Review for the Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital Camera
Posted by: Dan Feilman in Arts, tags: ArtsOne camera to watch available on the market today is the Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital Elph. Coming with an impressive 7.1 megapixel resolution this camera provides superior image quality.
The SD500 executes well on speed and sharpness tests. It also got a fun My Color feature that will be sure to please many kinds of users.
As far as design, the Canon PowerShot SD500 is delightfully comfortable to hold and control. One thing to watch for is that the compact layout of the buttons on the back can be easy to accidentally press during one-handed shooting. The LCD is a large 2 inches and the optical viewfinder located just above is nice and maintains a smooth, bright and clear image when panning.
Apart from the 7.1 megapixel mark, the Canon PowerShot SD500 has most of the customary features of its group, including an f/2.8 to f/4.9, 7.7- to 23.1-mm (37- to 111-mm, 35mm equivalent), 3X optical zoom lens.
Both the mode dial and the menu system offer all the standard modes to include Playback, Auto, Manual (this adjusts white balance, ISO, EV compensation and color effects), Macro and Movie. VGA clips are captures at 30 frames per second in Movie mode. The menu system offers addition modes such as Stitch Assist (for panoramas) and nine preset scene modes.
The Canon PowerShot SD500 has a very intuitive user control system. It also offers a very interesting shooting mode called My Colors. You can make blues, greens, or reds more vibrant, or lighten or darken skin tones.
The Color Accent and Color Swap choices generate some out of the ordinary effects. Color Accent lets you isolate the color of one object, while the color information for the rest of the photograph is discarded. The product might be a bright red rose in the middle of a black-and-white wedding shot.
In Color Swap mode, you select a certain color in a scene on the LCD, and then select the color you want to swap it with. For example, you could isolate the bright red of one car and swap it with the blue from another. You have to make your color selections before you shoot however, so make sure you’re not going to miss the shot.
The Canon PowerShot SD500 allows your pictures to be stored in SD memory cards. There’s also direct connection to Canon CP Printers and select BJ Printers. This effectively means that you do not need a computer to print pictures.
The Canon PowerShot SD500 makes use of proprietary lithium batteries. The marketed battery life is about 160 shots with the LCD on and about 550 shots with the LCD off. If a long battery life is a necessity, extra batteries are available for purchase at your local camera store so you can take along extras.
Another unusual feature is an optional DC coupler, supported via a flap on the battery/media compartment door. This lets you run the camera off AC power (via an optional adapter) while you charge the battery in the included external charger.
On the whole, the Canon PowerShot SD500 is a great camera. One shortcoming is that it has some problems finding the intended focusing point in Macro mode. Also, when the flash fired in the macro shots, most of the picture was very overexposed - except for some areas near the bottom of the image, where a dark shadow appeared because of the extended lens blocking the flash.
The mode design could also be modified. Only the center (Manual) mode appears level when selected. The remaining modes: Playback, Auto, Macro and Movie are slanted as you turn the dial.
Be sure however that the Canon PowerShot SD500 is a great ultra-compact camera. From its looks to its capabilities, this camera is impressive. Then once you add on its remarkably unique features, the Canon SD500 stands out among the rest as a contender for a top seller.
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