Canon PowerShot A1100 IS review – Inexpensive camera, average quality

Thumbs Up:

Excellent picture quality as per price tag; budget-friendly; simple operation; optical viewfinder.

Thumbs Down:

Short battery life; average performance.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Canon PowerShot A1100 IS is a 12.1-megapixel point-and-shot camera that has CCD optical sensor of 12,400,000 pixels resolution. The camera has 128MB internal flash memory and a memory card slot that supports both MultimediaCard and SD memory card. The effective sensor resolution is 12,100,000 pixels. The A1100 IS has digital frame movie shooting mode, 4x digital zoom and Optical Image Stabilizer. Maximum shutter speed is 1/600 second and minimum is 15 seconds.

2.5 inches LCD display of Canon PowerShot A1100 IS has a resolution of 115,000 pixels. The A1100 IS has optical viewfinder that features real image zoom. The camera has inbuilt microphone and inbuilt flash that features AF illuminator. Effective flash range is 1-13 ft. Flash modes are Red-eye reduction, Flash OFF mode, Slow synchro, Fill-in mode and Auto mode.

Canon lens has a focal length of 6.2-24.8 mm with an aperture of 6.2-24.8mm. The focal length equivalent to 35mm camera is 35-140mm. Minimum focus range is 19.7 inches and macro is 3-50cm. The lens is aspherical in nature and features 4x digital zoom. Canon PowerShot A1100 IS has TTL contrast focus detection and inbuilt lens shield. Zoom adjustment is motorized drive and focus adjustments are Automatic and Manual.

Exposure compensation is ±2EV range in 1/3 EV steps. Exposure Modes are Automatic and Automatic. The exposure metering is of three types: Center-weighted, Evaluative and Spot. Canon PowerShot A1100 IS has three white balance: Automatic, Presets and Custom. White balance presets include Tungsten light, Fluorescent, Daylight and Cloudy.

ISO sensitivity levels are ISO Auto, ISO 3200, ISO 1600, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 100 and ISO 10. The shooting programs include High Sensitivity, Night Snapshot, Portrait mode, Slow shutter, Night scene, Kids & pets, Landscape, Fireworks, Aquarium, Foliage, Sunset, Indoor, Beach and Snow. The special effects are Black & White, Vivid and Sepia. Canon PowerShot A1100 IS has self timer delay function of 2 seconds and 10 seconds.

The still image format of Canon PowerShot A1100 IS is JPEG and video format is AVI. Video capture resolution options are AVI 320×240 and AVI 640×480. The image storage resolution options are JPEG 4000×2248, JPEG 640×480, JPEG 1600×1200, JPEG 2592×1944, SuperFine JPEG 3264×2448, Fine JPEG 4000×3000 and Normal.

The additional features of Canon PowerShot A1100 IS include Intelligent Contrast Correction System, Automatic face tracking technology, Camera orientation technology, Motion Detection Technology, Face Detection WB/FE/AE/AF, Face Detection Self Timer, RGB primary color filter, Digital noise reduction, Digital image rotation, USB 2.0 compatibility, In-camera red-eye fix, PictBridge support, Exif Print support, Resizing an image, Histogram display, inbuilt speaker, Direct Print, DPOF support, FE lock and AE lock.

Canon PowerShot A1100 IS has two connectors 1×Composite video/audio output and 1×USB. The camera has two AA Alkaline battery and Canon also supplies additional two NiMH rechargeable battery. Supported operating systems are Microsoft Windows XP/Vista and Apple Mac OS X 10.4-10.5. Canon is providing one-year warranty with service on its PowerShot A1100 IS. Software inside the included disc are Canon ZoomBrowser EX, drivers & utilities, Canon ImageBrowser and Canon PhotoStitch.

Accessories supplied inside the package include camera, A/V cable, 2×AA batteries, two separate batteries, USB cable, drivers & software disc, and wrist strap.

Razzle Dazzle:

Canon PowerShot A1100 IS is 2.4 inches tall, 3.7 inches wide and 1.2 inches deep and it weighs around 5.5 ounces. The PowerShot A1100 IS comes in four different two-toned colors – green, pink, blue and gray. Our Test model had green color. The camera’s body has gentle curve on its right edge for providing good grip. The A1100 IS easily fits in pants pocket.

Inside Dope:

Canon PowerShot A1100 IS is the successor of the A1000 IS. The main improvement in this model includes 12-megapixel resolution, Canon Digic 4 Image processor, Smart Auto mode and Face Detection mode. We appreciate that both above modes provide perfect image quality for a sub-$200 digital camera. The PowerShot A1100 IS costs around $199.99. We agree that there is a $50 difference between the A1100 IS and A1000 IS, but you will get various improvements in this model.

Canon PowerShot A1100 IS has small LCD display, but it also has optical viewfinder. The viewfinder is uncomfortable to use due to its small size. In the bright light you can turn off the LCD display to save battery and captures the shots with the viewfinder. This is an advantage because the A1100 IS runs on alkaline battery that has very short life. We will recommend you to purchase alternate NiMH rechargeable batteries for continuous shooting experience.

Shutter release button with zoom ring, Mode dial and power button are located on the top of Canon PowerShot A1100 IS. The Mode dial has 10 different shooting options including Program (for P), Movie, Easy, and Auto. Canon also included five scene options such as Portrait, Indoor, Landscape and SCN selection for Aquarium, Long Shutter and Sunset. Despite of being crowded, Mode dial is every easy to use. Directional pad and six buttons are located on the back.

Canon PowerShot A1100 IS offers straightforward menu navigation, but the menu system hangs. It usually takes some time to adjust the brightness and auto focus priority when image stabilization is busy. It does not have manual controls, unlike previous Canon A-series models. The A950 IS only has manual options, shutter-priority and aperture-priority. Program Mode of the PowerShot A1100 IS allows changing the color effects, light metering, auto focus type, white balance and ISO levels.

Canon PowerShot A1100 IS does not deliver good performance in its class. The time from off to first shot is 2 seconds. The shot-to-shot time is 2.1 seconds and 6.6 seconds with flash. The shutter lag is 0.6 second in bright light and 0.8 second in dim light. The camera also does not have any complete burst shooting feature, but its continuous shooting speed is 1fps (frames per second).

Kodak EasyShare M1093 IS, Nikon Coolpix S230 and Pentax Optio E70 offers better shooting performance than Canon PowerShot A1100 IS.

The photo quality of Canon PowerShot A1100 IS is only good as per its cost. It offers good white balance, contrast and color; still the highlights seem to be clipping. The photos are great in bright light below ISO 200. The noise and graininess become visible at ISO 400, but details remain good for 8×10 or for smaller size. Pictures are only usable for small Web view and prints up to ISO 800. If you need good picture quality, we will not recommend using the ISO 1600.

Nitty Gritty:

Canon PowerShot A1100 IS is only a good point-and-shot digital camera in its low cost. Its picture quality is only good at its price tag. If you have a limited budget, can compromise with AA batteries and need an optical viewfinder, then you can buy the A1100 IS.