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Canon Digital IXUS
980 IS / Powershot SD990 IS - Digital Camera Review |
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Canon have this to
say about the camera: "The 14.7 MP Digital
IXUS 980 IS blends technical excellence with a unique, stylish black or
silver design. Powered by Canons latest DIGIC 4 processor, it combines
advanced auto features with Manual control." You can find more information on their website. The Camera: a
visual tour: (Photos of the camera taken with the Canon
Powershot A2000 IS)
Size Comparison: Compared to a Pentax PC-550 35mm film camera - a medium/compact sized 35mm film camera.
Specifications
/ Features:
Box Contents:
Average box contents - a larger memory card would be nice, as would a case. A case, and a large memory card is highly recommended. Menu system: The menu system is logical and fairly straightforward. Once you get used to the way Canon menus work then you can use any Canon camera. The function button gives (along with the buttons on the back of the camera) quick access to the most commonly used options with just one press of the button, and the menu button works as it should providing access to options that you rarely need to change (such as flash compensation). The scroll wheel lets you adjust the mode further allowing you to switch between Program and full Manual mode, as well as scroll through the scene modes. The playback menu gives you some useful features such as slideshow, red-eye correction, sound memo, and the usual print options, as well as a few new features such as i-contrast (increases dynamic range), and my colours. Picture Size / Quality: The camera lets you choose the image size (14.7m, 9m, 5m, 2m, VGA, Widescreen 4416 x 2480), aspect ratio (4:3, or Widescreen), and how much compression is applied to the images (Superfine, Fine, Normal). Higher quality images take a large amount of memory, so a high capacity memory card is definitely recommended, unless you're prepared to sacrifice image size or compression to fit more pictures in memory. There is a very good choice of image sizes, compression options, and some choice regarding aspect ratios - it's just missing a 3:2 aspect ratio mode.
Battery usage:
Battery life is rated at approx. 280 shots according to CIPA standards.
I was able to take over 320 shots before the battery went flat. Battery
life will be dependent on the kind of use you make of the camera. Memory cards: A large memory card is relatively cheap, and highly recommended, I would recommend at a bare minimum a 2gb memory card, if you intend to take fine JPEG images, and preferably a 4gb memory card, or larger. The larger the memory card, the more photos you will be able to take. If you are likely to go on holiday then the largest memory card you can afford would definitely be worth investing in, as you don't always know when you will next be at a computer. You can use SD or SDHC memory cards - I tend to use Sandisk Ultra II Plus USB SD memory cards as these let you plug the memory card straight into a USB socket making it easy to transfer images onto any computer, they are available as 1GB SD, or 2GB SD cards and 4GB SDHC cards. Listed below are links to memory cards that will work with the Canon Digital IXUS 980 IS: Find the latest
prices for SD memory cards at Amazon.co.uk: 1gb (1000mb): £4,
2gb (2000mb): £5,
4gb (4000mb SDHC): £6,
8gb (8000mb SDHC): £10 Speed: The camera can take its first photo from 'off' in approx 1.8 seconds (without flash), which is quite quick. Focusing seemed very quick too, and even in very low light when it uses flash-assist it takes only a little longer. The camera shutter response seemed instant when pre-focused, responding in 0.1 seconds or less - and shot to shot time was fairly quick, with a delay of around 2.2 seconds without flash (and review off). The flash recharge time was quite quick allowing a shot to be taken every 3.4 seconds, flash is also available in the continuous shooting mode, with a good shot to shot time of around 1 seconds for up to 20 shots. Continuous shooting is reasonable with a fast memory card, at roughly 1.5fps at all resolution until the card is full. The playback and menus are very quick. The quick mode switches off the preview screen at the back, and instead shows shooting information, leaving you to frame the subject using the optical viewfinder, this mode speeds up shot time by activating continuous focusing.
Ease of use: The camera is easy to use, especially in the AUTO mode and has a number of scene modes that help get good results. The controls on the back of the camera are quite straightforward. The menus are responsive and are also easy to use, and the options are big enough and easy enough to see clearly, although built in help would have been nice. The scene modes are easy to access, mainly thanks to the large display, and a lot of the options can be accessed using the buttons on the back. It's easy to see when photos are in focus, and the image stabilisation means that more of your shots will be sharp. The scroll wheel and combined 4-way controller is a little bit small, but can help speed up selecting different modes and options in the menus. Ergonomics and Buttons: (Feel, placement, labels, etc) The layout and size of the buttons and controls are good, with the most commonly used options reachable with your right thumb. The zoom control and shutter release also work well. I thought the camera felt good ergonomically, as it feels solid and well built. However there is no hand grip on the front or back, leaving only the curved styling to grip onto, therefore it's highly recommended that you use the wrist strap to make sure you don't drop the camera. Bring a Canon Digital IXUS it will very easily fit into pockets.
