Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS Digital Camera Review

by

  GoldenHammer

Looking for Surprise I decided to get a Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS digital camera even I already have my Nikon COOLPIX P4 VR. See also Nikon COOLPIX P4 VR Digital Camera Review. I am looking for additional surprise from the Canon Optical Image Stabilizer (IS) technology and how well the higher ISO 800 sensitivity can affect the life point and shoot photography experience. See a sample gallery of lotus flower taken by the Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS. First Impression The Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS can produce an effective 6 mega pixels image with a 4x optical zoom lens covering focal length 35mm-140mm, aperture f/2.8 (wide side) to f/5.5 (tele side). It is a compact camera, about 10% smaller than the P4, packed in a sliver-colored case with smoothly shaped edges and corners fitting well that enable one-hand (the right hand) operations. It has a traditional beautiful and well-built outlook design for the Canon IXUS series digital cameras. The IXUS 800 is designed for real point and shoot convention, easy setup and controls with instant response operations, very fast auto focus capability. The Best Yes, the IS works! The higher ISO 800 sensitivity helps. I am able to create fair image at 1/30s securely (one-hand operations) and at good successful rate even at 1/10s. I found it gives about 1.5 stop advantage when framing under low light condition. How well it goes with respect to the Nikon COOLPIX P4 VR? Under a similar low light environment, I could have something like 80% successful rate from the Canon IS while the Nikon VR could give only 50%. The Canon IS produces constantly fair result while the Nikon VR gives extreme result that it could be either a success or failed shot. However, the successful shot created by Nikon VR has better sharpness over those from Canon IS. Interesting? I would say the Canon IS gives fair result in a more secured successful rate while Nikon VR gives better result in some extreme case. IXUS 800 is a very fast digital camera, I am very impressed by its focusing speed giving by the 9-point AiAF (Artificial Intelligence Auto Focus), it gives instant focus lock faster than the P4 in most cases. The zoom lever and the shutter release can be handled by a single finger. Functions and menu options are well organized in a simple way for smooth and quick operations. You could not find any unnecessary options required by a generic point and shoot photographer. IXUS 800 provides Auto mode, Manual mode and Special Scene mode for creating still image. With Auto mode, you may change only the image size and quality, ISO Auto (ISO 80 - ISO 400) or ISO HI (up to ISO 800), Auto or Macro focus, Auto Flash/ with Red-Eye or turn flash off. Sorry, but your can not find anything about aperture nor shutter speed in the Manual mode, Canon's manual means more options for exposure compensation from -2EV to +2EV at a step of 0.3EV, white balance and custom color (my colors) profiles, metering modes (evaluative, center weighted and spot), infinity focusing, slow synch flash and continuous shooting. There is no options for noise reduction nor focus point selection in the Manual mode. Canon collects the sharpness, contrast, saturation and some other color controls in a "Custom Color" option under the "My Colors" menu. It is obvious that Canon prefers to hide most of the options and let them to be handled by the advanced digital logic processor in the IXUS 800, that is a product design for the real point and shoot photography convention. The Special Scene mode provides scenes profiles for Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets (huh?), Indoor, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks and Underwater. There are two interesting scene profiles - Color Accent and Color Swap. Color Accent allows keeping a selected color, all other colors are turned into black and white; Color Swap allows replacing an original color by a selected color. Apparently, Canon sets these magic functions as built-in features to support direct print of the manipulated image instead of functions in post processing software which required to be run on a PC. IXUS 800 also provides ISO 80 sensitivity for highest quality image and there is a Print/Share button for one-touch printing. There is a print menu simplifies printing of multiple images and allows print directly to any PictBridge compatible printer without the need for a PC. Room for Improvement IS and ISO 800 can help to get fair image direct out of the camera under low light environment, but that is only acceptable so-so result not "nicely" enough for my eyes. In fact, I was a bit disappointed by the image quality at ISO 400 and ISO 800, they produce more noise than expected. According to my test, I would prefer to set the internal sharpness to the lowest value in the "Custom Color" profile, that seems help a bit to the final output for my taste. See attached sample images at various ISO sensitivity levels and a sample from the Nikon P4 at ISO 400. Unlike the Nikon P4, IXUS 800 does not provide feature for focus point selection, it gives a traditional focus point in the center when the AiAF auto focus is off. Though you may take a further step to shift and re-frame the composition after locking the focus, that gives an impression in lack of advance in the design. Conclusion Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS with IS technology and higher ISO 800 sensitivity is a compact digital camera that meets well the requirements for generic point and shoot photography. It provides all necessary features for best productive result. It best fit for users getting tired of photography controls and imaging effect. For additonal photography controls and more pixels, Nikon COOLPIX P4 VR would be a better choice. However, it should be noticed that the test result mentioned in this article would vary under different photography environment and also vary because of different handling practices from the photographer. This is not a strict comparison nor any conclusion on both Canon IS or Nikon VR technologies but a limited personal experience. Reference Official product information is available at http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/ixus800is/index-e.html Comparison Chart Overall Construction Features Image quality Ease of use Value for money Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS 4.5 4.0 4.0 4.5 5 4.5 Nikon COOLPIX P4 VR 4.5 4.0 4.5 4.5 4.0 4.5 ISO 80 for the Best To test the IS capability, all samples are created by one-hand operation, direct out of the camera at tele side, focus at infinity, metering set to "Evaluative" and "Matrix" in the Manual mode, no flash, only Photoshop resize effect applied. Crop samples are from the source images at its 100% size. There is no exposure compensation applied, P4 works better than IXUS 800 in this sample for my eyes both on the overall exposure control and quality. Left side = Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS - ISO 80, f/5.5 Right side = Nikon COOLPIX P4 VR - ISO 50, f/5.3 Crop Sample 1 Crop Sample 2 There is no exposure compensation applied, obviously, IXUS 800 managed a better overall exposure control, P4 got some highlighted areas over-exposured. However, from the image quality point of view, the 100% cornor crop provided by P4 looks a bit better than IXUS 800 for my eyes. Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS - ISO 80, f/5.5 Nikon COOLPIX P4 VR - ISO 50, f/5.3 Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS - ISO 80, cornor crop Nikon COOLPIX P4 VR - ISO 50 cornor crop Samples To test the IS capability, all samples are created by one-hand operation, direct out of the camera at tele side in the Manual mode, no flash, only Photoshop resize effect applied. Crop samples are from the source images at its 100% size. Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS - ISO 800, f/5.5, 1/10s Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS - ISO 400, f/5.5, 1/5s Nikon COOLPIX P4 VR - ISO 400, f/5.8 Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS - ISO 200, f/5.5, 1/2.5s Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS - ISO 800 cornor crop Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS - ISO 400 cornor crop Nikon COOLPIX P4 VR - ISO 400 cornor crop Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS - ISO 200 cornor crop Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS Sample Gallery These shots are taken in a lotus flower exhibition show, most are captured indoor without flash light, one-hand operation point and shoot style. Personally, I am impressed by the handling experience and operation performance as well as the details. Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS was set to manual mode with a custom color profile and use of spot metering. Enjoy!