Canon PowerShot SD970 IS

Canon PowerShot SD970 IS Digital Camera Review

The Canon PowerShot SD970 IS is a classy piece of gear, with a solidly constructed two-tone metal body, handsome high-res 3-inch LCD and 5x zoom lens. This 12.1-megapixel model is clearly aimed at point-and-shooters rather than photo aficionados, since it lacks manual exposure or focus control and doesn't shoot in RAW format. For the intended audience, though, there's a lot to like here, with consistently high-quality photos and high-def 720p videos, a host of interesting color fiddling options, and a very effective close-up mode. The camera feels a bit bulky, though, and at over 1-inch deep, it's not as pocket-friendly as similar models from other manufacturers. And at nearly $400, we do think manual control is a reasonable request. In our tests for color accuracy, the Canon SD970 IS scored well; among our comparison group of cameras, only the Sony T900 surpassed it. This is a test of color accuracy, not attractiveness, so we shoot in each color mode the camera offers to determine which one comes reproduces the hues in the X-Rite ColorChecker test chart with the least color error. We had a surprise with the SD970 IS here.