Physical Tour

Front

The front of the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS arranges almost all the features around the smallish 7.7mm - 28.5mm, f/2.8 - f/5.8 lens. Above the lens and slightly offset to the left is the window for the optical viewfinder. Below and to the left of this is the auto focus assist lamp. And next to that is the pinhole microphone for video capture, thankfully out of the way of your fingers. At the top right of the front, also near the lens, is the built-in flash.

 

You get a feel of the curvilicious feel of the SD990 IS from the front.

Back

The back of the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS is mostly taken up by the 2.5-inch LCD display. Above the display is the viewfinder, which is just a small window in the plastic. To the left of the viewfinder are a couple of indicators. To the right of the LCD are most of your camera controls. As is typical of Canon there is a 4-way controller that assigns functions to each direction: Up for ISO, left for Manual Focus or Macro, down for Burst or Timer and right for Flash. Surrounding the 4-way is a rotating dial that allows you to adjust various settings depending on your mode and menu status. Below the 4-way are the Display and Menu buttons. Above you'll find Print and Playback buttons. Above these is the mode dial with options for Auto, Program/Manual, Quick Shot, Special Scene and Movie modes.

 

The mode dial on the back is something of a departure.

Sides*
The right side of the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS has a wrists trap attachment point and, above that, a door that opens to reveal a mini USB port that doubles as the A/V Out. There is nothing on the left side.
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*The right side has a cover for the mini USB port.
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Top

On the top of the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS you'll find the speaker for playing back audio towards the left. Opposite this is the shutter button surrounded by a zoom toggle and just to the left of that the power button.

Shutter, On/Off and zoom toggle are the only controls on top.**

Bottom

On the bottom of the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS you'll find the tripod mount slightly offset from center. Most of the right side of the bottom is taken up by the battery/memory card cover. The iinterestingly shaped small rubber plug shown here is a cover that, when removed, reveals the A/C adapter option built into the proprietary battery.

The battery bay and tripod stand are found on the bottom.**

 

Components

Viewfinder

The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS has an optical viewfinder for those who prefer to frame their shots at eye level. It's just a small window in the plastic without any padding for comfort. As it's an optical viewfinder there's also no overlay or information when you look through it, so any adjustments you make will have to be verified on the LCD display.

An optical viewfinder is available for those who prefer

to directly eyeball the situation.

LCD Screen
The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS sports a 2.5-inch LCD display with a resolution of 230,000 pixels. It will get the job done, but no one is going to be wowed by it.

The 2.5 inch LCD display is nothing special.

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Flash
The flash on the SD990 IS sits above and to the right of the lens on the front. This close placement means that you're probably going to be contending with red-eye in dark rooms where you need to flash in the faces of your family and friends.
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The flash is very close to the lens.

Lens
The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS has a 7.7mm - 28.5mm, f/2.8-f/5.8 lens that supports 3.7x optical zoom. The lens retracts into the body of the camera when it is off, making it much easier to carry around.

The lens retracts fully into the body when the camera is turned off.

Connections
The only port on the whole Canon PowerShot SD990 IS is found on the right side under a tethered plastic cover near the top. Remove the cover to reveal the mini USB port that doubles as an A/V out.

The Mini USB port is used for both data transfers and A/V out.
Battery
The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS uses a proprietary battery. Canon rates the battery for 280 shots using the LCD or 700 shots if you use the viewfinder instead.

 

Battery and SDHC card slot both sit under the door on the bottom.**Memory**

The SD990 IS supports SD and high-capacity SDHC cards, currently available in sizes up to 32GB. The memory card slot is found right next to the battery, behind the same slide-out door..

Design / Layout

Model Design / Appearance

The best way to describe the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS is curvy and cute. It's not sexy in a way that will turn heads, but the undulating curves on the front of the camera give it some style.  It's available in either silver or black.

Size and Handling

Measuring 3.81 x 2.45 x 1.1 inches (97 x 62 x 28mm) and weighing in at 5.64 ounces (160g), the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS handles better than most compact point-and-shoots. It's not as small as the tiny compacts that get lost in the palm of your hand -- you actually have something to hold onto with this camera. We are concerned, though, that those with larger hands may find their fingers will easily reach across the front to the lens. The camera should fit comfortably into any bag or jacket pocket, and unless your jeans are super-tight, it will cause only a slight bulge in your pants pocket.

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• You can see that the SD990 IS fits comfortably into your hand.
  

Menu
As we've seen on other Canon cameras the SD990 IS has two menu interfaces. The main menu is accessed by hitting the dedicated Menu button below the 4-way controller and presents a tabbed interface. Unlike higher-end Canon cameras like the G10 or SX10 IS there is no favorites menu on the SD990 IS for items that you want to access quickly.

Most of the main functions you'll want to adjust, however, lie in the Function Set menu. This can be accessed by hitting the center select button of the 4-way controller, providing access to White Balance, My Colors, Flash Output, Metering, Quality and Size. When in manual mode you can also control Exposure Compensation in Program mode and Shutter Speed and Aperture in full Manual mode.

Ease of Use

The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS is a relatively simple camera that's targeted at the average user, but still offers a couple of manual controls that you usually only see on higher-end devices. Put the camera into Auto mode or choose the appropriate scene mode and you can comfortably put the camera in cruise control with good results. If you do feel like getting fancy and playing with shutter speed, ISO or Aperture settings, those options are available in the manual mode. If extensive manual controls are near and dear to your heart, though, other Canon models, such as the G10 or SX10 IS, offer a much fuller range of options.

