I purchased the Canon SD700 IS expecting good picture quality, especially indoors. The SD700 has 6-Megapixel resolution and optical image stabilization, as welll as the acclaimed Canon optics.

I have always liked Canon cameras, especially its SD series (Digital ELPH). I really liked the 6-Megapixel Canon SD600 (also reviewed on this site). The SD700 IS promises 4x optical zoom, image stabilization and 6-Megapixel resolution is a compact stylish body and I decided to check it out.

Pictures

The pictures of the Canon PowerShot SD700 as well as sample photos I took using it are available at the address below:

Click here to see the sample photos I took with this Canon SD700 camera and photos of the camera

What Is Canon PowerShot SD700?

The Canon PowerShot SD700 IS is a 6-Megapixel compact stylish digital camera of the Digital ELPH series with 4x optical stabilizaed zoom (35-140 mm equivalent), large 2.5-inch LCD screen, acclaimed fast Canon DiG!C II (DIGIC 2) Image Processor and 9-area smart AiAF auto focus, powered by a compact rechargeable battery. The camera can also record videos at up to 640x480 resolution 30 fps or 240x480 60 fps.

The camera stores pictures and videos on SD (Secure Digital) memory cards (16 MB SD supplied) and features fast USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection to PC and Mac computers. It also supports direct printing (without computer) with PictBridge compatible printers. The strap, cables, software and rechargeable battery with charger are included.

Getting Started

The SD700 sells in a box similar to one the other cameras of SD series. After the camera arrived, I discovered that it only comes with a "starter" 16 MB SD card. Such a small card is only good for less than 8 photos at its highest resolution (less in SuperFine mode). Basically, you are getting a card that will only allow you to see if the camera works, after which you have to buy a memory card of higher capacity. Good thing they are pretty cheap now.

The camera looks similar to the Canon PowerShot SD550 - thicker than the SD600 with rounded corners and metallic/matte-looking surfaces with a black LCD surround.

The camera has a retractable lens that extends and has a lens cover that opens when the camera is powered on. When the camera is powered off, the lens retracts and the lens cover closes.

The camera has an on/off button on the rear panel as well as a zoom rocker and a large shutter release button. The bottom of the camera has a metal threaded tripod mount and a battery and SD card compartment lid. The icon on the rear panel clearly indicates how the SD card has to be inserted.

The rear panel has a large 2.5-inch LCD screen, control buttons and menu controls with a select button in the middle of it. There is also a mode wheel, a part of which is visible and accessible through an indentation in the rear/side of the camera. The side has a small cover, underneath which you can find a USB jack and an A/V jack.

I was eager to try the camera without waiting to charge the battery. Fortunately, the battery was already charged. The camera is powered by a compact proprietary Li-Ion battery that looks like a cell phone battery. After I inserted it and my SD card into the battery/memory compartment, I was ready to shoot. Fortunately, you do not have to do anything else (well, you might want to attach a strap to the camera).

Usage

The camera is pretty easy to use. The menus and icons are slightly more descriptive than that of the previous Digital Elphs like SD400 or SD300 due to more available space on the screen (2.5-inch vs. 2-inch). For example, the pictogram that shows mountains now says Infinity underneath to tell you that in this mode the focus is fixed on infinity. The SD600 uses the latest Digic 2 processor by Canon that provides responsive operation and low power consumption.

If you have used a Canon camera before, you will be able to use the SD700 IS in no time. I have not read the manual (I have not even opened it), but was able to use the camera and all its features in no time. The SD600 can be used by any member of the family and by photographers of all levels of expertise from novices to advanced ones (albeit it will not give you much control over the shutter speed or aperture; even Manual mode will only allow you to use exposure compensation and that is about it).

The camera is very fast and responsive. The large bright LCD screen shows pictograms of selected modes (e.g. Macro, Flash mode, etc.) appear large and legible on the screen (sometimes with subtitles) and then move to the side of the screen. A very cool and useful feature, especially for people with impaired vision.

