Introduction

Ease of Use

The Canon Powershot D20 is by no means a carbon copy. It updates the D10 model that was released way back in good ol' 2009. There are a few notable improvements, but mainly we weren't happy with the noise performance of the D10. The D20 now has HS sensor technology which improves on noise and increases low light performance. Therefore the D20 should show considerable improvement in that department.

Just by looking at the Canon PowerShot D20, you can see some considerable changes in the design department. Out goes the rounded, pebble-like shape for a more boxy, squared off number. The lens sits in the top corner - similar to the Olympus Tough models - with the flash directly to the side. The left side sweeps in towards the bottom like a wave but creating sharper corners and cleaner lines. The D10 had only two buttons on the top plate whereas the D20 has the playback button added there. It can be easily distinguished between the three so there shouldn't be too much of a problem even when underwater. On the back, the buttons are large and textured plastic for grip in cold or wet conditions. However the video button remains shiny chrome metal.

A number of new features have been added to make the Canon PowerShot D20 much more appealing to the travelling photographer. Video has been upgraded to Full 1080 HD and a HDMI port has been added to view video and stills. The zoom has an extra stretch as it now goes up to 5x optical. It starts at 28mm which gives it a top end of 140mm. Also, GPS has been added to the camera so you can correlate your pictures with your location when you get home. These can be posted on Google Maps for your friends to see.

The body is thicker to accommodate the protective shell and it also adds a nice weight to the unit. The obligatory screws are visible to give it a nautical theme as though it's been riveted. For some reason, customers expect to see the camera bolted together like a ship if it can go into water. If not, they want smooth, seamless lines.

Front	Rear

The resistance has been increased in the shockproofing allowing for an extra foot in height but freeze and waterproofing have remained the same at -10 and 10m respectively. Rubber seals line the doors to the battery/memory card compartment as well as the door that hides the HDMI and USB ports. The locks on these doors aren't hard to open. They have a double locking system on them so if you were to catch the lock accidentally, it's unlikely that it'll fling open allowing water to gush inside. We would have liked to see a metal tripod bush on the camera to ensure longevity for photographers that shoot long exposures a lot. Still, this is a more “on the go” camera so it's likely tripod use will be kept to a minimum.

Canon introduced a new strap connector on the PowerShot D20 which is a lot stronger than the traditional D-ring type found on other digital compact cameras. It uses a latch and lock system but then gets let down by using a traditional attachment to the locking nut. The D10 had a long metal cord supplied which was great for snorkelling/light scuba use.

Canon have utilised the same menu system that's been found on their digital cameras for a few years now. Anyone with a current Canon compact will find it familiar. Newcomers to the brand will see that it's very well laid out, with bright and bold colours. There are two main menu systems. The menu button at the bottom of the camera on the back accesses more indepth options such as AF systems, Flash settings, exposure details and how the camera shows you a picture once it's been taken. There's also a second tab for the set up menu which allows you to change features such as the brightness of the screen, how the camera records files, the date/time and GPS settings.

Front	Waterproof

For more instant features that are commonly used when shooting, pressing the Function button (denoted with the term FUNC.) in the centre of the navigation pad opens up access for ISO, White-Balance, Resolution, Aspect Ratio, Self-Timer, GPS and metering among others. Icons have been selected for their universal appeal but a small explanation of the mode will flash on screen for a few moments when you first rest on it. Pressing up on the navigation pad opens up the Mode Menu. This determines what mode the camera is in such as Auto, Program, Underwater/Underwater macro, Snow, Scenes and Video (allows for more control).

The Canon PowerShot D20's start-up time is impressive. From the switched off position, we managed to get the camera on, focused and taking a photograph in 1.7sec. Many cameras sit around the 2.5sec mark so this is fast. The continuous mode has no burst setting. It plods along from the start but will fire out 2fps (frames per second) which is very respectable.

An interesting point about the D20 is that it holds no internal memory. This is usually reserved for the Canon compact elite; such as the IXUS range or G series. Maybe Canon thought it was one more thing to worry about when waterproofing? Whatever the reason, if you don't have a card, you're not taking pictures. The camera does take up to and including SDXC which allows for huge capacities. Perfect for taking on a long holiday; which is exactly what the camera is designed for.

Memory Card Slot	Battery Compartment

As with any digital compact camera, the playback mode can be accessed by pressing the button (on top of the camera) whether the Canon PowerShot D20 is on or off. Both menu buttons work. The Function button again accesses most used features such as Delete, Star Rating, Lock Image, Image Search, Slide Show and Print List. The Main Menu copies several of those but expands the Print Options to allow bulk lists of images to be selected for printing. The Set-up menu is also there.

Some basic editing can also be done in playback. For example, you can add colours/accents to the picture resize it, trim it, adjust Red-Eye or add iContrast (Canon's dynamic range boost).

The usual tightly packed Canon software & documentation pack is included in the box. It features a Getting Started manual in 17 additional languages to your own which is why it's so big. It's commonplace to put the full manual on a CD these days to save money, paper and - therefore - size of packaging. In addition to this, a second CD features Image Browser EX 1.0, Camera Window 8.7 and Photostitch 3.1. Alongside the software, there's also a USB cable, separate charger (unfortunate extra bulk if travelling), battery and strap.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 12 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 3Mb.

