Rohan Rao
Canon Digital IXUS 960IS
WRITTEN FOR COMPUTER ACTIVE INDIA
Quality performer and feature rich, but comes at a steep price
Canon has been pushing the frontiers further with their innovations in the digital imaging industry and their latest offering in the Digital IXUS series underscores just that. Its body is made entirely in Titanium and the overall visual appeal is very good. The camera has a perpetual curve design, this means eat easily rests on your hand and slips off easily in your pocket.
The feel of handling the camera was good with optimal weight. The camera is truly built to just hold, point and shoot. I pushed the power button located on the top panel and was really impressed with the speedy start-up time of the camera. The lens activation and live preview does not take more than a second and you are all set to capture. This is really very fast as compared to its predecessors and other competing market products. This means that any moment as it happens cannot really miss the viewfinder of IXUS 960 IS.
Ergonomics is other factor that is really appealing about this product. The shutter button is large and round located on the top panel beside the small power button. The shutter button also offers good tactile feel when focusing and clicking images. Circumferential to the shutter button is the zoom ring that allows swift transition from a wide angle frame to telephoto frame (36-133 mm on a 35mm equivalent). The camera, beside a whopping 12.1 megapixels also has a 3.7x optical zoom and a 4x digital that combines to give an overall 15x zoom approximately with Image Stabiliser (IS) and Ultra High Refractive Aspherical Index. Also, supplementing the Image Stabilisation feature is the Auto ISO shift setting that enhances protection against camera shake and nullifies the blur caused by subject movement especially in case of Low light or Zoom Conditions.
The zoom in and zoom out abilities are very brisk too and refocusing is just a matter of fraction of a second.
The front of the camera is predominantly occupied by the 2.5” PureColor LCD screen alongside the control panel buttons. An interesting addition in the IXUX 960 IS is the inclusion of a mode dial which lets you quickly shuttle between the Auto, Manual, Scene and Video modes. The special scene mode includes Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater and ISO 3200 settings. Below the mode dial are quick access button (which can be assigned custom tasks as per user preferences) and playback button. The centrally placed function button is surrounded by touch sensitive multi function dial serving for quick and easy navigation to various settings as ISO, shooting modes and flash options. The Display and Menu buttons are aligned at the base.
The base panel houses the battery slot and memory card slot while the right panel accommodates an USB connection and an audio/video output socket.
Hidden inside the titanium casing is the Canon’s latest Digic III image processor the with iSAPS technology, which ensures optimal response times and very fine image quality. As mentioned above, the IS feature along with Auto ISO shift ensures that the images are sharp and crisp. The LCD displays sharp, vibrant images and has an anti-glare scratch resistant coating which assists against inadvertent scratches. Colors are bright and natural, especially when it comes to skin tones it is really an asset. The night mode pictures also come very good by capturing lot of light with a good shutter speed. It also has the Multiple Face Detection feature and we found that the feature really works and is not just another marketing gimmick.
The camera also boasts of ISO up to 3200, but anything above ISO 800 introduced noticeable noise in the images. Another interesting feature, which is not usually found in point and shoot digital cameras is the ‘Slow sync flash’ option, beside the regular flash options in the IXUS 960 IS. It comes in really handy that allows shooting at low shutter speeds in flash mode for capturing the details. The camera provides up to 5cm macro function, which means that you can click sharp images of objects as close a 5cm in front of the lens. It also includes PictBridge technology for direct printing
The white balance setting provides Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H and Custom settings. My Colors in-camera photo effects can be applied both during and after shooting.
Movie modes include Long Play (LP) for VGA (30fps) clips that use half the normal memory card space, and Time Lapse Movie, which captures changing scenes - such as a flowers bloom or a bustling city street - for accelerated playback as smooth video clips.
The Canon IXUS 960IS is surely a quality oriented performer from Canon, packed with a 12.1-megapixel resolution and an array of useful features like slow sync flash, Auto ISO shift pictBridge and such coupled with an easy to use interface and ultra fast response times delivering optimal performance. However, it might be a bit overpriced as compared with other compact digital cameras with a similar specification.
We say:
Good: Excellent response times, Natural and accurate colours, 12.1 megapixels, Dual Image Stabilisation, Great features
Bad: The price pegged at 24995
Overall: The titanium finish, Digic III image processor and ultra fast response rates beside other interesting features make this one surely an attractive purchase, but at a high cost
Contact: Canon India
Info: info@canon.co.in
Retail Price: Rs 24995
Buy: www.canon.co.in
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Published Articles | Tagged: Canon, Canon Digital IXUS 960IS, Digital Camera, Image stabilisation, IS, Ixus, Prosumer camera, semi pro digital camera, super zoom, tele zoom, ultra zoom
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