Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 59
 SD970 or SD960 May 14, 2009
L. Yang (CA, USA)
94 out of 99 found this review helpful
This review is to help those who are deciding between Canon SD970 and Canon SD960.
.................SD970......SD960......Comment
Optical zoom...5x..........4x..........Plus
LCD size.........3"..........2.8"........plus
LCD dot ......461k........230k.........Big plus
Zoom Blur......yes ........no..........no
The 5x optical zoom makes the picture 50% larger. So, I think it is a worthy improvement. However, it is offset by the wider angle lens of SD960.
The LCD size and resolution are a very worthy improvement. Although it is 3" vs 2.8", the actual screen sizes are quite different because SD970 has 4:3 aspect ratio and SD960 has 2:1 aspect ration. For normal 4:3 pictures, SD960 can only use 2/3 of screen to show the picture while SD970 uses all screen. With twice many pixels, you can view the pictures quite well. It is almost better than most of small stand-alone picture frames in the market. I actually can use SD970 as a very comfortable reading glasses for the fine print on the medicine bottle. I played one SD960 in a store and I can not see whether the picture was in focus very well.
The zoom blur did not produce great pictures, although it was fun to do.
I think the price difference (~$65) is a little bit large for the performance difference. But, I do enjoy the differences.
Other comments:
(1) mini-HDMI cable: I was not aware how great the HDMI feature is until I bought one cable from a local store. It is a great experience that many people can view the slide show and HD video on your HDTV. Although I complained about how expensive the cable was. But, the experience justifies the purchase of the cable. I bought a cheaper 3rd party HDMI cable and it works well.
(2)Sound quality of HD video:
I guess Canon engineers just did not have room to put the microphone at the front surface of the camera, they put it on the top which can be easily covered by your fingers. But, the more annoying issue is that, because the top surface is tilting backward, your voice becomes much louder than the people in front of you. In addition, you need to make sure your hands do not rub the camera when shooting. Otherwise, noise will be generated.
If you zoom when shooting video, the camera performs only digital zoom. And, it will record a quite noticeable noise when the zoom action stops.
Overall, I still rate this camera 5 stars because it is well designed and built. The user interface is better than my 4-year-old Canon S3 IS and is
far better than other brands.
Finally, it was very amusing to see how hard my brother-in-law had to try to prove his >$5000 Canon 5D dSLR is still a far better camera than this little thing. Yes, my SD970 lost in most of picture quality categories. But, it did not lose without a decent fight. At the end, my sister-in-law is thinking of buying a SD970. So, it lost a battle but won a heart!!
SD970 is a camera for two person, one want to just point and shoot for precious moments and one wants to use the program mode to make great pictures.
Wonderful results; just be patient with the manual May 3, 2009
M. Stewart (Texas, USA)
58 out of 61 found this review helpful
First off, be aware this camera comes with no memory card, so unless you want to be like the kid that got a battery-powered toy for Christmas, and no batteries, plan ahead! Also, the A/V cable included is for standard RCA video inputs, which is fine, since almost everyone has something to plug that into, but for the HD output, you'll need the optional Mini-HDMI Cable. I've tried both cables, and if you have an HD TV, you'll want the HDMI cable.
The manual is pretty brief; it omits some information such as how to set the "owner name" in the camera (hint: use the "Camera Window" software and click on the magic icon in the upper right corner), and how to upload custom startup images and sounds for the camera operations. The manual was obviously not proofread by a native English speaker, and many parts tell you what a setting is, but not how to get to that feature. There appears to be about 3 different types of menus, depending on the mode.
Now for the neat stuff! There are 3 modes, video, camera, and auto; the main differences between camera and auto are that auto mode trys to figure out everything; and does a pretty good job. Portrait? Landscape? No problem. The camera mode lets you fiddle with everything, and has several preset modes for common situations, and for fine-tuning things like white balance, and ISO speed. These various "Program" features have an auto-preview of the effect when browsing through the menu choices, which is a nice touch.
