Canon SD1000 Camera Review

S1000 image

I’m a huge fan of the Canon Digital Elph series. I bought a Canon S100 in 2000, a SD110 in 2004, and an SD1000 in 2007. Each camera has been a huge improvement over the previous camera, is small enough to carry everywhere, and has taken some great shots.

The SD1000 has one neat touch; it resembles the wildly popular APS film Digital Elph, Canon’s first camera of it’s kind.

One nice feature of the newer SD elphs is the ability to use CHDK firmware, a non-destructive firmware update that allows for raw shooting, live histograms and more:

  • Shutter-priority (Tv) exposure – via shutter value override feature
  • Aperture-priority (Av) exposure – via aperture value override feature
  • Shooting in RAW, with RAW Average, RAW Sum, and RAW Develop features
  • Live histogram (RGB, blended, luminance and for each RGB channel)
  • Zebra mode (a live view of over and under-exposed areas of your picture)
  • Depth-of-field (DOF)-calculator, Hyperfocal-calculator with instant Hyperfocal and Infinity focus-set, and more
  • Battery indicator
  • RAW and Video space-remaining gauges with custom low-limit alerts
  • USB cable remote shutter release
  • Motion-detection trigger – automatically fires camera on motion detection. (Fast enough to capture lightning strikes.)
  • Customizable high-speed continuous (burst) Shutter-based (Tv), aperture-based (Av) and ISO-based exposure bracketing (unlimited shots)
  • Focus bracketing (unlimited shots)
  • 99 constant bit-rate and 10 constant-quality video compression levels
  • Elimination of 1 Gig video-size limit
  • Zoom during video function (for cameras without this feature)
  • Shutter, Aperture, and ISO Overrides
  • Ultra-long shutter speeds – up to 64 seconds
  • Ultra-fast shutter speeds – up to 1/10,000″ and higher
  • High-speed Flash Sync at all speeds up to 1/64,000 second (even faster in some cameras)
  • Custom user-editable visible Grids for framing, cropping, and alignment
  • File browser
  • Text reader
  • Calendar
  • Some fun tools and games :)
  • Fully customizable CHDK display, info placement, user-colors, fonts in menus, etc.
  • Custom CHDK User-Menu (for instant recall of up to 10 favorite functions)
  • Scripts execution – including exposure bracketing, focus bracketing, intervalometer and more)
  • And other features too numerous to mention here. See the CHDK Firmware and Allbest Firmware usage pages for a more complete overview.

Specifications

Type of Camera
Type of Camera Compact digital still camera with built-in flash, 3x Optical/4x Digital/12x Combined Zoom

Image Capture Device
Type 7.1 Megapixel, 1/2.5 inch type Charge Coupled Device (CCD)
Total Pixels Approx. 7.4 Megapixels
Effective Pixels Approx. 7.1 Megapixels

Lens
Focal Length 5.8-17.4mm f/2.8-4.9 (35mm film equivalent: 35-105mm)
Digital Zoom 4x
Focusing Range Normal: 1.0 ft./30cm-infinity
Macro: 1.2 in.-1.6 ft./3-50cm (WIDE), 1.0-1.6 ft./30-50cm (TELE)
Digital Macro: 1.2-3.9 in./3-10cm (WIDE)
Autofocus System TTL Autofocus

Viewfinder & Monitor
Viewfinder Real-image optical zoom viewfinder
LCD Monitor 2.5 inch low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD Brightness adjustment: 15 levels
LCD Pixels Approx. 230,000 pixels
LCD Coverage 100%

Aperture and Shutter
Maximum Aperture f/2.8 (W) – f/4.9 (T)
Shutter Speed 15-1/1500 sec.; Long Shutter operates with noise reduction when manually set at 1.3-15 sec.

Exposure Control
ISO Sensitivity Auto, High ISO Auto, ISO 80/100/200/400/800/1600 (Standard Output Sensitivity. Recommended Exposure Index)
Light Metering Method Evaluative*, Center-weighted average, Spot**
* Control to incorporate facial brightness in Face Detection
AF
** Metering frame is fixed to the center
Exposure Control Method Program AE; AE Lock is available
Exposure Compensation +/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments

White Balance
White Balance Control Auto, Preset (Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H), Custom

Flash
Built-in Flash Auto, Auto w/ Red-eye Reduction, Auto w/ Slow Synchro, Flash On, Flash On w/ Red-eye Reduction, Flash On w/ Slow Synchro, Flash Off
Flash Range Normal: 1.6-11 ft./50cm – 3.5m (W), 1.6-6.6 ft./50cm – 2.0m (T), Macro: 1.0-1.6 ft./30-50cm (W/T) (when sensitivity is set to ISO Auto)
Recycling Time 10 sec. or less (battery voltage=3.7V)
Flash Exposure Compensation N/A

Shooting Specifications
Shooting Modes Auto, Camera M, Portrait, Special Scene (Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater, Indoor, Kids & Pets), Night Snapshot, Color Accent, Color Swap, Digital Macro, Stitch Assist, Movie
Self-Timer Activates shutter after an approx. 2-sec./10-sec. delay, Custom
Wireless Control N/A
Continuous Shooting Approx. 1.7 fps

