An Excellent little camera (Canon Digital Ixus i Zoom)

Member Name: limbo7

Product:	Canon Digital Ixus i Zoom
Date:	10/09/07 (201 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small size, Easy to use

Disadvantages: No viewfinder

Working close to Manchester City Centre I always like to have a camera with me as there is always something going on and even even the odd actor to be seen. The problem though is that while my trusted Sony W1 is a great camera it is a little bulky to put in my pocket. Recently I was lucky enough to win a gold Canon Ixus i zoom. (5 Mega Pixel)

The first thing you notice about this camera is the size, approx 9.5 cm long, 4.5 cm wide and 2 cm deep it is smaller than my mobile phone and easily slips into your pocket. The monitor is an ample 3.9 x 2.9 cm. Although looks have never been that important to me when choosing a camera I have got to admit it looks great. Of course you would expect any camera bearing the canon name to be a good performer and of the highest quality and so far this would seem to be the case.

The only problem with such a small camera is that there is no room for a viewfinder. This would give added support when holding it to your eye and so cut down on camera shake as well as saving battery life as you could switch off the screen. This is however a small price to pay for the benefit of a camera that you can take anywhere.

The package includes a 16 MB SD card which is just about enough to find out if the camera works. A rechargeable battery and and camera station to charge the battery (this takes about 90 minutes) as well as a wrist strap and remote control. There is also software to allow you to upload images to your computer and all necessary plugs and adapters as well as a disk containing the full instruction manual. I would have preferred this to be in booklet form as it means having a computer is a necessity when buying this camera and you have to be near one when learning how to use it. (I suppose you could always print off any section you may need to refer to later.)

Don't be fooled by the small size as this is certainly a well specified camera and the menu once you get used to it is easy enough to navigate.

Lens 2.4x optical zoom (38-90mm zoom in 35mm film equivalent terms)

Shooting Modes

Auto
Manual
Stitch Assist - allows you to shoot images and merge into one panoramic image on your pc.
Macro - close up to 10cm
Portrait - blurs the background to make the subject stand out
Landscape
My Colors - allows you to change the colours
Scene Mode - various settings to suit the shot such as Kids&Pets (higher shutter speed for moving subjects) Indoor (gives true colours under tungsten lighting) also Snow. Foliage, Beach, Fireworks and Underwater (when using all weather case which can be purchased separately)
Movie – 640 x 480 10 frames per sec or 320 x 240 20 frames per sec.

There are 3 methods of metering, Evaluative (readings from various parts of the image) Centre Weighted Average (giving prominence to the centre part of the image) and Spot (correct exposure for the image directly in the centre of the frame)

You can choose the size of your photos depending on how large you expect to print although I usually use the highest quality though this takes up more memory. I upgraded to a 2 MB SD card for just £10.99 including delivery from Picstop (see earlier review).

All in all this is a great little camera that can be carried anywhere and produces good results.

Summary: Great camera

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