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Recording Features
Playback, Editing and Print Functions
Battery Information
Inputs and Outputs Notes
Supplied Software

Recording Features

LCD Monitor: The Canon PowerShot Digital Elph SD790 IS has a 3.0" low temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD monitor featuring approximately 230,000 pixels with approximately 100% picture coverage. This extra-durable, high-resolution screen with tough scratch-resistant coating on the anti-reflective, PureColor LCD II screen offers a crisp, bright, clear picture to make shooting  playback and using the camera's menu functions convenient even at an angle. The LCD display's brightness can be manually adjusted. The LCD display also features an Night Display feature that when shooting in dark conditions, the camera automatically brightens the LCD monitor to suit the brightness of the subject, making it easier to frame the subject.

Note: This digital camera does not feature a separate viewfinder.

Image Sensor: For optimal image quality, the camera uses a 1/2.3" CCD image sensor with approximately 10.3-million total pixels and 10.0-million effective pixels giving your shots added depth and detail.

DIGIC III Image Processor: The PowerShot SD790 IS features the DIGIC III Image Processor. The DIGIC III chip gives you superior image quality, faster image writing to the SD card, more efficiency to extend battery life, and higher definition for the LCD monitor.

iSAPS Technology: The iSAPS (Intelligent Scene Analysis based on Photographic Space) technology uses an internal database of thousands of photographs to improve focus speed and accuracy, as well as exposure and white balance.

Face Detection Technology: The DIGIC III chip includes Face Detection Auto Focus/Auto Exposure technology. Face Detection finds all the faces in the frame and sets the most suitable focus point. Exposure and flash are controlled to ensure proper illumination of both the faces and the overall scene, eliminating the common problem of overexposed faces. The PowerShot SD790 IS also offer Face Detection WB (White Balance) which allows the camera to concentrate upon faces when calculating white balance for the best possible skin tones. In addition the digital camera features Face Select and Track which lets you highlight one face among several in a scene, and the camera will then concentrate on that one person, even as they move around the scene.

Motion Detection Technology: This sophisticated feature works in the background to instantly evaluate how fast your subject is moving. Then it automatically selects and sets the optimal exposure and ISO settings to keep everything looking sharp and clear. So whether you're shooting a bride walking down the aisle, a ballet recital or even a child's soccer game, you can relax and shoot with confidence knowing you've got the picture you intended.

Optics: The camera features a 3.0x optical zoom lens and a 12.0x total digital zoom. You can select from the following digital zoom settings.

• Standard: enables shooting at zoom factors of up to 12x with digital and optical zooms combined at a focal length of 35mm to 420mm
• Off: enables shooting without digital zoom with a focal length of 35mm to 105mm
• 1.4x: digital zoom is fixed at the select zoom factor of 1.4x for a focal length of 49mm to 147mm enabling faster shutter speed and less chance of camera shake
• 2.3x: digital zoom is fixed at the select zoom factor of 2.3x for a focal length of 80mm to 241.5mm enabling faster shutter speed and less chance of camera shake

Note: The digital zoom cannot be used when the LCD monitor is turned off, in Date Stamp or Widescreen modes.

Safety Zoom: Based on the number of recording pixels set, the Safety Zoom feature calculates the maximum zoom factor beyond which image quality will begin to deteriorate. The digital zoom will then pause at this zoom factor for a moment until you want to zoom even closer.

Image Stabilization: The Image Stabilization function allows you to minimize the camera shake effect (blurred images) when you shoot distance subjects that have been magnified or when you shoot in dark conditions without a flash. The digital camera offers the following Image Stabilization settings.

• Continuous: You can check the effect of the IS mode on image blur on the camera's LCD monitor since the IS mode runs continually. This makes it easier to compose images and focus on subjects.
• Shoot Only: IS mode is only activated when the shutter button is pressed, so subjects will be captured with reduced blur even if their movements on the LCD monitor are not smooth.
• Panning: This option only stabilizes the effect of up and down camera motions on the image. This option is recommended for shooting objects moving horizontally.
• Off: Image stabilization is not active.

