Canon IXUS 275 HS Review

September 22, 2015 | Amy Davies | Rating star Rating star Rating star Rating star

Introduction

The Canon IXUS 275 HS (also known as the PowerShot ELPH 350 HS) is an ultra-slim compact camera which features a 20.2 million pixel high-sensitivity CMOS sensor. That is accompanied by a 12x optical zoom, which gives you an equivalent of 25-300mm in 35mm terms. There's also two types of digital zoom available which boosts that reach to 24x and 48x. Intelligent IS (image stabilisation) is included to help keep blur to a minimum. The IXUS 275 HS has a Digic 4+ processor, and has a number of automatic and scene modes which you can shoot in. There's also Creative Shot, which creates five different images with digital filters and crops (along with a standard, clean image) applied from one press of the shutter release button. Wi-Fi is inbuilt, as is NFC, to allow you to remotely control the camera, or download images which you've already taken with it for quick sharing to social networks and the like. The Canon IXUS 275 HS is capable of recording full HD videos, while there's also Hybrid Auto which creates a montage video to accompany stills you have taken during a given day. The Canon IXUS 275 HS retail for £129 / $210.

Ease of Use

Canon has been using the same sort of design for its stylish and slim IXUS models for a while, so it's no surprise to see the same kind of appearance here in the IXUS 275 HS. It's certainly slim enough to fit into a jeans pocket, making it a good choice as a carry around camera, or something to slip into your bag on a night out.

The 12x optical zoom lens extends from the body of the Canon IXUS 275 HS when you switch it on, while it can be zoomed using a switch around the shutter release on the top of the camera. The switch itself, although small, feels pretty sturdy, and should be able to withstand repeated use. The zoom of the lens is quite smooth and fluid, and you can reach the end of the zoom range fairly quickly.

If you have digital zoom activated, the lens will pause for a moment before it enters into digital zoom territory, and again before it enters the second type of digital zoom - this is handy for ensuring you only stick with optical zoom if that's what you'd prefer to do.

Canon IXUS 300 HS
Front of the Canon IXUS 275 HS

On top of the Canon IXUS 275 HS, there's the on/off button, the shutter release and a switch for allowing you to choose between the three different shooting options which the camera offers.

The first option, is “Automatic”, but within this, you'll find that you can switch to a Program mode if you want to take greater control over your shots. You'll also be able to select different scene modes and so on here, too.

The second option is “Creative Shot”. This allows you to create six different filtered or cropped images all with one press of the shutter release button. You don't have a lot of control over which filters or crops will be applied, but you can choose from different “sets” of filters by pressing the Display button and selecting from options such as “Auto”, “Retro”, “Special” and “Monochrome”. It would be nice if you could choose for yourself some of these filters, but it is still quite fun to experiment with this mode.

Finally, the third option on the switch is Hybrid Auto. This mode is completely automatic and you won't be able to change any shooting settings when you're using it. A two-second video clip will be captured every time a picture is taken - video will start recording from the moment you half press the shutter to focus. At the end of the day, you can view a montage video which has been collated from the videos shot throughout the day, and you will also have each of the still images separately.

Canon IXUS 300 HS
Rear of the Canon IXUS 275 HS

This is a really fun mode and works especially well for events and holidays - birthdays and weddings are a great time to use it. It would be nice though if you could have a little control over which clips make it into the final video - for instance if you take more than one photo of the same thing, the video can be pretty repetitive. It's fuss free though, and perhaps introducing the ability to edit this video would make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Moving to the back of the Canon IXUS 275 HS and you'll find the majority of the camera's buttons are grouped on the right hand side. This makes it easy to make changes to all of the settings when you're using the camera with just one hand.

Again, if you've ever used a Canon IXUS camera before, you should be perfectly at home with the button layout here, with the company not straying from its usual design for compact cameras.

The top two buttons are a playback button for viewing images and movies that you've already taken, and a dedicated video record button. This latter button is slightly recessed into the body of the camera, making it pretty unlikely that you'll accidentally push it and create videos you don't want.

Canon IXUS 300 HS
Top of the Canon IXUS 275 HS

Just underneath these two buttons you'll find a four way navigational pad, with a button in the middle. Each of the navigational keys has its own function. The up key activates Wi-Fi, or Auto Zoom. The left button controls Macro Shooting, the right button accesses flash functions, while the down button changes the different Display modes the camera offers.

A function button in the middle of this navigational pad gives you access to a quick menu for making rapid changes to certain settings, depending on the shooting mode you're in. If you're in the Hybrid Auto mode, the only options you'll find here will be timer and different video quality settings. However, if you're shooting in the standard automatic mode, you'll find a myriad of different options available here.

