Full Metal Jacket (Canon Digital Ixus)

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Product:	Canon Digital Ixus
Date:	15/03/04 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: size, silver, photo quality, zoom, battery, software, general features

Disadvantages: redeye

Wrapped in a gleaming costume of stainless steel, the Canon Ixus ii is the epitome of chic. Far from being ostentatious, however, the Ixus hides its wealth of features underneath a relatively simple exterior. On the front of the camera can be found a small opening for the optical viewfinder, and the most narrow of flash units. Turn the Ixus round, and the 1.5" LCD screen and plenty of buttons are set against the lustrous background. It fits easily into your pocket, being only slightly larger than a credit card. In order to make such a mini machine, Canon have had to make some changes to their usual models. The Ixus II is their first digital camera to take the SD (secure digital) memory cards which are about the size of a stamp. It comes supplied with a 16mb card, which unfortunately does not get you very far. To get real storage I bought a 128mb SD card from ebuyer.com. This cost me about £30 and has freed me from the fetters of limited memory.


As we all know, basing a product on looks is superficial, and it is what's on the inside that counts. Again, the Ixus ii does not disappoint. Upon turning the camera on, the lens cover mechanically opens, only for a 2X zoom lens to slide out. Not only does it boast this "optical zoom" but also a 3.2X digital zoom, making a total of 6.4X if you use the two together. As you control the zoom with the small dial on the top of the camera, the LCD screen informs you how far you are zooming in. Even when using the digital zoom the image produced is sharp and clear. Unlike other cameras whose photos suffer from using the digital zoom, the Ixus does not seem hampered by this problem, mainly due to its 3.2 megapixels (The parrot was taken with full zoom).


As can be seen from the images uploaded to Ciao, the quality is very impressive. I have very few complaints, in fact the only one is slightly soft edges. This is not a huge problem, but it just goes to prove that even this camera is fall
ible. There are three settings which define the quality of the images: superfine, fine and normal. I have found that there is very little visible difference between superfine and fine. As well as altering the quality, you can also change the size of your photo; large, medium or small. Of course, the size and quality affect how many photos that can be stored on your SD card. If you "go wild" and decide to take large, superfine images, you'll only be able to fit 8 photos on the 16mb card supplied. Again this reasserts the need for more storage.


When buying a digital camera many people want to have some control over their photo taking, to take some responsibility for the result. The Ixus II tries to cater for all needs, though it is still quite limited in this respect. For example the optical viewfinder lacks "diopter correction", that is if you do not have perfect eyesight, the view may look distorted, and I'm afraid there is nothing you can do about it!


Here comes the science, things are starting to get a bit technical! You can change the autofocus on or off, giving you greater control over your photo taking. You can also alter the shutter speed, the range is 1-15 seconds, which I am reliably informed means that you can use your camera in dark conditions with a longer exposure time. After taking your photo you are able to change the colour setting between regular, vivid and neutral.


To turn on the camera, you have to push the power button for about 2 seconds, which ensures that it does not power up inadvertently in your pocket. The LCD screen displays a background, and the camera beeps a bit. When you take a photo, the Ixus makes an annoyingly fake "shutter noise", or if you like you can set it to be a dog barking. Now I have great problems with machines that gratuitously bleep at me. It is, therefore with a thankful heart that I discovered that you can turn off all of these sounds, if t
hey are not your cup of tea.


From the moment you push that power button, it takes about 3 seconds before you can take your photo, and then 1.5 seconds before you can snap your next one. For most this is perfectly adequate, though if not happy with it, the Casio Exilim range of cameras are ridiculously quick to start up. To begin with I was considering the Casio, they are much smaller than the Ixus, though in my opinion they lack the features. Back to the Canon; to take the photo you press the shutter button only half way down. Then, as the autofocus kicks into play small green boxes intelligently identify what the main subject of your photo is, and adjust the focus accordingly. This is a remarkably clever feature, though I have found that it can bring the wrong things into focus, which can prove quite annoying. In dark conditions a small orange beam is shot from the camera, which is meant to help the focus adjust. Not only this, but it also reduces redeye by narrowing peoples pupils. That is, in theory. In reality I have found that red eye is a considerable problem, that is only avoidable by using the red eye flash option.

While playing about with my camera I stumbled upon yet another feature. The "Stitch Assist". This simply enables photos to be stitched together when used with Canon software (supplied). Let's say, for example that you want to take a photo of a mountain range, but can't fit it all in. The camera locks the exposure and balance setting, allowing the photos to be linked together in a uniform way. The only problem with this is that the camera needs to be dead steady, and a tripod is needed.

I think I have pretty much rounded up the camera's photo-taking capabilities. But the review does not end here! (groan). Far from it, because the Ixus ii also features a movie-mode. Even if you have never set eyes upon a camera before, you will be able to work this movie mode. You simply point, then press to re
cord, and then press to stop! The quality is surprisingly good. The colour is completely accurate, and the sound (recorded by a small microphone on the front of the camera) is spot on.

To review your photos, the camera has a playback mode. If you are not happy with seeing only the last photo you took on the LCD screen, you can use the zoom dial to review huge batch of them, nine at a time. I thought this was an ingenious solution to the problem posed by older digital cameras: the monotonous trawling through your photos to find the one you want. When you do find your image (which will take just seconds with the aforementioned feature!) you can zoom in on that too. Alternatively, if all this LCD business sounds like too much trouble, why not hook the camera up to your television with the cable supplied, and see your photos on the big screen?

Of course one of the most important aspects of any digi-cam is the battery. Again the Ixus performs pretty well. It has a minute rechargeable lithium battery which slips into the camera's underbelly. I have found that the battery will take about 100 photos before it dies on you. And when it does, it only takes just over an hour to power it up with the supplied recharger.

Being digital, of course you are able to connect your Ixus to the computer with a USB connection. You then need to use the programs included in the package to get your photos from your camera onto paper. The software provided with the Ixus performs excellently. The Canon Utilities ZoomBrowser EX acts as a go-between for the camera and your computer. It allows you to download your snaps, make them into a slide show, and it also tells you a bit of info about them, for example time taken.

Canon Utilities ImageBrowser allows you to send your photos by email, alter your photos, organise, and indeed print them. You are also given software to view your movies, and manipulate them. The final program I want to mention is the Photo
Stitch software. This arranges all of your photos taken in stitch assist mode, and pieces them all together. I was happy to find that you can use this program to give 360-degree photos. As you can see from this description, Canon have been remarkably generous with their software, which testifies to the commitment they have made to this product; there are even some other minor programs which I have not mentioned (they allow you to make greetings cards, and other "fun" creations!)

Since buying this camera i have fallen in love with Canon due to their generousity. They give you everything you could really need to get started and more. I have bought many products which do not supply all the necessary accessories (the most infamous being the PS2) which is extremely frustrating. If you are not happy with what they give you, there are plenty of optional accessories to compliment the camera. The most exciting of which is the underwater case which enables you to keep snapping 130ft under. At £130 this is quite an expensive option.

For my Digital Ixus II I paid £170 to amazon.co.uk, and £30 on top of that for the 128mb SD card. Tragically for all those wanting to buy this camera, the price has risen dramatically to £199 since then. Even considering this new price, the Ixus represents extraordinary value. All of its features contribute to it being an easy-to-use machine. The Ixus is an excellent camera for those wanting great quality photos without the fuss of fiddling with this and that. For this reason I would not recommend it for professional photographers (though being professional they would probably already know this!). This robust, and svelte machine should be with me for a long time yet, and i look forwards to taking plenty of snaps for years to come.

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