Canon PowerShot A1100 IS Digital Camera

I bought the Canon A1100-IS as an addition to a Canon A80 and Nikon D40 I already own. In a direct comparison to the older A80, I expected vastly improved quality (12MP versus 4MP), but that was not the case. The A1100 produces much larger images (and files), which are generally inferior to the A80, and completely inferior to the 6MP DSLR Nikon D40.

I took all three cameras on a recent road-trip, recorded a large number of images on all three, often overlapping at events or locations, and then examined them on a 17" Dell laptop computer screen and later on 19" NEC (CRT) and 22" Samsung (LCD) monitors. I observed generally superior image quality of the 4MP Canon A80 (purchased in 2004) versus the 12MP Canon A1100 (purchased in 2010). Image quality issues noted with the A1100 include low contrast levels, excessive grain and jpeg artifacts, unusual color rendering, and difficulty with high contrast scenes. These are with all settings at "normal" parameters.

Part of the A1100's problem may be its internal image processing software, its sensor, and/or its lens. It has a very large feature set, with many user-adjustable settings and modes, and, with a fair amount of tweaking, one can produce some satisfactory images. However in "Auto" or "P" (Program) modes, about 50% of the photos I took appear washed out, excessively grainy, poorly exposed, or otherwise inferior. The much older A80 had fewer of these issues.

The A1100 does have a very fast start-up time, and is ready to record within a couple of seconds (the lens still has to extend before you can shoot). The wide range of shooting modes and manual adjustments means you CAN do some artistic photography, but the learning curve is somewhat steep on all the features (less so if you are already familiar with photography, digital point-and-shoots, and Canon menu routines). But I would not depend on this camera for capturing consistently high quality images on significant occasions.

It is important to me to have a optical viewfinder, which the A1100 has, but the user must be aware of its limitations. If exact framing and composition is required, the LCD screen must be used, which uses the batteries faster. This unit has relatively short battery life, but performs better with rechargeable NIMH's, at moderate temperatures (50-85 F), and with the LCD screen off. Since it only takes 2X AA's, carrying a couple of sets of back-up batteries is no problem.

Although this camera has a fairly fast start-up time (for a point-and-shoot), its recycling time between shots seems to vary. On some shots it was only a second or two, on others it was almost 5 seconds. This seems to be related to the complexity of the shot (varying contrast and color patterns), rather than the image quality setting. When using the flash, I noted flash recycling times as long as 5-8 seconds, completely unacceptable in most situations.

Since the A1100 has such a wide feature set and so many potential adjustments, one would hope than it has a good manual. The kit comes with a basic printed start-up manual, which, as one would expect, covers the basics. The comprehensive manual, while comprehensible, is an obvious translation and dumbing-down. Worse still, it is available only in pdf format on the accompanying software disc. Not a deal-breaker, but a pain for some folks. You would have to print out sections that you want to carry with you for field reference.

Bottom line: This is not a bad camera, and could be quite handy for casual snapshots, if the user is careful and knowledgeable. The captured images always look better on the small LCD, but you will not know how good or bad they are until viewed on a full-size computer monitor. I believe there are better point-and-shoot cameras available (by Canon) which will produce more consistent and satisfactory results than this one. But overall I'm not sorry I bought it as an addition to my photographic toolkit.