From within the quick menu you can change from fully automatic to Program mode, which then opens up the possibility to change other settings such as “My Colors”, white balance, ISO (sensitivity) and metering. This is good for those that want to take a little more control over shooting parameters, but note that it's not possible to set aperture or shutter speed in this way. If you select “Long Shutter” mode from within the function menu, you can set shutter speeds from 1 second up to 15 seconds, which is useful for photographing long exposures in dark conditions - but note that you'll need to use a tripod to keep the camera steady during such exposures - a tripod thread is found on the bottom of the camera.

The final two buttons on the back of the Canon IXUS 275 HS are a one-touch button for connecting the camera to your phone (once the initial setup has taken place) and the main menu button. Within the main menu, you'll find more in-depth options than from within the function menu, as well as other camera settings, such as setting the date and time.

Canon IXUS 300 HS
The Canon IXUS 275 HS In-hand

You can't change autofocus point using the IXUS 275 HS. Your options are Face Detection, Tracking and Center point. It's recommended that for most situations you use the Center point and use the focus and recompose method if something you're photographing is not in the centre of the frame.

When you're in the Hybrid Auto mode, you can't choose macro focusing, but most of the time, the camera will recognise when it is photographing a close-up subject. If it doesn't, you can switch to macro focusing in the standard automatic setting and then select macro focusing by pressing the left directional key.

In good light, autofocusing speeds are pretty rapid, dropping a little when the light is lower - in lower light conditions you might find that the 175 hunts a little before snapping into focus. Occasionally when photographing something close up, it's possible that you'll be presented with a false confirmation of focus, which is something to keep an eye on.

Otherwise, general operational speeds of the Canon IXUS 275 HS are pretty good, and you can cycle through menus and images in playback with ease. The menus themselves are reasonably well thought out and designed, and it's not generally too difficult to find the setting you need to change quite quickly.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 16 megapixel SuperFine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 7Mb.

Directly from the Canon IXUS 275 HS, colours are bold and vibrant, and are basically typical of the warmth that Canon cameras are known for. If you want to alter the appearance of colours in your shot, you can do this via the MyColors setting, which is useful if you’re not getting quite the appearance you want - for instance, you might wish to boost the contrast of colours for flower shots, but keep them more neutral for general landscapes.

The overall impression of detail in shots taken with the Canon IXUS 275 HS is great when you’re viewing at normal printing or web sizes (such as A4 or below), but it’s possible to see image smoothing when you look closely at an image, even in low sensitivity shots, such as ISO 100. 

Looking at images taken at higher sensitivities, such as ISO 1600, it’s possible to see some loss of detail even when you’re viewing at A4 type sizes - but that’s pretty much to be expected from cameras like this. However, if you’re only sharing on Facebook and the like, you should be fine - and it’s certainly better to have a little loss of detail rather than a blurry shot.

In the majority of cases, the IXUS 275 HS’s general-purpose metering system does an excellent job of accurately measuring the scene to produce accurate exposures. If you need to add or reduce the brightness a little, you can adjust exposure compensation in Program mode. Similarly, automatic white balance produces generally accurate colours even when faced with artificial light - if you find that it’s producing slightly too warm tones, again, you can alter the white balance setting in Program mode.

Images taken at the far reach of the telephoto optic display a good level of detail. Although there’s a significant loss of detail when using the first of the digital zooms, it’s not too bad when viewing at small sizes. The second digital zoom is recommended only if you desperately want to get closer to the subject.

Noise

The Canon IXUS 275 HS has six sensitivity settings at full resolution. Auto mode uses a range between ISO 100 and ISO 3200, or you can switch to the Program shooting mode to manually select these settings.

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

iso100.jpg iso200.jpg
   

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

iso400.jpg iso800.jpg
   

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

iso1600.jpg iso3200.jpg

Sharpening

We found that the Canon IXUS 275 HS images are already pretty sharp, but do benefit from a little touch up in post processing.

Original (100% Crop)

Sharpened (100% Crop)

sharpen1.jpg sharpen1a.jpg
   
sharpen2.jpg sharpen2a.jpg

Focal Range

The Canon IXUS 275 HS' 12x zoom lens achieves a maximum wide-angle focal length equivalent to 25mm, and is capable of a telephoto reach of 300mm (in 35mm-camera terms).

25mm

300mm

focal_range1.jpg focal_range2.jpg

Chromatic Aberrations

The Canon IXUS 275 HS handled chromatic aberrations fairly well during the review, with purple and green fringing present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.

