Canon PowerShot D20 review

The menus are standard point-and-shoot fare, with a fully automatic mode, various scene presets and a Program mode that adds functions such as exposure compensation, ISO speed and white balance. There are a few creative effects such as Toy Camera and Fish-Eye, but no HDR shooting. The Stitch Assist mode merely shows the previous shot to help line up photos, and doesn’t actually stitch them together. The video mode is a step up from the norm, though, with plenty of detail in its 1080p clips. The zoom and autofocus motors didn’t spoil the soundtrack but the microphone picked up some background hiss and a fair amount of handling noise.

Details are sharp in the centre but chromatic aberrations towards the edges soften focus and give high-contrast lines a discoloured glow – click to enlarge

The D20 put in a respectable rather than exceptional performance in our photo tests. It was reasonably quick, taking 2.2 seconds between shots and running at 2fps in continuous mode. Brightly lit shots mostly looked great but highlights were often clipped. Close inspection revealed slightly vague fine details and a little noise in darker areas.

We’ve seen Canon compact cameras with crisper details and more dynamic range than this, but it’s not a bad effort – click to enlarge

Meanwhile, the edges of frames suffered from chromatic aberrations, giving a discoloured halo around high-contrast lines. Shooting into the sun resulted in heavy lens flares, although they weren’t hugely offensive to our eyes. We also found that backlit subjects were engulfed in an angelic glow, but giving the window in front of the lens a quick wipe fixed this.

The noise reduction copes well with solid expanses of colour, producing excellent results in this low-light shot – click to enlarge

Image quality held up reasonably well in low light, though. Noise reduction took a heavy toll on fine details but photos were easily good enough for sharing online.

This is a camera for people who love the great outdoors more than the art of photography, but on those terms it does its job well. It might be worth waiting to see what 2013 holds for the rugged camera market, but if your adventurous spirit can’t wait that long, the D20 is a solid choice.