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The Canon PowerShot SD870 IS was released on August 29, 2007 and was only the second point-and-shoot wide-angle lens camera produced by Canon. The SD870 was seen as the replacement model for the older SD800 that was released in later 2006. The SD870 offers a larger LCD screen (3.0" vs. 2.5") and better resolution (8.0 vs. 7.4 Megapixels) compared to its previous model.

The Canon SD870 IS Digital ELPH features a compact, stylish case with rounded horizontal edges, and a retracting lens to make it pocket-friendly. With an an 8-megapixel 1/2.5" imager and 3.8x optical zoom lens, the Canon SD870 covers a range of 28-105mm equivalent, a useful wide angle to a moderate telephoto. Exposure is fully automatic, but the user can tweak it with 2.0EV of exposure compensation and four metering modes to handle difficult lighting, while a generous twelve Scene modes keep the camera approachable for beginners. A long-exposure mode in the Canon SD870 IS ELPH also lets you manually set exposure times as long as 15 seconds, and a large 3-inch LCD is the sole method of framing and reviewing images, since the Canon 870 IS has no optical viewfinder.

The Canon ELPH SD870 has a rather wide ISO sensitivity range, from 80 to 1,600, for better performance in dim lighting. Canon also manufactures a line of photo printers, and prides themselves on the level of integration between their cameras and printers. The Digital ELPH SD870 is PictBridge-capable, so is able to print to any printer that supports PictBridge directly, without the need for a computer in the middle. When connected to a Canon printer, though, you can set paper size, print quality, and a number of other parameters, capabilities lacking in basic PictBridge connections.

Intro. The Canon PowerShot SD870 IS is the most appealing camera in Canon"s high-end Digital ELPH line, thanks to its 28mm-equivalent wide angle lens. Canon"s latest product strategy for the Digital ELPH is three-tiered: there is an entry level model (in this case, the PowerShot SD850), the middle-range model (the PowerShot SD870) and the high-end model (the PowerShot SD950). Each model has its own niche, and the SD870"s specialty is wide angle photography.

The Canon SD870 improves upon the SD800, the previous wide-angle model in the ELPH line, with an upgrade from 7.1 to 8.0 megapixels, and an LCD boost from 2.5 inches to 3.0 inches. They"ve also upgraded the screen from 207,000 to 230,000 pixels. Optically the cameras use the same basic lens structure, a 28-105mm (35mm equivalent) lens with a minimum aperture of f/2.8 at the wide end and f/5.8 at the telephoto end. Canon overhauled the SD870"s design, as well, making for a heavier, though smaller camera. Finally, the most obvious design change is the lack of an optical viewfinder, made necessary by the SD870"s large LCD.

Look and Feel. The PowerShot SD870 is, legitimately, about the size of a pack of playing cards. At 180 grams (6.3 oz), there is a good heft to the camera, giving it enough weight to keep steady while shooting. It has a solid feel, and when not in use can easily fit in your hand or pocket for easy access. That said, this is not a unit you want to toss around casually. The casing is a hard plastic with a matte finish; around the lens, our review model has a handsome chrome finish that will show off fingerprints and scratches mercilessly. Also available is a model with a black matte finished ring surrounding the lens. I worry about the LCD screen, but Canon assures me that it has an anti-scratch, anti-glare coating; all the same, sticking this camera in your pocket with your car keys is probably not a good idea for the long term. A small carrying case will go a long way to protect this investment, and I don"t think I"d be overly paranoid to suggest you keep the wrist strap on at all times. The lens extends about an inch out from the front of the camera while in use; when retracted, a sliding lens cover protects it.

The controls for the camera adorn the top and rear of the body. On the top you find the power button, operation mode selector, shutter button, and zoom dial; on the back, next to the dominating LCD screen, you have four buttons for playback, direct print, menu, and LCD display modes, divided into two groups of two by a circular four-way selector wheel and a selector button. A wrist strap attaches to the right side, the left side is blank, and there"s not much to speak of on the bottom other than a tripod mount (aligned with the lens) and a single door allowing access to the battery and the SD memory card. This design, in addition to the Canon SD870"s small size would make it impossible to change memory cards or a battery if the camera were mounted on a tripod.

Interface. You can turn on the Canon SD870 IS two ways: by pressing the main on/off button on the top, which brings you into shooting mode and extends the lens, or by pressing the playback button, which activates the playback mode without extending the lens. The Canon SD870 uses a fairly typical menu-driven system for managing the options and settings available in the camera. Since the average user for this camera is not going to want to have access to high-level settings or fully manual operation, the available options are fairly simple.

As with most Canon digital cameras, there are two types of menu. Technical items, like date and time settings, LCD brightness, and language are available with a press of the Menu button. Shooting settings, such as changing exposure control or the shooting mode, are accessible through the function key embedded in the four-way selector. Remembering where the relevant options are takes a little practice, but given the relatively few buttons and clear labels, you quickly get the hang of it. What I would like to see is the inclusion of an in-camera "help" system. Ideally, on any setting, you press a button and a screen full of text explains what this option will let you do. Few people keep their manual handy, and there are many menu items.

An interesting control in the PowerShot SD870, one that"s been on other high-end ELPH models, is the inclusion of a touch-sensitive system on the four-way selector. Essentially, the selector can be used either to change the shooting mode by rotating your finger around the wheel, or to display an iconic representation of the options available on the selector button itself. Personally, when trying to select a different shooting mode by rotating my finger, I could never find the correct "speed" at which to rotate and engage the camera"s mode-switching capability; and when I did, it would sometimes switch, and sometimes nothing would happen. It seems you have to get used to the style of input the camera"s touch-system expects. In practice, I found it much more effective to just switch shooting modes by using the function button in the middle of the four-way selector. Similarly, while the visual representation of the options available on the four-way selector was interesting at first, it quickly became annoying. In one-handed operation, your thumb rests on the four-way selector for support, and thus, the icons are always showing, obscuring your framing. While you can turn off the "touch icons" feature (which show you the representation of the selector wheel functions), the rotating selection function is always on. I suppose it could be argued that for people with poor eyesight, who can"t see the small text labels on the selector wheel, having a graphic representation of the selector wheel could be useful, as the graphic presented is much larger than the wheel. But because I couldn"t get the silly thing to work reliably, I found it less than useful.