Image Quality: Here are some real world sample photos taken in various settings, (such as Inside, Outside, Macro) to demonstrate the image quality and also show different features of the camera. Larger versions of these, plus more photos are available in the Canon Digital IXUS 980 IS Sample Photo Gallery! Inside:
Inside: The camera has very good colour - It took a good "Heather and Flower" photo - there is very little red-eye in the photo. The camera copes well with group photos, although red-eye is often noticeable. On AUTO ISO, the ISO setting was kept quite low in these photos (ISO250), however noise was noticeable. Better results are possible by using a lower ISO setting, especially with subjects close to the camera. The camera did a good job at focusing even in low-light where the focus assist lamp kicks in. Colour is quite richly saturated, though lacking in contrast however this can be improved using My Colours "Vivid" or "Custom Colour" setting. ISO Noise Test: Noise is generally a bad thing - it fragments detail, and gives a grainy effect over the image. With digital cameras noise can be a real problem as it is often made out of blue, red or green dots. As the ISO setting increases, pictures tend to have more noise and is most noticeable in darker areas. The camera has an Automatic mode for ISO levels (ranging from ISO 80 - ISO1600), and manual ISO settings (ISO: 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200). Below you'll find the noise test image, plus actual pixel crops, viewable at 100%, from the image taken at different ISO settings, compared with the 9 megapixel Canon Powershot SX110 IS, and 10 megapixel Canon Powershot A2000 IS.
ISO Noise Test Photos - Flash is off. Canon Powershot SX110 IS on the left, Canon Powershot A2000 IS in the middle, Canon Digital IXUS 980 IS on the right. Any tonal difference is due to white balance or lighting / metering differences.
Noise results: What's surprising here is that the camera with the highest number of megapixels, the 14.7 megapixel Canon Digital IXUS 980 IS, appears to have the lowest noise of the three cameras! The 9 megapixel Canon Powershot SX110 IS has the highest noise, but also the sharpest images, with ISO800 and 1600 particularly noisy. The 10 megapixel Canon Powershot A2000 IS has slightly less noise, but still shows a lot of noise at ISO800 and above. The Canon Digital IXUS 980 IS has less noise, cleaner pictures, and an impressively smooth ISO3200 mode (albeit at 2mp) - these impressive results could be due to the IXUS 980 using the new Canon DIGIC 4 image processor, while the SX110 and A2000 use the older DIGIC 3 processor. Image Stabilisation: The camera features real image stabilisation, as optical image stabilisation. This feature helps reduce image blur due to low light or long zoom photography. Examples showing this feature switched on and off can be seen below.
With image stabilisation switched on the images are much sharper and clearer, and are much more likely to come out blur free, especially in low light, when using the zoom or when using slow shutter speeds. The camera's system appears to work well, and it's good to see that this feature is becoming the norm with digital cameras. Outside:
Outside: The camera has quite rich, saturated colours. There was impressive detail, and the camera took a number of very pleasing images outside, with good contrast, low noise and very little chromatic aberrations or purple fringing. In general 'normal' quality jpeg artefacts are not easily seen, however areas with strong contrasts benefit from use of the highest quality setting. Zoom: This lens provides a 3.7x optical zoom starting at 36mm equivalent which is great for 'normal' everyday photography, zooming to 133mm. I've included examples below to show what the zoom is capable of. An example of digital zoom can be seen as well. Digital Zoom basically takes a crop of the centre of the frame and enlarges the image, degrading image quality, and is therefore best avoided.
Exposure: The photos of the clock tower are exposed well with detail in the dark areas as well as the lighter areas - exposure in other photos was generally very good. Vignetting was not noticed in these photos. It can be useful to under expose images with bright backgrounds (eg. sky) with use of exposure compensation. Lens noise and zoom: The lens makes some noise, and gives you seven steps between wide and telephoto - this gives adequate control over how you frame your subject. Other Image Quality issues: Purple fringing / Chromatic aberration were slight but sometimes noticeable especially in areas of high contrast (such as the wide angle clock tower photo). There is some barrelling at wide angle though pin cushioning was barely noticeable at full zoom. Macro Lens Performance:
The closest the camera lens can get to the subject when taking macro photos is 5cm. Colour and detail is very good, and there appears to be low noise at ISO100 and below. Setting the white balance manually helps achieve better results. The camera can also take macro photos when zoomed in slightly, and can be manually focused. Video mode: The camera records VGA videos at 30fps with sound as AVI files, and using the optical image stabilisation they appear very smooth and shake free. However, compared to other digital cameras the Canon can't fit very long videos on the memory card, as it doesn't use very high compression, such as MPEG4, and will only fit 20 minutes on a 2gb card. Optical zoom is available prior to, and digital zoom whilst recording. Conclusion
Image quality is generally excellent, with a useable high ISO mode. The compact camera provides a useful 3.7x optical zoom lens, with image stabilisation, and an impressive 2.5" LCD screen. The camera's screen works well and battery life is very good. Areas where this camera could be improved - it would be nice if the camera featured a wide angle lens, and an improved video mode. Overall this is a very appealing camera offering good value for money, and a number of features that should suit beginners as well as experts - with full manual controls proving you no longer need to buy a bulky camera.
What I like:
What I don't like:
Additional Test Images are viewable in the Canon Digital IXUS 980 IS Sample Photo Gallery. |