Canon SD750 Design

The Canon PowerShot SD750 is stylish, with a tri-colored body -- brushed silver, beige satin, and black gloss -- that's as pleasing to look at as it is to hold. Gone is the perpetual curve design, and in its place is a more angular design. The SD750 is not the slimmest camera on the market, but at 3.61 x 2.24 x 0.77 inches with its lens retracted it has no problem fitting in to most pants pockets. Its smooth, flat design also makes it virtually snag-proof. With the battery, the camera weighs in at a respectable 5.29 ounces (150 grams). The Canon SD750 can stand on its bottom or left side, and looks good either way. The design has no optical viewfinder to make room for the large 3.0-inch LCD. Even its wrist strap gets in on the design thoughtfulness, as its slider serves as a port cover removal tool and an SD card removal assistant.

The front of the Canon SD750 has a smooth, modernized ELPH-like look with the lens slightly off-center to the right, and the flash just above it. The front of the camera is primarily composed of brushed silver. A light emitter, above the lens, serves multiple purposes, including autofocus assist, red-eye reduction, and the self-timer countdown. The camera's telescoping 3x lens moves into place quickly projecting just 3/4 of an inch from the front of the camera when powered on. It retracts fully within the camera when switched off to maintain a smooth profile. To the left of the lens is a tiny hole for the camera's microphone. No finger grip is provided on the PowerShot SD750, save for the slightly textured Canon logo, but there is a series of raised bumps on the camera back for your thumb.

The Shutter button and Zoom ring are located at the right of the camera's top. To the left of the Shutter button is the on/off button and further to the left is the Camera mode button to select Movie, Scene Mode, or Record Mode.

On the right side of the PowerShot SD750 (as viewed from the rear) are the AV Out and USB ports, concealed by a hinged, plastic door that lifts upward to reveal the ports. The door features a metallic finish, and fits very snugly back into place with a gentle press. Below the door is the wrist strap attachment eyelet, which protrudes very little.

The opposite side of the PowerShot SD750 contains the speaker, with only a couple of screws visible, plus four tiny feet in the corners that let the camera stand vertically on its end.

The remaining camera controls are on the PowerShot SD750's rear panel, along with the LCD monitor. The LCD monitor is 3 inches diagonally, which takes up most of the rear panel. Next to the LCD at the top right is a series of raised bumps for your thumb to hold on to. Next to that is the Print/Share button, below that is the Playback button. To the left of the Playback button is the Indicator light. This will tell you what your camera is doing. (Green means it is ready to shoot, Blinking Green means the camera is starting up or recording, reading, erasing, or transferring. Orange means it is ready to shoot with flash on, Blinking Orange means it is ready to shoot but it is warning you that camera shake is possible.) Below that is the four-way control ring. Around the outside ring are the controls for ISO/Jump, flash, Self-timer, Continuous shooting, Single image delete, and Macro settings. Inside the control ring is the Function/Set button used for making menu selections.

The four-way control ring is touch sensitive. Only some aspects of this touch sensitivity can be turned off. When set as a touch sensitive dial, just a slight touch will bring up a magnified icon of the dial on the LCD which really serves little purpose. Rotating your finger around this ring in Record mode scrolls through available record modes, but sloppily; and in Playback mode it quickly scrolls through images. I accidently switched modes all the time, as there is very little room for your thumb on the back of the camera. I much prefer this as a regular Four-way navigator, but you can't completely disable this touch-sensitive mode. Below the Four-way control ring are the Menu button and the Display Button.

The camera's bottom panel holds the plastic tripod mount and the battery/memory card compartment. The tripod socket is centered under the lens, which is good for panorama shooting. Inside the battery / memory card compartment, the battery and SD memory card slots line up side-by-side. A small spring-loaded latch ensures the battery won't accidentally fall out when you open the compartment cover. Unfortunately the tripod mount is also right alongside the battery / card compartment door, so you have to remove the camera from a tripod if the battery life or flash card space is exhausted (although in fairness, this is hardly a camera you'll shoot with in a studio anyway).

 

Canon SD750 External Controls

Shutter Button: Located on the top panel, this button sets focus and exposure when halfway pressed and fires the shutter when fully pressed. If the Self-timer is activated, a full press of the Shutter button triggers the countdown.

Zoom Ring (see image above): Surrounding the Shutter button on the camera's top panel, this ring controls the optical and digital zoom in any record mode. In Playback mode, the wide-angle end activates first a nine-image index display, and then a "Jump" mode that allows you to page through screens of nine thumbnails at once. The telephoto setting zooms in on captured images for closer inspection of fine details. You can also toggle among tabs in the menu by moving the lever left or right without scrolling all the way to the top of each menu.

Power Button: On the top middle of the camera is the Power button. When starting up the camera the green LED on the back of the camera will blink until it is ready to shoot.

Mode Switch: On the top left of the camera is the Mode switch, offering the following selections:

• Still Record Mode: Sets the camera for Auto still image capture, with varying exposure options available through the Function menu.
• Special Scene Mode: Allows you to select from 10 pre-set Scene modes.
• Movie Mode: Allows you to select from six movie modes.

Print/Share Button: The Print/Share button is used for activating uploads to Windows computers or connections to a variety of compatible printers, including those complying to the PictBridge standard. The button glows blue when ready to print or transfer images, and flashes blue when printing or transferring images.

Playback Button: This button can be used to turn on the camera in Playback mode without extending the lens. When the camera is already on, you can use it to toggle between Record and Playback modes. If desired you can set this button to show you a slide show of captured images or start the Sound recorder. These options can be selected in the menu.

Touch Control Dial: This four-way rocker ring is located to the right of the Canon PowerShot SD750's LCD monitor, and serves multiple functions. In any Settings menu, the ring serves as a Four-way navigator, moving through menu selections depending on which section is pressed. In Record mode, the top part of the ring cycles through ISO speeds including Auto, High ISO, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, or 1,600. The left side cycles through three autofocus modes: Macro, Normal, and Infinity. The right side accesses the camera's flash modes, cycling through Automatic, Forced on, and Forced off. Finally, the bottom part of the ring activates the Self-timer and Continuous modes, or returns to the Single exposure mode. Through the Setup menu, you can enable the selector's Touch Icons feature, which makes the outer edge of the dial sensitive to just the touch of a finger (see the images at right). Whether this latter feature is on or off, when you roll your finger around the ring, the LCD monitor displays a digital mode dial that allows you to select other Record modes.

In Playback mode, when you zoom in on an image, all four sides pan the view. Swinging your finger around the ring scrolls through images at high speed, another way to move around quickly between images.

Function / Set Button (see image above): Occupying the center of the four-way control ring, this control activates the Function menu in any record mode, and confirms selections once any menu has been invoked. See Operation tab for these menu items.

Display Button: Bottom right on the camera back, this button cycles through the LCD image and information displays. In Playback mode, this button cycles through the image only, information display, and info display with histogram.

Menu Button: Bottom right just above the Display button, this button accesses the menu system in both Record and Playback modes.

Card/Battery Compartment Latch: Sliding this switch unlocks the door for access to the card slot and battery compartment.