Canon PowerShot SD450 is the 5-megapixel update to PowerShot SD400. It has the ultracompact frame of the SD300 and shares most of its specs, except the resolution. The differences between SD400 and SD450 are very minor, one of them being the LCD size, which has increased to 2.5 (for SD450).

The camera is light (5.8 ounces) and has small dimensions (3.4 x 2.1 x 0.83 inches). The front of the camera hosts the 3x zoom lens, the focus-assist lamp, the microphone, the optical viewfinder window and the electronic flash. The bottom hosts the tripod socket, the cover for the battery and the cover for the SD memory card. On the side, you can access the I/O connectors. The power button and the LED power light are also on the top of the camera. The key controls are located on the right side of the black panel. The settings can be adjusted by using the four-way cursor pad. The Function button provides access to controls such as exposure compensation, ISO, resolution and compression ratio.

There are only six scene modes available, among them: Underwater, Portrait, Kids/Pets, Night Snapshot and Indoor. There isn’t a sports/action mode and you can’t manually control the shutter speed or the f-stops. But the camera works very well using the automatic features.

The battery life is excellent and you can take almost 800 shots in a single charge. The image quality is better than the SD300 and the same as the SD400 camera can produce.

If you are looking for an ultracompact camera and you don’t like or need the manual controls, Canon PowerShot SD450 is the camera for you.

 Author : Cristina