Digital Trends

Canon PowerShot SD870 IS

September 23rd, 2007 | by David Elrich

Features and Design

The SD870 IS Digital ELPH is a compact point-and-shoot 8MP digicam measuring 3.65 x 2.32 x 1.02; just a hair larger than SD850 IS although it weighs slightly less (5.5 ounces versus 5.82). In either case, you won’t break your back carrying these digicams. However, I did find the SD850 IS to be more attractive with its metal accents. Both feature the “box and circle” design ELPHs have sported since 1996. The SD870 IS tested featured the black inner circle with matching black accents on the sides and back. It’s also available with a silver circle, if that’s your option; it would be mine since the black edition is a bit old-fashioned looking in my opinion.

When looking at the front, one of the biggest differences is the missing viewfinder port on the SD870 IS. This new digicam only has a 3-inch LCD rated 230K pixels to view and review your shots instead of the SD850’s 2.5-incher and a tiny viewfinder to help out if the screen wipes out. I held the SD870’s screen to a bright lamp and in direct sunlight and did not have a major problem so I didn’t miss it a bit. In direct sunshine, it was a bit difficult to see the subjects but I could still see most of my target--unlike other screens that completely obliterate. Another major difference is the lens—and it’s a big one in my view. This model has a 3.8x optical zoom that starts at a much wider 28mm and reaches 105mm in 35mm terms. Although the SD850 has a 4x zoom, its range is 35-140mm. I much prefer the wider angle for shooting portraits and landscapes but that’s my preference. You might like the extra telephoto range—this is why camera makers sell dozens of different models, to satisfy a variety of needs. The SD870 satisfied me. Also found on the front is the flash, AF Assist lamp and a few inoffensive decals and an embossed logo.

One of my biggest gripes with the SD850 was its poorly placed on/off switch located on the back next to the LCD screen. Here Canon goes with the traditional placement on the top next to the shutter button. It’s tiny but raised so it’s easy to feel. Surrounding the shutter is the wide/tele control, a speaker and the main mode switch. Here you change between Auto, Scene and Movie modes. On the right-hand side you’ll find a compartment for USB and A/V out and the bottom has the slot for the battery and SD card. There’s a tripod mount as well.

The rear of the camera is dominated by the 3-inch LCD rated at 230K pixels. Although it smears as you move quickly between subjects, once it settles down, colors are quite accurate and I love the extra viewing area compared to the 2.5. The main controls are to the right of the screen and they’re the usual, found on almost every digicam—playback, menu to adjust the main functions and display to clear the screen of icons and numbers. There’s also a four-way controller with center Function/Set button. The four points let you change ISO (up to 1600), the flash, macro, and burst or self-timer. The camera is rated 1.3 frames per second, which isn’t too bad, and it worked pretty close to that rate, even with the flash firing off.

The SD870 IS comes with typical solid Canon kit. Since there’s no internal memory, the company supplies a puny 32MB card—definitely budget for a 2 gig card. I used a Panasonic 2GB class 6 card for testing. You also get the usual cables and wrist strap, rechargeable battery and charger. Also included are a 242-page Camera User Guide, a software starter guide, a Direct Print User Guide and a Digital Camera Solution Disk (ver. 31.0) with basic editing and browsing tools for PC and Mac. Once the battery was charged, it was time to start taking pictures.

Image Courtesy of Canon