The cameras seem to follow a measured but steady progression of feature upgrades and improvements as technology advances, rather than opting for a dramatic "break the mold" departure from past practices such as Casio's EX-F1 and its 60fps still shooting ability. Whether by accident or design, Canon's recipe must work as the company claims to have moved over 22 million units worldwide in the first 10 years since the ELPH nameplate reached the market in May 1996.


The SD970 IS looks to continue the trend. A gently sculpted metal body housing a 5x optical zoom with optical stabilization, 3.0 inch monitor, 12.1 megapixel sensor, 1280x720 HD video capability and Canon's current generation Digic 4 processor positions the camera with all the right stuff to compete in its class. Will the SD970 IS live up to the expectations of it created by its predecessors? Come along as we find out.

Canon PowerShot SD970

Ergonomics and Controls
With a 3.0 inch monitor dominating the camera back, Canon still managed to locate four control buttons and the control dial back there as well, but the layout is well designed and spaced so conflicts are virtually nonexistent. The index finger of the right hand falls naturally to the shutter button in either horizontal or vertical shooting formats, and the other fingers of the right hand pose no problems to camera components.


The same can't be said for the left hand, depending on your hold. For me, the left index and middle fingers sitting atop the camera body feel more secure, and that tends to be my natural grip. On the SD970 IS the flash sits at the front upper left corner of the camera body, and I find my middle finger positions itself partially over the flash in most cases. A simple "left thumb on the bottom and index finger on top" hold fixes the problem, so if that happens to be your natural grip, no worries. Folks like me who tend to put a lot more fingers into the hold may need to get used to adjusting that a bit.

More and more compacts are coming out with controls that allow the user to start shooting video by means of a single button push from any shooting mode. The SD970 IS doesn't have that feature per se, but there's a handy work-around: the camera allows the user to "register" certain camera functions to the direct print button on the camera back that can be called up with a single push. If you only register video, you can start recording by pushing the direct print button no matter what shooting mode you're in. A second push of the direct print button or full push of the shutter button stops recording.


Video allows capture of movies in HD 1280x720 (30 fps) or Standard Definition: 640x480 or 320x240, both at 30 fps. Limits are 4GB or 29 minutes 59 seconds for HD and 60 minutes for SD. As I mentioned above, you can initiate video capture via the direct print button if the video option has been registered to that button.

Shooting and setup menus can be accessed via the menu button; when in a shooting mode, pressing the function button brings up a menu of any available user-modifiable settings for that particular mode. Even for someone unfamiliar with Canon compacts, a little surfing with the menu and function buttons should make things fairly clear, even in the absence of the user's manual.

Display/Viewfinder
The 3.0 inch LCD monitor boasts a 461,000 dot composition and is adjustable for five levels of brightness, but even so, it can be difficult to use for image composition in direct sunlight. Monitor coverage is 100%. There is no viewfinder.

Canon ad copy touts the SD970 IS as "the ultimate in design and feature-set." I'd consider that a bit more accurate if there were manual controls and a RAW shooting option, but the camera is clearly targeting an audience that wishes to minimize user involvement in the image capture process and does a credible job in that regard. The automatic shooting options leave little in the way of user inputs except in Program mode, where white balance, ISO sensitivity and some color choices are added to the image size and compression options.

While the SD970 IS lacks the manual controls some shooting purists might crave, its performance numbers should keep all but the pickiest compact digital users in a pleasant state of mind. Shutter lag comes in at about .03 seconds and press to capture with no pre focus at about .5 seconds. AF acquisition time in good light runs about .4 to .5 seconds, and there is a focus-assist lamp for dim conditions. AF time lengthened a bit at full telephoto, but was still quite good. The camera powers up and displays a focus icon in about 1.5 seconds and I was able to get off a shot in about two seconds after power up.

Canon announced the SD970 IS and nine other compact digitals this past February, and if our review model is any indicator of the quality and performance of the others, Canon's got a batch of winners on their hands. The SD970 IS would seem to appeal to folks primarily interested in capturing images without too much effort on their part, as the lack of manual exposure controls leaves user inputs rather limited, but shutter and AF performance are good and image quality and color fidelity are first rate. It's not too big a stretch to believe that good performance and image quality may trump the desire for manual controls (or a RAW shooting option) in the minds of many more "hands-on" types looking for a camera in this class.