The bad news concerns the SD870"s optical viewfinder. It doesn"t have one. It"s been removed from this model, ostensibly to make room for the large 3.0-inch, 230,000 pixel LCD screen. An optical viewfinder becomes useful in at least two scenarios: when you want to conserve power, and when lighting conditions make it difficult to frame a shot with the LCD. The larger the LCD screen, the more power it draws, so turning off the LCD and using an optical viewfinder instead typically gives the user much greater battery life. So the challenge to the camera designer is to produce an LCD that"s both power-efficient and sun-resistant. In the case of the PowerShot 870 IS, Canon has put a lot of effort into the LCD screen, no doubt aware that without a backup system, a lot is riding on the LCD. The battery is rated to produce 270 shots, a respectable amount for a camera this size, and in practice, I found the screen to be quite easily viewable in all but the most extreme of lighting conditions. Coupled with the fact that the optical viewfinder on the SD800 IS wasn"t that great (it only showed about 80% of the frame and was slightly distorted), removing it entirely isn"t that great a loss. Of course, if using, or having the option to use an optical viewfinder is important in your photography, then this is definitely a factor you may need to weigh. Canon"s betting that most folks want a 3-inch screen on a small camera more than an inaccurate optical viewfinder, especially since an optical viewfinder so badly shows what the SD870 IS"s 28mm lens can do.

You can transfer files from the Canon SD870 with the included USB cable, which operates at a respectable 1,053 KBytes per second. You can also view images and videos on an RCA-jack-equipped television via the included A/V cable.

Modes. The PowerShot SD870 has three basic shooting modes: Movie mode, Scene mode, and Record mode, all selectable from the switch on the top of the camera.

Movie mode is fairly simple to start: You flick the switch on the top of the camera to the left, and you"re all set to take movies. There are a few options when working in movie mode including changing the color profile, the white balance, and some software-related options that let you swap or emphasize colors in the scene you"re shooting. Optical image stabilization works great, and I recommend you keep it enabled while shooting a movie, given the small size and weight of the Canon SD870 IS.

The most direct use of Movie mode is in 640x480, 30 frames per second. You can also cut the resolution in half (320x240) or use "LP" mode (a higher compression rating) to increase the length of time available for shooting a movie. In this main mode optical zooming is disabled while a movie is being shot, but you can still zoom in and out digitally. Also available is a compact movie mode geared toward sending movies by email, where movies are shot at one-quarter resolution (160x120). Finally, Time-lapse video mode lets you create a movie based on frames captured every one or two seconds. Overall, I found shooting movies with the SD870 IS to be quick and efficient, and the playback quality was better than I was expecting from a small unit geared toward taking photos.

The Canon SD870 has a good system available to the user to keep images organized. The camera offers seven category types with which the user can file images for later reference. These categories include People, Scenery, Sports, three numbered categories, and To Do. You assign categories by putting a checkmark by each category for which the image in question is applicable; for example, if your image contained both people and scenery, you could check both categories. This is useful for finding images later, in that you can filter all the images on the memory card with certain categories.

The Canon SD870 has a great slideshow mode that"s quite effective given the large screen. You can select all photos on the memory card or only a certain subset of images. After you"ve selected your images, you can select the duration of each slide and whether the slideshow should repeat when finished. Unfortunately, my lovely quick cross-fade is missing from the list of options; instead, you can choose from some rather clunky movement transitions, or use none at all.

The Canon SD870 also allows the user to configure the action of the Playback button: by default it enters and exits Playback mode. It can be reconfigured to start a slideshow, or activate the sound recorder; doing so, however, makes it less obvious how to get back to shooting mode. Fortunately, the camera is designed with shooting priority in mind, and half-pressing the shutter release button always takes you to shooting mode.

Special Features. The "IS" designation for the PowerShot SD870 IS stands for Image Stabilization, which has been a feature of the Digital Elph PowerShot series since the SD800. Canon developed the original optical image stabilization system, which uses a series of gyroscopic sensors to detect movement of the user and compensate by moving the lens in the opposite direction. It"s extremely effective in reducing the blur from camera shake. I find it an absolute necessity, allowing me to take photos in more challenging situations for the camera and get much better results. In the real world, I think it works very well; I can take photos at shutter speeds as low as 1/15 second and get very crisp images.

Canon also features face detection on the SD870, with the ability to detect up to nine forward-looking faces. In operation, face detection works by showing you a box around the face of the person you want to photograph. When the camera can see two eyes, face detection works splendidly; however, when the subject turns their face away from the camera, to even just a slight degree, face detection doesn"t lock onto the face. When it works, face detection is quite useful; it guarantees the subject"s face will be in focus, and not the background. Flash settings are also adjusted automatically, with red-eye reduction, to give a more pleasing photograph. When it doesn"t lock on, however, you"re stuck with regular focusing, which can produce a result different from what you intend. All you have to do is tell your subject to look at the camera, the face detection box activates and locks on, and you"re set. In testing, it took a fair bit of effort to fool face detection; it had no problem with eyeglasses and even sunglasses. It would rarely detect something "face-like" that wasn"t a face.

Storage and Battery. The PowerShot SD870 ships with a 32-megabyte SD card. Given that the camera sports an eight-megapixel sensor, the highest-resolution photograph the camera will produce results in an image that"s 3,264 high by 2,448 pixels wide, and takes up an average of 3,436 kilobytes (almost three-and-a-half megabytes). According to Canon, that will give you a grand total of eight photographs on the included card. Thus, it makes a great deal of sense to get yourself a shiny new SD card, preferably in the 2 to 4GB range. Happily, as of October 2007, SD cards are about the cheapest memory you can find.

The battery provided with the SD870 is a 3.7-volt, 1,120 mAh lithium-ion battery. According to Canon, this will give you 270 shots, and in practice, I can say I used it on and off for a couple of days before getting a "low battery" warning icon. The recharger that ships with the SD870 is undeniably portable, with a sideways-folding plug that is quite ingeniously designed, at least for users in the Americas. Unfortunately, the recharger is a space hog on power-bars, though it does better on wall outlets. Recharging time was less than an hour.

Shooting. As I indicated earlier, I had a bit of difficulty adjusting to one-handed shooting with the SD870 IS. The SD870"s design is a trade-off between a shooting camera and a camera that"s convenient to carry. While it may not be ergonomically designed for optimum shooting, I cannot deny that the Canon SD870 IS is easy to take anywhere, any time, and take excellent pictures.

