electronics Canon PowerShot SI IS opinions and reviews

Canon PowerShot SI IS

Extremely stylish in design and easy to use, Canon Powershot SI IS is one of the few models in this category with the image stabilization feature.

The designing includes the silver-colour body which gives the camera a sturdy, solid feel. In addition, there a number of useful functions integrated.

You can make optimum use of the various modes present. Here, there is a full auto mode, a mode dial inclusive of scene-specific settings like Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Fast Shutter, and Slow Shutter. Then, you also have the shutter priority option. To round up the modes, PowerShot S1 comes with a manual mode as also six white-balance selections and one custom setting.

There is a swift zoom controller which is placed is on top of the right-hand grip, which facilities one-hand use while operating the viewfinder or LCD panel.

It is possible to place the 1.5 inch LCD at any desired angle. The powerful 10X zoom lens (35-mm equivalent: 38 to 380 mm) has the focal length of f/2.8 to f/3.1. In addition, it also has the potential to be used with two optional compatible lenses, of which one is a telephoto and the other one a wide-angle.

Capable of shooting in four resolutions starting from 640 x 480 up to a maximum of 2,048 x 1,536, SI also has three levels of JPEG compression, but it does not recognize uncompressed formats.

Video recording at a resolution of 640 x 480 is possible at a rate of 30 frames per second. Its memory capacity gives you the provision to record one hour videos on its 1GB CompactFlash card. The zoom feature is also active whilst recording videos. In the playback mode, you can exploit the various editing choices available.

The controls on SI IS are logically located which enhances the usability to a good extent. After you get accustomed with the controls, operating the camera becomes exceptionally easy as you wouldn’t even need to check out the menus.

Coming to the main aspect i.e. performance, the image quality was good without being extraordinary, though some did look pixilated. But the flash did perform exceptionally well. SI encompassing the 3.2 MP sensor isn’t good enough as most other cameras incorporate a 4 MP sensor.

Start up took a not so satisfactory 5.6 seconds, however the reprocessing time between taking shots was highly impressive at 2.1 seconds.

Despite its slick designing and ease of functioning, PowerShot S1 IS has a couple of major failings like the disappointing 3.2 MP sensor and incompatibility with uncompressed JPEG formats which are hard to ignore.