Canon IXUS 115 HS Digital Camera - Silver (12.1MP, 4x Optical Zoom) 3.0 inch LCD

Reviews

G. Palmer

1) Good image qualityWide-angle starts at the nowadays-normal of 28mm, first surprise is that it's a 4x zoom, a step-up from the past norm of 3x. 2) It's very small and very pocketable - similar to many other compacts out there, but that's exactly what I wanted. This camera's got Canon's new CMos sensor, coupled with it's digic4 processor it's produces frankly excellent low light images - clean, detailed low-noise pics that haven't had all details blurred away by over-agressive noise reduction.

)- Colour Accent (you pick out one colour and only items in the selected colour are shown in colour, the rest of the photo is in b&w. 4) A decent value when launched, now that it's coming up to a year since release and therefore likely to be replaced soon the recent price drops represents frankly terrific value for money given all the above factors.

The zoom lever is also very bijou, ultimately it's perfectly usable but again this is something you need to get used to. .

Very impressive results from a compact. For starters, you have an Auto mode which pretty much takes care of everything - even then you can select blink detection, and have auto-focus Point Zoom switched on, which magnifies the image in the focusing area (a bit like what a dslr-type camera does when you're manually focusing);Alternatively flip the switch, and suddenly you can select from amongst many, many other things, how the camera:- Meters light- Represents colours (vivid, skin tone, even a custom option to set your own contrast, sharpness and saturation)- White balance (including custom setting for trickier conditions)- ISO settings w Auto, or 100 through 3200- Aspect Ratio including 16:9, 3:2, 4:3, even 1:1- What the camera focuses on - eg Faces, or tracking a moving object- i-Contrast - Setting the optimal contrast settings for clear, evenly exposed shots (can be set whilst taking photos, or when reviewing taken pictures)- Movie digest - a 4 sec video clip from before each photo taken during the day, so each day you have a short movie of all the highlights of the day- Smile shutter- Handheld nightscene (takes three shots and stacks them together, Canon's take on Sony's HHT)- Miniature effect- Toy Camera (quite fun, almost artistic w its use of saturated colours and vignetting - google "Holga lens" to see where this look originated. It's a pretty good lens, with sharp image at the centre of the frame, slight softening at the edges; quite pleased that this held true also for the long end of the zoom - so far so good.

Had been researching the last few months for a cheap(ish), take-anywhere compact. key things on my wishlist were:1) Good image quality2) Small size3) Good range of photo effects (miniaturization, toy camera effect etc etc)4) Value for moneyFor me this camera pips to the post any other when taking into account the combination of those above four criteria.

The above are just a big sample, and doesn't list all of the options available - Then again there are things like the panorama stitch function which is a little 2008 (you manually match-up each shot) and isn't anything to write home about compared to for example Sony's class leading efforts in this field. There's no hand-grip on the metal body, but the raised relief of "Canon" on the front of the unit gives your fingers some grip - When things get sweaty however, I'd recommend you use the wrist-strap w/o fail to avoid any regrettable accidents! On top of that Canon are currently running a cash-back offer, making it even better value!

3) For a compact with no manual controls, I was almost overwhelmed with the number of options this camera offers to help you take photos, and manipulate the look of the photos you take. Oh and almost forgot - Takes full HD 1080p video - camera has mini hdmi output too so (once you buy the right cable) you can view your full-scale vids on your hdtv.