Canon PowerShot Pro1 Review: Digital Photography Review

Rear of camera controls

Controls on the rear of the camera are located either to the left or the right of the thumb grip, those associated mostly with the LCD monitor and menu control on the left, the rest on the right. At the top is the mode dial which is set at an approximately 45 degree angle faced towards the photographer. It's worth noting the that several of the controls have double functions, for example the 4-way controller is used to set exposure compensation / white balance, the MF button is used to record voice annotations in play mode.

Exposure Modes

Automatic Exposure

Camera has complete control over exposure, point-and-shoot operation, the majority of manual features are disabled, you can't alter exposure compensation, ISO or use RAW mode. You can set flash mode, macro and image size / quality.

Program Auto Exposure

Very similar to AUTO exposure but you have access to all the normal manual controls, can set the ISO, exposure compensation, use AE lock, bracketing etc. The Pro1 has program shift (although it's well hidden), it is activated by pressing the * (AE/FE-Lock) button, you can then turn the main dial to select from various equivalent exposures.

Example (pressing * metered 1/50 sec, F4.0):

• 1/30 sec, F4.5 (turn left)
• 1/40 sec, F4.0 (turn left)
• 1/50 sec, F4.0 (metered)
• 1/60 sec, F3.5 (turn right)
• 1/80 sec, F3.2 (turn right)

Shutter Priority Auto Exposure

In this mode you select the shutter speed and the camera will calculate the correct aperture depending on metered exposure, exposure compensation and ISO sensitivity. Shutter speed is displayed on the LCD / EVF and display panel, turn the main dial to select different shutter speeds. Available shutter speeds:

1/4000, 1/3200, 1/2500, 1/2000, 1/1600, 1/1250, 1/1000, 1/800, 1/640, 1/500, 1/400, 1/320, 1/250, 1/200, 1/160, 1/125, 1/100, 1/80, 1/60, 1/50, 1/40, 1/30, 1/25, 1/20, 1/15, 1/13, 1/10, 1/8, 1/6, 1/5, 1/4, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8, 1, 1.3, 1.6, 2, 2.5, 3.2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15 secs

(Shutter speeds of 1.3 seconds or slower will enable the cameras noise reduction system)

* Note: Aperture / shutter speed rule

Aperture Priority Auto Exposure

In this mode you select the aperture and the camera will calculate the correct shutter speed depending on metered exposure, exposure compensation and ISO sensitivity. Aperture is displayed on the LCD / EVF and display panel, turn the main dial to select different apertures. Available apertures:

Wide: F2.4, F2.8, F3.2, F3.5, F4.0, F4.5, F5.0, F5.6, F6.3, F7.1, F8.0
Telephoto: F3.5, F4.0, F4.5, F5.0, F5.6, F6.3, F7.1, F8.0

* Note: Aperture / shutter speed rule

Full Manual Exposure

In this mode you select the aperture and the shutter speed from any combination of the above. Turn the main dial to change shutter speed, click the dial to switch to aperture. When you half-press the shutter release the camera meters the scene and displays a numeric indication of how far over or underexposed the image is (compared to its metering). This value is in EV's (exposure value / stops), if the exposure is under or overexposed by more than 2 EV's the camera simply displays -2 or +2 in red.

C1
C2

Custom Settings 1 & 2

Recalls saved settings from any of the P, Tv, Av or M exposure modes. This restores all parameters applied at the time of saving including zoom and focus distance (if manual focus).

* Aperture / Shutter speed rule

Because the Pro1 (like many other compact digital cameras) has a combined aperture / shutter mechanism it can only achieve the very fastest shutter speeds with a relatively small aperture. These limitations are detailed below.

Zoom position	Aperture	Max. Shutter Speed
Wide angle (28 mm equiv.)	F2.4 - F2.8	up to 1/1600 sec
	F3.2 - F5.0	up to 1/2000 sec
	F5.6 - F8.0	up to 1/4000 sec
Telephoto (200 mm equiv.)	F3.5 - F4.0	up to 1/1600 sec
	F4.5 - F7.1	up to 1/2000 sec
	F8.0	up to 1/4000 sec

Scene Exposure Modes

The exposure modes described below are designed to be easy to use camera presets. Macro focus, image adjustments (ISO, contrast, sharpening, saturation), AEB, AE Lock, FE Lock, metering and RAW mode can not be selected in these modes.

	Portrait In this mode apertures are kept as large as possible (small F number) to produce a blurred background to help define the subject in a portrait shot. Note: Macro focus is available in Portrait mode.
	Landscape In this mode the flash is by default disabled (although you can enable it) and focus is locked at infinity. Apertures are kept as small as possible (large F numbers) to produce the largest possible depth of field. Macro focus is also disabled. Designed to be used for taking landscape shots.
	Night Scene Known on other cameras as "Slow Sync Flash". Put simply in this mode slow shutter speeds are used to capture a dimly lit background (buildings at night for example) and the flash fires briefly to illuminate a foreground subject. Note you can now select between 1st or 2nd curtain sync.