"The camera that gets taken is the camera that takes photos" is a maxim I usually tell people, especially when they"re debating buying a point-and-shoot rather than an SLR/lens system. As much as I love my SLR, there are some places I won"t bother to take it, where a camera like the SD870 is an excellent companion.

In practice, I found shooting with the SD870 to be straightforward and to the point. Power-on takes about one second, meaning that at a family gathering, I was able to grab photos of the nephews quickly and conveniently. I"ve always liked having the zoom rocker linked to the shutter button as opposed to a separate control, as it is more intuitive for me. It took about 1.5 seconds to go from 28mm to 105mm, and the zoom was quick and responsive to my touch. Standard Digital zooming wasn"t as useful for me, as the image quality suffered (to my eyes) unacceptably. However, Canon has implemented a useful system where if you select an image size smaller than Large (ie., it uses less than the camera"s eight megapixels), the camera can use the sensor to zoom rather than have to interpolate the image. For example, if you select small mode (640x480), you can zoom out as far as 15x (that"s almost four times the optical zoom of 3.8x) and the image produced won"t be the least bit pixelated. This results because the camera is only using a 640x480 chunk of the sensor to take the picture.

The SD870 offers a continuous shooting mode, at the stated 1.3 frames per second, regardless of whether the camera was set to record large-size, superfine compression images or the smallest size of image. This is a bit of a decrease from the SD800, which had a shooting speed  of 1.7 frames per second. You definitely get a speed increase when shooting in continuous mode; shot-to-shot in single shot mode, you can take one shot about every two seconds. You can also set a self-timer, at either 2, 10, or a custom-set number of seconds.

ISO selection on the SD870 is done by clicking the four-way selector upward, and is available only in the regular camera mode. In Manual and Digital Macro modes, you have access to the whole range of ISO speeds, from 80 to 1,600. In the other camera modes you can only select between Auto ISO shift and HI Auto ISO shift. Auto-ISO shifting is a new feature to the SD870, and it"s a logical evolution that has made its way down from the world of prosumer and professional SLR cameras. Essentially, the camera is able to examine the current lighting conditions and select not only an aperture and shutter speed, but an ISO speed that"s appropriate for a proper exposure. Auto ISO shift mode will also select ISO speeds outside the user-selectable range, in 1/3 EV stops. Unchecked, using Auto ISO shift mode this could lead to some noisy images, because increasing ISO speed is like turning up the volume on a radio station with poor reception; you might make out the program a little better, but you also hear more of the static, too. Therefore, regular Auto ISO shift mode is capped at ISO 200. If you want to go higher, High Auto-ISO shift mode offers automatic ISO selection up to ISO 800. If you want to max out the ISO and go to ISO 1600, you have to select it specifically from the ISO menu, and it will only be available in manual and digital macro modes.

Exposure. The Canon SD870 IS offers exposure control in most of its modes. The user can override the camera"s metered exposure selection by up to two stops in either direction, in 1/3 stop increments. This is useful where you have unusual lighting conditions, such as taking a photo of a sunset; typically, the camera will want to over-expose the sky to get a brighter image in the foreground, but there isn"t as much light available and you end up blowing out the sky. Underexposing lets you get a better shot. The Canon SD870 also offers direct access to a long shutter mode while adjusting exposure control, by pressing the DISP button. Doing so will let you have direct control of the shutter speed, between one and 15 seconds. Enabling long shutter mode automatically engages a noise reduction mode, but it seems to turn off Auto-ISO shift. In long shutter mode the Canon SD870 will default to the widest aperture available, so outside of night photography, it becomes really easy to overexpose images.

AE locking is also an option on the Canon SD870. To use it, you half-press the shutter to select focus points and exposure settings, and then while holding the shutter down, you press up on the four-way selector (ISO selection). This engages the AE lock. Forget about doing it with one-hand; this is definitely a two-hand operation. It"s also possible to lock the flash exposure level with a similar operation, if the flash is set to always-on mode.

Autofocus. Autofocusing results with the Canon SD870 were a bit of a mixed bag. With posed shots, I found the camera had no trouble sorting out the obvious focus points, but occasionally with more "spur of the moment" shots the camera would miss the subject. With face detection on a face-on subject, I never had a problem with the camera achieving the subject focus perfectly. However, in low-light, and especially if the subject"s face was even a few degrees off from face-on to the camera, face detection wouldn"t "lock on" to the subject. According to the lab setup, the camera was able to successfully focus in as little as 1/16 foot candle of light. In all cases, there is a focus-assist lamp (that you can disable) which works very well in establishing a proper focus.

For checking focus, the Canon SD870 IS has a very interesting display mode in Playback that first shows you what area the camera focused on, and it gives you a slightly zoomed version of the image in the lower right corner. If you hit the zoom toggle, that image zooms in more and more. If the shot was made in Face Detect mode, or if there was more than one AF area selected, you can press the Set button to switch between the active areas to verify focus there as well.

Image Quality. The Canon SD870 produces well-exposed, nicely-saturated photos. Looking at the shots from our test lab, colors by default are slightly over-saturated, pushing the red and blue tones a bit. Of course these are just the default settings - you can adjust through no less than eleven color presets to adjust the way colors are presented, including Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black and White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, and Custom.

In evaluating the image quality of the photos produced by the SD870, I"m going to consider a few things: sharpness, ISO noise, and noise reduction, image characteristics inherent with the lens, and flash performance.

The Canon SD870 does apply sharpening by default in all of its color modes, but doesn"t go over the top in doing so. Fine image detail is well preserved in the process, and there are few indications of edge enhancement artifacts. If you want to have more control over image sharpening, you can fine-tune the effect with custom color settings, as indicated above.

The image quality of the Canon SD870 at ISO 80 is very good, but does get noisier as the ISO rating increases. The question is, at what point does it become objectionable? Our shots in the lab show noise to be a factor beginning at around ISO 200; it interferes with fine detail at ISO 400, and by ISO 800, it destroys fine details altogether. Still, we were able to print good quality ISO 800 images at 8x10, and 11x14-inch images looked great from 80 to 400. Even the ISO 1,600 image that looks so mushy at 100% onscreen looks pretty good at 4x6. Noise reduction is applied to long-shutter images, with excellent results and very little disruption to areas of subtle contrast. At levels of higher ISO, noise reduction also kicks in, smoothing out color problems but obscuring fine detail in the process. Check out the Exposure tab for more on image quality.