The camera comes pre-set to Auto mode, in which you have no need or way to adjust settings. You do not have to do anything other than point and shoot - the camera takes care of the rest. The camera uses 9-area intelligent autofocus. You press the shutter release button halfway to make camera focus and the camera shows you (on the LCD screen) where it focused by displaying one or more green rectangles. Then you take the picture by pressing the shutter release button all the way. In dim conditions, the camera uses its focus-assist light, which is effective in focusing upclose.

In Auto mode, you can select Macro setting, but not the Infinity focus setting. The latter becomes available in Manual mode. Both are accessed by pushing the left arrow button (there are no actual arrows on the menu control ring, but I will use this terminology throughout anyway). Also, the ISO settings (arrow up) can be set to Auto or Auto Hi Sensitivity in Auto mode. In Manual mode, you can select fixed ISO 80, 100, 200, 400 or 800 as well.

In case you want more control, you can select Manual mode, which is not a real manual mode where you would be able to select the shutter speed and aperture, but rather a mode in which you get access to selection of several parameters. In Manual mode, you can set the ISO, white balance (several presets and custom), use exposure compensation to make pictures darker or brighter, use picture effects, color replacement effects, etc.

In addition to fast ISO selection, the camera gives you instant access to the flash mode selection (flash off, red-eye reduction, night portrait, auto flash), macro or infinity mode as well as drive mode (single frame, timer or burst/continuous shooting) at a push of a button: arrow down and arrow right.

More on Features and Controls

The Canon SD700 is very similar to the SD600, but has higher zoom and optical image stabilization but no optical viewfinder.

The camera features selectable Evaluative, Center-Weighted and Spot metering modes. The camera has a built-in flash that is quite powerful or its size and has a red-eye reduction function. It features a shutter speed range of 1.3-1/1,600 sec and selectable ISO of 80-800 as well as ISO Auto and High ISO Auto.

The camera also has a Macro mode where it can focus as close as 0.79 inches (2 cm) at wide angle or 15.6 inches (40 cm) at telephoto. The available movie mode records movies with sound (the camera has a microphone and a speaker) at 640x480, 320x240 or 160x120. The 640x480 movie mode is available at up to 30 fps, providing fluid playback.

The SD700 IS has maximum apertures of f/2.8 at wide angle, f/5.5 at telephoto. The camera doesn't let you control the aperture or the shutter speed directly and that there is not indication of the aperture (or shutter speed) on the screen during the shooting or even in review. It does show you the shutter speed if it thinks it is too slow for handheld shooting and shows you a red icon that looks like a shaky hand. This serves as a warning that the shutter speed might be too slow and you should use a tripod or place the camera on a stable surface.

Still, it would be rather useful to know the shutter speed when shooting handheld or while shooting fast-moving objects. And it is good to know the aperture while shooting at telephoto to figure out if the background will be blurry.

There are a bunch of scene modes as well, which help the camera tweak the focusing and exposure settings according to the type of scene.

You can use the exposure compensation in the manual mode and it comes in handy in the morning or sunset hours as the camera overexposes the picture trying to preserve the shadow detail.

Remember, you can use the image stabilization continuously (default), only when taking a picture or turn it off (to conserve energy or if the camera is on a tripod). But more on this later.

Build Quality and Ergonomics

The camera has a solid feel and good build quality. The camera is convenient to hold and its compact size lets you put it in a jacket pocket or a purse easily. The major controls are within easy reach and the tactile response is good.

Performance

The camera uses the latest version of Canon DiG!C processor - DIGIC II. It is the same processor used in larger Canon digital SLR cameras and it gives this Digital Elph excellent speed. The camera takes less than a second to power itself on in review mode and only about a second or two to power on and extend its lens in shooting mode.

Zooming is reasonably fast. You can fully zoom in or out in about 3 seconds. I find the 4x optical zoom the camera has sufficient for most situations and the image stabilization makes its telephoto end more usable in less than perfect light.

