ISO 1,600, noise becomes very heavy and most shadow and fine detail is lostMy problem is that, again, the SD880 IS produces equally excellent photos with its 12-megapixel resolutionThe 15-megapixel doesn't seem to be offering up any added valueAlso, the lens exhibits noticeable barrel distortion on the left side
In the end, there's nothing seriously wrong with the SD990 IS, particularly if you're buying it for the photo quality and its compact designOn the other hand, most, if not all, the Digital Elphs offer similar qualityThe Quick Shot mode turned out to be more useful than I initially thought; you just have to be aware that the viewfinder isn't giving you nearly 100 percent of the pictureAnd unless you really want the limited manual options and a viewfinder, the SD880 IS is a better option