Recording Media: The camera records still images or moving images with stereo audio on SD Memory Cards, SDHC Memory Cards , MultiMediaCards, MMCplus Cards and HC MMCplus Cards. Still images are recorded in JPEG, and the movies are recorded in AVI format (Image data: Motion JPEG, Audio data: WAVE (monaural)). A 32MB SD Memory Card is included with the camera.

Still Image Resolution/Compression: You can choose from the following still image resolutions: Large (3648 x 2736), Medium 1 (2816 x 2112 pixels), Medium 2 (2272 x 1704 pixels), Medium 3 (1600 x 1200 pixels), and Small (640 x 480 pixels). You can also select a Date Stamp size (1600 x 1200), and Widescreen (3648 x 2048). For each resolution (except Date Stamp), you can set the compression to Superfine, Fine or Normal. The estimated number of still images that can be recorded on SD Memory Cards is as follows:

Movies: Standard movies can be shot at 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 with a frame rate of 30 frames per second up to the capacity of the inserted memory card (up to 4GB or 1 hour). You can also shoot movies in the Compact Mode which are shot at 160 x 120 at 15 frames per second for up to 3 minutes. In addition, the Time Lapse mode allows you to shoot with 640 x 480 pixels at 1 or 0.5 frames per second up to a continuous recording time of 2 hours. All movies are shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio. The estimated number of still images and length of movies that can be recorded on SD Memory Cards is as follows:

Continuous Shooting Mode: You can use this mode to shoot successive frames while the shutter button is fully pressed. The camera shoots approximately 1.4 shots per second (Large/Fine mode). The shooting interval varies depending upon the size of image, compression, and whether or not the flash is used. Images may be recorded in continuous mode until the SD Memory card is full. A special high speed memory card is recommended for best results.

AutoFocus Modes:  The camera utilizes TTL (through-the-lens) automatic focusing with three focusing methods:

• Face Detect: camera automatically detects the position of a face and uses the data to set the focus and exposure while shooting
• AiAF: camera automatically selects between 9 AF frames to focus on according to the shooting conditions
• Center: camera fixes the AF frame at the center; this is recommended when the target subject is at the center of the composition

Auto Focus Lock: If it becomes difficult to focus on the subject due to low contrast to the surroundings, close up and far away subjects in the same shot, or quickly moving subjects, you can choose to lock the focus or auto focus on an object at a similar distance, then shoot the picture after recomposing the shot.

Focusing Range: The camera features the following focus ranges:

• Normal: Use this mode when the distance from the end of the lens to the subject is 12" or greater.
• Macro: Use this mode to shoot close-ups of flowers or small items. You can shoot a 1.5" x 1.1" area at a minimum focusing distance of 1.2" when the camera's zoom is set to its wide-angle setting. You can shoot an image area of 4.3" x 3.2" at a minimum focusing distance of 12" when the camera's zoom is set to its tele-photo setting.
• Infinity: In Infinity mode the camera can focus from 9.8' to infinity
• Kids&Pets: In this mode the camera can focus from 3.3' to infinity throughout the wide-angle/telephoto setting

Shooting Modes: The Canon LCD digital camera features the following shooting modes:

