Canon Powershot SD790 IS Review

The screen display in the Automatic record mode. Icons across the top and left indicate that metering is Evaluative, single frame drive, auto ISO, auto flash, and Auto exposure mode. The image size is Large, quality is SuperFine and there's space left on the SD card to take 389 more pictures.

When the color LCD is turned on and you half-press the shutter you will see which of the nine AF points (green rectangles) were used for the focus lock. The aperture and shutter speed values are also shown along the bottom.

Manual exposure mode is like Auto in that the camera selects both the shutter speed and aperture for a correct exposure but you now have access to a multitude of Function and Menu options.

Manual mode Function options:

Exposure Compensation - Override the metering +/- 2.0EV in 1/3 steps. Press Menu
to enter Long Shutter mode
White Balance - Auto, Day Light, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H,
Custom one-push WB set
My Colors - Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, B&W, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker
Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, or Custom Color
Metering - Evaluative, Center Weighted Avg., Spot
Image Compression - Superfine, Fine, Normal
Image Resolution - 3648x2736, 2816x2112, 2272x1704, 1600x1200, 640x480,
2M Date Stamp, and Widescreen (3072x1728)

Manual mode MENU options:

AF Frame - Face Detect, AiAF, Center, On, Off
AF Frame Size - Small or Normal
AF-Point Zoom - On or Off
Digital Zoom - Off, Standard, 1.4x, 2.3x
Flash Settings - Slow Synchro, Red-Eye Corr., Red-Eye Lamp
Self-timer - Custom set
AF Assist Beam - On or Off
Review - Off, Hold or 2 - 10 secs
Review Info - Off, Detailed, Focus Check
Auto Category - On or Off
Display Overlay - Enable or disable Grid lines, 3:2 Guide, Off or Both
IS Mode - Continuous, Shoot Only, Panning, Off
Set Print/Share button - Allows you to use the button in record mode to change
various camera settings (Exposure comp., White balance, Custom WB, Digital Tele-converter, Disp. Overlay, Rec. Movie, Display Off, Play Sound effect.)

The 4-way controller of the back of the camera provides shortcuts to some of the most used features including the ISO settings, flash settings, shooting modes with timers and finally macro mode. The camera has a very respectable macro focusing mode with coverage from 1.2 in. - 1.6 ft./3-50cm (WIDE), 12 in. - 1.6 ft./30-50cm (TELE).

Scene modes are selected via the Function Menu. You can choose from 12 different modes. These are pre-programmed to give you the best possible pictures for a wide variety of different shooting situations. In all Scene modes, Exposure compensation, Image compression and Image size settings are available via the Function menu.

You can record movie clips with audio at a variety of resolutions and frame rates. Standard movies can be recorded at resolutions of 640x480 or 320x240 with frame rates of 30 or 15 fps. You can also choose from Compact (160x120, 15fps), Color accent, Color swap, and Time lapse witch captures an image once every second or once every two seconds at 640x480. The optical zoom may not be used during recording, but can be preset before hand. These clips are captured in Motion JPEG format and saved as AVI files.

Both the video and audio portion of movies can be replayed on the camera thanks to the built-in speaker. Full audio-video playback is also possible when connected to a TV monitor or a compatible PC after downloading.

Movie Func. Menu:

White Balance - Auto, Day Light, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H,
Custom
My Colors - Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, B&W, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker
Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Color
Resolution - 640x480, 640x480 LP, 320x240

Movie Record Menu:

Digital Zoom - Off or Standard
AF Assist Beam - On or Off
Auto Category - On or Off
Display Overlay - Off, Grid Lines
IS Mode - Continuous, Off
Set Print Button