A failed attempt (Canon Digital Ixus i Zoom)

Member Name: geek_squad

Product:	Canon Digital Ixus i Zoom
Date:	27/07/09 (19 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast shuttle delays, compact, lightweight, good battery stamina,

Disadvantages: Image quality only acceptable, not powerful flash, no manual controls, bad video capture, low zoom

Upon first setting your eyes on the Canon Ixus iZoom, you would assume that it is a lightweight and rather compact camera, which can easily be judged by its size. However, it would be less obvious to assume that the camera is not "heavy" on features.

The size would definitely be one of the camera's selling points, only weights a 123g and being 2.5 thick. Although it is a bit longer than usually camera it would have no problem being kept in a small pouch or in a handbag. The camera's lens is limited to 38mm to 90mm which is not great. However, it is important to bear in mind that these cameras are not meant to have a powerful zoom by nature, therefore for everyday shooting situations, it is enough.

Sadly the quality of the images captured as a whole is not impressive and the auto focus is not fast enough at focusing on objects in general. The camera's built in flash is also not up to scratch, ideally it would need to be more powerful, mainly because it is not capable of distributing light equally to a slightly larger sized room, while it still struggles a bit with average sized rooms. Furthermore, this is not a good camera to take many video clips.

The shuttle delay of the camera is quite reasonable at half a second which is the time taken for the camera to actually capture the image after you press the shuttle button. It takes 21 seconds for the camera to be returned on, which again is not bad.

This aspect of the camera makes it a decent camera to capture moving objects. The battery stamina is great, which provides you with a high number of photos before needing to be charged.

This camera does lack on manual settings that you need to really bring photography to a new level, whilst some are willing to use a more powerful camera.

This camera might not suit a semi professional that would need access to fine tune settings such as priority modes, aperture, speed and manual focus which draw the lines between amateurs and professionals.

When using the camera in burst mode, you are able to take photos until the battery runs out or the memory card becomes full which is quite useful if you want a time lapsed style photo of a scene.

Despite the small size of the LCD display screen, its quality is still acceptable and the details are shown quite clearly. The camera's USB 2.0 port is extremely useful for transferring photos at high speed to your computer.

Summary: This camera is only good as a snapper to take everyday photos

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