Digital Trends

Canon PowerShot SD500

September 7th, 2005 | by David J Elrich

Features and Design

Although not quite a candidate for the Museum of Modern Art's design hall-of-fame, the SD500 is quite attractive with its brushed metal faceplate and silvery accents. It's nice but Canon rather pretentiously calls it a "Perpetual Curve Design." An industrial design icon from Raymond Loewy it certainly isn't but it's better than usual slab of plastic and metal foisted on the public and is much more attractive the previous ELPHs. Measuring a mere 3.5 x 2.2 x 1 (WHD, in inches) and weighing 6 ounces without the battery, this ELPH is about as tiny as you'd like it to get. 

Consumer alert: when cameras start getting this small it's absolutely imperative you do a hands-on test at the local store. Everyone's hands are different so what I might find comfortable, you'll think disastrous. For me, this camera is about as small as I'd like to go. That said you should also check out the raft of thin digicams with large LCD screens from Sony, Fuji, Kodak, Konica Minolta, Casio and others to see if the fit is more to your liking. Unfortunately, most are 5 megapixels, not the sparkling 7MP of this one but the Nikon CoolPix 7900 and Casio Exilim Zoom EX-750 are pretty close and slightly less expensive ($399).

This ELPH's 3x optical zoom retracts completely into the body and a built-in lens cover protects it. When closed, the entire package is very compact. Some internet posters have complained the case scratches easily but I didn't see that and I really didn't have the heart—or extra cash—to "key" the SD500 to see if the reports were true. The top of the camera has a power button, shutter and zoom lens toggle switch. The back is dominated by the 2-inch LCD screen, a tiny optical viewfinder, the usual four-way arrow ring, a display keys that turns off the LCD when you want to save power (and you will) or boosts the brightness, a direct print button and Menu key that gets you to the basic set-up of the camera. The menu is very straightforward and easy to adjust.

There are a number of cryptic icons on the back but a few minutes with the owner's manual (194-pages) clears them up. It's nowhere near as confusing as the previously reviewed Canon PowerShot S2 IS.

On the far right is the mode dial with just five settings: playback, full auto, manual, SCN (for scenes) and movie. Simply turn the dial and the camera's ready to do your bidding. 

The camera is supplied with the usual list of accessories: wrist strap, USB and A/V cables, battery/charger, 32MB SD card, software CD ROM and three owner's manuals (for the camera, direct printing and a software starter guide). We suggest you budget for a high-speed SD card with read and write speeds of around 10 megabits per second. This will help overall operation. We used a SanDisk 1GB Extreme III card but an Ultra II would've been fine. All of the major flash memory makers offer these high-speed cards. A Google search will help you find the best deals. As a benchmark Costco has the 1GB Ultra II for $89.

Photos Courtesy of Canon USA