In summary
[ia] Canon’s smallest and lightest zoon lens camera, the Ixus 50, can fit in a shirt pocket but offers plenty of user-adjustable settings. The 35-105mm (equivalent) lens retracts fully, giving the camera a smooth profile with few protrusions and the 5-megapixel CCD chip produces pictures with a top resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels and a file size of just under 3 MB, which suggests restrained compression. . . [more]
Full review
Rating (out of 10)
Build: 8.5
Ease of use: 8.0
Image quality: 8.5
Value for money: 7.5
[ia] Canon’s smallest and lightest zoom lens camera, the Ixus 50, can fit in a shirt pocket but offers plenty of user-adjustable settings. The 35-105mm (equivalent) lens retracts fully, giving the camera a smooth profile with few protrusions. The 5-megapixel CCD chip produces pictures with a top resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels and a file size of just under 3MB, which suggests restrained compression.
Some sophisticated settings put the Ixus 50 a cut above the standard point-and-shoot model. These include a Manual mode where users can change the white balance and ISO settings, apply saturation and sharpness adjustments (two settings for each) and shoot in B&W or sepia. If Long Shutter is enabled in the Record menu, you can also adjust shutter speeds for exposures between one and 15 seconds.
The Ixus 50 supports the same movie modes as the Ixus 40, including the 60fps Fast Frame Rate that can record a minute of QVGA video at 60 frames/second. It also has the same DiG!C II image processor and My Colours mode. This has nine settings, covering Lighter and Darker Skin Tones; Vivid Red, Green and Blue; Colour Accent (which selects a spot colour and converts all other colours to monochrome grey); Colour Swap, which lets you convert a specified hue into another colour; and Custom Colour, which can be used to adjust the colour balance between red, green and blue and skin tones.
The test camera produced sharp pictures with above average colour accuracy and modest colour saturation. Chromatic aberration was negligible and low light shots were noise-free at ISO 100, although noise was visible in long exposures at ISO 400. The auto white balance was ineffective under incandescent light but otherwise performed well. We measured an average capture lag of 0.5 seconds, which reduced to 0.15 seconds with pre-focusing. The burst mode recorded high resolution shots at 0.6 seconds intervals while memory space was available.
A USB 2.0 cable allows fast downloads to a PC, while a Print/Share button supports ‘one-push’ direct printing straight from the camera to PictBridge-compatible printers. [23]
IMATEST RESULTS
Resolution is generally high and the potential for aliasing (‘jaggies’) is minimal. This camera should produce high-quality prints at sizes between A4 and A3.
Chromatic aberration is low enough to be barely visible in normal photographs, even with moderate enlargement.
Colour accuracy is well above average and saturation is close to normal, an excellent result for a compact digicam.
The above chart confirms the L*a*b* colour error results and suggests that noise could be problematic at high ISO settings.
Specifications
Image sensor: 5.34 x 4.01mm CCD with 5.3 million photosites (5.0 megapixels effective)
Lens: 5.8-17.4mm f2.8-4.9 zoom (35-105mm in 35mm format)
Zoom ratio: 3x optical, 4x digital
Dimensions (wxhxd): 86 x 53 x 20.7mm
Weight: 130g (without battery and card)
Image formats: Stills – JPEG (Exif 2.2 compliant); movies – AVI Image data: Motion JPEG/WAV
Shutter speed range: 15 – 1/1500 sec.
Focus system/range: TTL Autofocus (9-point AiAF / 1-point AF); range 30 cm to infinity, macro 3-50 cm
Exposure metering/control: Evaluative, Centre-weighted average, Spot ,Metering; program AE plus
White balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom
Flash modes/range (ISO auto): Auto, Red-eye reduction in Auto or Flash On, Flash On, Flash Off, Slow-Synchro; range 0.5-3.5m
ISO range: Auto,/ ISO 50, 100, 200, 400
Sequence shooting: Approx 2.1 shots/sec. (Large/Fine mode) to available capacity
Storage Media: 16 MB Secure Digital card; holds 5 Large/super fine images or up to 127 VGA shots
Viewfinder: Real-image optical zoom
LCD monitor: 2.0 inch low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT colour LCD
Power supply: NB-4L Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
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