The lens construction of the Canon SD870 seems to be optimized to produce a quality image at the telephoto end of the lens. At that setting (105mm) you see virtually no image distortion, chromatic aberration, or corner softness. By contrast, at the wide setting (28mm), images show significant levels of all three - 1.1% barrel distortion (to be expected on a 28mm wide angle lens), 10+ pixels of chromatic aberration on either side of target lines, and images were very soft in the corners. But corner softness was evident only in the very extreme corners; for the most part, the plane of focus was impressively flat. See the Optics tab for more detailed analysis.

Flash performance of the Canon SD870 is average. When dealing with the lens at its wide-angle setting, the flash is unable to cover the entire frame (this is not unusual, especially with small cameras like this). Coverage is better when the lens is zoomed in to telephoto. In both cases you need to push up exposure compensation by one stop, as the light produced by the flash underexposes the whole frame somewhat, at least in the lab. In practice you will typically be dealing with lighting a subject in the context of a background. Canon"s tech specs show the flash as being good up to thirteen feet (4 meters) at wide-angle, and six feet (2 meters) at telephoto. In practice our lab shots more or less confirm these numbers; however, our results at telephoto show that you should expect to see slightly underexposed images when approaching the maximum range of the flash (six feet).

Appraisal. There"s a lot to like about the Canon PowerShot SD870 IS. Perhaps the best selling feature is the large and lovely 3-inch LCD screen, which makes an excellent playback device. Moms who want to carry around their own "brag book" of weddings and newborns have an excellent choice here, although I found the slideshow options a bit wanting. This is not a camera for someone new to digital photography, but rather for someone who knows their way around a digital camera: there are no in-camera help settings, the button text is concise and uses terms and an iconography that, while standard in the industry, could be confusing to new users. For people comfortable with a digital camera however, they will find themselves quickly at home with the Canon SD870. The layout of buttons and menus is intuitive, and the camera"s operation is quick and responsive. As a shooting-priority camera, you can always take a photo by just pressing the shutter-release button (although the lack of a optical viewfinder may make quick framing difficult). On automatic, the camera does a good job of capturing respectable images. For photos of people, as long as the camera can see both the subject"s eyes, there should be no problems at all getting a pleasing picture.

The Canon SD870 continues with the features that made the PowerShot SD800 a great camera: an excellent 28mm wide-angle lens, Face-detection autofocus, optical image stabilization, plenty of scene modes, and a few important tweaks to the overall operation of the camera. Even movie mode benefits from the wide-angle view, making personal up-close family videos quite easy and fun. The SD870"s 8-megapixel sensor delivers resolution capable of delivering good quality 11x14-inch prints up to ISO 400, an impressive feat indeed. Canon has increased the size of the LCD but removed the optical viewfinder; optical viewfinders being something of a joke on most digital cameras with extraordinary optics, most users won"t miss it. The 3-inch LCD more than makes up for the lack of a viewfinder, and works well in bright sunlight. At 180 grams (6.3 oz), the Canon SD870 IS can fit in almost any pocket, and uses a battery that can take a pretty decent number of photos. It"s a lot of camera fit into a small package, and I think it"s a great fit for the experienced digital camera user who needs a reliable, take-anywhere shooter that shows off its photos well. And I can"t emphasize enough how great it is to have a 28mm wide angle lens in such a small package, making the Canon PowerShot SD870 IS a clear Dave"s Pick.

The SD870 IS is most accurate when slightly underexposed, which is why the inner rectangles are brighter than the squares. Many of the colors are very close to their ideals, with the exception of a couple yellows and oranges. The graph below shows color accuracy in a different way. The background of the graph represents the color gamut, and the ideal colors of the chart are shown as squares, while the colors the camera reproduces are shown as circles. The lines connecting each square and circle show the color error.

The 8-megapixel Canon SD870 IS has the best resolution at ISO 80, f/5.6, and a focal length of 14.7mm. The camera resolves 1640 lw/ph horizontally with 11.6 percent oversharpening, and 1470 lw/ph vertically with 11.8 percent undersharpening. Not only are these unimpressive resolution numbers, but the sharpening levels are damaging to the image quality. Almost all photos taken with this camera are way too oversharpened horizontally, which introduces white "ghosting" lines along edges of high contrast (click the chart image above to see for yourself). Additionally, the vertical undersharpening leads to soft edges in the other direction. Another problem with the SD870’s optical performance is the significant chromatic aberration, or "color fringing," which is apparent on the edges of images. Overall, the SD870 IS scores poorly in resolution and significantly worse than its predecessor, the SD850 IS.

The SD870 IS has very low noise at ISO 80, and manageable noise from ISO 100 to 400. At ISO 800 and 1600, however, noise levels rise to extreme levels. This will be apparent when you click on the still life images further down the page. The noise itself is quite ugly; small sandy white specks litter the images, along with larger colored splotches. This is a camera you want to keep at as low an ISO setting as possible. Overall, the SD870 IS scores lower than average for a 2007 point-and-shoot, but a touch higher than the SD850 IS.

We also test the noise levels of each camera with ISO speed set to Auto. The SD870 IS chose ISO 200 under our bright studio lights, but still produced a significant amount of noise visible when viewed at 100 percent. It is worth keeping this camera at ISO 80 when shooting in bright light, especially if you are thinking of cropping your images or printing them large.

*Set to Auto white balance, the SD870 IS is extremely accurate using the flash, very accurate in fluorescent light, mediocre in outdoor shade, and terrible in tungsten light. However, poor auto white balance is the case for most cameras under tungsten light. Occasionally the yellow cast it gives is pleasing, but it usually isn’t. Overall, the SD870 IS does very well in Auto white balance.

Color accuracy holds up very well in low light. It is less accurate than in bright light, but still more accurate in low light than some point-and-shoots are in bright light. Noise levels are extremely high, which is why you should avoid using this camera at ISO 1600 whenever possible. However, shooting at such a high ISO speed is the only way to capture an even exposure at 5 lux, which the SD870 IS is able to do with no problem.

