SINGAPORE: Canon recently released a fresh slew of its popular Ixus compact digital cameras in Singapore, and top of the line is the 10-megapixel 970 IS (S$669).

The 970 IS has the longest zoom ability among the Ixus family at 5x optical zoom (37-185mm equivalent of 35mm), with enhanced optical image stabiliser. However, with many current compact digital cameras having a wide angle of 28mm, this camera's 37mm angle seems a tad inadequate.

While the older Ixus cameras have angular designs, the 970 IS sports smooth curves on its metallic silver shell. The new design looks good, but it does throw up a few problems. The curves run to the bottom of the camera, making it unstable even when placed on a flat surface. Plus, the curves taper to the right, which makes it difficult for the user to get a good grip.

The control dial and buttons lean towards the rear right-hand side. While the buttons are generally well placed, the On/Off button is a bit tough to push.

The four-way directional control, which Ixus users are so accustomed to, has been replaced by a touch-sensitive rotating multi-control dial. It takes a while to get used to the controls, but once you do, they become quite intuitive.

Thankfully, menu interface remains the same. Camera operation is average, with a startup time of around 1.7 seconds and shutdown time of 1.5 seconds. Auto focusing is accurate and fast in good lighting conditions, but erratic in low-lighting conditions.

Shooting at highest resolution in single-shot mode, the shot-to-shot timing is 1.3 seconds. Shooting in burst mode gives a pretty cool average of 1.5 frames per second. You can't manually set the aperture or shutter speed. Thus, I find that the auto-exposure metering tends towards underexposing by a third of a stop. This is probably to prevent blowing up the highlights.

Nonetheless, image quality is magnificent for a compact digital camera. Colour reproduction is accurate, with sharp application of pixels and smooth rendition of skin tones.

The biggest strength of this camera is its noise performance. While many compact digital cameras exhibit plenty of noise at ISO 200, the Ixus 970 IS is free of dust even at ISO 400. Noise only starts to appear at ISO 800. If you want to print the pictures, set the ISO at a maximum of 800.

VERDICT

While the Canon Ixus 970 IS has a not-so-wide angle lens, odd ergonomics and controls, its superb image quality alone would make those shortcomings seem irrelevant. - TODAY/fa