Canon Powershot SD880 IS Review

The screen display in the Automatic record mode. Icons indicate ISO Auto, Auto flash, single drive mode, battery indicator, Auto exposure mode, metering is Evaluative, image size is Large, quality is Superfine, IS in enabled, and there's space left on the SD card to take 149 more pictures. To switch to Program mode, simply rotate the Control dial.

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

When 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 along with the ISO speed and flash status at the top.

Program mode Function options:

Exposure Compensation - Override the metering +/- 2.0EV in 1/3EV steps
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
Flash Comp. - Adjust the flash power output +/- 2.0EV in 1/3EV steps
Metering - Evaluative, Center Weighted Avg., Spot
Image Compression - Superfine, Fine, Normal
Image Resolution - 3648x2736, 2816x2112, 2272x1704, 1600x1200, 640x480, and Widescreen (3648x2048)

Program mode MENU options:

AF Frame - Face Detect, AiAF, or Center
AF Frame Size - Small or Normal
AF-Point Zoom - On or Off
Servo AF - On or Off
Digital Zoom - Off, Standard, 1.7x, 2.2x
Flash Settings - Flash Exp. Comp., Slow Synchro, Red-Eye Corr., Red-Eye Lamp
i-Contrast - Off or Auto
Drive Settings - FaceSelf-Timer (number of shots), Self-timer (10 sec., 2 sec., Custom), Custom settings (delay/number of shots)
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
Histogram - On or Off
IS Mode - Continuous, Shoot Only, Panning, Off
Date Stamp - Off, Date or Date&Time
Set Print/Share button - Allows you to use this button in record mode to change various camera settings

Scene modes are selected by switching the Mode switch to the SCN position and rotating the Control dial. You can choose from 17 different modes, each 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 30fps. You can also choose from Color accent or Color swap modes when wanting to be a bit more creative. The optical zoom may not be used during recording, but can be preset before hand. There is a digital zoom function, however we suggest you use it sparingly. These clips are captured in QuickTime format and saved as .MOV 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.