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by: DanFeilman
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If you are looking for a quality digital camera, take a look at the Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital Elph. This newest model has an impressive 7.1 megapixel resolution. While megapixels do not guarantee better images, you can' t refute the S500's superior image quality.

The SD500 performs very well on speed and sharpness tests, and it's also got a fun My Color feature that will appeal to many types of shooters.

In the looks department, the Canon PowerShot SD500 is pleasingly comfortable to hold and operate. However, it can be easy to press the tightly laid-out buttons on the back accidentally during one-handed shooting. The optical viewfinder just above the large 2-inch LCD is very nice, and maintains a fairly smooth, bright, clear image when panning.

Aside from the 7.1 megapixel rating, the Canon PowerShot SD500 has most of the standard features of its class, including an f/2.8 to f/4.9, 7.7- to 23.1-mm (37- to 111-mm, 35mm equivalent), 3X optical zoom lens.

Both the mode dial and the menu system offer all the standard modes to include Playback, Auto, Manual (this adjusts white balance, ISO, EV compensation and color effects), Macro and Movie. VGA clips are captures at 30 frames per second in Movie mode. The menu system offers addition modes such as Stitch Assist (for panoramas) and nine preset scene modes.

The Canon PowerShot SD500 has a very perceptive user control system. It also offers an out of the ordinary shooting mode called My Colors. You can make blues, greens, or reds more vibrant, or lighten or darken skin tones.

The Color Accent and Color Swap options create some surreal effects. Color Accent lets you isolate the color of one object, while the color information for the rest of the photograph is dumped. The result might be a bright red rose in the middle of a black-and-white wedding shot.

In Color Swap mode, you choose a particular color in a scene on the LCD, and then select the color you want to swap it with. For example, you could isolate someone's bright red T-shirt and swap it with the blue from someone's baseball cap. You have to make your color selections before you shoot, though, so make sure you're not going to miss the shot.

The Canon PowerShot SD500 allows your pictures to be stored in SD memory cards. There's also direct connection to Canon CP Printers and select BJ Printers. This effectively means that you do not need a computer to print pictures.

The Canon PowerShot SD500 makes use of proprietary lithium batteries. The marketed battery life is about 160 shots with the LCD on and about 550 shots with the LCD off. If a long battery life is a necessity, extra batteries are available for purchase at your local camera store so you can take along extras.

Another unusual feature is an optional DC coupler, supported via a flap on the battery/media compartment door. This lets you run the camera off AC power (via an optional adapter) while you charge the battery in the included external charger.

Overall the Canon PowerShot SD500 is a worthy contender in the market. A few faults to be found are that it has some difficulty finding the intended focusing point in Macro mode. Also in the Macro shots, the flash had a tendency to make most of the picture overexposed when used except for the lower portion of the image which would be dark due to the extended lens blocking the flash.

Another drawback is the mode dial design. Only the center (Manual) mode's label shows as level when chosen. The other labels (Playback, Auto, Macro and Movie) are slanted when you turn the dial.

On the whole, the Canon PowerShot SD500 is a great ultracompact camera. It looks wonderful and gives impressive image quality. Add a couple of unusual features, and you have a versatile camera that is destined to be a hot-seller

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