Canon digital camera SD300

Generally stellar performance figures, great NB-4L battery life, and an ultracompact design will score points for the Canon PowerShot SD300 with the point-and-shoot crowd, but its lack of manual controls, limited selection of scene modes, and anemic flash put a crimp in this Digital Elph's versatility. Minimovie fans will love the ability to shoot continuous high-quality clips limited only by memory card capacity, as well as the unusual 60-frames-per-second slow-motion mode.

What's in the Box?

The PowerShot SD300 has an average bundle. Inside the box, you'll find:

• The 4.0 effective Megapixel Canon PowerShot SD300 Digital ELPH camera


• 16MB Secure Digital card


• NB-4L lithium-ion battery


• Battery charger


• Wrist strap


• USB cable


• A/V cable


• CD-ROM featuring Canon Digital Camera Solutions, ArcSoft Camera Suite, and drivers


• 177 page camera manual + software manual (both printed)

Canon includes a 16MB Secure Digital (SD) card with the camera. That holds just six photos at the highest quality setting, so I'd advise that you buy a larger memory card right away. I'd say 128MB is a good starting size. The camera can use SD or MMC cards, though I'd advise against the latter. The camera takes advantage of high speed SD cards, and one is recommended if you plan on using the VGA movie mode.

The SD300 uses the brand new NB-4L lithium-ion rechargeable battery. This small battery packs a paltry 2.8 Wh of energy, which translates to 140 photos per charge using the CIPA battery life standard. I figure that's around (or maybe a tiny bit below) average for small cameras like this. Doing a little extrapolation, I figure that battery life is about 10% worse on the SD300 than on the S410, which had a more powerful battery.

My usual complaints about proprietary batteries like the one used by the SD300 apply here. They're expensive ($50 a pop), and you can't put in a set of alkalines to get you through the rest of the day like you could with an AA-based camera.

When it's time to recharge, just drop the battery into the included charger. This is my favorite style of charger -- it plugs right into the wall (yes, I know some don't like this). It takes about ninety minutes to fully charge the battery.

There are a just two accessories available for the SD300. The most interesting one is the AW-DC30 all-weather case ($149). This lets you take the ELPH up to 3 m / 9.8 ft underwater -- great for pools and snorkeling, not so great for scuba. The only other accessory that I can find is the ACK-DC10 AC adapter kit, which lets you power the camera without draining your batteries.

Canon includes version 21 of their excellent Digital Camera Solutions software with the SD300. Included in this package are ZoomBrowser (for Windows) or ImageBrowser (for Mac), PhotoStitch (for making panoramic photos), plus TWAIN and WIA drivers for Windows. Zoom/ImageBrowser can be used for downloading images from your camera, basic editing of your photos, and photo printing.

ArcSoft Camera Suite 1.3 is also included with the SD300, which contains VideoImpression and PhotoImpression for Mac and PC. Although it has a quirky interface, there are some useful tools in this easy-to-use software.

Recent Canon camera manuals have been more complex than earlier ones,and canon NB-4L's capacity higher. but they're still above average. The SD300's manual is complete, but expect lots of "notes" and fine print.

While you can operate the PowerShot SD300 with one hand, a two-handed grip makes it easier to work the zoom lever, which is concentric with the top-mounted shutter-release button. A recessed on/off button and a green power LED are the only other adornments on the top surface. The major controls are concentrated on the right side of the back panel, which is dominated by a brightness-adjustable 2-inch LCD viewfinder. A three-way sliding switch lets you select recording, movie mode, or playback, and three other buttons provide access to the three-page menu system (with shooting, setup, and customization options), display options (status info, no info, and monitor off), and print/share features.

As with other point-and-shoot Canons, most shooting settings are taken care of by the four-way cursor pad with embedded OK/Function button. For example, pressing the Up button switches between spot, center-weighted, and evaluative metering; Down selects single-shot mode, burst mode, or the self-timer. The left key cycles through Normal, Landscape, and macro focus modes, while the right button selects a flash mode.

The PowerShot SD300's modest feature set includes most of the basics, starting with a 35mm-to-115mm 3X zoom lens (35mm-film-camera equivalent) with a nine-point autofocus system that's accurate down to 1.2 inches in macro mode. Only six scene modes are available, which is a modest selection in the current market. However, they're generally useful and include a Digital Macro option that fills the frame with the center of the image to provide the equivalent of digital zoom in close-up mode. Other scene modes include Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, and Underwater, which you can use with an optional marine housing. Unfortunately, there's no sports scene mode nor any way to manually control shutter speeds, which seriously limits this camera's excellent 3fps burst mode.

A weakling built-in flash unit, a nonlive histogram that can be viewed only in playback mode, and a jerky zoom lens that was difficult to set precisely are among the PowerShot SD300's other annoyances.

On the plus side, this Elph's movie capabilities are outstanding and include in-camera editing features. You can shoot 640x480 clips with monaural sound at 30fps for as long as your memory card holds out with an optional high-speed SD card and a strong power NB-4L battery, as well as 60fps clips for up to 60 seconds at 320x240 resolution.

Some other ultra compact cameras worth considering include the Casio Exilim EX-Z50 and EX-Z55, Fuji FinePix F440, Konica Minolta DiMAGE X50 and G600, Nikon Coolpix 4200, Olympus AZ-2 Zoom and Stylus Verve, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX7, Pentax Optio S5i, and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T1.

If you don't mind losing a Megapixel of resolution, the Canon PowerShot SD200 is similar to the SD300.

As always, I recommend a trip down to your local reseller to try out the PowerShot SD300 and its competitors before you buy!