Power Ixus in a sleek body (Canon Digital Ixus 980 IS)

Member Name: geek_squad

Product:	Canon Digital Ixus 980 IS
Date:	25/07/09 (41 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Compact size, high megapixels

Disadvantages: Optical viewfinder is inaccurate

The Digital Ixus 980 IS even looks promising even just based on its aesthetic appearance. The camera's smooth and elegant styling, would not look out of place whilst making a fashion statement, yet it manages to deliver a good performance that is backed up by quality.

The camera has a 14.7 megapixel resolution, which is quite high, making it not a problem if you do decide to print the photos in large format or use them as wallpapers. However, having such a high megapixel does come with the issue of the amount of space it takes up, since a 1 GB memory capacity is decent for a camera with lower megapixel, it would not be able to store many shots, especially if they are above 10 megapixel. Whilst this is a factor when choosing a camera, but there is always the option to lower the megapixel when not needed.

When you have a powerful camera like this, its hard not to be tempted to print out your photographs in formats up to 15 x 11 inches and fill your houses. After a few, it does become like an addiction.

This camera has a newly developed "Digit 4" processor which is supposed to improve the delay between shots, on average there was a 2.1 second delay between each shot when shooting in single shot mode. This amount of delay is reasonable for a compact camera. The camera also has a fast start up tie, taking a mere 2.2 seconds to turn on.

Although the quality of the photos were good overall, there was a slight flaw in its colour accuracy. The auto focus function meant that images were clear and sharp. Although the camera excels in darker conditions, there is still the compromise that noise will appear if the lighting conditions is not bright enough.

The camera also has interesting features such as its face detection function that has been incorporate into a self timer, which works by detecting when an additional face is detected in a photo after it has been set. Upon detecting an additional person, the start will automatically take the photo two minutes later.

Overall, this function works quite well, although its not a life changing feature. It is quite nice to needing to dash into the photo after setting the timer.

In addition to the LCD display screen, the camera also has a viewfinder. However, it is not terrible accurate. Since most photographers would only use the optical viewfinder as a measure to conserve battery.

There is also a function in this camera that makes it possible to compress a maximum of 40% more footage of video, than previously possible. Although the camera only captures videos at 30 frames per second and at a 640 x 480 resolution, the quality of the video is slight above average.

Summary: Quite a good all rounder, but you would need to literally forget that the optical viewfinder exists

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