The tiny camera in the BIG picture... (Canon Digital Ixus)

Member Name: whitenet

Product:	Canon Digital Ixus
Date:	04/09/01 (482 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great picture quality, Sleek design, Fantastic software package supplied

Disadvantages: Only supplied with 8MB card, Only runs from a rechargable battery, so a spare is advised, So small, the majority of camera bags on sale are too big! :)

I've had my Ixus for about 3 months now and its a fantastic little camera. Canon have got it just right with the styling and the dimensions of the camera as, in my opinion, it is one of the best looking models currently on the market.

The Ixus (with a 2.11 mega pixel rating) has 3 settings for picture quality. I just use the medium setting whih results in excelent pictures and reasonable usage of the media card.

The camera comes as standard with a Canon branded 8MB Compact Flash card. In medium, this only holds about a dozen images so a media upgrade is certainly a top priority. I have since brought additional 32MB and 128MB Compact Flash cards, which between them hold over 200 pictures!

The camera comes with a whole host of useful features built in. You can change the order and edit pictures on the camera's internal LCD screen or by connecting the camera to the Video-In on a TV with the cable supplied.

You can also check the status of the camera, remaining capacity of the current memory card and many other settings in the same manner.

The Ixus will connect to any Macinttosh or PC with USB, using the cable supplied. I have tried out setting up and connecting to both a Mac and a PC and both have been ready within minutes with no problems.

In the box you will find 3 cd's. One of these is a dual format cd with drivers and Canon's own software on. The other 2 cd's are Mac and PC versions of Adobe's Photo Deluxe Home Edition 3.1.

The main Canon software utility I use is Canon's ZoomBrowser EX. This piece of software allows you to download the pictures from the camera to your computer, archive them in albums and present them on screen as a slideshow. ZoomBrowser EX is a fantastic piece of software. So easy to use and very carefully thought out.

The second piece of provided software I use is Adobe's Photo Deluxe HE. This software is provided for touching up and editing y
our pictures. Again, very well thought out and the familiar and easy to use look and feel of Adobe's products meant that within minutes I was creating perfect looking pictures from originals which suffered severe 'red eye' or the all too well known 'holiday insect bites'.

The only slight let downs about the Ixus are the supplied media storage and the pwer supply. With only 8MB to get you started you will find you are seriously limited to the number of photos you can take and you will be forever having to transfer them to a computer. With prices at an all time low, dont be put off by the need to purchase additional media, it will be worth it.

Another worthy purchase would be a spare battery. Some camera's are able to operate from standard Alkaline batteries if the supplied rechargable should die. Not so is the case with the Ixus. The unique size and shape of the battery means you will need a second Canon battery charged up in reserve. That said, using the supplied desktop charger, a battery will charge from empty in about 2 hours and will give several days of light daily usage (internal flash not taken into account).

Also, good luck in finding a suitable camera bag for the Digital Ixus. Canon do actually make some nice pouches designed for the Ixus, but anything from a 3rd party manufacturer will probably be too big because the Ixus is just so small!

All in all, Canon have produced a top quality camera. That and the software package included make this a package that should certainly be seriously considered by anyone looking for a top quality, simply to use and versatile digital camera. Nice one Canon!

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