You cannot set aperture priority nor shutter priority, but you can give it some hints to approximate this; there is a "kids & pets" mode that obviously is high shutter speed priority.
I've taken about 100 images in the last couple days, and have been very pleased with the results. The digital zoom image quality is fantastic. I needed to use a tripod on a cloudy day when the effective zoom was 20x, but the resulting image showed no jaggies at all. The macro focus worked so well, that when I tried to move the camera a little closer in, the lens hit the sidewalk!
Viewing photos and videos on the camera is pretty easy. It will automatically group photos into categories based on the auto mode (portrait, etc.) or you can put photos into categories manually, to filter what you want to see. The "shake" method to advance from one photo to the next didn't work too well for me; I had to give it a pretty good shake, and I couldn't seem to have it go backward. The auto-rotate feature for viewing photos taken in portrait orientations works great.
The video function works easy and you can upload the videos to your PC (in .mov format), and the software can convert it to .avi format also.
Canon SD970IS Highly recommend - Great Point & Shoot July 10, 2009
Joshua D. Daniels (Michigan)
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
I bought the SD970IS camera after weeks of doing research online and physically going to electronic stores to view the cameras in person. The three cameras that I was choosing between were the Canon SD780IS, SD960Is and finally decided to buy the SD970IS and here's why:
When I started looking I first read reviews on cnet.com and amazon.com. Cnet.com gave all the models a good to very good rating, however they didn't like the price to feature ratio with the SD970IS but everything else was great. The retail price for the SD970IS is $379.99 and I guess based on that price I would have probably not bought it, but as always I researched the pricing online and amazon.com once again had the best price at the time which was [...]. At the time everyone else including buy.com, bestbuy.com and even ebay was selling it for close to full retail.
I previously owned a Nikon S50c and it worked fine it just seemed like a camera that you had to "baby" and didn't fit comfortably in your hands. The SD970IS is not as compact or slim as my old Nikon or the SD960IS or the tiny SD780IS but it can still be placed in a pocket. The most important thing is however that it feels great in your hand and doesn't seem fragile like the Nikon or the SD780IS.
I've been using the camera now for a couple of weeks and so far here's my list of pros & cons (very few):
PROS:
1. 3.0 LCD inch display with double the resolution of all three cameras.
2. HD Video is amazing with HDMI out
3. Picture quality is amazing including the 5x optical zoom and even the total 20x digital zoom is great.
4. Battery life is much better than any other cameras I've owned (approx. 250 shots)
5. "Blink" indicator that works great if someone blinks
6. The auto feature on the camera (I know that some reviews state that this function doesn't work very well, however I never take it off this setting because it adjusts to every shot automatically and I haven't had any issues with picture quality in this mode.)
7. Menu navagation is very simple and straightforward.
CONS:
1. Slightly bigger than I'm use to but still very compact
2. Noisy when zooming in and out (may be due to 5x optical zoom)
Great camera May 11, 2009
Myron R. Grover Jr. (Portland, Oregon USA)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
I wanted a camera with great image quality, HD movie capability, pocket size, more than 3x optical zoom and very good image stabilization. The SD 970 IS does a great job meeting these criteria. The photos are of superb quality (typical of Canon cameras). I can crop and blow up an image with little loss of quality. The 5X optical zoom functions smoothly. I would prefer 10x zoom but the 5x is adquate. Actually, on a bright sunny day the digital zoom (20x) works reasonably well. The image stabilization is rock solid. The 720 HD video is very good. I have a Mac and I use iMovie and Quicktime to edit the video. The camera doesn't allow one to use optical zoom during movie taking. You can zoom in on subject before shooting using the optical zoom to compose and then shoot the movie without loss of image quality. You can use the digital zoom while shooting movies but the image quality decreases. There was no bothersome noise while playing back a movie. I am most pleased with the size of the camera. It fit easily in my pants pocket. However, I found a small leather carrying case on eBay that I like very much. The case orients horizontally on the belt and the camera fits snugly in the case and it has a very tight fitting belt clip and a magnetic lock to secure the camera. [...]
