Which Canon Ixus?

[Mr_Sukebe]

I'm looking at buying a fairly cheap Canon Ixus for my g/f and would appreciate some advice.
I already have a fairly reasonable D-SLR, and fancy the idea of buying her something small and cute, preferably with OK picture quality. I have a very positive opinion of Canon kit (both my D-SLRs are canon, and my first P&S was).
The Canon Ixus models appear to meet the key requirements.
So assuming that I'll be buying an Ixus, there appears to be a wide price range, between around £150 and £300 (ish). Excluding the usual megapixel count (for which read mainly marketing hype), do the more expensive Ixus cameras do anything else significantly better, e.g. better optics, AF etc?

One other point, I want the camera to support SD cards, do they all do that?

 

[Buttons]

As probably recognised by now I'm an Ixus 800IS owner and fan.

For the g/f point of view, can't recommend it highly enough. My wife finds it a hell of a lot easier to use than the old Ixus V we had and loves the massive LCD. Battery life and zoom are also better than the Ixus 55, 60 & 65. The IS works a treat for people who can't be bothered taking the time to take a good photo and the high ISO settings mean you don't need the flash often and the snaps aren't too noisy even on high ISO.

It also has a £30 2GB Corsair SD card in that works a treat and is very quick.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Another vote for the Ixus 800, fantastic little camera.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Thanks for the suggestion chaps, certainly gave me something to ponder over.
Interesting lunchtime, just been checking out some DP reviews of cameras. The Canon 800 comes out really well, although the Fuji F30 looks worth checking out. Great review of it by DP, where at higher ISO ratings, the F30 pretty much walks it. Infact it does pretty well against even a Nikon D50, have a scan at this:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf30/page14.asp
Now that isn't representative of "in the field" shooting, but it's definitely interesting.

As the F30 comes in at a lower price than the 800i, might well end up with one of those. The only downsides I can see is it's slightly dodgy performance in very bright conditions, and the fact that it uses xD cards, which I don't have yet.

 

[The Darkness]

I really like my wife's Ixus 60. Great quality photos, battery life not amazing, but very simple to use and colours are superb. Can pick up for ~£175.

 

[Mundu]

The F30 performs vey well at higher ISO setting and the comparision to the D50 had got me thinking I should just save up and extra £50 to add to my budget and get that instead of the F11.

 

[Buttons]

Thanks for the suggestion chaps, certainly gave me something to ponder over.
Interesting lunchtime, just been checking out some DP reviews of cameras. The Canon 800 comes out really well, although the Fuji F30 looks worth checking out. Great review of it by DP, where at higher ISO ratings, the F30 pretty much walks it. Infact it does pretty well against even a Nikon D50, have a scan at this:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf30/page14.asp
Now that isn't representative of "in the field" shooting, but it's definitely interesting.

As the F30 comes in at a lower price than the 800i, might well end up with one of those. The only downsides I can see is it's slightly dodgy performance in very bright conditions, and the fact that it uses xD cards, which I don't have yet.

Those ISO 800 shots really are good. Had I seen that review before buying the Ixus I may have thought twice

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Those ISO 800 shots really are good. Had I seen that review before buying the Ixus I may have thought twice

My initial thoughts too. However, I had a good think last night. Whilst the F30 is clearly MUCH better at an ISO of 800, who ever uses that on a P&S?
More to the point, the Canon 800 has:
- Image stabilisation (which pretty much offsets some of the ISO deficiencies)
- Uses SD as against xD memory cards (a bonus for the Canon IMO)
- Doesn't suffer from issues in normal daylight
- According to the review has AF at least as good
So it's not a straightforward decision. I think I'd probably go with the Canon after some extended thinking about it.

 

[cmt]

My initial thoughts too. However, I had a good think last night. Whilst the F30 is clearly MUCH better at an ISO of 800, who ever uses that on a P&S?
More to the point, the Canon 800 has:
- Image stabilisation (which pretty much offsets some of the ISO deficiencies)
- Uses SD as against xD memory cards (a bonus for the Canon IMO)
- Doesn't suffer from issues in normal daylight
- According to the review has AF at least as good
So it's not a straightforward decision. I think I'd probably go with the Canon after some extended thinking about it.

i had the canon, but it ended up going back after less than satisfactory performance. It had a soft left side, softcorners and slicgh darkening of the corners at full wide.

