Canon SD1100 IS Review

Zoom
Pretty good performance from the camera's 3x optical zoom lens. Digital zoom performance is a little better than average.

The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS' optical zoom covers the equivalent of a 38-114mm, a typical range for a compact digital camera, though 38mm is a little tight for wide angle. Details are sharp and clear throughout most of the frame at wide angle, with little visible chromatic aberration. There's a fair amount of blurring in the corners, but it doesn't extend too far into the frame. Results at full telephoto are also quite good. The camera's 4x digital zoom produces fairly soft images with visible artifacts. That's not unusual though, considering the amount of interpolation required for a 4x digital zoom from a small area of an 8-megapixel image, so results are actually better than average in this respect.

Macro
A smaller than average macro area, with good detail and resolution in the center. Flash produces a very uneven exposure, use natural light for your closest shots.

The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS' macro setting performed fairly well, capturing a minimum area of 1.22 x 0.91 inches (31 x 23 millimeters). Detail and resolution are both very good toward the center, but there's a moderate amount of softening extending fairly deep into the frame from the corners. (Most cameras have some softening in the corners in macro mode.) The Canon SD1100 IS' flash had trouble throttling down, producing a very overexposed image, and the lens partially blocks the flash at this distance, casting a shadow in the bottom right. (Plan on using external lighting for important macro shots with the SD1100 IS.)

Distortion
Moderate barrel distortion, though virtually no pincushion.

Barrel distortion at 38mm is 0.8%

Pincushion at 114mm is unmeasurable

The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS' 0.8% barrel distortion at wide angle is on the high side of average, and fairly noticeable in some images. At the telephoto end, there is hardly a pixel of pincushion distortion.

This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel -- usually at wide angle) or inward (like a pincushion -- usually at telephoto).

Chromatic aberration
Moderate but not very bright at wide angle, less noticeable at telephoto.

Chromatic aberration is moderate at wide angle, showing about 8-10 pixels of fairly dull coloration on either side of the target lines. However, blurring is also noticeable here, which is intensifying the effect somewhat. At telephoto, the distortion is again moderate, but dimmer and less noticeable. (This distortion is visible as a slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.)

Corner Sharpness
Strong blurring in the corners of the frame at wide angle, but not extending too far into the image. Only a little softening at telephoto.

The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS produced fairly soft corners of the frame at full wide angle, with the left side being a little softer than the right. The effect was quite noticeable in some of its images, but fortunately doesn't extend too far into the frame. At full telephoto, corners aren't quite as soft as wide angle, but the center isn't quite as sharp either.

Coverage
Poor performance with the optical viewfinder, but very good results with the LCD monitor.

The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS' optical viewfinder was quite inaccurate, and appears to be not quite parallel to the imaging sensor, however we expect to see some parallax error with non-TTL optical viewfinders. We measured its accuracy at about 84% at wide angle, and 82% at telephoto, which is quite tight but not unusual. In contrast, the camera's LCD monitor turned in a much better performance, measuring about 102% coverage at wide angle and about 101% at telephoto. (In essence, 100% accuracy, within the limits of our test.)

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Very good overall color and hue accuracy, with minor oversaturation of some colors.

In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located towards the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center.

Saturation. The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS did oversaturate strong reds, greens somewhat and some blues slightly. Bright reds, greens and blues are quite typical of consumer models, but the SD1100 IS handled a range of subjects quite well, with pleasing color. Most consumer digital cameras produce color that's more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life.

Skin tones. Here, with the color balanced properly for the light source, the SD1100 IS again does a good job, and produces natural skin tones with just a hint of warmth. Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it's very easy for these "memory colors" to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc.

Hue. The PowerShot SD1100 IS showed minor color shifts relative to the correct mathematical translation of colors in its subjects, pushing cyan toward blue, and orange towards yellow for example. Most cameras shift cyans toward blue, apparently a tactic to produce better-looking sky colors. The SD1100 IS does this a bit more than most, but its images were still very pleasing. Overall, the color was more accurate than many digital cameras we test. Hue is "what color" the color is.

