Canon Powershot A1100 Review
Posted on 09/07/2009
The Canon A1100 is a satisfying point-and-shoot camera that should suit just about anyone. By Brenda Paro
Canon A1100 Pros
- Smooth operation
- Quick, capable zoom
- Excellent image quality
Canon A1100 Cons
- No full manual mode
The Canon Powershot A1100 IS gives you great image quality and user-friendly controls, plus a ton of features and modes that let you control the final look of your images... but, it's still simple enough for beginners to use. All of this is packed into a pocket-sized, durable body with a large, bright LCD, a built-in viewfinder, and a 4x optical zoom. What more could you want, you might ask? The answer is: pretty much nothing. Having handled quite a few cameras while writing these reviews, I'm comfortable saying that the A1100 IS would be a satisfying buy for almost anyone.
Design
The Powershot series has just gotten better and better over time, and it seems like all the things that make it good—the great low-light imaging, the intuitive menus, and the flexible controls—are combined inside this particular model. The body of the A1100 is slim and portable, yet not so small that you end up with your fingers all over the screen, or tripping onto the wrong buttons when you try to navigate the controls. One end of the camera body is slightly thicker, which gives you a comfortable grip while keeping the profile slim. The body comes in a range of color options, too. While it's not the titanium build that some cameras are boasting nowadays, it still feels durable, and is lightweight enough to be your go-to travel camera.
In terms of controls, the buttons are laid out in much the same manner as all other Powershots, with a control dial up top and a four-way controller on back. The built-in viewfinder is a major bonus for those who are used to shooting through more advanced cameras, or for use in bright light where the LCD of any camera would likely become useless.
Performance
Canon has loaded the A1100 with the DIGIC 4 processor, and it shows: image quality, even in low light, is clear and low-noise. A host of fun options are included, which I didn't really test out because I know how they work, but if you want them, they're there: Face Detection (including on the self timer), Motion Detection (tracks moving objects to reduce blur), Red Eye Correction, etc. Twelve megapixels is probably a bit of overkill, but I'm not complaining: the important thing is that the image quality is excellent. The camera also has Easy mode, which is exactly like Auto but disables every function except for shooting and turning the flash on and off, so that even beginning users can't mess up the photo.
The Scene Modes are also the usual line-up of suspects, with Indoors, Foliage, Snow, etc. The most-often used, such as Indoors and Kids / Pets, are located on the dial itself rather than under the Scene setting, which means they're more quickly accessible (a handy feature). Pretty much the only option missing from the A1100 is a full manual mode, and frankly, most people dealing with a pocket camera like this don't want one anyhow. If you do happen to be someone who likes to control the fine details of the shot, the Program mode should be enough to satisfy your cravings, at least in terms of a pocket camera—it lets you control settings like ISO, white balance, and metering (spot, center-weighted, and evaluative are all available).
The A1100 has speedy, smooth operation, with a quick zoom and capable, accurate focus lock. The only time I ran into trouble was during use of the self timer... for some reason, the camera produced a whole range of blurry photos before finally locking in. To be fair, I was shooting a low-contrast subject, and without me behind the camera to half-push the shutter button and lock focus, it just didn't go too well. As with any digital camera, half-pushing that button and ensuring that the camera knows where it's supposed to be focusing is highly recommended and gives you better results.
Conclusion
What it really comes down to when reviewing a camera is image quality and usability, and the A1100 excels in both areas. Final images are satisfying, with realistic colors and sharp focus; menus make sense, and the camera is comfortable and simple to use, with enough flexibility for users from beginner to advanced. With so many factors that have to come together to make a "good" digital camera, the all-around capability of the A1100 is worth noting. It's a good buy.
Canon Powershot A1100 IS Comments & Questions (write your own!)
Dell and BuyDig have it at $190.
NextTag price tracker shows the price may just be starting to decrease this month.
Good luck shopping.
In our lab tests, the A1100 had an excellent overall image quality score for its price category, though it dropped to the middle of the pack in our sharpness ratings. While I used the A1100, I couldn't find any discernible distortion, vignetting, or chromatic aberration. One of the nicest things about the A1100 is its low noise. Shooting at up to ISO 400 is surprisingly clean--and even at ISO 800 and 1600 in low light, results remain very usable.
For $200, the PowerShot A1100 provides strong performance. If you're looking for a good-quality entry-level camera, you should definitely consider this model.