• Auto: camera selects the settings according to surroundings and conditions
• Manual: allows you to select settings such as exposure compensation, white balance, My Colors, or ISO Speed (Note: This is not a true "manual exposure" setting (where the user sets the aperture and shutter speed manually.)
• Color Accent: you can specify one color in the LCD monitor, and have only that color remain while the camera turns the other colors to black and white
• Color Swap: specify one color in the LCD monitor, and have that color transformed into another color
• Stitch Assist: Stitch Assist can be used to shoot overlapping images that can later be merged (stitched) to create on panoramic image on your computer using the supplied software.
• Special Scene: for taking optimal pictures by selecting one of the appropriate shooting modes:
  • Portrait: blurs the background and makes the subject stand out
  • Night Snapshot: allows you to take snapshots of people against twilight or dark backgrounds by reducing the effects of camera shake, even without using a tripod
  • Kids & Pets: lets you capture subjects that move quickly without missing photo opportunities
  • Indoor: prevents camera shake and maintains the subject's true colors when shooting under fluorescent or tungsten lighting
  • Foliage: shoots trees and leaves in vivid colors
  • Snow: shoots without a blue tinge and without making subjects appear dark against a bright white background
  • Beach: shoots without making subjects appear dark near water or sand where reflected sunlight is strong
  • Sunset: allows you to shoot sunsets in vibrant colors
  • Fireworks: captures fireworks in the sky sharply and at optimal exposure
  • Aquarium: selects the optimal ISO speed, white balance and color balance to capture fish and other items in an indoor aquarium
  • Underwater: use this setting for shooting images with Waterproof Case WP-DC23 (sold separately); records images with natural hue and with optimal white balance setting to reduce bluish tones
• Movies: When you press the shutter button, you can shoot movies in the following modes:
  • Standard: shoots in 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 at 30 with a maximum clip length of 1 hour
  • Color Accent: like standard mode, but lets you specify one color to remain while all others are turned to black and white
  • Color Swap: like standard mode, but lets you change a specified color to another
  • Compact: shoots in 160 x 120 at 15 fps with a maximum clip length of 3 minutes
  • Time Elapse: shoots a single frame shot at intervals of 1 or 2 seconds; when played back, two hours worth of recorded frames is compressed to 8 or 4 minutes - sound cannot be recorded in this mode

Metering Modes: You can select from the following metering modes:

• Evaluative Light Metering: used for standard conditions. The area within the frame is divided into several zones and light is measured based on subject position, brightness, direct light and backlighting.
• Center-Weighted Averaging: averages the exposure from the entire image, but places more weight on the subject at the center
• Spot: meters the area within the spot AE point at the center of the LCD monitor

Exposure Compensation: If you are shooting against a bright background or strong backlight, you may need to correct the exposure so that the subject doesn't come out too dark. You can set the adjustments from -2 to +2 in 1/3-step increments.

Locking the Exposure Setting (AE Lock): You can set the exposure and focus separately. This is effective when the contrast is too strong between the subject and background, or when a subject is backlit.

White Balance: You can choose from the following white balance settings:

• Auto: the camera sets the white balance automatically according to shooting conditions
• Daylight: for recording outdoors on a bright day
• Cloudy: for recording under overcast, shady or twilight skies
• Tungsten: for recording under tungsten and bulb-type 3-wavelength fluorescent lighting
• Fluorescent: for recording under warm-white, cool-white or warm-white (3-wavelength) fluorescent lighting
• Fluorescent H: for recording under daylight fluorescent, or daylight fluorescent-type (3-wavelength) fluorescent lighting
• Custom: allows you to manually set the white balance and store the settings

Flash Modes: The PowerShot SD790 IS has a built-in flash. Using the control dial, you can select Auto (flash fires in low light), On (flash always fires), or Off (flash doesn't fire). The built-in flash has a range of 12" to 11' in Wide Angle and 12'' to 6.6' in Telephoto. In the menu, you can add the following flash functions when the flash is set to On or Auto:

• Red-Eye Reduction: When activated, the red-eye reduction lamp fires when the flash is used in dark areas. This reduces the light reflecting back from the eyes, making them appear red.
• Red-Eye Lamp: The red-eye reduction lamp lights orange before the flash fires. This feature reduces the effect of light reflecting back from the eyes and making them appear red.
• Slow-Synchro: The flash timing is adjusted to slow shutter speeds. This reduces the chance that only the background will appear dark when a person is photographed against a twilight background or night scene, or when an interior shot is taken.

Flack Lock: You can lock the camera's flash exposure so that the exposure settings are correctly set regardless of the composition of your subject.

ISO Speed: The ISO speed can be set to 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, Auto, or High ISO Auto to reduce the effects of camera shake or avoid blurry subject or to turn the flash off when shooting in a dark area..

Long Shutter Mode: You can set the shutter speed to a slower setting to make dark subjects appear brighter. During Long Shutter Mode the camera applies special noise-reduction processing to images shot at shutter speeds slower than 1.3 seconds, thereby producing high-quality images.

