July 8, 2008

Canon PowerShot SD870IS 8MP Digital Camera


Canon's best ELPH yet !!!
This camera replaced my trusty SD450. I loved the SD450, but I wanted to upgrade to something with image stabilization. To put it simply, the SD870 totally rocks! The 3" screen is beautiful to behold. It's even viewable outside with bright sunlight shining directly on it. And the pictures this thing takes are absolutely gorgeous! They are sharp as a tack, and the colors are spot on. I have to say, the image stabilization really makes a big difference, particularly when you are shooting in low light. I also like the new, wide-angle lens. It really comes in handy when taking group shots or shooting in close quarters.

The only negative I can come up with is the lack of an optical viewfinder. I guess this is a sacrifice you have to make in order to get a screen this big on such a small camera.

Pros:

Sharp photos with great color saturation
Optical image stabilization
Speedy shot-to-shot time for an ultra-compact
Bright 3" screen that's easy to view in all lighting situations
Great movie mode
28mm - 105mm (35mm equiv.) 3.8x wide-angle zoom lens
Easy to use controls with intuitive GUI

Cons:

No optical viewfinder

Overall, I think the SD870 is just about perfect in every way, and I highly recommend it!

Product Features

  • 8-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 16 x 22-inch prints
  • 3.8x wide-angle image-stabilized optical zoom; 3.0-inch wide-viewing-angle LCD display
  • Face Detection technology and in-camera red-eye fix
  • 17 shooting modes, including 10 special scene modes; Print/Share button
  • Powered by NB-5L lithium-ion battery (battery and charger included); stores images on SD memory cards (32MB memory card included)

Technical Details

  • Color: Silver
  • Type: 1/2.5-inch CCD
  • Total pixels: Approximately 8.3 megapixels
  • Effective pixels: Approximately 8.0 megapixels
  • Focal length: 4.6 to 17.3mm (35mm film equivalent: 28 to 105mm)
  • Aperture: f/2.8 to f/5.8
  • Optical zoom: 3.8x
  • Digital zoom: 4x (15x combined zoom)
  • Focusing range: Normal: 1.5 feet to infinity; macro: 1.2 inches to 2.0 feet (wide), 1.0 feet to 2.0 feet (tele); digital macro: 1.2 inches to 2.0 feet (wide)
  • Autofocus system: TTL
  • Viewfinder: None
  • Display: 3-inch low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD with wide viewing angle
  • LCD pixels: Approximately 230,000
  • LCD coverage: 100 percent
  • Shutter speed: 15 to 1/1,600 seconds; long shutter operates with noise reduction when set at 1 to 15 seconds
Product Dimensions: 3.6 x 2.3 x 1 inches ; 5.4 ounces
Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
What's in the box:
PowerShot SD870IS Digital ELPH digital camera, lithium battery pack NB-5L, battery charger CB-2LX, 32MB SD memory card SDC-32M, wrist strap WS-DC2, Digital Camera Solution CD-ROM, USB interface cable IFC-400PCU, AV cable AVC-DC300
Product Description
From the very first glance, the smooth shape and bold lines of the stylish PowerShot SD870IS Digital ELPH signal that this is no ordinary camera. With 8.0 megapixels of resolution, an Optical Image Stabilizer, and 3.8x optical zooming, the SD870IS Digital ELPH boasts impressive specs as well as a host of convenience features. Face Detection Technology for worry-free people shots. A large 3.0-inch LCD to give you a perfect view of your scene. The Auto ISO Shift and ISO 1600 deliver brilliant images in challenging lighting.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great Camera
I received my new camera and the 2 spare batteries today-way before the estimated delivery date. The Canon battery charged very quickly-less than 1 1/2 hours. I was able to set everything up without even lookng at the instructions. My 3 main reasons for buying this camera were: excellent movie quality (and to my surprise it is VERY easy to shift from still to video mode), a zoom of more than 3, and a wide angle lens. My only concern was that other reviewers said the zoom did not function in the video mode. Well, they are wrong. It works! The test shots and videos look fantastic.

This camera is replacing a Casio that is just 1 1/2 years old. It still takes good pictures, but the internal battery that retains the date, time, etc is dead. Casio service wants $110 just to look at it. I said that is ridiculous for a camera that only cost several hundred dollars. The Casio is more megapixels (10 vs 8), but that was overkill. Unless you want to crop a small area and blow it way up, you dont need that many megapixels.

The only downsides to this camera that I have found so far are that there are less shooting modes than the Casio had (most of which were not necessary) and switching to sound recording requires several steps. But overall, these are small sacrafices to make for the quality and reputation of another Canon (my second digital camera was a Canon that lasted for many years, and my SLR that I used professionally and still own is a classic Canon AE1-P). I am proud to be back with Canon again!

BY susun