Canon Ixus 80 6MP 4x Zoom Super Slim Digital Camera

Slightly larger than it’s predecessors, the Ixus 80 remains compact with a solid feel due to the extra weight. Most of the controls are located on the back panel leaving the top panel to house the shutter-release button and zoom rocker. The main controls are in a 4-way OK option pad works well and is refreshingly accurate compared to many others. The rest of the buttons are next to the LCD screen. We like the large design of the buttons making them comfortable for hands of all sizes. The power button has been positioned in a rather strange place, almost as if they ran out of space, making very awkward to use. Talking of awkward - the 2.5in-LCD screen is positioned right underneath the viewfinder, this is all good until you notice oil on the screen from where your nose rubs on it - not good! On the plus side, the LCD is nice and bright with good viewing angles.

Like all things Ixus - the Ixus 800 model is not shy of features. It starts off by impressing with its 6 mega pixel sensor resolution and it’s light sensitivity ranges from ISO 80 to ISO 800. It has a 4x optical zoom, a handful of scene presets including fireworks, snow and beach which are fun to try out. Canon’s colour accent allows you to show off your artistic flair with special effects including Sepia, Vivid, Neutral, Positive and black and white. You can also swap colours around - something that they kids will love. The Ixus 80 has colour adjustment too allowing you to enhance your pictures prior to downloading. The Ixus 80 has standard automatic and manual settings but we were disappointed that it lacks shutter speed and aperture priority exposure modes. So, we mentioned that the Ixus has a feature that had never been seen before and I think we’ve kept you in suspense for quite long enough. The latest feature is Canon’s Optical Image Stabilisation System which makes such a significant improvement.

The Ixus 80 definitely deserves the Ixus family name - it put on such a good performance. It was quick and responsive with a shutter lag of just 0.5 sec. With a power on to shoot time of 1.5 and 1.9 sec with flash we couldn’t ask for any thing more. The ISS noticeably reduces blur promoting excellent results. Photos look clear and animated even when zooming right in the quality was still superb. The downside would have to be the light sensitivity, at ISO 400 it was excellent, however, we noticed that the images became grainy and lacked quality at ISO 800.

As the Canon Ixus 60 and 65 were doing a great job for an affordable price, you might wonder why you would pay that extra chunk for a camera that is so similar with just one more feature. Well, the answer is that the Canon PowerShot SD700 is definitely worth it’s weight in gold. The difference it makes to the quality of the prints is outstanding. The performance that the Ixus 800 gave us has definitely made our minds up, it’s right up there with the best contenders if you ask us.