I think the main complaints these folks have is the price for what Canon is offering. The A1100 only offers a 4X Optical zoom and runs $200 and isn't a huge upgrade over the A1000. The A1000 runs $125 offer the same Optical zoom but only 10 MP instead of 12 MP. The other Key advantage the A1100 has over the A1000 is the A1100 can shoot at 2 FPS where as the A1000 shoots at 1.3 FPS. So the question you need to be asking is the 2 MP more and the faster burst mode shooting worth the extra $65.
I am actually a huge fan of the Canon A Series for hiking. The Camera has the perfect form factor to be slipped into a coat/jacket pocket and pulled out. It has a view finder (Most cameras in this form factor have opted to do away with the view finder) and offers a good deal of control over shots. The only thing I don't like that Canon has done with the A Series is its AiAf system... which I despise... not a huge problem as it can be turned off. The other thing I don't like about the A series is the power drain.... You can get around that by using higher mAh batteries.
Lets be honest about the MP here. Adding more MPs to that small of a sensor is not going to improve image quality that much (its going to introduce noise and actually degrade image quality in low light) and most users for this type of camera are not going to print larger than 8 X 10 so really more MP than 8-10 at 300 dpi is not going to be that helpful. To further complicate it if you are just posting on the web or putting photos on the more affordable digital frames then exceeding 5 MP is waste of MP, as the Screen's resolution won't go that high. The exception to this is if you are going to fiddle greatly with your shots in your image processing software- AKA Photoshop.
The SX110 is a little larger but also still fits into a coat pocket. It only has 9 MP sensor but has a 10X Optical zoom instead of a 4X optical zoom. It also only shoots at 1.3 FPS and will run you a little more about $30-$40.
The SD1100 will run you about 30-40 less and will only give you 3X optical zoom 1.2 FPS and 8 MP but gives better picture quality.
Picture quality is a combination of the quality of glass on your camera, Sensor (Size and design) quality, Focus, and Noise Reduction techniques applied by the camera. Picture quality is extremely important when you drop the dpi to 250 or 200 and becomes drastically important when you increase the Image size in your Image editing software. Any fuzz or aberration (Eg fuzzy or purpled edges) becomes very noticeable when you do these things. You would do this to get a larger print.
BTW, John. I can already tell that not only will I learn a lot from you, but will enjoy collaborating with you on many a question. Welcome aboard.
The weather in Alaska is a low of 40 and usually high in the 60's, no real freezing temperature. I'm not familiar the Olympus, I've only
owned Canon cameras. I'm still a little confused about choosing the correct camera for my trip. I have considered the SX110, but
personal reviews state problems with low light pictures.
The thing to remember is that sharpness is a combination of both acutance (The difference between brightness levels at edges) and resolution. More light sensitivity leads to higher acutance. More MP with small Sensor size with traditional CCD leads to less light sensitivity.
Pat
It may also be underpowered batteres - use batts with an mAh of at least 2500. Also, clean your battery contacts with a pencil eraser.
If none of this works, then recommend you contact Canon for a warranty repair.
But what you can do is head over to this resource ( imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP... ). It takes pictures with each and you can compare them side by side.
I can not find any info in the booklet that covers this.
But also, try cycling your camera on/off five or six times. It may be that the lens was jarred last time you used it and it came out of alignment. Cycling the camera on/off will get the lens moving and it may work it's way back into alignment. Here's another solution that the Canon website recommends - Solution
Check the following when you operate the camera to avoid applying pressure to the lens and surrounding area:
* Hold the camera so that your fingers do not touch the lens unit when you are shooting.
* Make sure the camera is off before the camera is placed back in the case. Exercise caution to ensure that the camera does not accidentally power on while the camera is stored inside the case.
If you cannot clear the error code by turning the camera off and then on again, or if the error code is displayed frequently, a camera malfunction may have occurred.
But if that doesn't cut it, then a repair is in order and you should get it in while your warranty is in force.
Most included software packages are usually not that good.
When using the [Self-Timer], you can set a 10-second or 2-second delay for shooting after the shutter button is pressed. This section describes how to set and cancel the [Self-Timer].
attention:
* As the actual locations of buttons / switches on cameras vary depending on the camera model, the illustrations that appear on this page may differ from your camera.
* Screens or menu listings may differ depending on the camera model being used.
* The following explanations are provided based on the assumption that the [Shooting Mode] is set to [Program AE] ().
Setting Self-Timer to 10 seconds or 2 seconds
1. Press the <Power> button on the camera.
2. Press the <Self-Timer> button ().
3. Operate the <directional buttons> to select [10 sec. Self-Timer] () or [2 sec. Self-Timer] ().
Confirm that the [Self-Timer] setting you selected appears.