Chromatic Aberrations 1 (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations 2 (100% Crop)

chromatic1.jpg chromatic2.jpg

File Quality

Every image size option on the Canon IXUS 275 HS is accompanied by two quality settings: Fine and Super Fine. Going for the latter will up the file size of each image from 6MB to around 8MB.

SuperFine (8.22Mb) (100% Crop)

Fine (5.82Mb) (100% Crop)

quality_superfine.jpg quality_fine.jpg

Macro

The close focusing of the Canon IXUS 275 HS at wide-angle is a mere 1cm. It does mean that there's little light getting in when you do that and the edge definition drops off leaving around 50% of the image in focus.

Macro

Macro (100% Crop)

macro1.jpg macro1a.jpg

Flash

The Canon IXUS 275 HS' flash can only manage a relatively weak 4m range and hence there's some fairly obvious vignetting in our wide-angle test shot taken at a distance of 1.5m. The flash has four modes: Auto, On, Off and Slow Synchro, plus a separate setting to enable or disable red-eye reduction. Whether this is active or not, the camera successfully avoids any trace of red-eye.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (24mm)

Flash On - Wide Angle (24mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64
   

Flash Off - Telephoto (300mm)

Flash On - Telephoto (300mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64

And here are some portrait shots.

Flash On

Flash On (100% Crop)
flash_off.jpg flash_off1.jpg
   

Flash On

Flash On (100% Crop)
flash_on.jpg flash_on1.jpg

Night

The Canon IXUS 275 HS's maximum shutter speed is 15 seconds, which is great news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds at ISO 80.

Night

Night (100% Crop)

night1.jpg night1a.jpg

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Canon IXUS 275 HS camera, which were all taken using the 20 megapixel SuperFine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

This is a sample movie at the highest quality setting of 1920x1080 pixels at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 16 second movie is 62.6Mb in size.

Product Images

Canon IXUS 275 HS

Front of the Canon IXUS 275 HS

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS

Front of the Canon IXUS 275 HS / Turned On

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS

Side of the Canon IXUS 275 HS

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS

Side of the Canon IXUS 275 HS

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS

Rear of the Canon IXUS 275 HS

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS

Rear of the Canon IXUS 275 HS / Image Displayed

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS

Rear of the Canon IXUS 275 HS / Turned On

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS

Rear of the Canon IXUS 275 HS / Function Menu

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS

Rear of the Canon IXUS 275 HS / Main Menu

 

Canon IXUS 275 HS

Top of the Canon IXUS 275 HS

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS

Bottom of the Canon IXUS 275 HS

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS

Side of the Canon IXUS 275 HS

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS

Side of the Canon IXUS 275 HS

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS

Front of the Canon IXUS 275 HS

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS

Front of the Canon IXUS 275 HS

 
Canon IXUS 275 HS
Memory Card Slot / Battery Compartment

Conclusion

Canon has been producing sleek and stylish IXUS cameras for some time now, and the IXUS 275 HS is no different.

If you’re looking for something to slip into your trouser pocket or bag, perhaps while you’re on holiday or during a party or night out, then the IXUS 275 HS is a fuss-free camera which delivers some nice results.

While there’s nothing hugely exciting about this model, it’s got a good range of features - although some of those, we’re starting to expect from every modern camera (such as inbuilt Wi-Fi). The camera’s Wi-Fi works well though, and it’s nice to be able to control the camera remotely for selfies and the like.

Some of the creative options available are fun to experiment with - the Hybrid Auto mode is particularly fun when you’re photographing a party or something, but it would be nice to have a little more control here. Similarly, Creative Shot produces some great results, but again, it’s very random - arguably part of the fun of course, but a little frustrating at times.

Arguably there’s not much here to elevate the IXUS 275 HS above a very good smartphone, such as the iPhone 6, or the LG G4, however, you do have an optical zoom which makes it a bit more flexible when you’re on holiday. It also means that you don’t have to worry about your phone’s battery life keeping up with your holiday shooting, too. The fact that Canon has made it easy to transfer your images across to your phone helps with the desire to share your shots quickly too.

Overall, if you’re looking for something simple to use which delivers great results in a variety of conditions, you can do worse than the Canon IXUS 275 HS. It’s nice that there’s a little bit of control to be found in the Program mode, too.

4 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 4
Features 4
Ease-of-use 4
Image quality 4
Value for money 4

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Canon IXUS 275 HS.

Nikon Coolpix S3700

The Nikon Coolpix S3700 is an affordable point-and-shoot compact camera with built-in wifi and NFC connectivity. Featuring an 8x, 25-200mm lens and a 20 megapixel CCD sensor, the S3700 also offers 720p HD movies and a range of special effects. Read our Nikon Coolpix S3700 review to find out if this budget shooter is worth looking at..