Other Exposure Modes

	Stitch Assist Designed to make shooting of panorama / stitch shots easier. You have a choice of five different stitch modes: left-right, right-left, down-up, up-down or 4-frames in a square. The display changes to show previously shot frames in the sequence to help alignment of each frame. Exposure and White Balance are locked to the first frame.
	Movie Mode Record short movie clips: • 640 x 480, 15 fps, max 30 seconds (including audio) • 320 x 240, 15 fps, max 3 minutes (including audio) • 160 x 120, 15 fps, max 3 minutes (including audio)

Record mode buttons

Display mode

With the LCD monitor visible this button switches display between the LCD and EVF (electronic viewfinder).

FUNC button

The FUNC button displays an overlaid menu which provides access to several photographic settings. In Auto exposure mode you can only modify the Image Size / Quality, in Scene exposure modes the available settings vary. All settings are available in the creative record exposure modes (P, Tv, Av, M or C). Settings appear in a column down the left side of the display, use the arrow keys to move up and down each option and the turn the main dial or press left / right arrow keys to change. The SET button is used occasionally to change sub-options. Click here to view an animation of FUNC settings. Note that the icons used below to represent each setting are the default for that setting and that the icon will change once a setting change is made.

	Sensitivity	Auto, ISO 50, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400
	Photo Effect	Off, Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Sepia, B&W, Custom (Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation)
	Bracketing	Exposure: 3 frames: 0/+/- 0.3 to 2.0 EV Focus: 3 frames: +/- 1, 2, 3
	Flash output	+/-2 EV in 0.3 EV steps Three levels in manual flash mode
	Image quality	Super Fine, Fine, Normal
	Image size	3264 x 2448, 2272 x 1704, 1600 x 1200, 1024 x 768, 640 x 480, RAW

Manual Focus

Hold the MF button and turn the lens barrel ring to enter manual focus mode. If the 'MF-Point Zoom' is set to on the camera will magnify a portion at the center of the live view to assist in focusing, at the same time a ruler is shown on the right side of the frame with a distance readout. Cancel manual focus by pressing the MF button again.

Exposure Compensation

Displays the exposure compensation meter on the screen, turn the main dial or press the left/right arrows to set exposure compensation in the range of -2.0 EV to +2.0 EV in 0.3 EV steps. Click the main dial or re-press the exposure compensation button to remove the meter.

Auto Exposure Lock (AE-Lock / FE-Lock)

Takes an exposure reading and locks it for the next shot. Only available in P, Tv and Av exposure modes. If you have the flash open and enabled the camera will fire the flash and take a meter reading against the flash output (known as FE Lock) lock it and use it for the next shot. Note that you can select equivalent exposures (exposure shift) in P, Av and Tv after AE-Lock by turning the command dial.

White Balance

Displays a white balance selection bar on the screen, turn the main dial or press left/right arrows to select white balance, click the main dial or re-press the WB button to remove the selection bar.

• Auto
• Sunny
• Cloudy
• Incandescent
• Fluorescent
• Fluorescent High
• Flash
• Manual 1 (press SET to measure Manual WB)
• Manual 2 (press SET to measure Manual WB)

Information Mode

Toggles between three LCD display modes:

• Live view with AF frame only
• Live view with AF frame and overlaid settings information

SET / AF Frame selection

In record mode pressing this button allows you to move the AF area around the frame to any one of 345 positions (a 23 x 15 grid). Press and hold to reset the AF frame to the center area.

Enter / Leave the Record Menu

Pressing this button in record or play mode enters that mode's settings menu (described in detail on the next pages of this review).

Record review mode (during image review after taking a shot)

	Erase image Erases the image, requires confirmation: Erase / Cancel.
	Record voice annotation Allows you to record a voice annotation which will have the same filename as the recorded image, the review image is overlaid with a record bar, this allows you to record a WAVE file of up to 60 seconds.
	Information Mode Toggles between three LCD display modes: • Image only display • Image and detailed exposure information with histogram and highlights
	FUNC button Pressing the FUNC button during record review provides you with the option to change the current image to RAW format. This means that you can shoot JPEG and if you realize you have a very important shot you can press FUNC and save it as a RAW instead. Very useful, very clever.
	SET / Shutter release button Freezes the image review until the shutter release is half-pressed.

Play Mode

	Display mode With the LCD monitor visible this button switches display between the LCD and EVF (electronic viewfinder).
	Jump Enters a special mode which allows you to jump through playback images by 10 frames forward or backward.
	Record voice annotation Allows you to record a voice annotation which will have the same filename as the recorded image, the review image is overlaid with a record bar, this allows you to record a WAVE file of up to 60 seconds.
	Erase image Erases the image, requires confirmation: Erase / Cancel.
	Information Mode Toggles between three LCD display modes: • Image only display • Image and brief frame information • Image and detailed exposure information with histogram and highlights
	Setting / Menu confirm Used to confirm changed camera settings or options in the camera menus.
	Enter / Leave the Play Menu Pressing this button in record or play mode enters that mode's settings menu (described in detail on the next pages of this review).

Note that you can use the main dial as well as the more traditional four way controller to browse through images in play mode.