Canon PowerShot A1100 IS

Full Review

If you have been following the digital camera scene, our Best Buy must come as no surprise. The Canon PowerShot A series have been hugely successful the world over and this A1100 IS impresses us on many fronts. This is the costliest camera in our Top 5, but it justifies the Rs. 11,595 MRP with superb image quality, a 4x image stabilized lens and VGA 30fps video recording capability that has Canon’s hallmark quality. Slim and lightweight are not what describe this AA-battery powered 12.1MP camera – it is thicker than the rest at 31mm and also the heaviest at 205 grams. The 115k pixel 2.5-inch screen is bright, and it would have been better had Canon crammed in more pixels into the display. In typical Canon style, access to various settings are through the Function and navi-keys– even new users will find their way around the camera without too much trouble. Canon has managed to include an optical viewfinder – something that most other manufacturers are omitting these days. Indoor shooting is aided by the flash range of 13 feet, superseded only by the second placed Samsung PL50 at 14.7 feet. In most of our tests, the Canon produced better images than the competition – colors came out vivid without looking over-saturated, low light high ISO performance was better than the rest, but still, like with any other point-and-shoot camera, anything above ISO400 is for situations where some-shot-is-better-than-no-shot. Video quality is again impressive, with the only disappointment being the inability to use optical zoom (the Samsung PL50 manages this, including AF correction during zoom).

Bottom Line

If you are on the lookout for an everyday camera, you cannot go wrong with the PowerShot A1100 IS. In its price range, it offers the best performance, be it outdoor shots or indoor under lowlight. Video mode is a plus point and so is the macro mode that produced some very pleasing shots.