My Colors: You can choose the look and feel of the photos you take by using My Colors to add the following effects to the image you are currently recording or have already recorded:

• Vivid: emphasizes the contrast and color saturation to record in bold colors
• Neutral: tones down the contrast and color saturation to record neutral hues
• Sepia: records images in sepia tones
• B/W: records images in black and white
• Positive Film: makes red, green, and blue colors more intense
• Lighter Skin Tone: makes skin tones lighter
• Darker Skin Tone: makes skin tones darker
• Vivid Blue: emphasizes blue tints to make blue subjects, such as the sky or ocean, more vivid
• Vivid Green: emphasizes green tints to make green subjects, such as the mountains, new growth, flowers and lawns, more vivid
• Vivid Red: emphasizes red tints to make red subjects, such as flowers or cars, more vivid
• Custom Color: lets you adjust the contrast, sharpness, or saturation settings or the color balance between red, green, blue, and skin tones

• My Colors Off: records with no effect

Note: You can also add the My Color effects to already recorded still images. Custom Color and My Colors Off cannot be added after the picture is recorded.

Display Overlay: You can check a composition's horizontal and vertical alignment as well as a 3:2 aspect ratio print range on the LCD monitor by using a shooting guide while shooting. You can choose from the following display overlays.

• Grid Lines: displays gridlines dividing the monitor into 9 areas, allowing you to check the subject's horizontal and vertical alignment
• 3:2 Guide: allows you to check what can be printed in a composition using a 3:2 aspect ratio; the portion that will not print displays in gray
• Both: displays both the grid lines and 3:2 guide at thee same time

Histogram Display:  The Histogram is a graph that allows you to check the brightness of the image. The greater the bias toward the left in the graph, the darker the image. The greater the bias toward the right, the brighter the image.

Self-Timer: The self-timer starts when the shutter button is pressed. The delay time can be set to 10 seconds, 2 seconds, or Custom Timer. The Custom Timer allows you to choose the timer delay setting: 1-10, 15, 20, or 30 seconds for up to 10 shots.

Sound Recorder: You can record a continuous sound memo for up to approximately 2 hours without taking a picture. The camera can record the following durations using the listed memory card capacities.

Playback, Editing and Print Functions

Auto Rotate Function: The PowerShot SD790 IS Auto Rotate function uses an Intelligent Orientation Sensor to sense whether your images were shot horizontally or vertically. During playback, the camera automatically rotates the image to the correct viewing orientation in the display. Auto Rotate can be turned on or off in the menu.

Auto/My Category: If you set Auto Category to "On", images are automatically sorted into preset categories as they are recorded. The preset categories include - People, Scenery and Events. If you set the camera to My Category, you can choose which images go into the following categories - People, Scenery, Events, My Category 1-3 and To Do.

Jump Images: When you have a lot of images recorded onto a memory card, you can use the Jump feature to speed up your search for the image you want to view. You can choose from the following Jump functions.

• Jump 10 Images: jumps over 10 images at a time
• Jump 100 Images: jumps over 100 images at a time
• Shot Date: jumps to the firs image of each shooting date
• Movie: jumps to a movie
• Folder: jumps to the firs image of each folder
• My Category: jumps to the first image of each folder sorted by the Auto Category or My Category feature

Slide Show: Images stored on an SD Memory card can automatically be displayed one-by-one using the Slide Show function. You can display all the stored images, select from the following image categories (Date, My Category, Folder, Movies, Stills), or you can customize up to 3 separate slide shows. Up to 998 images can be marked per custom slide show. You can also choose between four transition effects as well as set the amount of time each image is displayed in a slide show. You can choose 3-10 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, or Manual. In addition, the repeat function allows you to repeat a slide show after it has finished. You can select the transition effect displayed when switching between images.

Index Replay: This feature allows you to view nine images at once on the LCD monitor so that you can search for an image quickly. Movies cannot be played in the index playback mode.

Image Magnification: When viewing a still picture in Single Image Replay mode, you can magnify the image up to 10x. You can also pan around the zoomed image to view a particular portion of the picture.

Rotating Images: You can rotate an image by 90 or 270 degrees clockwise in the LCD monitor.

Focus Check Display: Focus Check display allows you to check the focus of image taken and allows you to easily check facial expressions and whether a subject's eyes are closed.  This feature can be set to allow you to check the focus of an image taken right after shooting the subject.