Noise

We were looking forward to testing the ISO settings of the Canon PowerShot D20. The new HS technology should make it a lot better at noise control, as it will allow you to ramp up the ISO further than what was possible in the D10. However, we're not here to compare between the two, it's just useful to have a benchmark. Low ISO performance of the D20 is exceptional. At ISO 100, you can be mistaken for looking at a picture from a larger sensor camera. Edges are sharp and surfaces are smooth with not an iota of noise. ISO 200 and ISO 400 yield similar results although at full magnification it's possible to see an ever-so-slight drop in sharpness. Subjects out of the focus field appear rough as though affected by noise.

ISO 800 sees a surge in noise but nowhere near the scale that we're used to seeing on a digital compact camera. Again we had to go to full magnification to get an idea of the changes that are happening to the picture. There's a slight roughing of edges and noise is starting to creep in. Go to ISO 1600 and there's a definite increase in noise presence. Image quality starts to break down to intolerable levels. If you need to go to ISO 1600 or higher, use a flash in low light and keep the ISO down. Although noise has invaded all parts of the photograph at this stage, the picture isn't in a place where it can't be used. Colour is widespread through images at this setting and edge definition has been compromised but you can still see detail and colour.

There are 6 ISO settings available on the Canon PowerShot D20. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.

ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

Sharpening

We used the Unsharp Mask tool to see if sharpening could benefit the Canon PowerShot D20 pictures. We're impressed with the sharpness but using a sharpness tool in an editing suite will benefit.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

We think the 5x lens suffers quite a lot and this is especially evident in the chroma images. We found it present in nearly every photograph. It's the worst at the edges of the frame where all lenses decrease in quality.

Example 1 (100% Crop)	Example 2 (100% Crop)
Example 2 (100% Crop)

Macro

The macro feature of the Canon PowerShot D20 is phenomenal. At wide-angle, the camera can focus at practically point blank range. This is most likely for the underwater macro mode.

Macro Shot	100% Crop

Flash

With the flash off, the wide angle setting causes a definite vignette at the corners of the frame. The loss of light is even throughout. At full zoom, there's still faint darkness at the corners which is unfortunate. We put it down to the lens being more geared up for underwater photography. Adding flash exacerbates the vignetting at wide-angle but does eradicate it at full zoom.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (28mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (140mm)	Flash On - Telephoto (140mm)

There are two Red-Eye reduction options when flash with Red-Eye has been selected. They're accessed by pressing the menu button in flash with Red-Eye. Pressing menu brings up the Red-Eye correction and lamp. There are four combinations and all are as effective as each other. In fact we didn't get any Red-Eye in the first place. The inclusion of that menu at this point is brilliant. It prevents the need to scrawl through menu systems wasting time.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red-eye Correction	Red-eye Correction (100% Crop)

Night

The Canon PowerShot D20 has a proper night shot mode which goes on step further than traditional ones. Canon have named it Long Shutter mode and in the function menu it allows you to adjust the shutter speed from 1 second to 15 seconds. In Program mode, the camera won't allow long enough exposures for night shooting on a tripod.

Night Shot	Night Shot (100% Crop)

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Canon PowerShot D20 camera, which were all taken using the 12 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera/ Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Function Menu

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

Top of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

Our initial thoughts about the Canon Powershot D20 weren't good. It has a rather poor dynamic range which really shone through on the first set of pictures we took with it. The camera's metering prefers the darker areas over the light and will happily bleach out the sky to keep the shadows. With i-Contrast, the camera should be able to recover shadows, so it's worth exposing for the sky, o at least 60% sky, 40% ground, then use i-Contrast.

Canon want people to go out and have fun with the PowerShot D20. They want it to be used on extreme holidays such as skiing and scuba-diving. That's why it's so arduous and also maybe the reason why the Snow setting has it's own dedicated place in the primary Mode Menu. Many people are into filters right now so it's good to see ones such as Toy Camera, Miniature and Fish-Eye.

The stiffness of the buttons (necessary for the waterproofing) became easier to use as time wore on and we found it a pretty good camera to use on a day to day basis. The Canon PowerShot D20 has an unusual design and we got one or two admiring glances as we strolled through town with it. The build quality is great. It has a tough exterior but it's easy to use. It does get let down by a plastic tripod bush and the quality of the lens but other than that, it's an all round good camera.

Image quality is hit and miss. We have a lot of over-exposure thanks to the poor dynamic range. Noise is considerably better controlled than the previous D10 could ever do. Real life shots do spring up some noise that a controlled light test doesn't show and we did get more noise at lower setting than we'd like. It's worth noting that the screen bears little resemblance to what is actually recorded. Some of our shots looked monochrome on the screen but had a decent amount of colour on the computer.

The Canon PowerShot D20 is for travelling yet you have to take a separate charger and figure 8 cable. That's not very appealing to the traveller looking to take this around the world. The lack of internal memory is likely that way for a reason but won't help when you're at the top of Machu Picchu and you run out of memory. Still, if you prepare yourself, charge the battery and take a couple of spare cards, you should be good for a couple of days regular use.

The Canon PowerShot D20 is certainly a camera worth looking at but you need to ask yourself if you can sacrifice dynamic range for point blank focusing. If you can, then take a look at this camera.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4
Features	4
Ease-of-use	4
Image quality	3.5
Value for money	4

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Reviews of the Canon PowerShot D20 from around the web.

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