The SD700 can capture images at about two per second in burst mode. In single-frame mode, the camera could snap pictures as fast as I could push the shutter release button. The focusing takes less than a second, even in dim lighting, at wide angle. But at telephoto the focusing can take a little more than a second and the camera sometimes fails to focus at all. The shutter lag, when pre-focused, is almost unnoticeable.

Battery Life

I have not fully tested the battery consumptions, but after fully charging it, I took more than 80 pictures and the low battery warning has not appeared yet. Canon claims you can take about 240 photos on one battery charge with the LCD on or 700 with LCD off.

LCD and Viewfinder

The camera has a 2.5-inch non-articulated (fixed) LCD screen and no viewfinder. The LCD is large, bright, gains-up in the dark (increases brightness) and is fluid in good light. But it is less fluid in dim light.

The resolution of the screen of the SD700 is excellent. And the icons/menus are large, colorful and legible.

The LCD coverage as about 100% - you can see exactly what will be recorded. It works pretty well in the sunlight as well.

Computer Connectivity

The camera uses USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection to transfer pictures to a computer. You can also remove the SD memory card and use a memory card reader (if you have one), or use the camera with the USB cable supplied. I did the former.

Flash

The camera's flash is quite bright for its size. It has a red-eye reduction mode and is sufficient at up to 10-12 feet away. It has a recycle time of about 7-10 seconds.

Image Quality Settings

The SD700 IS lets you select between Super Fine, Fine and Normal compression levels (regardless of resolution). You can detect occasional JPEG artifacts in the mode of highest compression and some fine detail may be lost. But the two lower-compression modes (Fine and Superfine) are rather good for 6x4 printing. Still, I noticed JPEG artifacts at the edges of objects in Fine mode, when viewed at full resolution. I suggest that you use SuperFine mode exclusively if you plan on cropping or printing larger than 5x7.

White Balance

The SD700's automatic white balance is usually quite accurate with the exception of the incandescent lighting, where you are better off either selecting Incandescent white balance setting or using the available manual white balance.

Focusing

You let camera focus using its AiAF 9-area focusing system and the camera will show you green rectangles over the areas where it focused so that you can confirm the focus areas. There is no manual focusing provision.

There are also two special focusing modes, accessible at a push of a button: Macro mode and Infinity (Infinity available in Manual mode).

Image Quality

I immediately noticed that I could take pictures using the SD700 at longer exposures (slower shutter speeds) than possible without image stabilization. For example, at wide angle indoors at ISO 80, I could take pictures at 1/5s handheld and they were usable, but I could see that they were slightly blurry viewed at full resolution. This is a good result since this represents 3 stops slower than the shutter speed I should have been using. And pictures at 1/10s were sharp with no motion blur.

The bottom line here: the SD700 IS has very good image stabilization, which helps it take handheld photos indoors without flash or at high zoom levels in situations that would result in blurry or even unusable photos with other compact cameras.

The SD700 produces good photos with well-exposed, contrasty and richly-colored images (see the samples). The photos have pleasing "Canon" color with slight oversaturation and nice blue skies - the kind of color consumers like. Keep in mind that these photos are taken in the "medium" ("Fine") compression mode. The photos in SuperFine mode have less traces of JPEG compression.

The image noise grows as the ISO increases. The ISO 800 is noisy, to a point where I would not consider using it at all. If you are printing 6x4 or 5x7 pictures, the noise should not be visible up to ISO 400. At ISO 80-100, you can print your photos at up to 11x14 inches with good detail and ISO 200 should be good up to 10x8.

Overall, for its size, the camera produces good pictures, especially considering the fact that you can shoot handheld in situations where cameras without image stabilization would not let you take usable pictures.

Movie Mode

I tried the 640x480 movie mode at 30 fps. The video was fluid and sharp, although not a replacement for a camcorder. The camera also has a 320x240 mode at up to 60 fps.

Wishes

I wish the camera displayed shooting parameters (shutter speed and aperture).

Bottom Line

I like the Canon SD700 overall and recommend it, especially to people who like to shoot handheld indoors or in challenging light.

Recommended
Yes

Product Rating
(Very Good)

My Reviews of Other Digital Cameras