Canon PowerShot SD780IS review
The Canon PowerShot SD780IS was introduced to the US market in early March 2009 and has many great features. It’s the slimmest digital ELPH Canon has produced yet, but its small body packs a punch. The term ‘ELPH’, before you ask, is a combination of the word ‘elf’ (for a camera that is small and magical) and the word ‘photograph’. In addition to being memorable marketing, using a non-standard spelling of ‘elf’ makes for a defensible trademark.
The camera comes in four colors, black, silver, gold, and deep red. It is a 12.1 MP digital camera with a 2.5 inch LCD screen and 3x image stabilized optical zoom. As already stated, it is the thinnest ELPH Canon has produced at 0.7-inch width. Combined with a width and height of just 3.4 and 2.1 inches and a weight of 4.2 ounces, it’s really small.
Looking briefly at some of the highlights of this camera, we can see that it has: HD movie recording capability and HDMI output. This allows you to record videos in beautiful high definition (1280 x 720 pixels). Then you can enjoy your movie, and still photos, on your HDTV using the mini-HDMI connector without image degradation.
When you set the Canon Powershot SD780 IS to smart car, the camera automatically selects a suitable setting from 18 specially defined settings. You just have to focus on taking the picture, Canon technology will take care of the rest.
A face detection self-timer automatically detects an increase in the number of faces and makes any necessary adjustments. So if you’re taking a group photo and want to include yourself, just mount the camera on a tripod and select Face Detection Self-Timer. The camera will now wait for your face to move into the frame before taking the perfectly focused photo.
This is made possible by the advanced DIGIC 4 image processor built into the camera. This offers advanced face detection technology that keeps every face in every photo looking its best. The technology finds and tracks the faces of moving subjects until you’re ready to shoot, then delivers perfect focus.
Reference eye correction isn’t new, but the Canon Powershot SD780IS offers three options for removing red-eye from flash photography. First, red-eye is detected and corrected during shooting, second, the camera can be set to automatically detect and correct red-eye during image playback. Finally, you can manually locate red eyes in a scene during image playback on the LCD screen and instruct the camera to remove them.
Another piece of technology on board the PowerShot SD780IS is iSAPS. This is an original scene recognition technology developed for digital cameras by Canon. Using an internal database of thousands of different photos, iSAPS works with the advanced DIGIC 4 image processor to improve focus speed and precision, as well as exposure and white balance.
This camera has other great features besides those mentioned here. All in all Canon is doing its best with this camera to make it as easy as possible for you to take great photos and videos every time. It easily fits in a wallet or shirt pocket, ready to shoot video and capture images in a second.