We also test long exposure performance in low light, at ISO 400. The SD870 IS has a Long Shutter option hidden in the Exposure Compensation settings under the Function menu. The Long Shutter option allows shutter speeds from 1 to 15 seconds long. Color accuracy suffers a bit in long exposures, but noise levels are very reasonable. It is almost impossible to manually white balance accurately when in Long Shutter mode and there is no light meter telling you if your exposure is even, but it is still a fun addition to the camera.

The SD870 IS has solid dynamic range at ISO 80, but falls off quickly at higher ISO sensitivities. If you are shooting high contrast scenes, keep this camera on ISO 80. At higher ISO speeds, the high noise levels drown out detail in the dark areas of the photos. Overall, the dynamic range is below average, and not any better than the SD850 IS that came before it.

**Speed/Timing **– All speed tests are conducted using a Kingston Ultimate 120X 2GB SD Card, with the camera set to highest resolution and best quality.

The SD870 IS takes 0.8 seconds to process one full resolution superfine 3.2 MB photo taken at ISO 160. This is an impressive speed, and helps users take repeated photos quickly.

We test the Movie mode in bright light by recording footage of our color charts under evenly lit studio lights set to 3000 lux. Under tungsten lights, the SD870 IS has a frightening color error of 22.9, but this is actually common for cameras set to Auto white balance shooting under tungsten lights. Colors are also highly oversaturated in bright light video, making them vivid but unnatural. Noise levels in bright light are very low.

We also record footage in low light to see how the camera performs. Interestingly, SD870 IS has much more accurate colors in low light, with a mean color error of 12.3. Again, colors are quite oversaturated as well. Noise levels are fairly high, but manageable.

To test video performance in real life scenes, we take cameras down to the street and capture footage of moving cars and pedestrians. The SD870’s outdoor motion looks fantastic for a digital camera, showing great color reproduction, even exposure, excellent detail, very little moiré, and none of the highlight streaking we see in other camera video. It is still not camcorder quality, however, as you will see some jerkiness of moving objects leaving the frame. Overall, the video motion looks great, and caps off an impressive video performance.

The older Canon SD850 has an optical viewfinder, but the new SD870 chose to omit it because its larger 3-inch LCD screen took up all the space on the back of the camera. There is simply no room for a tiny window. This isn’t a bad thing, because the optical viewfinder on the SD850 was small, blurry at the edges, and not very accurate. Users are better off using the LCD screen with its 100 percent accuracy, exposure preview, and larger view.

The low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD has some of the widest viewing angles on any digital camera. It can be seen when held to the right or left of the eyes, or when held above and below. The SD870 is a great choice for concert-goers who like snapping pictures above the heads of the crowd.

The LCD has an anti-glare and anti-scratch coating, and while it seems durable it still catches glare from bright lighting. It could maybe pass as "glare reduction," but certainly wasn’t impervious to the lighting.

The display on the LCD screen can be changed with the designated display button in the lower right corner of the camera’s back , as well as with a few menu items. The display button leaves the screen blank or shows exposure and file information. There is also a Recording menu item that adds display features such as grid lines, a 3:2 guide, or both. In the Setup menu, the LCD brightness can be adjusted on a +/- 7 scale with a preview.

Overall, the Canon SD870’s LCD screen is large and has great resolution and very wide viewing angles. It works well for young concert-goers who snap pictures of the faraway band and crowd surfers, and also works for people who need a larger menu font and bigger view.

Both digital cameras have optical image stabilization systems, as designated by the "IS" at the end of the camera’s model name. The Canon SD870 IS has Continuous, Shoot Only, Panning, and Off modes available in the Recording menu. Continuous runs down the battery quicker, and is the only option in Movie mode – as it should be. The optical zoom lens isn’t functional in Movie mode, but it’s nice to have the stabilization system to keep jitters out of the videos.

There is a small zoom ring around the shutter release button that controls the lens. When pushed, it can stop at seven focal lengths zooming in and out. The Canon lens makes an annoying electronic noise when it moves. Unfortunately, there is no graphic on the LCD screen to show the approximate location of the lens; most cameras have a graphic or at least show, for example, "1.8x" in order to show how much zoom is left before it maxes out. The lens also backfires a little when zooming out and settling on a focal length.

The Canon PowerShot SD870 IS comes in silver and black, although both have a silver front. It is the back panel that has the color change, along with the base of the lens barrel. The SD870 carries on the tradition of its Digital Elph predecessors with the "perpetual curve" design; the side where the right hand grips the camera is rounded. This adds a little interest to the eye. The combination of chrome, black, and brushed metal components makes the SD870 an attractive digital camera.

The SD870 isn’t the slimmest digital camera on the market, but it is still one of the best-looking. It measures 3.65 x 2.32 x 1.02 inches, making it thicker than pocket models like the 0.68-inch thin Casio S880. The hefty body weighs in at 5.5 ounces, not including the battery and memory card. It won’t break wrists, but it still feels heavier than a chunk of camera that size should.

The SD870 made some slight handling improvements, the most significant being that its body doesn’t have the same slippery finish as the SD850. The earlier model handled like a live, wet fish. The Canon PowerShot SD870 IS still isn’t the easiest camera to handle, though. It is small, speckled with smooth chrome, and doesn’t have much to hang onto.

The multi-selector is slightly bowl-shaped, but not enough to make handling comfortable or navigation flawless. Users with large fingers will have trouble differentiating between the directions on the selector because it is a smooth-sided control. In the Setup menu, the "touch icon" feature can be activated to show which direction the selector is moving on the LCD screen. This is interesting, as it magnifies the icon (e.g. flash bolt) on the pressed side of the virtual selector. Modes can also be changed by caressing the selector like a rotary dial; this doesn’t work nearly as well as it should, but can be done.

The SD870 IS has the same menus included on other Canon PowerShot digital cameras – except they are bigger and more readable on the 3-inch LCD screen. The menu system is split into two: an easily accessible Function menu with the options on one screen, and a lengthier tabbed menu with recording, setup, and customization options. First things first: here is the Function menu.

The Canon PowerShot SD870 IS is fairly simple to use, especially if users are familiar with other PowerShot digital cameras. The layout and menu systems are the same. The large LCD screen makes the menus very easy to read and the buttons are properly spaced and labeled, although the multi-selector is quite cluttered with icons. Handling seems to have been tossed to the wind, but that’s common for tiny portable point-and-shoot digital cameras. All in all, the Canon SD870 isn’t a tough cam to figure out.

