Well the old adage goes "sex sells", and Canon has turned this adage onto a unexpected object: Cameras. Almost everyone who is into camera's, be it pro or amateur, is familiar with Canon's line of Elph cameras. The Elph line really combined the cool looking type of point and shoot cameras with the useful line of cameras leaving you a camera that is small and really cool looking but does the point and shoot game very well.
Well here comes the next generation of the Elph camera's, the SD10. When you see the SD10 you are reminded of the ultra thin cameras that barely make the grade on point and shoot abilities, such as the Minolta Dimage. To assume that the SD10 would be a cool camera but a lackluster point and shoot would be a terrible mistake.
I've had the opportunity to play around with a SD10 and I was shocked by the performance of this very sexy little camera. Please read on and find out what I like and what I didn't like.
Now onto the review.
Picture Quality: A Now I've always thought that the most important category for a camera is the picture quality and I've always been a fan of the Canon Elph line so my expectations are right on track when I found out that the SD10 takes fantastic photos. Comparing the SD10 to my S230 I find that the SD10's photo's are just a bit more crisp due to the increase of mega pixels to 4 million. I also noted that the color was vivid at the rose garden even under heavily clouded skies and a slight drizzle. The only downside was a slight purple fringe on certain shots that included a lot of purple. The upside is that this is only noticeable if you zoom in on the shot. On a 1-10 scale the purple fringing is like a 2.
Previously Canon's Elph cameras tend to take pictures with a slight yellowing indoors, I was pleased with the SD10's ability to overcome this due to certain settings that your able to manipulate.
Lens/Zoom: B Now you can't go to the extreme side of a ultra stylish camera without losing something, in the SD10 this is the zoom. The Lense is set at 39mm but has no zoom on it, it auto focuses accurately enough as close as about a inch and a half in macro mode an about indefinitely for longer shots. The downside to this is that you have no optical zoom. I say again
there is no optical zoom.
Now for those unfamiliar with digital cameras let me explain. When you look at the zoom listed on a digital camera you are told the optical and then digital zoom. The only one that matters is the optical because the optical is using the lens to zoom in physically to the target of the picture, just like a normal film camera, then from that zoomed in shot the camera will digitally zoom in on that optical picture. So the digital zoom is really just zooming in further on a pre-existing optical zoom. This is why at close zoom in on digital zoom you see some pixelation. On optical you won't see it because it is really physically zooming in on the picture. Furthermore you don't really need to digitally zoom in on your camera because any photo editing software on your computer can do it too.
So now you understand that Canon's decision to forsake the zoom in favor of a bit thinner frame limits the owner to just digital zoom. This of course has also made this camera a pure point and shoot. The SD10 gets a B because compared to the 3x zoom on my S230, the SD10 is a bit weak in the lens/zoom department.
Overall Design: A Canon has had more than a few years working with the small sized cameras, and it really shows in the design of the SD10. Anyone that has had experience with the Elph series of digital cameras will recognize the back of the SD10 and be able to use the buttons pretty fast.
The weight of the SD10 is just about 5 ounces so your getting a pure pocket camera that you will barely notice when it is in your pocket.
One of the coolest design features is that unlike the S200, S230, S400 the SD10 comes in COLORS! This will make it very attractive to females and many men who don't like the silver brushed metal look of the other Elph cameras. The colors available are silver, bronze, white, and black. All the colors are attractive and none look too feminine or macho. I'm actually a little surprised they didn't include colors for the S400.
The SD10 comes with the standard Elph switch for movie, playback (of pictures and movies) and of course standard photo taking mode. The rocker button is a little different and the menu buttons no longer have enough space under the LCD so they have been moved in-between the rocker button and the LCD. This configuration is a unique and effective space saver. Canon is even cognizant of the effect of the small size of the camera for most people and includes friction ridges that help you hold onto it.
The winner for the best change to this camera from the other Elph cameras is the change of placement of the battery and Flashcard. Prior cameras had the flashcard slot on the side and the battery compartment underneath. The SD10 combined these into one slot on the side. This feature wins the Peabody award because it lets you use the camera with a tripod and still be able to change the battery
and flashcard.
