The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS Digital Camera --- A Wonderful New Elph
Written: Apr 01 '09
Product Rating:
Ease of Use:
Durability:
Battery Life:
Photo Quality:
Shutter Lag
Pros: 14.7 Megapixel, very affordable price, vivid LCD screen, long battery life, superb images
Cons: none
The Bottom Line: The Canon SD990 is an excellent digital camera that is easy to use and presents beautiful images in the blink of an eye. Highly recommended.
three_ster's Full Review: Canon PowerShot SD990 IS / Digital IXUS 980 IS Dig...
Review of the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS Digital Camera (Digital Elph in Black)
After getting to play with the Nikon Coolpix S610 for a while I came to the conclusion that I really wanted an upgraded digital camera, and after perusing the internet came across the Canon PowerShot SD990. The Canon SD990 is one of the digital cameras in the “Elph” line that Canon sells, and one of the more recent models that the company has produced. There were a couple of main things that attracted me to the Canon PowerShot SD990, and those were the small size to the camera, the nice LCD screen, and above everything else, the 14.7 Megapixel rating for the camera. Everything really fell into place when I found the camera selling through Dell for a discounted price of $309.99 that allowed me to purchase it on my Dell Premier Account. I bought the camera, along with a 4GB SDHC Flash Memory Card and a 1 year accidental damage protection plan for less than $400 total, and have come away very happy with my purchase.
The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS Digital Camera
The look at feel of the Canon SD990 is quite spectacular, and immediately I was very impressed with its design. The lightweight feel of the camera, coupled with a lot of extra features have turned it into one of the best portable digital cameras I have ever used. The front of the camera has the lens, viewing port, and flash, with the lens being able to retract into the camera when not in use. The top of the camera has two buttons, consisting of the on/off button as well as the “shoot” button to take pictures or start up videos. A rotating toggle around the top button allows you to zoom in and out of your image, taking full advantage of the 4x digital zoom. The optical zoom for the camera is 3.7x, and even been you use the lens, the picture remains clear both on the LCD screen and after the pictures have been taken. The back of the camera reveals equally easy to use buttons, which include a toggle for the modes and functions that you want to use, the playback button and buttons for the display and the menu. The ports for the camera are on the right side, and the battery and memory card go into the bottom of the camera. It is all presented in a nice compact vision, and is also quite sleek to the viewing eye even when it is not in use.
Specs for the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS
The best feature that the SD990 has to offer is the 14.7 Megapixel resolution. It is the highest level that I have used on a digital camera, and I have to say that the resulting images are so crystal clear that I could almost swear I was watching HD television through my digital camera. Having the ability to work with 14,700,000 effective pixels is pretty extraordinary, and it is just accentuated with the 4x digital zoom on the camera. The SD990 has a built-in flash that works on many of the different settings, and seems to have a long range within which the flash is very effective. The auto-focus is helped along with a 3.7x optical zoom, and a built-in lens shield when the camera is turned off, or when you are viewing images. The LCD display on the back of the camera is 2.5 inches in diameter, shown in vivid color imagery that works even better after the flash has been added to images. There is also a built-in microphone on the camera, so when you are shooting images, you can pick up sounds around the location. There are 16 different shooting programs that include portrait mode and night snapshot just to name a couple, and the camera tosses in 11 extras special effects features that include black & white photos as well as vivid coloring to the image. As a point and click digital camera, many of these different programs can be used to the full advantage of the user, and while it may take a little while to learn all the specs, the camera is very easy to learn.
Using the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS
The SD990 was ready to go right out of the box, and as soon as I had slipped the battery into the camera, I was ready to take pictures. The manual suggests fully charging the battery before the first use to get optimal results, but I was slightly impatient the first time, and found that the battery had enough charge to put it to good use. Working with a rechargeable battery, the camera easily allows for 200+ photos to be taken before needing a charge, and really seems to conserve a lot of energy when you are just viewing images you have taken. In that regard, the SD990 got extremely high points from me, because it allows me to go a while between charges of the battery. If you are just taking photos intermittently, you can expect weeks from the camera before the next charge is required. Taking the first picture will be a treat for any user, and every image after that will give you a high quality that will make you never want to go back to a camera with a lower Megapixel rating. The images come through extremely clear on the vividly presented LCD screen, and can be reviewed right away by clicking on the playback button on the back. The picture can be taken almost immediately, with the exception of being in a darker area, where the camera wants to focus on a facial feature before taking the image. I have always found the camera to be extremely responsive, and as soon as it is turned on, it is ready to take a picture without any lag time. A short lag time does exist between images though, as once you take the first picture it is displayed on the LCD screen before resetting itself for the next use.
The auto focus on the SD990 is very helpful, because it means that when you are moving the camera around while in use, it is constantly working to set up the perfect image for you to shoot. The facial recognition software in the camera makes it easy to shoot human subjects as well, because it already knows which areas of the picture to focus on and where to send the flash. In regards to the flash, I have found it to be exemplary in its use, working in the very dimmest of rooms to provide enough light for a great image, and make it almost appear as if you had lights in the room already. The flash has worked in excess of 10 feet in distance from the object, with what I believe to be a slight distortion of the images when it gets closer to 20 feet in distance from the camera. That’s a pretty good area where the flash works great, and I should also note that anything fewer 10 feet also looks great. Both with the flash and without, the camera does a great job at avoiding distortion in its images and providing great angles to every photo you take. Really I only have great things to say about the image quality of the SD990, and I have found that it does a great job at making sure that the user is getting the exact image that they are looking for. Shooting videos with the camera is equally as impressive, as you can take full advantage of the color quality, as well as the nice microphone that picks up all the sounds in the room. Filming something you can stop the video and start up a new video almost instantaneously, all with the ability to go back and edit your videos when you are done with them.
Final Thoughts on the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS
Using the Canon SD990 has really been a piece of cake, and I am really glad that I took the risk at purchasing one of them. I have been very impressed with the 14.7 megapixel rating for the camera, and equally impressed with the images I have been presented with. The camera works quickly enough for me to take repeated pictures in comfort, and I really love how easy it is to take videos using the movie mode. I also really like the vivid LCD screen, but at 2.5 inches in diameter, some potential users may find this to be a little on the small side. I know I have used larger ones, but I haven’t seen the need to go back to a larger one if the image you are being presented is so clear to the naked eye. Taking pictures of people has also become much easier with this camera, and taking advantage of the facial recognition as well as the auto focus has made me look like an expert photographer. If I had it to do all over again, I would purchase the camera in a heartbeat, and have found it to be well worth the $400.00 in total that I paid for the camera, memory card, and warranty. The camera does come with a 32mb memory card, but it doesn’t help you out very much unless you are taking a couple of images and uploading them to your computer right away. To put it in perspective the 32mb card would be filled with about a 20 second video on the movie mode. Keeping that in mind, you will need to factor in buying a new memory card with your purchase. When it comes down to it though, you will love having a camera like this in the house.
Recommendation for the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS
I highly recommend the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS digital camera, and speak from experience when I say that this is one of the best portable digital cameras I have ever used. It is small and built for traveling, as autofocus modes to make picture taking easy, comes with a great LCD screen, is a 14.7 Megapixel camera, and is one of the easiest cameras to use. Lightweight, and very affordable at many stores, this is a digital camera that anyone would be happy to own.
Recommended:
Yes
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