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ57

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ57 (also known as the ZS45) is a new travel-zoom compact camera with a 16-megapixel sensor, 180-degree tiltable monitor and a 20x zoom lens. Read our Panasonic DMC-TZ57 review to find out if this is the travel-zoom camera for you...

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX500

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX500 is the world's smallest camera with a 30x zoom lens. This affordable travel-zoom also offers a flip-up screen, pop-up flash, 18 megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensor, 10fps continuous shooting, built-in wi-fi/NFC connectivity and Full HD movie recording. Read our Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX500 review to find out if this is the best travel-zoom camera on the market...

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Canon IXUS 275 HS from around the web.

steves-digicams.com »

The PowerShot ELPH 350 HS is the latest digital ELPH to hit the market (as of 2/2015), and Canon claims it offers, "users high performance that is perfect for everyday use.".
Read the full review »

Specifications

IMAGE SENSOR

Type 1/2.3 type back-illuminated CMOS
Effective Pixels Approx. 20.2M¹
Effective / Total Pixels Approx. 21.1M
Colour Filter Type Primary Colour

IMAGE PROCESSOR

Type DIGIC 4+ with iSAPS technology

LENS

Focal Length 4.5 – 54.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 25 – 300 mm)
Zoom Optical 12x
ZoomPlus 24x
Digital Approx. 4x. (with Digital Tele-Converter Approx. 1.6x or 2.0x).
Combined Approx. 48x¹
Maximum f/number f/3.6 – f/7.0
Construction 9 elements in 7 groups (1 double-sided aspherical UA lens, 1 double-sided aspherical lens, 1 single-sided aspherical lens)
Image Stabilisation Yes (lens shift-type), approx. 2.5-stop¹. Intelligent IS plus 4-axis Enhanced Dynamic IS

FOCUSING

Type TTL
AF System/ Points AiAF (Face Detection / 9-point), 1-point AF (fixed to centre)
AF Modes Single, Continuous (Auto mode only), Servo AF/AE, Tracking AF¹
AF Point Selection Size (Normal, Small)
AF Assist Beam Yes
Closest Focusing Distance 1 cm (W) from front of lens in Macro

EXPOSURE CONTROL

Metering modes Evaluative (linked to Face Detection AF frame), Centre-weighted average, Spot (Centre)
AE Lock Yes
Exposure Compensation +/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments.
Enhanced i-Contrast for automatic dynamic range correction
ISO sensitivity AUTO, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200

SHUTTER

Speed 1 – 1/2000 sec. (factory default)
15 – 1/2000 sec. (total range – varies by shooting mode)

WHITE BALANCE

Type TTL
Settings Auto (including Face Detection WB), Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom.

LCD MONITOR

Monitor 7.5 cm (3.0”) LCD (TFT), Approx. 461,000 dots
Coverage Approx. 100%
Brightness Adjustable to one of five levels. Quick-bright LCD

FLASH

Modes Auto, Manual Flash On / Off, Slow Synchro
Slow Sync Speed Fastest speed 1/2000 sec.
Red-Eye Reduction Yes
Flash Exposure Compensation Face Detection FE, Smart Flash Exposure
Flash Exposure Lock Yes
Built-in Flash Range 50 cm – 4.0 m (W) / 1.0 m – 2.0 m (T)
External Flash Canon High Power Flash HF-DC2

SHOOTING

Modes Hybrid Auto, Creative Shot, SCN (Smart Auto (32 scenes detected), P, Portrait, Smart Shutter (Smile, Wink Self-Timer, FaceSelf-Timer), High-speed Burst (5.0 MP), Handheld Night Scene, Low Light (5.0 MP), Fish-eye Effect, Miniature Effect, Toy Camera Effect, Monochrome, Super Vivid, Poster Effect, Snow, Fireworks, Long Shutter)
Modes in Movie Smart Auto (21 scenes detected), P, Portrait, Miniature Effect, Monochrome, Super Vivid, Poster Effect, Snow, Fireworks
Photo Effects My Colors (My Colors Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Color)
Drive modes Single, Continuous, Self-Timer
Continuous Shooting Approx. 2.5 shots/sec.
High-speed Burst (5.0 MP): Approx. 7.2 shots/sec. (until memory card becomes full)¹²

