Smile -You're on Camera! (Canon Digital Ixus 50)

Member Name: bluejules

Product:	Canon Digital Ixus 50
Date:	09/05/08 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Takes great pictures, easy to use

Disadvantages: No warning on low battery

I got my first camera when I was eight years old and have been a keen photographer ever since. When I was thirteen I bought myself a better camera. I absolutely loved it and used it quite a lot. When my dad got our first digital camera I was forever borrowing it as we could put the photos straight onto the computer. He moved on to get a further two digital cameras, (at different times) and still I was asking to borrow them and I was fairly happy with this situation. When my niece, Toni, was born in August 2005 I was using the camera almost every weekend. At one point the camera did break and needed to be sent for repair (which according to my dad was my fault for using it too much!)

So what a lovely surprise I got on Christmas morning 2005 to find my parents had bought me my very own digital camera. Canon Ixus 50.

Out of all the camera's I've had or used this has got to be my favourite! (My dad is jealous because my camera is smaller than his is and he wants to swap!) It is really easy to use and it is just a nice size to carry around. Weight 130g. Size (H)53, (W)86, (D)20.7mm. It is less than half the size of my dad's camera.
When my parents bought the camera (from Comet) it was on offer. It came with a case, an extra battery and an extra strap to carry it. (£349 - 2 years ago)

The camera came in two boxes. When I opened the first box, I could see the camera case, extra battery (rechargeable) and the extra strap. There was another box inside this, which contained the camera itself. This box also had various leads in for connecting the camera to the computer or printer. There was also two CD's. One is a starter guide disk and the other is a digital camera solutions disk. System requirements: Windows 98SE/Me/2000 SP4, Windows XP Mac OS x v10. I have not needed to use either of these disks because I also got a printer which I can insert the SD card straight into.


The camera came with quite a few different instructions. There is a system map, which shows where the leads, battery, SD card etc go. I found this really useful for quick set-up. There is a European Warranty System leaflet, a direct printer user guide, a leaflet about Canon Image Gateway (www.cig.canon-europe.com), a quick start guide, which includes lots of images, and finally the camera user guide. This is 193 pages long and explains how to operate the camera. It is very well detailed and has images, which show you which part of the camera it is talking about.

The camera also came with a charger for the batteries. The camera has rechargeable Li-ion batteries (NB-4L) which are square and are designed for the camera.

Charging the batteries - the batteries only take 1hour and a half each to charge. The light on the charger changes from orange to green when the battery is charged. I was delighted that it only took a short time to charge so that I could start using my camera fairly quickly. The batteries have a cover that you can place on them to keep them clean when not in use. The battery life is really good but unfortunately there is no warning when power is going to run out. So I recommend that you carry a spare battery just in case.

I find the camera really easy to use. I only needed to read the quick start guide to get familiar with it. It takes photo and video (640 x 480 movie capture and sound recording.) You can also view the photos on the play setting (2inch LCD screen) which makes it easy to view them to see if you're happy with it. The camera only comes with a 16Mb SD card, which only stored 9 photos. I have since bought a 256Mb over the internet for £15 and also a 1GB one for £25.

The camera has a timer, which I have used on a couple of occasions. I find this works really well. The light flashes for 10 seconds before bleeping to let you know it is going to take. There is a setting for red eye, which seems to work quite well on everyone but my niece! :-) The flash is really good and can be set to automatic or turned off completely if required. There are six different settings for the flash.

The menu has a section where you can change the theme on the camera, change the start up image and sound, the operation sound, the self-timer sound and the shutter sound. There are only three of each to choose from. I selected an image and sound of a bird, which appears when I turn it on.

Overall I think this is an excellent camera and I am really pleased with it. The camera is a perfect size and the case is soft to the touch but has hard edges for support. I find that the camera is easy to use with excellent results. I've been using this camera for over two years and have no concerns about it. The photo quality is excellent and the camera is easy to use. I would definitely recommend it!

Thanks for reading! Previously published on ciao by me.

Summary: Excellent little camera

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