This camera has many extra features that you can read about but I wanted to focus on my basic needs. There were several aspects of the camera that could be improved. The LCD screen is hard for me to read in bright sun light. However, the screen images are sharp, bright and true in normal lighting conditions. Finally, I would have liked an optical zoom that works during movie shooting. All in all, I love the camera and and highly recommmend it.
Another Solid Product from Canon. Don't be Fooled by It Point and Shoot Label! November 2, 2009
Charlie Brown (Miami, FL)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
I was on the market for a while looking for a replacement to my four years old Canon SD320 Digital Elph, which after many years of solid performance just started to show it was way behind on all the advances on sensors and overall improvements coming from the booming of the digital camera market over these years. The SD320 was my first digital camera after playing around for years with a Canon Rebel EOS SLR film camera which took amazing pictures but not only it wasn't digital but it was not also that practical to carry around
My initial feeling was to go back to the SLR days thinking the advances on digital cameras would allow me to find a great but not that bulky or heavy camera -at least not heavy for my standards- that I could carry around without much trouble. I didn't want to carry a big lens so my first consideration was a Canon G-10 or G-11, which I considered a nice mid-range SLR, not too big, not a victim of the known limitations of the point and shoot cameras. I was lucky to being able to use a G-10 a very good friend that uses it as his `pocket camera' (you have to see the lenses he has on his other SLRs) lent me for a few weeks. Even if I was very impressed with the capabilities of the G-10 and the amazing pictures I got from it, I realized I wasn't ready to carry a camera this big around and wasn't really into the aperture/shooter speed/etc ordeal I once enjoyed with my old SLR. Even by giving away all that flexibility and realizing I probably wouldn't be able to take professional-like pictures, I decided I wasn't ready for something bigger than a point-and shoot. I also wanted a camera I can hand to my wife in auto mode and still take great pictures
Being a long time Canon user, I started with a Canon but didn't neglect other brands. After doing plenty of research and looking at the advantages and disadvantages of its competitors from Fuji, Sony, etc, I decided Canon was still good enough even if it was behind brands like Fuji on sensor capabilities according to many credible sources. I gave Canon the benefit of the doubt and decided I was going to stick with a brand of camera I knew, with the menu I knew and with the defects I knew how to tweak to reduce its impact on the pictures. There are no perfect Cameras and Canon cameras maybe far from perfect according to many, but for me they are like that old car at the right price that if you know where to kick-it you can make it overcome its drawbacks. So I stick to what I knew, I didn't want to go through the learning curve of a new brand
I was among this SD970 IS and the newest Canon models of point and shoot, the SD980 IS and the SD940 IS. Honoring the motto of optical zoom is king I quickly discarded the SD940, even if the wider angle lens would have give me more flexibility in what basically a point and shoot is used for: take picture of people. But during the years I learned than a good optical zoom is one the things needed to close the picture quality gap between a point and shoot and an SLR camera. As my friend likes to say, more glass, more quality. It was not that easy between the SD980 and the SD970 though, being the former an advanced model of the later. The SD980 has a wider lens range with the same optical zoom as the SD970 (5x) and just because it's newer it should have a better sensor and a better lens, but this isn't always the case. The SD980 was also slimier and sexier and that touch screen was really something I wanted to try, but at the end I played it safe as at the time I bought this camera the SD980 had been on the market for just a few days, and I went for proven vs. hopeful, even if the SD980 looked impressive and at a better price.