Image Storage
Storage Media SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, MultiMediaCard
File Format Design rule for camera file system, DPOF Version 1.1
JPEG Compression Mode Still Image: Exif 2.2 (JPEG)
Movie: AVI (Image: Motion JPEG; Audio: WAVE (Monaural))
Number of Recording Pixels Still Image: 640 x 480 (Small), 1,600 x 1,200 (Medium 3), 2,048 x 1,536 (Medium 2), 2,592 x 1,944 (Medium 1), 3,072 x 2,304 (Large), 3,072 x 1,728 (Widescreen)
Movie: 640 x 480/320 x 240 (30 fps/15 fps) available up to 4GB or 1 hour for each file size, 320 x 240 (1 min. at 60 fps), 160 x 120 (3 min. at 15 fps), 640 x 480 (2 hrs. at 0.5 fps/1 fps. Playback at 15 fps)

Number of Recordable Images
Small/N Small/F Small/SF Medium3/N Medium3/F Medium3/SF Medium2/N
File Size 84KB 150KB 249KB 278KB 558KB 1,002KB 445KB
32MB 270 171 111 99 52 29 64
SDC-128M 1,118 711 460 411 217 121 269
SDC-512MSH 4,317 2,747 1,777 1,590 839 471 1,041
Medium2/F Medium2/SF Medium1/N Medium1/F Medium1/SF Large/N Large/F
File Size 893KB 1,602KB 695KB 1,395KB 2,503KB 902KB 1,897KB
32MB 32 18 41 20 11 32 15
SDC-128M 136 76 173 87 49 134 64
SDC-512MSH 529 295 671 339 190 520 251
Large/SF Widescreen/N Widescreen/F Widescreen/SF
File Size 3,045KB 678KB 1,420KB 2,304KB
MMC-16MB 9 42 20 12
SDC-128M 40 177 86 53
SDC-512MSH 156 686 335 207

Time of Recordable Movies
Movie/Low Movie/Medium Movie/High Fast Frame Rate Movie/Compact Time Lapse
File Size 373KB/sec. 703KB/sec. 1,963KB/sec. 1,363KB/sec. 131KB/sec. 64KB/sec.
32MB 1 min. 7 sec. 38 sec. 14 sec. 20 sec. 3 min. 9 sec. 7 min. 30 sec.
SDC-128M 4 min. 39 sec. 2 min. 42 sec. 1 min. 1 sec. 1 min. 27 sec. 13 min. 2 sec. 31 min. 45 sec.
SDC-512MSH 17 min. 58 sec. 10 min. 29 sec. 3 min. 57 sec. 5 min. 39 sec. 50 min. 21 sec. 123 min. 30 sec.

Note: N=Normal F=Fine SF=SuperFine
Storage Capacity varies depending on camera settings. This data is estimated from Canon’s standard shooting conditions. Figures for Movie Mode represent total capacity of the particular media.

Playback Specifications
Playback Modes File Still Image: Single, Magnification (approx. 2x-10x), Jump, Auto Rotate, Rotate, Resume, My Category, Histogram, Index (9 thumbnails), Sound Memos, Sound Recorder, Slide Show, Red-eye Correction
Movie: Normal Playback, Special Playback, Auto Rotate, Resume

Erasing Specifications
Erase Modes Still Image: single image, by date, by category, by folder, all images
Movie: part of movie, all of movie

Interfaces
Computer Interface USB 2.0 Hi-Speed (mini-B jack)
Video Out NTSC/PAL
Audio Out Monaural
Other Memory card slot; direct connection to Canon CP and SELPHY Compact Photo Printers, PIXMA Photo Printers and PictBridge-compatible printers via camera’s USB 2.0 Hi-Speed cable

Power Supply
Power Source 1. Rechargeable Lithium Battery NB-4L
2. AC Adapter Kit ACK-DC10
Shooting Capacity Still Image: approx. 210 shots (NB-4L/LCD on)*
Playback Time Approx. 240 min. (NB-4L)* The above figures comply with CIPA testing standards and apply when a fully-charged battery is used.

Physical Specifications
Operating Temperature 32-104°F/0-40°C
Operating Humidity 10-90%
Dimensions (WxHxD) 3.38 x 2.11 x 0.76 in. / 85.9 x 53.5 x 19.4mm
Weight Approx. 4.41 oz. / 125g (camera body only)

Note: Note: 25 display languages provided (English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Simplified/Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Korean, Greek, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Thai, Arabic, Romanian, Ukrainian)All data are based on Canon’s Standard Test Method. Subject to change without notice.

Canon, DIGIC, ELPH, PIXMA, PowerShot and SELPHY are registered trademarks of Canon Inc. in the United States and may also be registered trademarks or trademarks in other countries. Microsoft and Windows are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Mac is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. All other products and brand names are registered trademarks, trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.