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting
Actually pretty good results with all three white balance settings, though most accurate color with the Manual option. About average positive exposure compensation required.

Indoors, under incandescent lighting, the PowerShot SD1100 IS' Auto white balance setting produced pretty good results, despite the slight warm cast. (Though warm, color balance here is much better than average performance for Auto white balance on consumer cameras.) Both the Incandescent and Manual settings produced more accurate results, with the Manual option producing the best overall, though still a touch warm. The Canon SD1100 IS required a +1.0 EV exposure compensation boost to get a good exposure, which is about average for this shot. Overall color with the Manual white balance setting is good, though skin tones are a hint pink. Though a little dark, the blue flowers look pretty good as well. (Many digital cameras reproduce these flowers with a dark, purplish tint, so the SD1100 IS performs well here.) Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.

Outdoors, daylight
Better than average exposure accuracy, though high contrast results in very bright highlights and some lost highlight detail. Bright colors outdoors with good hue accuracy.

Outdoors, the Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS produced pretty good overall exposures, though contrast was very high, resulting very hot highlights. In both shots above, the brightest highlights show a fair amount of lost detail. Shadow areas show moderate detail, though with some noise and noise suppression. The camera's low contrast adjustment produced a modest effect on overall contrast, but is still a welcome feature. The Auto white balance setting handled both situations pretty well, though with slightly pinkish highlights on the portrait shot.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
High resolution, 1,400 lines of strong detail.

Our laboratory resolution chart revealed sharp, distinct line patterns down to about 1,400 lines per picture height in both directions, though lines are clearest horizontally. Extinction of the pattern didn't really occur before 2,000 lines, the limit of this chart. Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sharpness & Detail
Overall pretty good image sharpness. A small amount of visible edge enhancement in areas of high contrast, and a fair amount of noise suppression in shadow areas.

Sharpness. The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS' captures fairly sharp images, with very good definition that responds well to additional sharpening during post-processing. Only slight enhancement artifacts are visible, such as in the crop above left. We have noticed that the SD1100 IS seems to apply slightly different amounts of sharpening in certain situations, even at its default sharpening setting, as can be seen by comparing the tree branches in the wide angle far-field shot, which shows notably stronger edge enhancement. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

Detail. The crop above right shows a fair amount of noise suppression, with darker areas of Marti's hair showing limited detail. Individual strands are smudged and fade into each other in low contrast areas. While quite visible at this scale though, the effect is much less evident in prints 8x10 inches in size and smaller. Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost "watercolor" look appears.

ISO & Noise Performance
Low to moderate noise at the normal sensitivity settings, though a jump in noise with strong blurring at the higher settings.

ISO 80	ISO 100	ISO 200
ISO 400	ISO 800	ISO 1,600

At the Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS' lower ISO settings, noise levels are fairly low, with good results up to ISO 200, though some subtle effects of noise reduction are still evident even at these low ISOs. At ISO 400, noise jumps with more obvious noise reduction artifacts and blurring of fine detail. At ISOs 800 and 1,600, noise is much higher with stronger blurring and color blotches in shadow areas. ISO 800 still may be usable in "emergency" situations, but at 1,600, noise dominates the image, obliterating most detail. See Output Quality notes below for how all this translates to printed results.

Extremes: Sunlit and low light tests
High contrast and limited highlight detail, though good resolution and detail. Good low-light performance, capable of capturing bright images in near darkness.

Sunlight. The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS produced high contrast (using the default contrast setting) in response to the deliberately harsh lighting in the test above, with rather limited highlight detail. However, shadow detail is pretty good, despite some noise suppression and noise artifacts. Exposure compensation required to keep Marti's face from being too dim was lower than average at +0.3 EV, but still created very hot highlights on the white shirt and flowers.

Additional Contrast Settings (all +0.3 EV)
-2	-1	+1	+2

Contrast. Canon has included five contrast settings in the SD1100 IS (see above table for results using non-default values). The range on the lower end is a little limited but still useful, so consider reducing the contrast setting, and be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown above; it's better to shoot in the shade when possible.

Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here.)

	1 fc 11 lux	1/2 fc 5.5 lux	1/4 fc 2.7 lux	1/8 fc 1.3 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux
ISO 80	2 sec f2.9	4 sec f2.9	8 sec f2.9	16 sec f2.9	16 sec f2.9
ISO 100	1.6 sec f2.9	3.2 sec f2.9	6.3 sec f2.9	12.6 sec f2.9	16 sec f2.9
ISO 200	0.7 sec f2.9	1.6 sec f2.9	3.2 sec f2.9	6.3 sec f2.9	12.6 sec f2.9
ISO 400	0.3 sec f2.9	0.6 sec f2.9	1.6 sec f2.9	3.2 sec f2.9	6.3 sec f2.9
ISO 800	1/6 sec f2.9	0.3 sec f2.9	0.7 sec f2.9	1.6 sec f2.9	3.2 sec f2.9
ISO 1600	1/12 sec f2.9	1/6 sec f2.9	0.4 sec f2.9	0.7 sec f2.9	1.6 sec f2.9

Low light. The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS performed well on the low-light test, capturing reasonably bright images at the lowest light level with the next to lowest sensitivity setting (ISO 100). At ISO 80, the image at the darkest light level is a bit dim. but still usable. Noise increases with higher ISOs, but this is expected. Color balance was good with the Auto white balance setting. The camera's autofocus system worked well also, as it was able to focus on the subject down to the 1/16 foot-candle light level unassisted, and in complete darkness with the AF assist enabled. (A useful trick when shooting with such long exposure times is to just prop the camera on a convenient surface, and use its self-timer to release the shutter. This avoids any jiggling from your finger pressing the shutter button, and can work quite well when you don't have a tripod handy.)

How bright is this? The one foot-candle light level that this test begins at roughly corresponds to the brightness of typical city street-lighting at night. Cameras performing well at that level should be able to snap good-looking photos of street-lit scenes.

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim lighting. (For example, a child's ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) For such applications, you may have better luck with a digital SLR camera, but even there, you'll likely need to set the focus manually. For information and reviews on digital SLRs, refer to our SLR review index page.

Coverage and Range
A reasonably powerful flash (given the size of the camera), although the lens' smaller aperture at the maximum zoom setting limits range at longer focal lengths. About average coverage. Our standard shots required average exposure compensation.

Coverage. Flash coverage was uneven at wide angle, but quite more uniform at full telephoto. In the Indoor test, the Canon SD1100 IS' flash underexposed our subject a little at its default setting, requiring +1.0 EV exposure compensation adjustment to get reasonably bright results. (About an average amount of exposure adjustment for this shot.) The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode produced slightly brighter and more even results, though with a stronger orange cast from the room lighting. In this mode, the camera required only +0.7 EV of exposure compensation. Compared to many other cameras, the Canon SD1100 is one of the better Slow-Sync Flash performers.

Flash Range: Wide Angle
6 ft	7 ft	8 ft	9 ft	10 ft	11 ft
0.7 sec f2.9 ISO 100	0.7 sec f2.9 ISO 100	0.7 sec f2.9 ISO 100	0.7 sec f2.9 ISO 100	0.7 sec f2.9 ISO 100	0.7 sec f2.9 ISO 100
12 ft	13 ft	14 ft	15 ft	16 ft
0.7 sec f2.9 ISO 100	0.7 sec f2.9 ISO 100	0.7 sec f2.9 ISO 100	0.7 sec f2.9 ISO 100	0.7 sec f2.9 ISO 100

Flash Range: Telephoto
6 ft	7 ft	8 ft	9 ft	10 ft	11 ft
1 sec f5.0 ISO 100	1 sec f5.0 ISO 100	1 sec f5.0 ISO 100	1 sec f5.0 ISO 100	1 sec f5.0 ISO 100	1 sec f5.0 ISO 100
12 ft	13 ft	14 ft	15 ft	16 ft
1 sec f5.0 ISO 100	1 sec f5.0 ISO 100	1 sec f5.0 ISO 100	1 sec f5.0 ISO 100	1 sec f5.0 ISO 100