So I bought my little SD970 and took it on its maiden trip to the United Kingdom and Spain. One word: Astounding little camera. Just to set the framework of the review, I didn't use the auto-setting but only the program mode, so I cannot say how the auto mode works but as they are using the same lens and sensor I would be surprised if results are much different. The first thing you will notice is the superior dynamic range this camera has for being a compact camera. It can capture way many if not all variations of colors and shadows and moves easily across the color pallet with ease. The second thing you will notice is how easy is to play with the different possibilities within the program mode and the amazing results you will get from all the combinations. You really have to be a professional to realize the picture you've got are not made with an SLR camera, picture quality looks as good or very close as much more expensive camera with bigger sensors, which leads me to the third point: the sensor does a great job even if small being a compact camera sensor. One of the things that worried me of this camera was the high mega pixel-small sensor combination which is a recipe for picture noise. I'm not sure what's the obsession of camera makers on increasing the pixels while equipping their cameras with substandard sensors (maybe is the belief that more MP = better pictures). In my opinion, anything over 10 MP for a compact camera is risky considering the size of the sensor it can carry, but 12 MP is the top, I wouldn't buy a compact camera with more than 12 MP, is a marketing myth that not necessarily means better pictures. Being the SD970IS at the top of the range for its sensor, in none of the pictures I took there is noticeable noise even at low light conditions. I was greatly surprised by this. I was even able to take great pictures of close subjects using the macro (macro mode, not digital macro) with a background blur typical of bigger SLR cameras, and as expected pictures of landscapes and fields were among the best I've obtained, even when compared with my old SLR. The 5X optical zoom delivers as expected, and the digital zoom is not that bad. Even if you get some image distortion -as expected- using a digital zoom (or digital macro for that case), it's not noticeable at first glance and much scrutiny is needed to realize a particular picture has been taken with digital zoom or digital macro
I didn't use all the modes but I realized that the vivid color mode and the one that increased the green were the best to take pictures of people and landscape respectively on true colors. The various ISO also worked great although the auto-ISO mode worked pretty well too. One mode I found useful particularly on taking pictures under backlight overcast conditions, very common in UK at this time of the year and that easily overexpose pictures, was the bright light mode that made the sensor compensate for the backlight with superior results. This reminds me of one defect of the camera: It has a tendency to overexpose pictures on open, bright conditions and you will find yourself more often than not manually playing with the ISO settings or sticking to the bright sun mode. But see, as I said is a defect you can overcome if you know the camera well and play with it a bit. Another amazing thing is the display screen, very bright with great definition where you can see the pictures very close to the way they'll look once printed or displayed on a bigger screen, and it doesn't scratches easily. Canon really put a very good quality screen on this camera, cannot say the same of my old SD320
In addition to the tendency to overexposure, I found the flash takes way too long to recharge and the battery life is not great particularly if you are like me and look plenty into the screen to see how the picture you just took looks like. Carrying an extra battery is a must, a thing that can be a turndown for some. Also, if it says that the battery is "slightly depleted" showing two bars which according to the manual means that you can take many more pictures, get ready to change the battery soon, it's not true. But again, this is one of those defects you can overcome if you're aware and ready
If you like to take movies you will find that HD movies are real and look gorgeously wide on your HD TV, crisp and clear, but the sound wouldn't be that great. Well, that's because the microphone is positioned on top of the camera and sound waves naturally pass over it with less intensity that if it was positioned in front of the camera. Also, the microphone DOES capture the sound of the digital zoom as many said here so my recommendation is to don't use the zoom while filming and go the way of the steady cam and walk in an out or follow subjects closely. It's great for family movies but I wouldn't see as a great way to film distant objects or situations needed to zoom in and out. But hey, go the Tarantino way an abuse the steady cam. If it works great for him it will do for you! Also, be careful not to cover the mic with your finger -thing easy to do because or where the mic is- or you will have a Chaplin movie then! Movies are also saved as .mov format which gives you grater flexibility for watching them on or exporting them to different media players
In summary, one of the best point and shoots around for the price now that it's well below the price it was when launched. At that price I agree with many that claimed it was overpriced. Oh, one last thing: don't buy it for the "shake or tilt" feature of the display to move along the pictures taken (don't tell Canon, but it isn't that good)
Showing reviews 1-5 of 59
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