We will refer to the lens side as front of the SD1000, the LCD side as the back and the shutter botton side as the top. The battery and SD memory cards are inserted in the bottom. DO NOT TOUCH THE COPPER CONNECTORS on the batteries and memory cards.
1-Picture capture,
2-Video capture and
3-Picture/Video Review.
Lets start with the slider in the top picture taking position. Push the on/off button on the top, and the lens will extend. The LCD should turn on and you are ready to capture SPECTACULAR images.
You can zoom in and out by twisting the sleeve, ring, collar around the shutter button on top of the camera. Zoom up to 3 times, or "digitally" up to 12 times. In bright light you the zoom does well, in low light it does not. The SD1000 is NOT FOR PROS, it is for snapshots. It is for memories, birthday parties, vacation pictures, family, pets, boats, whales and other rather close scenes. You can NOT easily control Focus, exposure or shutter speed, but the camera does show you WHERE it is focused. The camera is so smart, that it can find and identify faces.
THE TRICK IS.....touch the silver shutter button on top of the camera ... DO NOT PUSH IT ALL THE WAY... When you push half way down the camera "brain" turns on and you will see a "TARGETING BEAM" of light shine on your subject. You will also see a small box, or several small boxes appear on the screen. These are the "face" boxes. The camera is focusing on these spots. IF YOU DONT LIKE the position of the box, REpush-halfway the shutter button, again, again and again UNTIL the box is on the correct face, or what ever you are capturing.
When you are ready, and the boxes are correct ... THEN .. push all the way down on the shutter ... AND BAM ... you have an image. The image will appear on the LCD. The great thing about the SD1000 is you can alter exposure settings(see step 4) based on a graph showing proper exposure. You can set it to capture and show picture in the LCD for 2 seconds, 5 sceonds..OR NOT AT ALL..your choice. It can focus on faces, or not. It can be set to focus 3 different ways.
1- Digital USB output that tranfers pictures to computer faster than lightning.
2- Analog "1/8 to RCA plug" output that will connect the SD1000 to a TV (both audio and video).
3- Remove the SD memory card and plug it somewhere else.
We have seen 512MB card priced at $60.00. We bought a 2 gigabyte memory card from MIcrocenter for $15.99. Buy a BIG card, and have fun taking 1000 monster pictures, dont mess aroung with the tiny 32MB which comes with the camera
This is what our camera indicate, results may vary.
640 is a movie image about 6 inches tall on a computer screen
320 is a movie image about 3 inches tall on a computer screen.
640x480 30fps 16 min 21 sec
640x480 15fps 30 min 47sec
320x240 30fps 41 min 52 sec
320x240 15fps 69 min 48 sec
640x480 30fps 10 seconds = 20 mb
640x480 15fps 10 seconds = 10 mb
320x240 30fps 10 seconds = 8 mb
320x240 15fps 10 seconds = 5 mb
You can only take 646 pictures if set to SUPERFINE and L arge.
You can only take 6968 pictures ...if set to.....SUPERFINE and S mall.
OUR CONCLUSION?? CAPTURE THE BIGGEST, FINEST IMAGES.
Our capturing guides explain how to set the SD1000 to the size to 3072x2304 and quality to super fine and CAPTURE MONSTER PICTURES. These are about 10 foot x 8 foot ( HOLY CRAP!!). You will have to reduce them to use them, but they will be very clear. You will be able to caputure over 600 of them. That is a far cry from a roll of 36 on our 35mm camera
There are cheap $50.00 camera which you can buy if you dont want to use all the features of the SD1000 ... Take some time and learn how to record the SPECTACULAR, FUN things in your life, on 10 foot x 8 foot sized pictures
Buy a 2 gig memory and start taking pictures
Use different lighting, and differnt settings. Test it inside, outside, at night and all over of many things. This camera is easy to use, and the best way to learn it is to get out there and JUST DO IT. After a while you will know what it can do, and what it can not do. It is a limited camera, but for most situations it is a spectacular camera.
Learn how to use the SD1000 had MANY different settings, for many different situations. You can program the SD1000 to match the situation you are capturing. The SD1000 can caputure at night, day, sun, snow, beach, night, fireworks, portrait softening, indoor, kids and pets ( which move fast ), Foliage, underwater, manual mode, automatic mode, MACRO for UP CLOSE shots and many more presets. We trust Canon to set these for us, and we will forgive no fully manual controls.
Read about the exposure setting adjustment which allows you to VARY/set the exposure ... darker ... daker ... darker ... darkest OR Brighter ... brighter ... brighter ... brightest ... AFTER YOU CAPTURE AN IMAGE, you can INSTANTLY look at it, and quickly re-adjust, until perfection. There is also grapical information which shows if the exposure is too light, too dark or JUST PERFECT.
If you want to capture important images which require super high quality use a 35mm film camera. 35mm negatives last forever and multiple lenses allow more options. BUT ... if you want to capture SPECTACULAR FUN with a tiny, easy to carry, easy to use camera, the SD 1000 is the camera.