By David Elrich Performance and use
Beneath SD4500 IS’ exterior is not the proverbial hooker’s heart of gold, but a 10-megapixel backlit CMOS sensor. This new type of imaging device gives you quicker response, less digital noise at higher ISOs and HD video. Full still resolution is 3648 x 2736 pixels in JPEG format, and HD video is 1920 x 1080 at 24 fps, or 1280 x 720 at 30 fps, both in MOV format.
We had the camera for several weeks using it in a variety of locations, times of day, with people and without. Let’s put the body color in context — although personally you may not like it, no one is going to laugh or cringe at you as if you were Joaquin Phoenix. And once you get used to the poorly designated buttons, you find the camera easy to use, as you’d expect from a $300 Canon point-and-shoot. If you do buy this camera, a lens cloth should be in your pocket, as the LCD smudges rather easily. Now let’s get to the results.
HD video is one of the big claims to fame of this digicam so we couldn’t wait to watch them on our 50-inch plasma. As noted, we shot at both 1080p and 720p to see if there was a huge difference between full HD and not-so-full HD; there was. Colors shot in full HD were richer, and more accurate. Clips of trees moving in the fall breezes were far better at the top resolution, even with a slower frame rate. Definitely use this setting, and make sure you use a Class 6 or better card. We initially popped in a Class 4 SDHC card, and it stopped recording after about 30 seconds. The manual specifically states this, and after changing to a faster card, things moved easily. One plus is that fact you can use the 10x optical zoom while recording, and there’s not too much noise from the lens mechanism. On the down side, the two mics made gentle winds sound like Hurricane Katrina.
Still performance was very good, up to the usual Canon standards. Macro close-ups of one of the last flowers of the season were very sharp, even picking up a small insect we hadn’t seen while shooting. In Smart Auto and program, colors were really fine, with the 10-megapixel sensor capturing loads of fine detail. The 10x zoom is quite enjoyable, giving you a real spread of options. Images taken of steeples in Cambridge, Mass. near the Charles River were very sharp at full zoom, thanks in part to Canon’s OIS. Good stuff.
Another plus of backlit CMOS chips is the fact they materially increase a camera’s response time, and the tricks you can perform with that. The SD4500 IS grabs 3.7 frames per second at full resolution, which matches entry-level DSLR levels. Another winning feature is Hand Held Night Scene. Here the camera captures approximately 6 frames with one click of the shutter and combines them for a single image with less noise and more detail. Our test of a single candle in a dark room clearly showed this setting was better than the 2.5-megapixel Low Light option, or just using ISO 3200 in program. Noise in general was under control, and even an 8×10 print at 3200 was more than acceptable (in Low Light mode). Keep ISO at 800 or below at full resolution, and you’ll like the results.
Conclusion
The Canon PowerShot SD4500 IS is a solid-performing, compact 10x zoom camera, with some real pluses and negatives. Still and movie quality are top notch for a point-and-shoot, but then there’s the overall color scheme. Not to focus too much on the superficial, the camera’s menu is not very intuitive for certain settings, and the battery life is just plain underwhelming at 150 shots. If you can live with these issues, by all means pick it up. We’d rather spend our money elsewhere.
Highs:
- 10x optical image stabilized lens
- 3-inch widescreen LCD
- Very good optical image stabilizer
- Low noise in dim light
Lows:
- Body color is problematic
- Very short battery life
- Screen should be better