Performance: A Ok another of the meat and potato's section of any camera is the performance of it. This consists of the lag time between shots, the resolutions available, specialty modes, mega pixels, flash and LCD Screen.
The lag time between shots is just about 3 seconds maybe 2.5 if you round down a little. This beats my S230 by a hair but just by a hair. It does have a quick shot mode that lowers the time to about 2 seconds and if you pick a lower resolution it lowers the time dramatically. The continuous shot mode is fun and will take about 10-15 shots in about 2 seconds but then will have a very long pause before you can take anymore.
Shutter lag on the SD10 is less than a second, which is about on par with the other Elph cameras.
As said previously, the SD10 has increased the mega pixels from 3.2 on the S230 to 4. Of course the S400 is already at 4 mega pixels but it is larger than the S230 while the SD10 is smaller than the S230.
The LCD screen is just a tiny bit small at 1.5 inches square but is adequate for most of your shooting. Only under direct sunlight is it hard to see but in darkness you won't see anything, but that is par for the course with most any digital camera.
It seems Canon really did try to improve the flash on this demure camera. The effective range is about 10-15 feet while my S230 only gets 7-10 feet max. A tad bit better and you know every little bit helps. The flash is not blinding, works well and recharges very fast.
The only thing I don't like about the SD10 is the lack of scene selection. Almost all other point and shoot cameras offer certain scene modes like mountain and portrait. The most logical reason that the SD10 doesn't include this is that there is not zoom. But it is something I miss.
To make up for no scene election the ISO setting is very easy to use and comes in many more levels than a lot of point and shoots. This is great for people who have the knowledge of ISO and what it does but not so great for the family guy who picks a camera because "it looks purdy".
Battery: A Sometimes I include the battery as a category, sometimes I don't. The performance of the battery on the SD10 is sufficient enough to warrant it. The battery is very impressive for such a small camera. I got well over 300 shots on a single charge and when it gave me low battery warning around the 400 mark I was still able to get a good dozen or so before it sputtered out.
Value: B Well the weakest link in the SD10's bag of tricks is the value factor. Because it is the newest toy on the block, because it is so darn small and because it is very desired by the crowd that wants the newest toy on the block, the SD10 is a bit overpriced right now. You can get it retail for about $350. Online closer to $300, but regardless you have to look at the fact that you can get the S50 for the same cost it definitely lowers the value line.
Looks: A With a camera that has so obviously been designed for looks and style over certain areas of function, I would be amiss to not include looks as a category. The looks are vaguely reminiscent of Sony's Cyber Shot line of cameras but much more streamlined and compact. This camera screams sex appeal and looks like the best new toy on the block. With the different colors that it comes in you will look ultra cool holding this camera. Take a look at the different colors it comes in.
http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/sd10/features1.html
In the looks department you can't get more stylish than the SD10.
CONCLUSION Well so there you have it. A very small camera that takes fantastic photo's with a lot of point and shoot options that comes in an ultra sexy package. I really like this camera but you know the lack of a optical zoom really does counter a lot of the very positive changes from other Elph cameras. If I was going to get a new camera I'd go with the S400 or even the S230 if I wanted to spend less. But if the coolest and sexiest toy is one of your main concerns you can't go wrong with the SD10.
I
recommend the SD10 for anyone looking for a foolproof point and shoot.
Thanks for reading my review of the SD10, if you like this review, check out some of my other camera reviews listed in alphabetical order. Contax TVS
http://www.epinions.com/content_105823374980 Canon PowerShot G5
http://www.epinions.com/content_105723891332 Canon PowerShot S400
http://www.epinions.com/content_103691685508 Canon PowerShot S230
http://www.epinions.com/content_78630129284 Fuji Finepix 2600
http://www.epinions.com/content_71749635716 Nikon Coolpix 4300
http://www.epinions.com/content_121838472836 Olympus Stylus 400
http://www.epinions.com/content_122572607108 Olympus Camedia D-40
http://www.epinions.com/content_73778630276 Sony Mavica CD350
http://www.epinions.com/content_126354689668 Sony Mavica MVC-CD200
http://www.epinions.com/content_73001766532 
