One 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.
All the standard modes are accessible through the mode dial as well as through the menu system, including Playback, Auto, Manual (which lets you adjust white balance, ISO, EV compensation, and color effects), Macro, and Movie.
The Movie mode lets you capture VGA video clips at 30 frames per second. Other modes offered only by way of the menu system include Stitch Assist (for panoramas) and nine preset scene modes.
It also offers a very remarkable shooting mode called My Colors. You can make blues, greens, or reds more animated, or lighten or darken skin tones.
The Color Accent and Color Swap choices generate some out of the ordinary effects.
Color Accentt 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.
Color Swap mode, you select a certain color in a picture on the LCD, and then choose the color you want to switch it with. For instance, you could isolate the rich purple from a flower and swap it with the dusky rose color of the dress ion the person holding the flower. You have to make your color choices before you shoot, so be certain you’re not going to miss the shot.
The Canon PowerShot SD500 allocates your pictures to SD memory cards for storage. There’s also direct link to Canon CP Printers and select BJ Printers. This in fact 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 elective DC coupler, supported by a flap on the battery/media compartment door. This lets you operate the camera from AC power (by the use of an optional adapter) while you charge the battery in the included external charger.
Overall, the Canon PowerShot SD500 is a smart little camera for the value. A few notes however are that it has some difficulty finding the intended focusing point in Macro mode. Macro mode also has the fault of overexposing pictures when the flash is used except for the bottom area of the image that is dark due to the extended lens blocking the flash.
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.