On most digital cameras, the Auto mode is easily located on a mode dial, but it’s a little more complicated than that on the Canon SD850 IS. The mode switch must be slid to the far right, where there is a camera icon. This icon is a position for several exposure modes: Auto, Manual, Digital Macro, Color Accent, Color Swap, and Panorama modes are found at the top in the Function menu. The Auto mode is the quickest to scroll to, but still requires entering a menu – which can be intimidating for beginners. In the Auto mode, only image size and compression options are available in the Function menu. On the multi-selector, the ISO can be changed from auto to high ISO auto, the Flash mode switched from auto to off, the single drive changed to any of the Self-Timer modes, and the Macro Focus mode enabled. The Auto mode works well as the almost-all-purpose mode, but the Manual mode is better for situations such as backlit subjects.

The Burst mode on the Canon PowerShot SD870 IS is unchanged from its predecessor. There is a Single Drive mode that takes a picture about every 2 seconds, along with a 1.3 fps Continuous Shooting mode. The performance of the Burst mode is largely dependent on the card put into the camera. When I used a standard SanDisk 512MB SD card, the camera snapped four pictures at its 1.3 fps pace but then started stuttering along at a slightly slower pace. When a Kingston Ultimate 120X 2GB SD card was used for our more formal testing, the camera smoothly shot a picture every 0.75 seconds until the card was filled.

The SD870’s Playback mode is accessible from a button in the upper right corner of the back. It can be pushed even when the camera is turned off, and will turn on directly to the Playback mode in that case. The button access makes it easy to return to shooting pictures by pushing the playback button or the shutter release button.

Pictures can be viewed in screens of nine images at a time and also chosen and magnified 2 to 10x. File information and histograms can be displayed along with pictures. And if the "focus check" feature is enabled in the Recording menu, users can view a magnified portion of the frame alongside the bigger picture on the nice 3-inch LCD.

The selection for erasing and protecting images has been updated on recent PowerShot digital cameras. Older models require users to check individual pictures before deleting them in batches. The Canon SD870, however, allows users to mark the first and last pictures in a series and delete them and everything in between. This is a much faster process.

Overall, the Canon PowerShot SD870 IS’s Playback mode is thorough with lots of ways to view pictures, a decent array of editing options, and great slide shows coupled with the large 3-inch LCD screen.

The Canon PowerShot SD870 IS’s autofocus system isn’t as quick as it should be. It’s a little slow to the draw on candid shots. It takes a few tenths of a second to focus and take a picture, and takes a little longer when the lens is zoomed all the way in. More details on its speed can be found in the Testing/Performance section.

The SD870 IS can focus as close as 1.5 feet normally and 1.2 inches in Macro mode. Macro mode can focus as far as 2 feet before subjects start looking fuzzy. The Digital Macro mode can focus from 1.2 inches to 2 feet. Of note is the autofocus assist beam that can be turned on and off in the Recording menu.

The freshly upgraded face detection system is one of the biggest perks over the SD850, which can only recognize nine faces at a time. Is it worth it? It depends on how often users photograph incredibly large groups of people. The SD870 tracks faces at sharper angles too, instead of only the straight-ahead profile on the SD850.

When the Canon SD870 is tracking faces, it shows a white bracket around the primary face and gray brackets around the secondary ones. The live view doesn’t always show how many faces are truly recognized, though. I snapped several pictures of a large group of people, and on the screen I saw six frames around faces at most. When I looked at the picture in Playback mode, however, more frames would appear. The most I could eek out of the system was 11 recognized faces in one picture.

The Canon PowerShot SD870 IS has an ISO range that remains unchanged from the earlier model. It has 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600 options, along with Auto and High ISO auto modes. Like the SD850, it also has an Auto ISO Shift feature that detects blur and warns the user. Users can instantly up the ISO by having this feature turned on all the time, or activate it by pushing the print/share button. The ISO range maxes out at 1600, but users should be wary of setting it above 80. More details are available in the Testing/Performance section of this review, but there is a lot of noise that appeared in the images when the ISO is increased.

The SD870’s Canon lens is wider and has a nice f/2.8 aperture at its 28mm focal length. However, when the camera is zoomed to its full 3.8x power, the aperture diminishes to f/5.8 and lets only a small amount of light pass to the image sensor. The older Canon SD850 has a narrower lens, with the same f/2.8 max aperture, but shrinks the aperture to f/5.5 in Telephoto mode. Just to compare, the Fujifilm FinePix F50fd’s 3x optical zoom lens has an f/5.1 aperture in Telephoto, and the Kodak EasyShare V705 shrinks to f/4.4 at its 117mm longest focal length.

The Canon PowerShot SD870 IS has 8 megapixels on its 1/2.5-inch CCD. It has plenty of size and compression options easily accessible in the Function menu. Size options include 3264 x 2448, 2592 x 1944, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480, and 3264 x 1832 (widescreen). The 1600 x 1200-pixel size has a "postcard" mode that saves the date in the EXIF data. Compression sizes include Superfine, Fine, and Normal. In Playback mode, users can shrink images to 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480, and 320 x 240 so they can be directly uploaded to blogs and websites or transferred to camera phone albums. The resized files can be saved separately or they can overwrite the original file, depending on which choice is selected in the menu.

Custom Color mode allows users to scroll through different parameters and adjust them in five steps: contrast, sharpness, saturation, red, green, blue, and skin tones. Overall, the Canon SD870’s picture effects are thorough.

The SD870 comes with version 31.0 of Canon’s Digital Camera Solution Disk CD-ROM. This includes ImageBrowser 6.0, PhotoStitch 3.2, and EOS Utility 1.1 for Macintosh and ZoomBrowser EX 6.0, PhotoStitch 3.1, Camera TWAIN Driver 6.8, and EOS Utility 1.1a for Windows. Apple QuickTime 7 is also included on the disk.

Users can also edit video in this software program. Users can merge separate clips into one show and add text, filters, and transition effects. The filters are fairly interesting and include Monochrome, Sepia, Emboss, and RGB adjustment. The Canon SD870 has more color effects in its Playback mode, though.