I now have the F30 and love it to bits - the ISO800 / 1600 and even the 3200 have come in very handy at the visit to the Aquarium at chester zoo and the reptile house as i did not need to use flash and got some stunning pictures.

The ISO1600 and 3200 were used this weekend at a family 21st and as flash was not used it helped to keep the atmosphere. For the long distance shots that required flash i cranked the ISO to 800 to improve performance.

As for daytime shots, a quick -1/3 ev adjustment sorts the problem of over exposure out.

The point about XD is a bit of a non starter as the price difference between the two could pay for 3 or 4 1gb XD cards.

Dont forget that the F30 also has A and S modes which the 800is lacks, but with the 800is has the IS (Of course) and the 4x zoom.

Tough choice.

cmt

 

[Mundu]

Can anyone help me decide on something here? I can'r decide wether to get something in the range of the f30/a700 or go for something cheaper that still had full manual settings like the F11 or A610?

Does the IXUS range have full maual controls?

 

[cmt]

Does the IXUS range have full maual controls?

No, The ‘Manual mode is basically White Balance, EV, but no control over Shutter Speed and Apature.

cmt

 

[Buttons]

i had the canon, but it ended up going back after less than satisfactory performance. It had a soft left side, softcorners and slicgh darkening of the corners at full wide.

I now have the F30 and love it to bits - the ISO800 / 1600 and even the 3200 have come in very handy at the visit to the Aquarium at chester zoo and the reptile house as i did not need to use flash and got some stunning pictures.

The ISO1600 and 3200 were used this weekend at a family 21st and as flash was not used it helped to keep the atmosphere. For the long distance shots that required flash i cranked the ISO to 800 to improve performance.

As for daytime shots, a quick -1/3 ev adjustment sorts the problem of over exposure out.

The point about XD is a bit of a non starter as the price difference between the two could pay for 3 or 4 1gb XD cards.

Dont forget that the F30 also has A and S modes which the 800is lacks, but with the 800is has the IS (Of course) and the 4x zoom.

Tough choice.

cmt

Ooh, hadn't realised you'd changed too, your shots from the 800 were instrumental in my final decision. I certainly won't change camera now as my wife likes and is prepared to use it which is a first but interesting nevertheless.

 

[cmt]

Ooh, hadn't realised you'd changed too, your shots from the 800 were instrumental in my final decision. I certainly won't change camera now as my wife likes and is prepared to use it which is a first but interesting nevertheless.

Yeah, i started to notice the soft edges more and more when i compared shots from adifferent cam used at the same time, on closer inspection i considered it to be unacceptable and returned it for a full refund. The dealer said he had had a few returned like that, but some were better than others. I declined his offer to try another and went for the f30 which i am glad to sya exhibits not of the problems.

you probably got lucky with yours

cmt

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Seeing that I don't know much about photography other than using point and shot cameras could you possible post a couple of pics showing the softcorner issue with the Ixus 800, ideally if you have the better shots to compare them too.

So far I've been happy with my Ixus but would be interesting to see if I'm missing out on something.

Thanks

 

[cmt]

Seeing that I don't know much about photography other than using point and shot cameras could you possible post a couple of pics showing the softcorner issue with the Ixus 800, ideally if you have the better shots to compare them too.

So far I've been happy with my Ixus but would be interesting to see if I'm missing out on something.

Thanks

will do, but will be after this weekend as i have no onnection at the moment (using works )

cmt

 

[Pearcy]

I spent some time looking at all the Ixus models lately & found that the 60 is lighter weight than the 800 + has the optical viewfinder, which does come in useful in v.bright or v.dark situations.

Also, if you look around you can get the Ixus 60 collection kit for around £210 delivered, & that's a bargain considering it comes with...

Charger etc.
2 cannon lion bateries
2 wrist straps (1 leather)
Leather Ixus case

 

[GSXRMovistar]

will do,

Cool, thanks.

 

[melchy]

If you look around you can get the 800IS for £240 which i thought was a cracking price. Saying that i still havent got around to buying one yet.

 

[SDK^]

I've been recommending the Fuji F30 for months as a perfect compact point & shoot and it would be my choice.

 

[Mundu]

Ithink the F30 is a no no as I can get the A700 for £180 but my only problem with it is the lack of image stabilization and size, if it turns out to be too big I'll probably opt for the F11 but even the guy in the shop said size aside I'd probably have more fun with the A700.

Anyone else have any opinons?