Not just good looks (Canon Digital Ixus 330)

Member Name: Mizmi

Product:	Canon Digital Ixus 330
Date:	19/08/03 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good picture quality, Many features, Easy to use

Disadvantages: Not enough manual control, Alumunium body - easily scratched (but tough)

This little camera is a beauty. It is my second digital camera and I simply love it. I purchased it over a year ago, and have had no complaints. It isn?t available on the market anymore (I don?t think) as they now have the Ixus 400, however reading this may help you get to know the Ixus range more (and the newer ones will probably be better even better than this!)

When I bought it, it was quite a high price (around 350GBP) because it was the latest Canon Ixus model and the first to have audio playback in the camera for the movies. It is slightly larger that the Ixus V range, and larger than the newest Ixus 400 (one up from this).

The body is a handsome aluminium, though I do warn you that it is prone to scratches. I have quite a few minor scratches on mine, but then, I am not a very careful person.

The 3X optical zoon is great, and combined with the digital zoom I believe it is 7.4x, and surprisingly, the quality relatively high, considering (quality of digital zoom has definitely improved since my first Kodak DC3800). A lot of people seem to not know that you can get the digital zoom to work simply but clicking the zoom in button again once it has zoomed out to the maximum optically.

It takes compact flash cards, which is widely used by other cameras/devices, so is very convenient, and at 2.0 MP, a 64MB is actually enough. Although there are now smaller cameras with a high MP count available on the market, you really do not need higher than a 2.0 if you aren?t going to print out very large prints. A standard 6x4 inch photo looks flawless.

The LCD screen is a good size and is crystal clear, for the lazy people you can put your images on the slideshow for view.

The buttons are not daunting at all for the beginner: There are three main controls: Movie, Stitch, Manual, Auto, Preview.

Movie: There are 3 sizes: 160x120, 320x240 and 640x480 pixels. I recommend using the middle size as it is not too small


, but the quality is higher than the largest resolution.

Stitch: This lets you take very long photos! You basically take a section of a scenery each (it will help you line it up) and when you are done, once you upload the photos onto the computer, you can use the software provided to stitch the photos up into a long long photo and it is absolutely PERFECT. You won?t even notice that the pictures are different.

Manual: There are a few manual controls, but obviously not as many as the larger cameras. You can control the white balance (, the IOS (50, 100, 200, 400), Exposure, the shutter speed 1-15, with many in between, effects (black and white, sepia, vivid etc), macro mode, scenery mode, burst mode (continuous shots for moving objects etc), flash (no flash, auto flash, flash, night flash, red eye) and self timer. It?s a shame you cannot change the aperture on this camera, which is something I really would like.

Auto: Simple point and shoot, you can also adjust the flash here.

Preview: Lets you play back your pictures ? you can display them individually, as a slideshow, or have 9 photos (3x3) on the screen for quick navigation to a particular one.

The battery life is quite good ? you can go for a entire day out and a half without changing batteries, though I don?t like the way that it gives you a low battery warning so near to the end of the battery?s life, meaning that you have about 3 mote shots before it shuts down completely. So I would suggest getting a spare battery.

Like all canon cameras, this does not come with a case, which is a pain. However, I purchased the official canon case (actually I got it for free because I am good at bargaining ;) ) and they are good as they come with a detachable compartment for spare CF cards and battery.

All in all, the canon IXUS range is exceptional. The cameras have a lot of features for the size it is, however I do think that they are a little b
it pr
icey
(can cost about 100-150 more than a much bigger camera with a lot more manual controls), however if you got the few spare pounds and want something that you will take everywhere with you, you cannot go wrong with the Canon Ixus range.


*********** PS: I wrote this in MS word anc pasted it - for some reason the first half has not got any capital letters present when I pasted it - so I am sorry if it strained for eyes for 50% of the time! :(

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