There is a tab in the Playback menu devoted entirely to creating print orders. Users can select images individually or in ranges and then choose the quantity of each image to print 0 to 99 times. A running tally appears on the LCD screen so users know how large their print order is as they add and sort through pictures. Users can select images by date, category, or folder, and can select all images at once. The print type can be changed from standard to index or both. The date can be turned on and off, as well as the file numbers. The DPOF data can also be cleared. The Canon SD870 has DPOF version 1.1 and is PictBridge compatible. With Canon Pixma, CP, and Selphy printers, it can also create ID photos and movie prints. The camera connects to printers with the included USB cable and can transfer pictures and print orders with the touch of the LED-adorned print/share button.

The Canon PowerShot SD870 IS is powered by the same NB-5L lithium-ion battery pack that came with the SD850. The new SD870’s battery lasts 270 shots, which is decent considering the battery’s skinny size and the LCD’s large size. The camera also comes with a convenient wall-mount charger that takes a little more than two hours to fully revitalize the battery.

Underwater Housing – The Canon WP-DC17 underwater housing fits this camera and can take it to depths of 130 feet. The SD870 accommodates this with an Underwater scene mode.

The Canon PowerShot SD870 IS retails for $399, the same price its predecessor was introduced at. The SD850 came out in the spring, and after a few months the price dropped to slightly more than $300. Perhaps in a few months, the same will happen to the SD870? We hope so. The $399 price tag is just too high, even when considering the large LCD screen and updated face detection.

Canon PowerShot SD850 IS – This digital camera is nearly a twin with its 8 megapixels and similar body size and shape. It is a few tenths of an ounce heavier as its body includes more metal, and its slick surface is harder to handle, too. The SD850 also has optical image stabilization and comes with a longer 4x zoom lens. The lens isn’t as wide, though, at 35-140mm, so it can’t capture large group photos as well as the new model. The SD850 has a smaller 2.5-inch LCD screen but the same 230,000-pixel resolution. It has the same exposure modes and 1.3 fps Burst mode. It has an older version of the face detection technology that recognizes nine faces compared to the newer version’s 35 faces. It has a Creative Light Effect scene mode that allows users to turn highlights in pictures to shapes like hearts and stars. It was announced in spring 2007 for the same $399 tag, but the price has since dropped to slightly more than $300.

Fujifilm FinePix F50*fd* – Fujifilm was the first to introduce true face detection to the masses with the F50*fd,* able to recognize 10 faces at a time. The 12-megapixel digital camera has a 3x optical zoom lens and optical image stabilization. It also has an intelligent flash component that uses the metering to determine how bright the flash output should be. This FinePix has an all-metal body that is nearly the same size, although the Canon has a classier look to it. Still, the F50*fd* has a decent 2.7-inch LCD screen, 15 Scene modes, and more manual control with aperture and shutter speed Priority modes, and IrSimple wireless transfer technology. It accepts xD-Picture and SD memory cards. The Fujifilm FinePix F50*fd* retails for $100 less at $299.

Kodak EasyShare M883 – This 8-megapixel camera comes at a budget price of $199 but has some similar specs. Its all-metal body looks very similar to the SD870, with a flat body and wide chrome lens barrel. It has a shorter 3x optical zoom lens that is much narrower at 38-114mm, and its face detection can only recognize up to 10 faces at a time. The Kodak M883 has a 3-inch LCD screen with 230,000 pixels and high definition output. Its ISO range extends up to 3200, but it skimps on the white balance with only four presets and no Custom mode. There is an extensive list of Scene modes and a Movie mode that records the same 640 x 480 pixels at 30 fps. It has 64 MB of internal memory and a slot for SD and MMC cards.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 – This digital camera isn’t quite as sleek and flat, but is still small enough to fit in a pocket and comes with a 28mm wide, 10x optical zoom and optical image stabilization. It has a bit less resolution at 7.2 megapixels, but handles better and produces colors nearly as accurate. Like the SD870, the TZ3 has a 3-inch LCD screen with 230,000 pixels. It has 21 Scene modes and ISO that extends to 3200, but doesn’t have the face detection so many other cameras are now including. Still, it retails for $349 and can be found for $50 less online.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T200 – This skinny digital camera is crammed with features and comes at the same $399 retail price. The 8.1-megapixel camera has a similar series of Exposure modes, including 10 Scene modes, Auto and Program modes, and a Movie mode. The T200 comes in a thin metal body that is completely flat and very sleek looking. It has a 5x optical zoom lens with image stabilization. Other trendy features include high definition output and face detection that recognizes eight faces at a time. Its Burst mode is faster at 2.2 fps and it includes 31 MB of internal memory, although it requires Sony Memory Stick Duo or Duo Pro media that is generally more expensive than the SD cards other cameras use. The Sony T200 has an enormous 3.5-inch LCD touch screen that would give the SD870 an inferiority complex if sat side-by-side.

Budget Consumers – The SD870 is the newest and latest gadget, and is priced higher than it should be. Budget consumers are better off with PowerShot models that are a few months old, but still great cameras.

The Canon PowerShot SD870 IS offers a few practical upgrades from its predecessor. The 3-inch screen makes it easier to read menus and check pictures. It has a wider 28mm lens that can fit larger portraits. The SD870 also boasts a new face detection system that recognizes up to 35 faces at a time – but how often do users photograph that many people? And in general, the SD870’s autofocus system is a bit pokey. There are few pluses to the camera’s performance, though. Its colors are very accurate and its movies are among the best we’ve seen.

The SD870 keeps the optical image stabilization from the SD850, along with the automated Exposure modes and few manual controls. The specs and features are great, but there is a lot of competition from other manufacturers in this point-and-shoot segment of digital cameras. The Canon PowerShot SD870 IS is a nice digital camera, but its price tag is still on the higher end of what it should be. Perhaps in a few months when Canon releases the next version of this camera (maybe it will recognize 36 faces at a time?), the SD870 IS will be more favorably priced.

Next up in Canon"s new camera frenzy is the Digital IXUS 860 IS, successor to the IXUS 850 IS. If you live in North America that sentence should read: "Next up in Canon"s new camera frenzy is the SD 870IS Digital ELPH, successor to the SD800 IS". Confused yet? You should be. The new model shares its predecessor"s 28-105mm wideangle zoom but ups the sensor resolution to 8.0MP and the screen size to a massive 3.0" (it almost fills the rear of the camera).

