Posted to Digital Cameras 2009-06-16
The Canon PowerShot SD890 IS Digital Camera is the latest in Canon's successful line of Digital Elph compact point and shoot cameras. Successor to the popular SD850 IS Digital Elph, the SD890 IS ups the megapixel count from 8MP to 10MP and the zoom range from 4X to 5X, making it one of the longest zoom ranges available in a slim design camera this size. The SD890 IS also features an optical viewfinder, a 2.5 inch 230,000 pixel LCD, and a 37-185mm f/3.2-5.7 IS (Image Stabilized) lens. The camera has automatic face recognition of up to 9 faces, a built-in flash, and a macro mode which allows for focusing down to .79 inches. It features an ISO range of 80-1600, shutter speeds of 15-1/600 second and a host of scene modes. There's also a 2 second/10 second self-timer and a movie mode which captures VGA video at 30fps.
FeaturesThe SD890 IS has most of the features you're likely to want in a compact point and shoot camera. It's small size makes it easy to slip into a loose pants pocket, and it weighs less than 6 oz. In automatic mode, the camera takes excellent pictures without having to tweak anything, yet for the more creative shooter the camera does allow for some manual control. The LCD is bright and usable in all but the brightest sunlight, and the optical viewfinder is a plus not found on some of the competition. The only complaint here would be the lens - the widest angle of 37mm is somewhat narrow, and the lens is relatively slow. ErgonomicsThis would be 5 stars except for a few items. This is a very handsome camera, with a curved design, but the design leaves you with not much to hold onto - the right-hand grip is fairly narrow. In addition, the optical viewfinder is grossly inaccurate - it's OK for composing far-off wide angle shots, but near useless at close range. But at least it has one -- much of the competition does not. The only other complaint is the control dial on the back - it doubles as a four-way controller and a dial and it's hard to adjust settings with the dial without overshooting them and going to the next setting. SummaryIf you're looking for a slim design point and shoot camera with a fairly decent zoom range, the SD890 IS definitely deserves a look. It offers one of the longest zooms for a camera in its class, although it sacrifices a bit on the wide angle end. Image quality is excellent, however, and it's as good as any of the competition. You probably want to try it out in the store, though, and make sure you can live with the quirky command dial and relatively small gripping area. Pros
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