ISO 100 Range. At wide angle, flash shots at ISO 100 remained fairly bright out to a distance of about 12 feet. That's not bad for such a small camera. At full telephoto and ISO 100, the target started out a little dim, and brightness began to fall-off gradually after about 7 or 8 feet.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range
Wide Angle	Telephoto
11.0 feet Auto ISO 200	6.6 feet Auto ISO 200

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. In the wide angle shot above, the Canon SD1100 IS performs as Canon says it will, producing a good exposure (somewhat overexposed actually) at the rated distance with its ISO set to Auto (which selected ISO 200). At telephoto, the camera again selected ISO 200 and the exposure looks pretty good .

Note: Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 100, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We've now also begun shooting two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.

Print Quality
Good print quality, good color, clear 13x19-inch prints. ISO 400 is good to 11x14, ISO 800 images are usable at 8x10, good at 5x7, ISO 1,600 shots are only usable for 4x6 prints.

The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS had enough resolution to make good looking 13x19-inch prints from ISO 80 and 100 shots. ISO 400 shots start to get a little soft at 11x14, but are still quite usable at that size for wall or table display. ISO 800 images are soft and noisy at 8x10, good at 5x7 inches. ISO 1,600 shots are noisy even at 4x6 inches, but probably usable as snapshots if you aren't too particular. Overall, a good performance from a compact pocket camera.

Color is quite good: Noticeably less saturated than the most over-exuberant digicams we test, images the SD1100 IS manage to look bright and snappy without seeming overdone.

Testing hundreds of digital cameras, we've found that you can only tell just so much about a camera's image quality by viewing its images on-screen. Ultimately, there's no substitute for printing a lot of images and examining them closely. For this reason, we now routinely print sample images from the cameras we test on our Canon i9900 studio printer, and on the Canon iP5200 here in the office. (See the Canon i9900 review for details on that model.)

Good to average speed for a consumer camera.

Startup and shutdown times are above average. Buffer clearing is pretty fast, but will depend on the speed of your memory card.

Play to Record mode time is a little slower than average, but Record to Play is quite fast.

Shutter response is better than average at both wide angle and telephoto, at 0.42s and 0.75s respectively. Enabling the flash adds quite a bit of delay, increasing lag time to 1.85s. "Prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure results in a lag time of only 0.067 second.

Shot-to-shot cycle times are about average, at about 1.94 seconds for large/superfine JPEGs, though the camera does capture frames continuously at this rate. (That is, given a fast enough memory card, it doesn't have to pause every few frames to wait for the card to catch up.) The PowerShot SD1100 IS drags a little in its Continuous modes, capturing large/superfine frames at 0.95 frames per second, however it maintains this pace for more than 20 frames. This increases slightly to 1.32 frames per second for large/fine JPEGs. The flash takes 9.6 seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, which is slower than average, but not unheard of among cameras as small as the SD1100 IS.

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, download speeds are quite fast; you're not likely to feel the need for a separate card reader.

Bottom line, the Canon SD1100 IS won't be a good choice for sporting events or any fast-paced action, but is responsive enough for most family and travel photo opportunities.

Battery
Average battery life for a lithium-ion design.

The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Battery life is about average, though we still recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on either a fresh set of disposable batteries or a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

Storage
The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS accepts SDHC/SD/MMC memory cards, and comes with a 32MB card. The table below shows approximate image size and capacity for the included card.

We strongly recommend buying a large capacity SDHC or SD memory card at least a 1GB card, preferably a 2 or 4GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings and video. If you only intend to shoot stills, a 1GB card is likely to be plenty. Video can really burn up card space though. (Check the shopping link above, cards are really cheap these days, so no reason to skimp.)