With some high-profile, heavily hyped siblings around, it's easy for the Canon PowerShot SD770 IS to get overlooked. Sitting between exciting new interface designs and lots of new technology in the SD790 and 890, and the budget bomber SD1100 IS – follow-up to a camera that was on just about everyone's "best value" list – a close inspection of the SD770's spec sheet reveals it to be a bit of an odd duck. For a new camera, there's very little new here.
BUY the Canon PowerShot SD770 IS (black)
On this score, though, the PowerShot SD770 has the potential to be an example of what Canon often does extremely well in its mid-level models: building comparatively simple point-and-shoots that draw on a proven collection of components and technologies. There may not be lots of awe-inspiring surprises waiting to be unearthed in the SD770's performance, but it's a reasonably safe bet that there won't be too many nasty ones lurking beneath the surface either.
FEATURES OVERVIEW
The Canon PowerShot SD770 IS is an ultracompact point-and-shoot with a 3x zoom lens and a 10.0 megapixel CCD imager. Functionally, the camera builds on Canon's legacy of placing lower-cost, lower-spec SD models in the 700 series. Stylistically, the camera is hyped as a return to the classic "box and circle" look of Canon's long-running ELPH compacts – a series of cameras that has roots all the way back in the dark ages of APS film (or, if you missed the irony, the mid-1990s).
The original ELPH (like the current Digital ELPH models, also known as the IXUS in Europe) was something of an engineering marvel in 1996, staking a claim as the smallest auto focus zoom camera at the time of its release. The ELPH lineage, which morphed into the Digital ELPH around 2000 and has come to be embodied in the PowerShot SD line, has continued to include Canon's latest ultracompact technology in its flagship models. But the SD770 represents a return to much of what the original ELPH was: a simple, pocketable camera built with no-frills snapshot capture in mind.
Yet at its core the SD770 is all modern. DIGIC III processing, optical image stabilization, and copious resolution form the technological backbone around which this compact is built. Though the SD770 gives up some of the higher-end models' more flashy soft features (face detection tools in playback, for instance), the benefits of upgraded processing – like improved speed all around, as well as Canon's nifty face tracking technology – are all here.
Sporting a three-position switch (with stops for playback, movie mode, and regular still-image shooting) and no physical mode dial, the SD770 takes a menu-based selection approach common among previous cameras in this line. The system is fluid, it works seamlessly, and if you're moving up from another Canon, your hands should feel right at home with the newest PowerShot.
As with many compact cameras these days, how many basic shooting modes the SD770 offers depends largely on what you define as "basic." Several options that most of us would classify as scene presets are included in the SD770's top-level shooting modes listing. At its most basic (as I define it, anyway), the Canon provides the following options:
Among the scene presets listed in the master group are Canon's usual Color Accent and Color Swap modes (which provide some interesting special effects to play around with), Night Snapshot and Portrait presets, and a Digital Macro Mode (basically, an employment of digital zoom in conjunction with macro focusing distances).
While the list looks a little confused, the only truly arcane bit in this whole modes arrangement involves accessing the scene presets that aren't listed in the top-level grouping: you have to thumb past the presumably less-used Digital Macro, Color Swap, and Color Accent stops to get to the scene selection; once you get there, you also have to know that it takes pressing the "DISP" button to call up the list of presets. There's an on-screen hint to this effect, but it's subtle and may get overlooked initially.
While the playback menu is a pretty boring place on the SD770 compared to some of its competitors (you might call it "refreshingly simple" if you're of a different mind, however...), one bit of wizardry here is the incorporation of an orientation sensor. Want to view those portrait-orientation images using the full screen? Simply rotate the camera to portrait orientation; a sensor recognizes which way is up, and adjusts the image accordingly. Now there's a truly handy implementation of auto-adjustment technology.
For a detailed listing of specs and features, take a look at the specs table found at the bottom of the review.
FORM, FIT, AND FEEL
If Canon's phalanx of stylistically aggressive new SD models represents where the company is heading from a design standpoint, the SD770 makes an equal nod to where the Digital ELPH models came from. With squared off basic shapes, a familiar control arrangement, and the SD-signature prominent lens bezel, the SD770 joins the SD1100 as far and away the most "ELPH-like" of Canon's current SD offerings.
Styling and Build Quality
Construction of the SD770 feels extremely solid. The camera's lightly sculpted rectangular shape combines with a dense, thick overall feeling that suggests quality.
The SD770's brushed metal case is the same regardless of whether you choose the silver or black color option: only the color of lens bezel changes. From a purely stylistic perspective, I much prefer the balance of brushed metal and chrome that our silver version exhibits.
Surrounding the large-for-an-ultracompact shutter release button, the zoom toggle's raised center point makes the rotating switch easy to actuate in either direction with a single finger.
Out back, buttons and switches are all nice and large, with a gray matte finish and solid press/slide feel all around.
In reviewing the SD890, I commented on how much I appreciated Canon's thoughtful integration of the A/V port cover into the total visual scheme of the camera. The same applies here: a chromed finish tops the rubberized port cover, blending seamlessly with the surrounding finish.
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