Camera Review~Canon Ixus 970is

Camera Review~Canon Ixus 970is

This article appeared on Mon, Aug 11, 2008 AsiaOne www.asiaone.com/Digital/Reviews/Story/A1Story20080811-81682.html

Canon Digital IXUS 970 IS
By Dr. Chan Teng Heng, A Biz Professor Who Loves All Techie, Imagery and Digital Stuff.

The Canon IXUS 970IS camera is the top model of the IXUS range and was launched in Singapore in March 2008.The camera, in shiny silver color and wedge-shaped, tapered at one end, feels nice to handle, because of its smooth finish, making it one of the sleekiest and sporty looking IXUS model on sale. Other IXUS models are more rectangular.

The design and construction exudes quality and solidness, very nice to hold and touch. It was no larger than my handphone, so it is very portable, fitting well into our palm. You can put it in your small handbag (for ladies) or trousers’ pocket (for guys) and use it to shoot pictures at any opportune time. Representative of all IXUS models, the quality of this IXUS camera makes one confident in taking good quality pictures.

The Face Detection Technology is fast, responsive, and accurate. Framing of pictures take place easily in seconds, with delay. Armed with a 5x optical zoom, it can extend to as far as 20x zoom (digital zoom). The LCD screen is 2.5 inches, big for a small camera that is 95.4mm by 57.2 mm in dimension, and 27.4mm thick. Its ISO extends from a low of 80, giving very sharp pictures, to a high of 1600, and an ISO 3200 scene mode, for lower light sensitivity.

Altogether, the camera has 18 setting and scene modes, which makes this camera very versatile for most photo opportunities. It is therefore a very desirable product, as the image stabilizer (IS) is very effective in reducing blur effects due to hand shakiness or body motion.

Using the latest sensor (Digic III with noise reduction technology), this camera is capable of 10 megapixel image output. Hence, this camera has all the features one may wish for in a small point-and-shoot (p/s) camera.

Exceptional FeaturesRather than elaborate on the usual features that are normally found in many cameras, such as face detection, focusing, color richness and sharpness, it may be useful to note what I found to be very useful and likeable in this camera. These exceptional features which make this camera stand out are many, as described below:

-Sharpness: the image stabilizer (IS) is very effective in this point and shoot camera. Many shots I took in normal, auto mode came out sharp, rich in color and accurate white balance. When I compared the image on my computer alongside the images taken with a 10 megapixel DSLR, the quality was almost comparable to indistinguishable, when viewed on a computer screen.
-Colour: Colour was vibrant and rich, when shooting pictures in sufficient light. Pictures of flowers and landscape taken with the IXUS 970 IS came out with only a slight variation from the original colour.
-Camera modes: There are 18 modes available in this camera. My favorite mode in the camera is the Color Accent and the Color Swap modes. Although limited to mauve (purplish) or yellow colors when Color Accent is used, this mode allows one to shoot the rest of the scenery in grey, with green being the only color for grass, or any items that are green in colour.

In other settings, the yellowish colour showed up against the rest of the grey background. Normally, you need to rely on the editing software, Adobe Photoshop, to have this type of tricky selective coloring. Color Swap was also interesting.
When photo shots along the Tuas highway were taken, the greenery that was bathed in the morning rich yellow sun showed up as slight mauve tinge color. This phenomenon really changed what would be the usual greenery to become different and flower-like. Imagine if you use this colour swap in a temperate country in autumn, the photos rendered in this way will be so beautiful.

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate how the color and quality of the images can be transformed by Color Accent and Color Swap. These images have not been processed with any software, except for reduction of size, and cropping of the images. I think while the 18 scene modes have much to offer, Color Accent and Color Swap are most interesting.
Figure 3 shows how beautiful dawn is using the Sunset mode. Changing to Color Swap mode renders the sky a mauve tinge while the morning sun is shown a rich yellow, as illustrated in Figure 4. The Macro mode shows how sharp and accurate the color of orchid can be (Figure 5), while the normal mode using flash illustrates how colorful fishes in a swirlful of water can be taken easily (Figure 6).
-Hi ISO mode: In low night light, taking pictures under normal auto light mode in the camera may result in mostly dark images (Figure 7). However, switching to Hi ISO mode helps to create a more balanced lighted photograph (Figure 8). I tried to take some pictures of the buildings that were well illuminated in the night time. The quality of the image was very good even when viewed at 100% cropping (Figures 9 and 10).
-Panoramic pictures: This can be taken with the “Stitch Assist” mode. Instead of the more usual frame outlines found in the LCD screen, this mode actually shows part of the picture initially taken, so that you can merge visually the frozen image with scene you are going to take. Technology has improved so much that taking panoramic photographs has become much easier and more accurate when stitching several photos together.

Fig. 1. Color Accent mode renders only the grass green, with the rest of the image in grey. Fig. 2. Color Mode “paints” the areas bathed by the sun in purplish tinge.

Fig. 3. Sunset mode renders the image golden color. Fig. 4. Using Color Swap mode combines the beauty of the sunset and the purplish tinge to the surrounding sky.

Fig. 5. Macro mode shows the flower object sharply with the background blur (‘bokeh’ is quite good. Fig. 6. In normal mode, at ISO 200, and with flash, the fishes can be snapped if remained motionless.

Fig. 7. Taken at auto light mode (ISO 200) and using flash. Fig. 8. Taken at auto Hi mode (ISO800) and using flash.

Fig. 9. Quality of the image is seen when taking pictures at auto Hi mode (ISO 800). Fig. 10. Quality of image seen at 100% crop.

-Movie Mode: Despite the small size of the camera, I was able to take video clips of a friendly football match outside my apartment window. I was pleasantly surprised that it was able to record the sound of the match so well, although I was about 150 meters and five floors high from the players. The video clip was very viewable.
However, when zoomed to maximum zoom, the quality deteriorated appreciably. Still, the football match was watchable, without any color run that I have seen with movies shot with other digital cameras. The video clip was of 640x480 size, running at 30fps. The video clip ran for 47 seconds without any image or audio stutters.
-Image Manipulation: This feature allows image trimming and image resizing (reductions) saving file size and enabling quick file uploading to the internet, especially to YouTube. Many cameras are now manufactured incorporating this uploading facility.
Since this is a shoot and point camera, the quality of the image depends on the dynamic range of the sensor, the sensor size, ISO range and the camera settings available. We shall discuss the limitations of this equipment which users have to be aware of, in order to avoid taking poor quality pictures.
Picture Taking in Conditions that Need Extra Settings
The IXUS 970 IS camera allows very good images to be taken under good lighting conditions, and under certain settings of the camera, such as the auto Hi lighting mode. Generally, pictures in low light are more difficult to capture, for this IXUS camera, and even for DSLR cameras.
-Night Snapshot Mode: I tested this at dusk, at about 7p.m., when the sun starts setting, and before it became dark at about 7.45p.m. Under such natural lighting, I took several snapshots of buildings under various scene modes.
The Night Snapshot mode and the Fireworks mode gave blurred pictures because the shutter speed was slow. One should therefore use tripod instead of holding the camera by hand. Several shots of the same location using other modes (Portrait, Auto, ISO3200 and even Color Accent modes) yielded sharper and clearer images. This implies that the user must be familiar with the type of mode settings to use.
While this camera is good for picture taking in sufficient lighting, picture quality is more difficult to attain in low light or at night fall. Using auto Hi mode and flash does help, as discussed earlier. When the sky is totally dark, the Night Snapshot and Fireworks modes may be more appropriate to use.
-Zoom mode: While using optical zoom gives sharp pictures, digital zoom (up to 33mm. range) will result in very pixilated and processed (due to noise reduction activity kicking in) images. This drop in quality is also seen in the movie mode.
-Speed of picture taking: This camera is good for stationery objects and landscape. For fast moving objects, such as a running child, animal or a moving vehicle or animal, it lacks the “sports mode” which I found in many other models. The Canon G9 has this mode, which I found very useful for fast activities, such as running child or football playing.
-Design of Switch: The on-off switch is a mite too small, recessed above the LCD screen, and this poses problems for those with thick fingers or for those users in a hurry to retrieve the camera to take spontaneous photos. But I reckon this design is to keep the surface flush with the sleek design. This is the only grouse I have against this superbly designed camera.
SummaryThe IXUS 970 IS camera can give very clear color-rich pictures, with good highlights under good lighting situations. It should suit most types of users, especially those taking casual photographs of friends and family. In low light conditions, some tweaking of the camera settings and controls are necessary. Overall, the camera should give owners much fun, especially if they use the Color Accent, Color Swap and Movie modes. It should also be very handy and versatile for spontaneous picture taking since it can easily be carried in the smallest of lady’s handbag or even in trousers or shirt pockets.

Sounds like a great camera! One question: what about battery life? I used many IXUS and had to drop Canon for Nikon due to bad battery life. Appreciate your input. Thanks.

E.S. Chew

Posted at Tue Aug 19 12:37:30 SGT 2008

Dear ES Chew,
There are good and bad points about all cameras. While the IXUS 970 have good color, reponsive focusing and easy to compose pictures, because of the large LCD screen, the battery life will be quite short if you leave it one all the while. I have been able to extend the life of the camera by switching off the camera once I pause taking shots. This way I get the best of both worlds...good color, fast focusing, and ...a good battery life.
I also own a Nikon...but did not use this a lot because it lacked certain features that I was looking for.

Posted by: achanth at Tue Aug 19 14:17:42 SGT 2008