Canon IXUS 100 IS Review
By Andy Needham

The Canon IXUS 100 IS is a slimline, pocket digital camera. It is small enough to slip into more or less any pocket. When you first pick the camera up it gives the impression of being well made with a good build quality. The IXUS 100 IS is also one of the more stylish digital cameras, although what constitutes style is really a matter of personal taste. The camera is available in four colours. These are silver, black, red and gold.

Compared to other pocket cameras Canon has included some extra features. Image stabilisation may be becoming more common even on digital cameras with 3x zoom lenses like this one, but the inclusion of a viewfinder will please many people. Not surprisingly the viewfinder is small, but it still gives you a different option to lining up your photos on the LCD screen.

I never advise throwing away a camcorder when buying a digital camera, but it is worth noting that you can produce High Definition movie clips with the IXUS 100 IS . This is good for recording a quick clip here and there, but with only 3x optical zoom available it is no match for a camcorder on most occasions.

As you expect the camera offers a range of preprogrammed scene modes to help you take the best possible pictures. There is also a special setting to help you bring out as much detail as possible in shots where there are high levels of contrast. This can boost definition in darker, shady areas of a photo as well as in the brighter areas. There is an AF servo setting to help the camera track and focus on moving subject. A further aid in this area is built in motion detection.

Canon does not include a memory card in the box. Unlike most other brands they have not built any memory into the IXUS 100 IS either. The logic behind this is that they feel that anyone purchasing this camera is likely to be upgrading an earlier model and may already own at least one SD or SDHC card that the camera is compatible with.

The 12 megapixel sensor borders on overkill unless you are planning to make gigantic prints. In fairness it does offer you the flexibility to crop photos after you have taken them. More importantly if you reduce the amount of megapixels you are shooting at extra zoom becomes available too. The other upside of this is the fact you photos will take up less room on your memory card. It also cuts the time taken to upload photos to a computer.

I was impressed with the picture quality the camera produced. There were no major weaknesses. I should caution that perfection is not available with these small cameras, but if you are looking for good quality snapshots the IXUS 100 IS will do the job well. Canon digital cameras in general produce bright photos with plenty of colour. For close up shots you can get in as close as 3cm from the subject.

Canon has produced a waterproof case to go with the IXUS 100 IS . The case has the code number (WP-DC31 ). The case is waterproof to a depth of 40m. A weight is available to go with the case as well. Another accessory you may be interested in is a flash unit to boost the output of the flash in low light situations. This is the Canon High Power Flash HF-DC1 .

Overall I was very impressed with the Canon IXUS 100 IS . The downside is that the camera is expensive. I guess at the end of the day you get what you pay for, but you do need to make sure you really like the look of this camera and will make use of some of those extra features before spending out to buy this camera.