Compact digital camera a snappy little number
Compact digital camera a snappy little number
Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
HERE’S a compact digital camera that gives consumers great value for money.
For a start, those willing and able to splash $599 on a new camera will really like the new IXUS 950IS model’s pearl-silver finish. It stands up to wear and tear much better than the standard silver finish on comparable models.
After months of constant use the standard silver has more scratches than a Tattslotto outlet, but the wee IXUS should always look as fresh as the day it was bought.
Buyers will also get bragging rights from the camera’s 8-megapixel CCD sensor, which is sure to trounce the camera your mate bought last year — which just goes to show that, these days, digital cameras are more about CCD size than almost any other feature.
It’s great to know the IXUS can, theoretically, build an image using 8 million individual pixels, but my advice to anyone playing the numbers game is to be cautious about what they wish for.
Sure, the greater the pixel count the sharper and more defined the image — if you display it, say, on a 1080i high-definition TV. But it’s overkill when you want to print a copy of a standard 6×4-inch picture that can fit in only about three megapixels of resolution.
Even an A4-sized picture struggles to cram in six megapixels of resolution.
Exploiting that 8-megapixel resolution requires an A3-sized picture, which will happily accommodate 7.2 to 8.1 megapixels of resolution. Of course, the extra pixels are handy when you want to crop your pictures without losing image quality.
The IXUS’s 2.5-inch LCD screen displays images using a resolution of about 230,000 pixels.
Bottom line? Don’t shy away from a quality digital camera because it has what seems like a modest four to six-megapixel CCD.
There’s much more to like about this camera than a high standard of finish and a high pixel count.
There’s its ease of use. Most users can find their way around the operating controls and set the camera to full automatic mode without having to read the manual.
Point the camera to a subject, press the shutter and the Canon’s 4x optical zoom lens with built-in image stabilisation rewards you with sharply defined, richly coloured pictures.
It’s also fast: it takes only 1 1/2 seconds to turn on the camera and take a picture. It also has red-eye reduction and face detection, and both features combine to generate well-focused images.
It’s an enjoyable model to use, except for one gripe: advanced users can rightly complain that, at this price, Canon should have given them manual exposure controls. This group will justifiably look elsewhere.
Add comment August 9th, 2007