Not to be confused with: SD 850 IS (aka IXUS 950 IS, which is different to the SD 950 IS of course). Canon, please sort out your naming of IXUS/ELPH/IXY cameras?

Amstelveen, The Netherlands, 20 August, 2007 - Canon today introduces the latest evolution of the IXUS range of digital cameras for style-conscious photographers: the Digital IXUS 860 IS. Equipped with a 28mm (35mm equivalent) 3.8x wide-angle zoom lens with optical Image Stabilizer, the 8.0 Megapixel Digital IXUS 860 IS is the successor to the hugely popular Digital IXUS 850 IS. The Digital IXUS 860 IS offers a range of enhancements over its acclaimed predecessor. These include a 3.0” PureColor LCD and improved Face Detection Technology*. The camera’s high ISO capabilities work in tandem with an optical Image Stabilizer lens* to significantly reduce the risk of image blur.

The Digital IXUS 860 IS combines enhanced photographic capabilities with luxurious style. The classically curved Digital IXUS 860 IS has a two-tone body that contrasts simple silver lines with bold black elements. The inward curve of the top surface allows a comfortable grip and easy access to the new square button controls. A newly developed 3.0” PureColor LCD screen provides a crisp 230,000 pixel display, with enhanced colour reproduction and a new coating for protection against knocks and scrapes. Offering an increased viewing angle, the

In addition to SD, SDHC and MMC memory cards, the camera supports the new MMCplus and HC MMCplus formats for storage of up to 32GB. The Digital IXUS 860 IS comes supplied with a 32MB memory card.

The SD870 IS (known in Europe as the IXUS 860 IS and in Japan as the IXY Digital 910IS), announced in August, is a replacement for the SD 800 IS (IXUS 850 IS), one of last year"s most popular ultra compacts. It retains the SD800"s optically stabilized 28-105mm (equiv.) zoom lens, making it one of the only cameras in this sector of the market with this useful wideangle capability, and throws a few new or upgraded features into the mix, including improved Face Detection AF and red-eye reduction in playback mode, and Auto ISO shift. The other changes are fairly predictable, with a larger screen and just under one million extra pixels. The highlights of the specification are as follows:

The SD 870 IS is a distinctly gentle revision of the SD800 IS, launched around a year ago. It offers a larger screen than its predecessor but it loses the optical viewfinder to keep the overall body size virtually unchanged. It also gains a higher resolution sensor but loses out in terms of continuous shooting speed, with the frame rate dropping from 1.7fps to 1.3, suggesting the buffer has not been increased. Other noticeable gains include a useful user-definable function button, a touch control wheel and Auto ISO-shift function.

According to the tipster, Oppo Pad will bring an 11-inch LCD screen with 2,560 × 1,600 pixels resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. It’s the same set of display specifications in MatePad 11 and Mi Pad 5 Pro. Further, the leaks suggest that the first Oppo tablet could be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 chipset and packs an 8,080 mAh big battery. It could feature a 13MP rear camera and an 8MP sensor for selfies and video calls. The tablet will pack 6GB RAM and 128GB storage.

Possibly the saddest change with this new model is that Canon omitted an optical viewfinder from the SD870 IS. This was probably done to make room for the larger screen, but it"s an unfortunate compromise. On the upside, Canon spruced up the look of the camera"s back, making it almost identical to the back of the SD750. This includes the newer version of Canon"s multicontroller pad. It"s more responsive than the pad on the SD800 IS, and a raised ring around the edge gives it a better feel. Plus, when you rest your thumb in any particular direction on the pad, a graphic appears on the LCD to show you what you"d do if you press fully. This helps you to keep your eyes on the screen when you have to change a setting while shooting.

Probably the only real ergonomic flaw on the SD870 IS is that there"s no convenient place to rest your thumb. So, while all the shooting controls can be accessed through buttons on the right side of the camera, one-handed shooting can be annoying as you"re forced to put your thumb on top of the right edge of the LCD screen--thereby blocking some of what you"re trying to frame in the picture. Though the camera"s optical image stabilization (hence the IS in the name) should help keep things steady, you may welcome the use of a second hand, since the SD870 IS weighs in at a somewhat hefty 6.4 ounces, with the battery and an SD card installed.

We were very impressed by the SD870 IS"s performance in our lab tests. It took the camera 0.9 second to start up and capture its first JPEG. Thereafter, the camera took 1.6 seconds between subsequent JPEGs with the flash turned off, and 2.4 seconds between JPEGs with the flash turned on. Shutter lag measured a stunning 0.4 second in our high-contrast test and 0.7 second in our low-contrast test, which respectively mimic bright and dim shooting conditions. In our continuous shooting test, the SD870 IS captured 1.3 frames per second regardless of image size or compression.

The PowerShot SD870 IS yields very high-quality images with accurate colors and tons of detail, and which are very clean at lower ISOs. The automatic white balance does a very good job of neutralizing colors in different kinds of lighting, but with incandescent lighting, its images have a very slight warm cast. Some people prefer this, since it gives a natural look, as incandescent lighting does give off a warm glow. However, if you prefer a more neutral look in these situations, the tungsten preset does a great job of serving up neutral images.

Canon keeps ISO noise well under control through ISO 200. You probably won"t notice much in the way of noise even when viewing ISO 200 images on your monitor, which tends to be more revealing of such noise than prints. At ISO 400, noise becomes readily apparent on monitors, but Canon"s noise reduction algorithms manage to smooth it out so it doesn"t take on that fine, snowy look that some cameras--including some older Canons--tend toward. Plus, most of this noise should become minimized when making inkjet prints. At ISO 800, noise is much more apparent and should show up in prints, but Canon does a good job of preserving some fine detail, and images show impressive shadow detail for such high sensitivity in a compact camera. Images at ISO 1,600 are very noisy with the SD870 IS, showing large, grainy noise. Most fine detail is lost, giving images a soft look, and a large portion of shadow detail goes by the wayside. Still, given that this camera has a small sensor, the results are somewhat impressive. The images may be usable for small prints, or for use at small sizes on the Web.

Canon"s PowerShot SD870 IS is a worthy addition to the company"s Digital Elph line. Experienced photographers looking for a pocket camera will lament the fact that the camera doesn"t have any manual exposure controls, but if you don"t feel the need to tinker with your camera"s settings and aren"t caught up in the pointless megapixel race, you"ll likely be very pleased with this point-and-shoot.