Canon PowerShot SD700 IS review

The SD700 IS's quick and responsive performance hits the right note. A shutter lag of 0.5 second in bright light and 0.8 second in dim light are about average for an ultracompact, but its 1.5-second time to first shot and 1.6-second shot-to-shot time definitely rise above the crowd. Even with the onboard flash enabled, shot-to-shot time rose to only 1.9 seconds. And it keeps up the pace in continuous-shooting mode--about 2.1fps in burst mode for an effectively unlimited number of shots.

Though it's the first SD-series Digital Elph to use Canon's optical image stabilization system, the SD700 IS does a very good job of minimizing blur. Zoomed-in photos look crisp and clean with image stabilization, and wide-angle, low-light photos suffer less blur than usual.

Image quality, much like performance, rates as excellent. The SD700 IS reproduces color very well, and images are clean with few processing flaws. Photos remain consistent and noise-free at low-to-moderate ISO speeds and are acceptable even at ISO 400. At ISO 800, we noticed some distinct noise in our photos, but it was a clean, grainlike noise that left the images very usable. Furthermore, lens sharpness remains relatively consistent around the edges, unlike with some similar cameras. This helps keep fringing to a minimum.

The Canon PowerShot SD700 IS is a very strong, compact digital camera that produces great pictures. Its price is a bit high compared to that of its little brothers, the SD600 and SD630, but its great image stabilization and subsequent blur-free photos are worth the extra few quid.

Shooting speed
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (typical)

Casio Exilim EX-Z850

2.7 

2.1 

0.5 

Canon PowerShot A530

2.8 

2.1 

0.5 

Fujifilm FinePix V10

2.0 

1.5 

0.5 

Canon PowerShot SD700 IS

1.6 

1.5 

0.5 

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ3

2.6 

2.9 

1.0