RECORDING PIXELS / COMPRESSION

Image Size 4:3 - (L) 5184 x 3888, (M1) 3648 x 2736, (M2) 2048 x 1536, (S) 640 x 480
16:9 - (L) 5184 x 2912, (M1) 3648 x 2048, (M2) 1920 x 1080, (S) 640 x 360
3:2 - (L) 5184 x 3456, (M1) 3648 x 2432, (M2) 2048 x 1368, (S) 640 x 424
1:1 - (L) 3888 x 3888, (M1) 2736 x 2736, (M2) 1536 x 1536, (S) 480 x 480
Resize in playback (M2)
Compression Superfine, Fine
Movies (Full HD) 1920 x 1080, 30 fps, (HD) 1280 x 720, 30 fps, (L) 640 x 480, 30 fps
Miniature Effect (HD, L) 6 fps, 3 fps, 1.5 fps
Hybrid Auto (HD) 30 fps
Movie Length (Full HD & HD) Up to 4 GB or 29 min. 59 sec.¹
(L) Up to 4 GB or 1 hour²

FILE TYPES

Still Image Type JPEG compression, (Exif 2.3 [Exif Print] compliant) / Design rule for Camera File system, Digital Print Order Format [DPOF] Version 1.1 compliant
Movies MP4 [Video: MPEG4-AVC / H.264, Audio: MPEG4 AAC-LC (monaural)]

DIRECT PRINT

Canon Printers Canon SELPHY Compact Photo Printers and Canon Inkjet Printers supporting PictBridge
PictBridge Yes (via USB or Wireless LAN)

OTHER FEATURES

GPS GPS via mobile (linked to compatible smartphone)
Red-Eye Correction Yes
Intelligent Orientation Sensor Yes, with Auto Rotate
Playback zoom Approx. 2x – 10x
Self Timer Approx. 2 or 10 sec., Custom
Menu Languages English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Greek, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Spanish, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Simplified Chinese, Chinese (traditional), Japanese, Korean, Thai, Arabic, Romanian, Farsi, Hindi, Malay, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Hebrew

INTERFACE

Computer Hi-Speed USB (MTP, PTP) dedicated connector (Mini-B compatible)
Computer/Other Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11b/g/n), (2.4 GHz only), with Dynamic NFC support¹

MEMORY CARD

Type SD, SDHC, SDXC

SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEM

PC & Macintosh Windows 8 / 8.1 / 7 SP1
Mac OS X 10.8 / 10.9 / 10.10
For Wi-Fi connection to a PC:
Windows 8 / 8.1 / 7 SP1 only
Mac OS X 10.8.2 or later / 10.9 / 10.10
For Image Transfer Utility:
Windows 8 / 8.1 / 7 SP1 only
Mac OS X 10.8.2 or later / 10.9 / 10.10

SOFTWARE

Other CameraWindow DC
Map Utility
Image Transfer Utility

POWER SOURCE

Batteries Rechargeable Li-ion Battery NB-11LH (battery and charger supplied)
Battery life Approx. 185 shots
Eco Mode: Approx. 250 shots
Approx. 240 min. playback
A/C Power Supply Optional, AC Adapter Kit ACK-DC90

ACCESSORIES

Cases / Straps Soft Case DCC-1370
Soft Case DCC-1350
Flash Canon High Power Flash HF-DC2
Power Supply & Battery Chargers AC Adapter Kit ACK-DC90, Battery Charger CB-2LFE / CB-2LDE
Other Canon AV cable AVC-DC400
Interface Cable IFC-400PCU

PHYSICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Operating Environment 0 – 40 °C, 10 – 90% humidity
Dimensions (WxHxD) 99.6 x 58.0 x 22.8 mm
Weight Approx. 147 g (including battery and memory card)
   
Effective Pixels ¹ Image processing may cause a decrease in the number of pixels.
Zoom ¹ Depending on the image size selected.
Image Stabilisation ¹ Values at maximum optical focal length. Cameras whose focal length exceeds 350 mm (35 mm equivalent) are measured at 350 mm.
Continuous Shooting ¹ Under conditions where the flash does not fire.
² Depending on memory card speed / capacity / compression setting.
Computer/Other ¹ Wi-Fi use may be restricted in certain countries or regions. Wi-Fi support varies by device and region. For more information visit www.canon-europe.com/wirelesscompacts
Movie Length ¹ The following Speed Class memory cards are required for maximum record time: (HD) 1280 x 720 Speed Class 4 or above. (Full HD) 1920 x 1080 Speed Class 6 or above. (iFrame) 1280 x 720 Speed Class 6 or above.
² Depending on memory card speed / capacity / compression setting.
AF Modes ¹ Some settings limit availability.
  • All data is based on Canon standard testing methods (according to CIPA Standards) except where indicated.
  • Subject to change without notice.

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