News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
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| Type | Digital compact camera |
| Rating |
 
|
| Pros | Four-mode image stabiliser, optical viewfinder |
| Cons | Poor movie mode; low-capacity battery supplied |
| RRP | $379 |
| Manufacturer | Canon 1800 021 167 |
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Think thoroughbred horses: the trick is to maintain and improve the bloodline. It’s proving to be a similar story in digicams. Take Canon’s IXUS series.
IXUS was one of the earliest lines of camera to offer a small, stylish body shape, along with easy to access controls and above average specs. Looks good: works great.
The IXUS 80 IS sits right up there: the Canon zoom has 3x optical power; the CCD has 8.0 megapixels so the maximum 3264x2448 pixel image will make a final print size of 37x28 cm at 225 dpi. The IXUS will also take movies at an SD aspect ratio of 4:3 and 640x480 pixels at 30 fps — but no wide screen! However, it can shoot a series of images in time lapse mode so you can capture a run of 640x480 pixel shots at intervals of one or two seconds over two hours.
Unusually for a 3x zoom, the camera uses an excellent four-mode optical stabiliser to steady your shooting. This make serious sense if you’re shooting at the full zoom setting, with its 114 mm tele focal length (35 SLR equivalent) or when taking shots in low light with a slowish shutter speed.
There will be some joy out there when you discover the IXUS has an optical viewfinder, making bright sunny days less of a pain in the bum when trying to squint at the LCD screen. By the way the screen is 6.4 cm. There are eight external controls: power, zoom, shutter button, mode slider (stills, movies, replay), menu etc. Co-ordinated with these are the menu options, divided into unintimidating options, clearly displayed on the LCD screen: ISO setting, LCD brightness, memory formatting and the rest. There are only two exposure settings: Program AE and manual plus eleven scene modes, to better capture fireworks, greenery, underwater pictures etc.
In the manual setting you can use exposure compensation, adjust white balance and even have a play with Canon’s My Colours mode which, after you’ve captured a shot, tips you into a fantasy world where you can colourise, sepia-ise, B&W-ise your images — and more, then save the result as a separate picture. Look Mum, no Photoshop!
Wise photographers, when faced with shooting sports, kids and animals often use continuous shooting to grab a run of shots, hoping to find at least one useable shot in the bunch. The IXUS doesn’t quite get there, when compared to other cameras: but at only 1.3 fps I guess it’s better than nothing.
Other pluses: Canon’s excellent panoramic shooting mode, backed up by some excellent bundled stitching software; face detection is built in, optimising focus, exposure and white balance.
Australian Macworld's buying advice. The IXUS 80 IS would make an excellent backup camera for a dSLR. It would bore the pants of the expert, delight the novice — and it comes in five colours. Online sellers are hawking it at a 30 per cent discount off list. Top buy!
wrote on June 12, 2008 4:51 AM
If you're in Melbourne. This camera retails for $298 at CPL, in West Melbourne. For $375 you can get the IXUS 90 IS. Not sure about the other states cities.
Big question: what do you do with 12 million pixels in a digital image? With Nikon’s flagship digicam, the Coolpix P5100, you’ll need to know.
Barrie Smith | Dec 22, 2007
When Panasonic launched its first DSLR it was priced at nearly $4000. Reason has now entered the picture as the follow-up model hits the shelves at a little more than half that figure. And a fascinating camera the L10 is too. Using the 4/3 system the camera can accept lenses made by Leica, Olympus and Sigma. The image sensor is approximately 4/3 of an inch in the diagonal with an actual imaging area of 17.3x13mm. The big bonus when you buy the L10 camera/lens kit is you get a Japanese-made, Leica-designed Vario-Elmar f3.8-5.6/14-50 mm, 3.6x zoom as your first lens. With Panasonic DSLRs each lens must be optically stabilised, differing from Olympus and Sony who rely on an internal body system to handle the image steadying.
Barrie Smith | Feb 12, 2008
Aperture 2.0.1 is the Aperture that photographers wanted all along — when you use the new Aperture, it’s obvious that Apple listened its users. The new version features added tools, a streamlined interface that is both familiar yet tweaked for a much better workflow, and improvements in workflow-related speed (loading images, rendering adjustments, toggling between views, etc).
Russ Juskalian | Mar 14, 2008
Canon’s PowerShot “G” line sits squarely on the boundary between the top end of compact digital cameras and low-end digital SLRs, sharing some of the best features of both forms. Six years ago a camera as functional as the G9 cost a touch under $2000 and required you to carry around separate lenses. At a 2008 ticket price less than half that, the G9 represents pretty solid value for money — not to mention its all-in-one convenience. For the money you get a sturdy, semi-pro camera, with 12.1 megapixel capture, imaged by a triple mode, optically stabilised 6x optical zoom and viewed on a 7.6 cm LCD screen — plus an optical finder. As a mark of its lineage you can shoot in RAW format as well as write a simultaneous JPEG image to memory. The maximum image size of 4000x3000 pixels can lead to a high quality 34x25 cm print. Movies can be recorded in 640x480 pixel size at 30 fps — but not in 16:9 widescreen format or resolution.
Barrie Smith | Mar 29, 2008
