The Canon Powershot A1100 IS is a 12 megapixel digital camera with a 4x optical zoom lens. It has one or two extra features such as a viewfinder and image stabilisation.

Picture quality! There is very little that is flashy about this camera, but it takes very good pictures.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
As with so many other Canon digital cameras I can see a sharper than standard photograph. The colours and brightness combine well with each other too. There is a slight haze around the boats, a touch of purple fringing and the odd blue line taking on a purple tinge where it is caught directly by the sun. The good news is that the first two points are only noticeable if you create more or less super sized prints.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
The Powershot A1100 IS does very well here. The photo is a fair bit sharper than most cameras manage. Even the more distant areas of the photo show some level of detail.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
The level of definition in this shot is outstanding. It goes to show the picture quality you can get if you are prepared to either spend a bit more for a camera or if you forego slim design and more expensive metal bodies.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
Based on my shots so far the Powershot A1100 IS is comfortably above average when it comes to sharpness and general picture quality. As in the first photo there is a small amount of haze around some of the reflective areas of the shot such as the windows. Again you will need to make extreme sized prints before this becomes a problem.

Outdoor Portrait
Portrait snapshots should not pose much of a problem for this camera. My outdoor portrait is bright, has a good balance of colours and is pleasingly crisp.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
I feel Canon digital cameras handle flash better than any other brand. If you check the features for this camera you will find it offers one or two extra features for working with flash such as flash exposure compensation. Even when you do not call up any of the additional flash features the Powershot A100 IS still does a very good job. What I like most is the way it is able to judge the amount of light required. This helps to minimalise any shiny areas on the face where the flash light bounces back to the lens.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
Even without flash the camera does well. You will still need to use flash in most indoor situations, but you should also be able to produce natural looking, window light portraits when the light permits.

Colours
The colours work well for me. As mentioned above the camera manages to add plenty of light to the shots. This helps to make vivid pictures.

Macro
I always think that a good macro shot confirms the overall quality of the lens. My test shot is again above average.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
Noise is always a problem with smaller compacts if you take photographs without flash in lower light. The Powershot A1100 IS performs in line with other cameras at lower ISO settings, but noise is very noticeable once you push the setting up above ISO 400.

Overall
The Powershot A1100 IS is an adaptable digital camera. It can handle most photographic opportunities. I was impressed by the overall look of the photos I took, especially the levels of sharpness.

My shutter lag times without flash were standard at 0.36 seconds for one photo and 9.94 seconds for five. Using flash slows everything down. A single photo timed 1.2 seconds and five photos took 23.25 seconds.

The start up time was very good. It took 2.35 seconds to turn the camera on and take a photo.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

The Powershot A1100 IS is functional rather than beautiful It is made out of plastic and looks like a cut down version of a more traditional camera. It is available in silver, blue and pink.

95.4 x 62.4 x 31.0mm

155g

2 AA batteries. Canon suggest you should be able to take up to 140 shots in between charges.

Canon has been generous by including a 128mb SD card in the box. This should be enough for around 50 shots. The Powershot A1100 IS is also compatible with SDHC memory cards.

Click here to save money on SD cards..

Good. If you choose to use this camera in fully automatic mode then all you need to do is point the camera and click the shutter button. It does have one or two additional features such as colour filters and different focusing areas. If you choose to make use of those then it will take you a while longer to get to grips with the camera.

Picture quality - viewfinder - start up time

Shutter delay with flash

This is one step up from the Canon entry level digital camera. If you are interested in something more basic try taking a look at the Canon Powershot A480.

Picture quality with the Canon Powershot A1100 IS is surprisingly good. It may not win too many beauty contests, but this is one of those digital cameras that does exactly what it sets out to do. That is take excellent pictures given more or less any photo opportunity.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menu

Description:	12 megapixels and a 4x optical zoom
Ease of Use:	8
Features:	8
Colour:	9
Macro:	9
Indoors:	8
Value for Money:	8
Style:	8
Movie Mode:	8
Image Quality:	9
Build Quality:	8
Total:	83
Verdict:	This camera is all about picture quality. It is not small enough to fit into a pocket and it does not have a sleek, stylish design, but it takes a very good picture. It offers a clear step up from more basic entry level digital cameras.
Review Date:	May 2009
Related Pages:	Canon Powershot A1100 IS Specification Canon Powershot A1100 IS Sample Images Canon Powershot A1100 IS Features

	GBP 99.49
	GBP 104.99
	GBP 111
	GBP 124
	GBP 140.62
	GBP 156.31
	GBP 158.63
	GBP 179.76
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Camera	Rating
Canon Powershot A2100 IS	83
Canon Powershot A1100 IS	83
Fuji Finepix J250	82
Fuji Finepix Z35	82
Panasonic DMC LS85	82
Canon Powershot A480	82
Nikon Coolpix L20	81
Nikon Coolpix L19	81

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Canon Powershot A1100 IS