Red-Eye Correction: You can correct red eyes in already recorded images. However, red eyes may not be automatically detected in some images such as faces near the screen edge, faces that appear extremely small, larger dark or bright in relation to the overall image and faces turned to the side or at a diagonal and faces with a portion hidden which prevents the Red-Eye Correction form working.

Trimming: You can trim a required portion of a recorded image and save it as a new image file.

Resizing Images: You can save images a lower recording pixel than the original image. You can change high resolution images to 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480 or 320 x 240.

Sound Memos: In playback mode you can attach sound memos up to 60 seconds to an image. The sound data is saved in WAV format.

Editing Movies: You can delete portion of recorded movies. Movies one second or longer before editing can be edited in one second increments, but those that are protected or less than one second long cannot be edited.

Protecting Images: The protect feature allows you to protect important images from accidental erasure. You can protect images by the image itself, by a specific date, a category or folder, or select All Images.

PictBridge/Direct Print: Using the supplied USB cable, you can connect this camera directly to a PictBridge-compatible printer of any brand, or a Canon printer that supports the Direct Print function. You can also connect the camera directly to certain Canon Bubble Jet printers. In this way, you can make prints directly from the camera without having to hook it up to a computer.

Exif Print (Exif 2.2): The Canon PowerShot SD790 IS conforms to "Exif Print", a worldwide standard. Vital camera settings (such as: exposure mode, white balance, exposure time) and scene data are recorded to the image file when it is captured. Printers compatible with "Exif Print" are able to use this information to produce high quality photographs, exactly the way they were intended at the time of capture. This intelligent communication process also allows the printer to correct for poor lighting or mistakes, resulting in photos that can be even better than the originals.

DPOF Print Settings: On your SD Memory card, you can select which image or images you want to print and how many copies you want. This is convenient for printing images all at once on optional photo printers or at participating photo labs.

DPOF Transfer Order: You can use the camera to specify settings for images that you wish to download to a computer. The settings used on the camera comply with the Digital Print Order Format (DPOF) standards. A maximum of 998 images can be selected per SD card, and are transferred in order from oldest to newest by shooting date.

Battery Information

Power Requirements: The Canon PowerShot SD790 IS powered by the supplied NB-5L rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery pack (3.7V/1120mAh). The battery pack can be charged in the supplied CB-2LX battery charger. Charging time is approximately 2 hours and 5 minutes. For long periods of continuous use, or when connected to a computer, it is recommended that the camera be connected to the optional CA-DC10 Compact Power Adapter which is included in the optional ACK-DC30 AC adapter kit. The typical performance of the batteries are as follows:

Power Saving Functions: The camera is equipped with the following power saving functions:

• Auto Power Down for Shooting Mode: Camera powers down approximately 3 minutes after the last control is accessed on the camera. The LCD monitor automatically turns off 1 minute after the last control is accessed even if Auto Power Down is set to off.
• Auto Power Down for Playback Mode and Connection to a Printer: The camera power down approximately 5 minutes after the last control is accessed on the camera.

Note: The Power Saving Function will not activate during a Slide-Show or while the camera is connected to a computer

Inputs and Outputs Notes

AV Output/Digital Terminal: The PowerShot SD790 IS has a Mini-B Version 2.0 USB terminal to allow you to connect the camera to a compatible computer or compatible Canon printer via the supplied USB cable. This USB 2.0 Hi-Speed-compatible terminal allows you to rapidly download images to your computer or printer. The camera's Mini-B USB port also allows you to connect the camera to a TV or video monitor with mono RCA audio and composite video input jacks using the supplied audio/video cable. You can set the video output to NTSC or PAL.

Supplied Software

Included Software: The PowerShot SD790 IS comes supplied with the Canon Digital Camera Solution Disk Ver. 33.0 CD-ROM. It contains the following programs.

• ZoomBrowser EX 6.1 (Windows): downloads, displays, organizes and edits your recorded images
• ImageBrowser 6.1 (MAC): downloads, displays, organizes and edits your recorded images
• TWAIN Driver 6.9: driver for Canon brand cameras
• PhotoStitch 3.1: use to merge still images to make panoramas

Minimum System Requirements: