Canon Digital IXUS 70 Review ( Also known as the Canon Powershot SD1000)

Canon Digital IXUS 70 Review ( Also known as the Canon Powershot SD1000)

Design

Measuring just 19.4mm thick, the Canon Digital IXUS 70 is the slimmest compact camera in Canon's extensive lineup. Inspired by the original IXUS model, the new Canon IXUS 70 offers a 7.1 megapixel sensor, 3x zoom lens equivalent to 35-105mm, and a 2.5 inch LCD screen. Canon's DIGIC III image processor, which is also used in the DSLR range, powers the IXUS 70 behind the scenes, and also provides the camera's Face Detection and Noise Reduction technologies. There's also a new Red-Eye Correction feature on offer in Playback mode. There are a range of ISO speeds up to 1600 and a new ISO Auto Shift function to help avoid image blur whenever camera shake is predicted. So the retro-looking Canon Digital IXUS 70 has quite a lot of new tricks up its sleeve, but is it the perfect marriage of old and new? Read my review to find out.

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Ease of Use

The Canon Digital IXUS 70 is a very well-made compact digital camera, with a stylish all-metal body and excellent overall finish. It has a pleasingly simplistic, clean overall design, reminiscent of the original IXUS designs. If you require a pocket camera that is both good-looking and hard-wearing, then look no further. The Canon Digital IXUS 70 is easily small enough to fit into the palm of your hand, weighing just 125g without the battery or memory card fitted. It's also the slimmest Canon digital compact ever, although at 19.4mm deep, I have seen much slimmer models from other manufacturers. Most aspects of the design and build have a quality feel with nothing really feeling flimsy or ill-thought out. There are a few minor criticisms that can be leveled at the Canon Digital IXUS 70, mostly concerning the various covers. The plastic Camera/Movie/Play switch on the rear of the camera feels cheap and out of place. The plastic A/V Out / Digital port cover on the side of the camera feels a little flimsy, as does the battery/memory card compartment cover.

The Canon Digital IXUS 70 is comfortable to hold, despite being such a small camera. Both thumbs naturally support the bottom of the camera, whilst operating the shutter button with your right index finger. You can also comfortably hold the camera and take pictures with one hand. Despite the smooth all-metal body, the camera is not too slippy when gripping it. The various buttons are well-made and easy to operate, and the camera feels well-balanced in your hands. There are no real innovative features here, but everything that the Canon Digital IXUS 70 does, it does extremely well. Overall the Canon Digital IXUS 70 is well constructed and designed with no obvious signs of corners being cut. Even the tripod mount, traditionally a last minute thought on a camera like this, is (nearly) positioned in the center of the bottom of the camera.

The Canon Digital IXUS 70 has relatively few external controls, just 9 in total, reflecting the fact that this is strictly a point and shoot camera in functionality terms. Cleverly you can directly access the various flash, macro and timer options by clicking on the navigation pad, and Canon have also dedicated the Up position to ISO speed, which is a commonly used feature. There is also a sub-menu accessed via the Func/Set button in the middle of the navigation pad, which allows you to set exposure compensation, white balance, image effects, metering and image size/quality settings. This system is a good compromise given the small size of the camera and therefore the limited space for external controls. All 9 external controls are clearly labeled using industry-standard symbols and terminology. Overall the camera body feels very well-designed and not at all cluttered, despite the presence of the large 2.5 inch LCD screen. A small optical viewfinder is also included, which is welcome for moments when it is difficult to use the LCD screen i.e. in very bright sunlight. I found it to be a little on the small side, however, so you will probably find yourself using the LCD screen most of the time.