Canon PowerShot SD780IS Digital Elph camera quick overview and user review camera vlog
Canon SD780IS review. My impressions of one of the smallest tiny cameras on the market, the SD 780 IS compact digital ultra portable ultra thin pocket camera. Video shot with my trusty Canon S3IS.
Quick tour and demonstration of the menus and basic functionality of the SD 780 covered. The ultra slim form factor and the 1280×720 HD at 30fps are the biggest draws to this point and shoot that initially attracted me to this camera.
This would make an awesome helmet mounted cam. Much more affordable than a dedicated helmetcam as well. I’ve mounted it on my bicycle helmet and seems to work well. Will post vids of the rides soon.
Check out my 1280×70HD video movie sample clips from this tiny camera on my previous video uploaded..
Full specs:
Camera Type Ultra Compact Point-and-shoot Digital
Resolution 12.1 Megapixel
Sensor 1/2.3″ 12.4 Megapixel CCD
Bit Depth 24-bit RGB
Image Stabilization Optical Image Stabilizer
Lens Canon UA Zoom Lens; f/3.2-5.8
Zoom 3x (5.9-17.9mm/33-100mm equivalent); 4x Digital Zoom
Focus Range
Normal: 12.0″ (30cm) – infinity
Macro: 1.2″ (3cm) – 19.7″ (50cm)
Digital Macro: 1.2″ (3cm) – 3.9″ (10cm)
Selectable ISO (80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600)
Shutter Speeds 15-1/1500 second
Self Timer 2-seconds, 10 seconds, Face Detection
Memory Card Type
Secure Digital (SD/SDHC) Card
MMC/MMC Plus/HC MMC Plus
Video Recording MOV (H.264) with Audio
Video Resolution
High Definition (1280 x 720 @ 30 fps)
Standard Definition (640 x 480 @ 30 fps)
QVGA (320 x 240 @ 30 fps)
Video Clip Length up to 4GB capacity
Display 2.5-inch PureColor LCD II widescreen TFT color LCD (230,000 pixels)
Connectivity
USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
Composite Video Out (NTSC & PAL)
HD Video Out (optional Mini-HDMI cable required)
Battery Type NB-4L Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery
Dimensions 3.5 x 2.2 x 0.8″ (87 x 55 x 19mm)
Weight 4.1 oz (115g) camera body only
Duration : 0:9:56
[youtube uZ4sFhlIWFY]
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
@alienproject94 …
@alienproject94 Mine says made in china.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
This is a great …
even the instructions are printed in Japan, instead of China…or Vietnam or something.
This is a great camera, I also recently bought a Canon SLR..the Rebel XS…all of the components are made in Japan
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Not sure, I just …
Not sure, I just sold it to a friend of mine.
I too usually look for products made in Japan as their quality control tends to be better than “other” countries.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Hi again LEXPIX
…
Hi again LEXPIX
Do you mind if you tell me the SSD780IS is assembled in japan? This is the last fact I need to get my own one and start to enjoy it’s great features.
Greetings and Thanks
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Hi again LEXPIX, Do …
Hi again LEXPIX, Do you mind if you tell me if the SD780IS is made in Japan? I have read certain opinions in forums that is true. Can you confirm me this please? Is the last point to get this awesome camera. Thanks
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Good price you go …
Good price you go it for. I use the SanDisk Extreme III cards that work just fine.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
thanks for the …
thanks for the review. i own a rebel t1i and was looking for something small for quicking shoot. i picked the canon sd780is from bestbuy for $150 with RZ points. what kind of SD card class do you recommend? class 6, 10??
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
The higher data …
The higher data transfer speed cards do seem to make a slight difference both in writing to and reading from the card both shooting and downloading to your computer. The camera is the bottleneck most of the time.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
hey not sure if …
hey not sure if anyone has asked this yet but what do u mean by a faster SD card? is it faster in terms of transferring pictures onto your computer? or what? thanks
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
you know, i’ve …
you know, i’ve found a couple reviews of this camera where they are showing the edge, purple fringe, and blurry corners and such, saying how this camera is nice, but image quality doesnt compare to certain other cameras.. but you know what, ive tried those other cameras, and this camera, and this camera (most canons) by far take better, more colorful pictures. so who cares if the edges are blurry.. just looking at you scroll thru your images reminded me of how SWEET the images turn out.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
heeey same here but …
heeey same here but it doesnt seem to work the audio is way off. like ill be talking and my mouth wont even be moving. :/ so you import your mov file , then convert it, then edit it , all of these steps on sony vegas?
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Are you playing …
Are you playing back video with Windows Media Player or Quicktime? I had audio problems using WMP. If your using quicktime make sure it’s the latest version. Like Lex I’m using Vegas to edit with and I typically render videos in AVI.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Yup, for the money, …
Yup, for the money, this is a killer camera. The size and the fact that it shoots in 1280×720HD is nice. Their newer compacts seem to drop the HD in favor of the SD 640×480.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
The sd780 has been …
The sd780 has been on sale recently, and a ton have been sold.
Price, size and simplicity for the average user like myself seem to be the driver.
I paid $179. The ultra compact camera/video is where the market seems to be going.
There are other combos that maybe slightly better, but not at this price or size.
I was looking at Sony, another Canon and a Panasonic, but size and price won out.
BTW, nice MB riding. In my younger days, I did some trail riding.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
That is not true in …
That is not true in actual fact 30 frames gets flickery on playback.
60 frames is perfect flow of really smooth framing but unfortuatly it only has a resolution of 320 which is crap…on cameras.
They should do a 640×480 60 frames and a 720P 60 frams for perfect smooth clips.
You see when you use memory it’s not like using free flow video tape which at 30 frames it is actually fine and smooth..
They work differently thats why you need more frames for memory chips to be smooth.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
No idea. If …
No idea. If playing back on your camera, you should hear sound, but the built-in speaker isn’t very loud. You may need to crank up the volume on the camera.
When playing back on a computer, you should hear sound. If not, check your computer volume settings and make sure your software is updated to see if that helps.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
True, but higher …
True, but higher the fps, the smoother fast action seems to play back.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
You’re welcome. …
You’re welcome. Glad you found it useful.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
i’ve got this …
i’ve got this camera..i quite like it…but i have got a problem while video shooting…ii mean it records video but when i play it,,there will be no sound,So could u tell me wat’s the problem?
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Thanks, I’m using …
Thanks, I’m using Sony Vegas on a PC converting to Windows Media file and uploading directly to YouTube.
Yeah, I never use bundled software with anything anymore.
It’s a good camera, but the eye of the photographer/videographer makes all the difference since there are better choices out there for video now.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Hello. Great …
Hello. Great looking videos with your Canon sd780is.
Are you on a pc or mac?
What converter/codecs are you using?
Are you viewing on WMP or Quicktime?
I have this camera on order and it will be here in less than 2 weeks. I’m trying to run down some software that will perform high quality conversions to either avi/wmv.
You would think that either Canon, Sony, Sanyo etc.. would provide some excellent software for their hardware.
It seems to be one of the main complaints.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
60fps is not …
60fps is not necessary. Broadcast quality video (eg what you see on TV is only 30fts)
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
this was so helpful …
this was so helpful – thanks, lexpix!
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Press the MENU …
Press the MENU button then scroll all the way down to the next page to “IS MODE” and make sure it is set to ON.
It should be set to ON by default.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
image stablizer …
image stablizer doesn’t work is there a way to turn it on