Canon SD700 IS Optics

Zoom
A good 4x optical zoom range, with good performance.

The Canon PowerShot SD700 zooms over the equivalent of a 35-140mm range, a slightly higher range than average. Details are sharp and well defined at full wide angle, though with some softening in the left corners of the frame. The 4x digital zoom takes it out to 16x total with some loss of quality (as you might expect), though still with a fair bit of fine detail.

Macro
A very small macro area with great detail and very high resolution. Flash has trouble up close though.

The Canon PowerShot SD700's macro setting performed well, capturing a small minimum area of only 1.13 x 0.85 inches (29 x 22 millimeters). Detail and resolution were both very good, with only a minimal amount of softening in the corners from the lens. (Most cameras have some softening in the corners in macro mode.) The flash has trouble this close though, as it's partially blocked by the lens in the lower right corner and strongly overexposed the upper left corner. (Plan on using external lighting for your closest macro shots with the SD700.)

Distortion
Average barrel distortion at wide angle, and a tiny amount of pincushion at telephoto.

This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel--usually at wide angle) or inward (like a pincushion--usually at telephoto). The Canon PowerShot SD700's 0.8% barrel distortion at wide angle is average among the cameras we've tested, although we personally feel that this level is too high. At the telephoto end, the SD700 produced a tiny amount of barrel distortion, a mere 0.07%.

Chromatic aberration
Moderately at wide angle, but extends only a short distance into the frame. Very little at telephoto.

Chromatic aberration was moderate to high at wide angle, showing about 7-9 pixels of fairly bright coloration on either side of the target lines, but it decreases to very low levels at telephoto focal lengths. Even at wide angle though, the chromatic aberration doesn't extend very far into the frame. (This distortion is visible as a very slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.)

Corner Sharpness
Fairly high blurring in the left corners of the frame at wide angle, but limited to just the extreme corners. Little blurring at telephoto.

The Canon PowerShot SD700 produced soft corners in a few shots, with the strongest effect in the left corners at full wide angle. The good news though, is that this softness was limited to the just the extreme corners: As you move toward the center of the frame, it decreases rapidly. Overall, the SD700 showed better than average sharpness across the frame for a subcompact camera model.

Coverage
Optical viewfinder tight and skewed slightly to the lower right. Very good accuracy from the LCD monitor.

The SD700's optical viewfinder was quite tight, showing only about 80% frame accuracy at wide angle, and about 77% accuracy at telephoto. However, the LCD monitor showed 100% frame accuracy at both lens settings.