The Canon PowerShot SD780IS was introduced to the US market early March 2009 and has many great features. It is the slimmest digital ELPH Canon has produced so far but its small body packs a real punch. The term ‘ELPH’, before you ask, is a combination of the word ‘elf’ (for a camera that is small and magical) and the word ‘photograph.’ Besides being memorable marketing, the use of a non-standard spelling of ‘elf’ makes it a defensible trademark.
The camera comes in four colors, black, silver, gold and deep red. It is a 12.1 MP digital camera with a 2.5 inch LCD and a 3x optical image stabilized zoom. As already stated it is the slimmest ELPH Canon has produced with a width of 0.7 inches. Combined with a width and height of just 3.4 and 2.1 inches and weighing in at 4.2 ounces, it really is small.
Looking briefly at some of the highlights of this camera we can see that it has: HD movie shooting capability and HDMI output. This lets you record video in beautiful high definition (1280 x 720 pixels). You can then enjoy your movie, and still pics as well, on your HDTV by using the mini-HDMI connector with no degradation of the image.
By setting the Canon Powershot SD780 IS to smart auto the camera automatically selects an appropriate setting from 18 specially defined settings. You just have to concentrate on shooting the picture, Canon technology will take care of the rest.
A Face Detection Self-Timer automatically detects an increase in the number of faces and makes the appropriate adjustments. So if you are taking a group photo and want to include the yourself, just put the camera on a tripod and select Face Detection Self Timer. The camera will now wait for the your face to move into the frame before it takes the perfectly focused shot.
This is possible because of the advanced DIGIC 4 image processor on board the camera. This delivers evolved Face Detection Technology that keeps every face in every photo looking its very best. The technology finds and tracks the faces of moving subjects until you’re ready to shoot, then delivers perfect focus.
Ref eye correction is not new but the Canon Powershot SD780IS provides three options for removing red eye from your flash photographs. Firstly red eye is detected and corrected during shooting, secondly the camera can be set to automatically detect and correct red-eye during image playback. Finally you can manually locate any red eyes in a scene during image playback on the LCD screen, and command the camera to remove them.
Another piece of technology on board the PowerShot SD780IS is iSAPS. This is an original scene recognition technology developed for digital cameras by Canon. Using an internal database of thousands of different photos, iSAPS works with the advanced DIGIC 4 Image Processor to improve focus speed and accuracy, as well as exposure and white balance.
This camera has other great features apart from those touched on here. All in all Canon are doing their best with this camera to make it as easy as possible for you to take great photos and videos each and every time. It fits easily into a purse or shirt pocket ready to shoot video and capture images at a seconds notice.
