Happy Snapper! (Canon Digital Ixus 80 IS)

Member Name: cyberem78

Product:	Canon Digital Ixus 80 IS
Date:	09/06/09 (70 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use. Lots of fix-it options. High quality photos.

Disadvantages: Slide button can be a bit flimsy.

I previously owned the Ixus 70 model, a camera that was produced in 2007 and which served me well until the day I accidentally put it through the 40 degree spin cycle of my washing machine (Ooops)! I was impressed enough by the Ixus model to feel, as a casual snapper who just wanted family and holiday pictures, that this model was all I needed in a camera. So I set about looking for the latest in the Canon Ixus range. I found prices varied to a ridiculous degree. This model is on sale in Argos for £146 and on Amazon for £199. I then went to the high street shop Currys where they had a range of cameras on sale which they described as 'old models'. Although the Ixus 80 IS only came out in early 2008 Canon have svereal newer Ixus models on sale, including the Ixus 90 IS. So the Ixus 80 was amongst the 'old models' and was reduced in price to only £79. The camera is available in a range of colours: pink, chocolate, caramel and silver.

This camera is small and compact. It is actually slightly heavier than the Ixus 70 but has a more rounded shape which makes handling easy and comfortable. It's measurements are approximately 3 1/2 inches long by just over 2 inches tall so it sits nicely in the hands with half the length of your thumbs underneath.

The control panel is a flat circlular ring and centre button. The centre button is labelled Func.Set but usually acts as confirmation of a selection of a control in the display screen. The four compass points of the circle each have different controls. I find it relatively easy to use the control panel although I have accidently pressed the wrong side of the circle once or twice - this is easier to do if your fingers are thick or large. One of the controls I use quite a lot is the delete funtion. This is marked by a trashcan symbol on the south west corner of the circle and it is easy to instead press down to the west instead. Thankfully, the functions alluded to on the circle button only work when certain sections in the display panel have been accessed. So it is difficult to actually end up doing something wrong or changing the display much without being able to quickly correct it, anyway.

There are also three other buttons on the camera. One is for when you connect the camera to your computer to download pictures. The button lights up blue to confirm everything is in place - you then press it to activate downloads. The other buttons control display options and allow access to the main menu where you can control all aspects connected to the camera. There is also a 'slide' function on the camera. This is a little plastic button that you can slide up an down between three modes: camera mode, video mode and control mode where you can view pictures and footage collected. The slide button is quite flimsy and sometimes can lodge midway - even if you pull the slide to the very bottom of it's range the mode won't change. This can be remedied by flicking back one mode then pulling it down again. Although this sounds a little precarious the slide never looks in danger of breaking or being the cause of any malfunction.

The camera display panel measures 5cm by almost 4cm so is a good size. There is also the option to look through a viewfinder although I rarely if ever need to use this. The display is high resolution, very bright and all wording is easy to read. You can also control the apearance of the display to your own liking.

Picture quality is great with this 8.1 Mega Pixel camera. I really love taking close up pictures with the 'Macro' option as they tend to look more precise than distance photos. I have taken some incredible pictures of insects and flowers with this model.

There are several things I love about this camera. It seems to make taking a great photograph, even one that's just of a sunny garden, very easy indeed. It's face detection software is brilliant and it can detect up to nine faces so that you can take an even photograph. Faces are highlighted by a yellow box on the display. The camera is sometimes fooled however - mine has detected 'faces' in mushrooms and logs. It also picks them up from photos or newspaper pictures!

I also love some of the features where you can alter or 'fix' your photographs before downloading them onto your PC. It has red eye correction which usually works very well. Sometimes after the fix the person (or animal if like me you photograph your dogs all the time!) can sometimes look very black-eyed and soulless. Red eye correction seems to work best on eyes that are facing front ways on to the camera. I also like the colouring options for your pictures. You can change them to sepia or highlight a certain colour (great if you want to emphasise blue eyes or a green landscape, for instance).

The video capture works very well and when downloaded the footage is high quality and clear. The smaller the video in playback the better quality however.

The camera comes with some accessories like a wrist strap, charger, 32MB memory card, AC and AV cables and a user guide on CD. It also has a CD with software for the image downloading process and photo enhancement software including Zoom Browser version 6.1. If you have previously used a Canon Ixus first uninstall any software you have already. I tried merely installing the newer version software over the old and it didn't work. No camera cover or pouch is inlcuded though - I bought a standard Canon case for £5.

Register with the Canon website to get the best out of your camera and to stay informed about downloads for your software. When you install the software registration is part of the process.

Overall this is a brilliant camera that really helps you take the best picture you can take. It's great for people who just want to point and shoot or even for those who want to be a bit more adventurous. It is also very reliable for allowing so many 'fix-it' options for the photos you feel need a bit tweaking! I would recommend this camera and the Ixus model range in general to anyone looking for an easy to use family camera.

Summary: An easy to use, high-quality camera.

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