Canon Powershot SD960 is a typical point and shoot camera featuring easy to use controls, smooth navigation and basic operations that most casual shooters would expect. This model is designed for those who prize portability and chic design, as it a strong machine with a 12.1 megapixel sensor with a chiseled and sleek design. The SD960 is the first Canon ELPH to have a 16:9 widescreen display and feature a unique user interface that uses a control dial like an iPod, allowing you to scroll through the basic operations of the Function Menu by twisting the dial in a circular fashion. The other important features include a 2.8 inch Pure Color LCD II, which gives you high-res image playback; HD movie shooting at a 1280×720 resolution; and a Smart Auto mode for an easy shooting experience that requires little work. The Canon Power Shot DS960 IS series is follow up of the popular SD880 IS which features the same 28mm wide-angle lens with a 4x zoom. It can capture 720p HD video clips and has Canon’s Digic 4 image processor. It also features an HDMI output to quickly hook it up to an HDTV for playing back photos and videos. This is one of the most prominent and beneficial feature of this model along with its wide screen LCD. This model is good to take good photos with great color and exposure. This is a perfect choice for those who are looking at a reasonably simple, stripped-down point-and-shoot model, but if you wish for more controls and smaller price tags than SD880 would be the ideal choice. The 5.11-ounce SD960 sports spiffy rounded edges are available in a variety of shade options such as silver, gold, blue and pink. It measures 2.1 by 3.9 by 0.9 inches (HWD), making it a bit shorter and thicker than a Blackberry Pearl and slightly larger than the Canon Powershot SD 780 IS. The new interface is straightforward and attractive and is quite similar to the one used in previous power shot models. Its higher resolution text is crisper and adds animations to the menus along with cool transitions between images when you’re in a playback mode. It is easy to navigate the menus, with the camera’s easy-to-manipulate scroll wheel, which is flanked by large Play and Menu buttons. The zoom and shutter release controls are perfectly big which makes framing and shooting pictures simpler. The SD 960 has wider lens than SD780 IS and SD970IS which results in a shorter focal length and consequently the ability to fit more into your images. The lens provides 4X optical zoom with a focal range of 5mm to 20mm with maximum f-stops at f/2.8 and f/5.8.

The back of this camera is very modest and looks peculiar without the print/share and Display buttons. However the function of the display button has been moved to the unlabeled rotating disc/directional pad. When you rotate or press the disc a graphic appears on the screen which has labels like  timer, display information, focus range, and flash Display menu is accessible only in the Function menu, so whether this is good or bad depends upon the consumers needs and expectation. The Canon SD 960 is equipped with DIGIC 4 processor which increases the speed and overall performances. It improves focusing, scene recognition, especially with face detection, exposure, and also helps to filter out noise at higher ISOs. This model has three shooting modes but none of them allows you to tweak shutter speed or aperture. There is a small button on top of the camera which assists you in moving between automatic settings and scene recognition mode called Smart Auto, a program/scene mode or movie mode. The Smart Auto mode automatically selects from up to 18 different shooting presets to get the best shot. These 18 pre defined modes are also selectable when automatic is turned off thereby giving more control the ability to select these different options. The program mode that is generally found in more upscale cameras and DSLRS which allows you to control the various features like ISO speed, white balance, and metering The SD960 also  features the Color Accent setting, which lets you sample one color and preserve it while turning the rest of the frame black and white; and portrait, which offers you a wide aperture to give you a shallower depth of field for your subject or model. The movie mode is capable of recording at an HD resolution of 720p and the results are quite good and can be transferred directly to your computer through the provided USB cord, or directly up to an HD monitor or TV to be played back via the camera’s HDMI output. The SD 960 is known for a new function that is gaining importance called the face detection self timer. This function allows one more person to be added into a group shot. This feature will not take a picture until the camera detects an extra face in the frame and is a good options for casual photographers. Canons intelligent Contrast correction also known as i-contrast is a system that helps correct both low-light and backlit shots by brightening up dark areas. The feature can be applied at the time of shot, or added later as a post-shot option during image play back.  This model uses lithium-ion battery and is rated at 300 images per charge which is a good call. All shooters need to have patience as it takes 2.6 seconds to take a shot and if you turn on the flash would drag to around 4 seconds. This model is not equipped with burst mode but with only continuous unlimited shooting capable of just less than 1 frame per second. Canon designed the SD 960 to upgrade the SD880 IS series; however they shrank the screen, removed some good features, made a seemingly unnecessary control change and above all hiked the price by $30. Overall a 12.1-megapixel sensor, and 4X optical zoom range all bundled in a compact and rugged form factor, this camera proved to be a capable point-and-shoot with plenty of features for the beginners. However if you are looking at more control options then SD 880 is a better choice with more control options and smaller price tag.

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