Canon Digital IXUS 55 Review

(Canon PowerShot SD450 Digital ELPH in the USA)

Review Date: March 23rd 2006

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Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 5M Superfine mode, which gives an average image size of between 2Mb - 3Mb.

Noise

There are 4 ISO settings available on the Canon Digital IXUS 55 which you can select at any time if the camera is in the Manual mode. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

ISO 50 (100% crop)	ISO 100 (100% crop)
ISO 200 (100% crop)	ISO 400 (100% crop)

There is virtually no discernible noise at the slowest settings of ISO 50 and 100, but there's already quite a lot of noise at ISO 200 and the image quality has deterioated a lot at ISO 400.

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft at the default setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can decrease the in-camera sharpening by choosing the Low Sharpening image effects option, but there is no option to increase it.

Original 100% Crop	Sharpened 100% Crop

File Quality

The Canon Digital IXUS 55 has 3 different file quality settings available, with Superfine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

5M Superfine (2,509Kb)	5M Fine (1,554Kb)
5M Normal (723Kb)

Chromatic Aberrations

The Canon Digital IXUS 55 handled chromatic aberrations well during the review, with some purple fringing present evident around the edges of objects in certain high-contrast situations.

Example 1	Example 2

Macro

The Canon Digital IXUS 55 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 3cms away from the camera. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject in Macro mode (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro Shot (click to view full-sized image)	100% Crop

Flash

The flash settings on the Canon Digital IXUS 55 are Auto, On, Auto Red-eye Reduction, Slow Synchro and Off. These shots of a magnolia coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (35mm)	Auto Flash - Wide Angle (35mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (105mm)	Auto Flash - Telephoto (105mm)

And here are some shots of yours truly. As you can see, both the Flash On setting and the Red-Eye Reduction option caused a tiny amount of red-eye.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Flash - Red-Eye Reduction	Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night Shot

The Canon Digital IXUS 55 maximum shutter speed is 15 seconds, which is good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 6 seconds, aperture of f/2.8 at ISO 50. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.

Night Shot (click to view full-sized image)	100% Crop

Overall Image Quality

The Canon Digital IXUS 55 produced images of slightly above average quality during the review period. The 5 megapixel images were a little soft straight out of the camera and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop. Unfortunately you can only decrease the in-camera sharpening level, rather than increase it. The Canon Digital IXUS 55 dealt well with chromatic aberrations, which only appeared a few of the test shots - limited purple fringing effects could only be seen in high contrast situations. Macro performance is above average, allowing you to focus as close as 3 cms away from the subject. The built-in flash worked well indoors with virtually no red-eye and good overall exposure. The night photograph was very good too, with the maximum shutter speed of 15 seconds offering lots of scope for creative night photography. The Canon Digital IXUS 55's main drawback in terms of image quality, however, is noise. The 1/2.5 inch, 5 megapixel sensor used in the Canon Digital IXUS 55 produces noisy images even at the slower ISO settings. ISO 50 and ISO 100 look fine, but there's already a lot of noise at ISO 200, which isn't exactly a quick speed, and ISO 400 is virtually unusable.

PhotographyBLOG is a member of the DIWA organisation. Our test results for the Canon Digital IXUS 55 have been submitted to DIWA for comparison with test results for different samples of the same camera model supplied by other DIWA member sites.

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