Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS

Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS

Priced at $330, the Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS design features a 1/2.3-inch CCD image sensor at its core. Effective resolution is 14.1 megapixels, and sensitivity ranges between ISO 80 and ISO 1,600 equivalents. In front of the SD3500's image sensor, Canon has placed a 5x optical zoom lens with actual focal lengths of 4.3 to 21.5mm, equivalent to a range of 24mm to 120mm on a 35mm camera - a generous wide angle to a moderate telephoto. Maximum aperture varies from f/2.8 to f/5.9 across the zoom range. Helpfully, Canon has included a true optical image stabilization system in the SD3500 IS, which combats blur from camera shake.


Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS

The Canon SD3500 IS lacks any form of optical or electronic viewfinder, with all interaction taking place through its rear-panel LCD display. The PowerShot SD3500's display has a 3.5-inch diagonal, and offers 461,000 dot resolution. LCD coverage is said to be approximately 100%. As well as still images at resolutions up to 4,320 x 3,240 pixels, the Canon SD3500 can record high definition 720p (1,280 x 720) or standard definition movie clips at either VGA (640 x 480) or QVGA (320 x 240) resolution, with a rate of 30 frames per second in Motion JPEG AVI format, and including monaural audio.


Exposures are calculated using the Canon SD3500's evaluative metering system, which also offers center-weighted average and spot modes. No manual control over the look of images is provided, with the Canon PowerShot SD3500 instead providing a choice of Auto, Program Auto, and sixteen scene modes. These include Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Smart Shutter*, Low Light, Color Accent, Color Swap, Fisheye Effect, Miniature Effect, Creative Light Effect, Beach, Foliage, Snow, Fireworks, and Long Shutter. Seven white balance modes are available, including Auto, five presets, and manual. The PowerShot SD3500 IS has a seven mode flash strobe with a range of 1.6 to 11 feet at wide angle, or 3.0 to 6.6 feet at telephoto.

The Canon PowerShot SD3500IS stores images and movies on Secure Digital, SDHC or SDXC cards. Connectivity options include mini-HDMI high definition or NTSC / PAL standard definition composite video and USB 2.0 High Speed data. Power comes courtesy of a proprietary NB-6L lithium-ion rechargeable battery, rated as good for a battery life of 220 shots.