Modes

Auto Mode**
When the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS is in Auto mode the camera is basically going to run itself. If you deign to enter the Function Set menu your only options will be quality and size. Manual focus is not available in Auto mode and neither is continuous shooting. Your only ISO options are High and Auto.

Movie Mode
When you choose to capture video with the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS you'll have to decide between three different video capture modes. Standard is vanilla video capture while the other two let you change all colors but one to black & white or swap two colors in the scene. While capturing video you do have access to manual focus, but not ISO control. As for resolution, you can shoot at 640 x 480 or 320 x 240, both at 30 frames per second.

Drive / Burst Mode**
The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS continuous shot mode takes photos at 1.3 fps according to Canon. It lacks the Continuous Auto Focus mode that higher-end models provide. Continuous shooting is only available in manual mode.

Playback Mode
Enter playback mode by hitting the Play button button just above and to the right of the 4-way. You can move between images and videos using left/right on the 4-way. You can also scroll quickly through thumbnails of your images by spinning the dial that surrounds the 4-way controller. While viewing images you can also print, if you're connected to a PictBridge-compatible printer, with the dedicated button that sits just above and to the left of the 4-way.

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• You get a thumbnail view in playback mode when you rotate the dial.
  

Custom Image Presets**
The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS has a variety of image presets available. These can be accessed by moving the mode dial to Scene mode and then using the rotating dial around the 4-way to choose a preset. Available are Portrait, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater, ISO 3200, Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Color Accent, Color Swap, Digital Macro and Stitch Assist to create panoramic photos.

Control Options

Manual Control Options
The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS offers both a Program and full Manual mode. Rotating the dial will allow you to switch between the two. All of the options under the Function Set menu are available in either manual mode with one exception. In Program mode the computer sets shutter speed and aperture automatically. In full Manual mode, shutter speed and aperture are up to you. Either way, you need to enter a menu to make these adjustments, which means it's not quite as handy as the dedicated buttons and dials available on higher end devices like the Canon G10.

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• In full manual mode you get shutterspeed and aperture controls.
  

Focus

Manual focus is available when you are in manual mode, but like the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS's other manual features it's not particularly easy to use. To access manual focus you press left on the 4-way controller, which allows you to select from normal, two macro modes and manual focus. Selecting the last option allows you to adjust focus manually using up/down on the 4-way. Don't make a mistake and rotate the dial, however instinctively logical that may appear, since it will switch you to one of the other control options.

As we've seen on other Canon cameras, you get a focus assist when adjusting the manually, zooming in on the center of the screen so can better judge the degree of sharpness you've attained..

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• Auto focus assist zooms in on the scene when you are using manual focus.
  

ISO
In Auto mode you can only choose between Auto ISO and High ISO. In manual mode you can choose an ISO between 80 and 1600. Either way you access the feature by pressing up on the 4-way controller. Under custom image presets there's also the option to record at ISO 3200, but this drops image resolution down to 3 megapixels.

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• ISO 80 - 1600 can be selected in manual modes.
  

White Balance
The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS offers the typical array of white balance options, but only when you are in manual mode. Go into the Function Set menu by hitting the center select button of the 4-way controller to access white balance and choose from Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H and Custom. The last allows you to manually set white balance by shooting a white card.

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• The white balance options are found in the Function Set menu.
  

Metering
Metering options are also found in the Function Set menu. The metering options are evaluative, center-weighted and spot.

Shutter Speed.
The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS offers a shutter speed range from 15 to 1/1600, decent for a point and shoot at the price. As with most advanced features, the camera will make settings automatically unless you're in full Manual mode.

Aperture
The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS's aperture range is f/2.8 - f/8.0 when zoomed out and f/5.8 - f/16 when zoomed in. As with shutter speed this can only be adjusted via the Function Set menu when in full manual mode.

**Image Stabilization
**The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS offers optical image stabilization, as expected in today's  midrange cameras..

Picture Quality / Size Options
There are three image quality settings on the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS: Normal, Fine and SuperFine. The size options range from Large 4,416 x 3,312 down to 640 x 480, with three additional options in between. There's also a widescreen option for 4,416 x 2,480, but no support for shooting RAW.

Picture Effects Mode
Picture effects can be applied before capturing your image and are called My Color under the Function Set menu. Press in on the center select button of the 4-way to access this feature. The available effects are Vivid, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone and Custom.

During playback your editing options include rotate, resize, crop, adding My Color filter effects, contrast adjustment, red-eye correction and attaching sound memos.

Conclusion

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Conclusion**

The Canon PowerShot SD990 IS is something of a conundrum. It's a 14.7-megapixel camera with a 3.7x optical zoom and advanced manual features that are difficult to access compared to other higher-priced cameras. At $399.99 it seems a bit expensive for what you get. Sure there are more megapixels on board than less expensive point-and-shoots, but once you get past 9 or 10MP, specs it doesn't really matter much.

If the more advanced manual features are really important to you, we'd advise spending the extra $100 for something like the G10. If they're not important to you, save $100 bucks or so and move down the scale where you lose those features but can pick up an even better optical zoom with something like the Panasonic Lumix TZ5S. Overall it seems like the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS is an in-between camera without a well-defined market.

Specs / Ratings

**Specs Table
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