Canon PowerShot SD890 IS features quite a nice zoom for a compact point-and-shoot digital camera, Optical Image Stabilization, 10 Megapixel CCD and much more.
Intro:
Canon SD890 is yet another compact digital camera aimed at beginners or point-and-shoot photographers which makes it also perfect for a small family. Canon SD890 has 2.5-inch LCD display, good battery life and supports plenty of memory card types.
Canon SD890 pros:
+ Very good photo quality (for this class of cameras)
+ 5X optical zoom in a compact, stylish body
+ Optical image stabilization
+ Snappy performance
+ Optical viewfinder, seldom seen in this class
+ Redeye not a problem thanks to automatic removal tool
+ Well implemented face detection feature
+ Movie mode supports VGA quality clips up to 1 hour
+ Good battery life
+ USB 2.0 support
Canon SD890 cons:
- Images are on the noisy side in low light
- Some corner blurring
- LCD hard to see when wearing polarized sunglasses
- Slow flash recharging
- Difficult to access power button
- More manual controls would be welcome
The design:
Canon SD890 measures 95.4 x 57.2 x 27.4 mm and weights 155 grams. The camera is made primarily of metal so it feels really solid and tough so there’s no worries that inattentive usage may break it quickly. The Canon SD890 feels really good in hand and everything about the design would be OK if it wasn’t for the battery and memory card compartment door which is of noticeably lower quality.
On the top of Canon SD890 you will find the AF-assist lamp and next to it the little optical viewfinder. Looking from the back, next to the viewfinder are indicator lights and the power button which might be slightly difficult to push for people with bigger fingers. On the bottom is the battery compartment door, together with the tripod mount. In the picture below you can see what the mode dial and buttons at the back of Canon SD890 look like.
Performance:
Canon SD890 is a solid performer. In a recent review of anther compact point-and-shoot camera I complained at the 3x zoom in Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W300. Fortunately, Canon SD890 features 5x optical zoom. Moreover, the Canon SD890 has a very good Face Detection system detecting up to 9 faces and automatically adjusting the white balance, focus and exposure. The camera has also Red-Eye Reduction system working at all times to prevent the well-known to compact cameras phenomenon. With the flash off you can take a photo once every 1.5 second until you run out of space on your memory card. With the flash on this does not look so good but the Canon SD890 performs quite well for a compact camera. The overall image quality is very good, the images are sharp, with vivid colours and very detailed except only for low light. However, such compact cameras are never good low light performers due to their small lenses.
Menus / ease of use:
Canon SD890 has slightly too little configurable features. I mean, sure it is not a camera aimed at professionals who might want to spend half an hour setting everything just to take one photo, but for more ambitious amateurs a few more options would be nice. On the other hand, because of the limited customization the Canon SD890 is really easy to use, so you will have to decide for yourself what is more important to you – the ease of use or the customization.
Key Canon SD890 features and specifications:
ensor
• 1/2.3 ” Type CCD
• 10.0 million effective pixels
Image sizes
• 3648 x 2736
• 3648 x 2048
• 2816 x 2112
• 2272 x 1704
• 1600 x 1200
• 640 x 480
• 320 x 240
Movie clips
• 640 x 480 (30 fps)
• 320 x 240 (30 fps)
• 160 x 120 (15 fps)
File formats
• JPEG (Exif 2.2)
• AVI (Motion JPEG + WAVE mono)
• WAVE (mono)
Lens
• 6.6 – 33.0 mm
• 37 – 185 mm (35mm equivalent)
Image stabilization
Yes, lens-shift
Conversion lenses
With optional adapter
Digital zoom
Yes
Focus
TTL 9-point with Face detection
AF area modes
• AiAF (9-point / Face detection)
• Single center point
• Face detection and track
AF assist lamp
Yes
Focus distance
2 cm in Macro
Metering
• Evaluative (Linked to Face detection AF frame)
• Center-weighted
• Spot (Center)
ISO sensitivity
• Auto
• Hi ISO Auto (Incorporating Motion Detection)
• 80
• 100
• 200
• 400
• 800
• 1600
Exposure compensation
+/- 2 EV in 1/3 EV steps
Shuttter speed
• 1/60 – 1/1600 sec (Auto mode)
• 15 – 1/1600 sec (Depending on shooting mode)