Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS Review
Review Date: August 15th 2006
Author: Gavin Stoker
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using
the 6M SuperFine mode, which gives an average image size of
around 2-3Mb.
Noise
There are 4 ISO settings available on the Canon Digital IXUS
800 IS which you can select at any time if the camera is in
the normal shooting mode. Here are some 100% crops which show
the noise levels for each ISO setting:
There is virtually no discernible noise at the slowest settings
of ISO 100 and 200. Although noise starts to noticeably intrude
upwards of ISO 400, results via this maximum setting are still
perfectly usable. ISO 800 exhibits obvious noise, but is still
fine for small prints.
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. Alternatively
you can decrease the in-camera sharpening by choosing the
Low Sharpening image effects option.
Chromatic Aberrations
The Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS handled chromatic aberrations
extremely well, with only very limited purple fringing in
areas of high contrast, as shown in the examples below.
Macro
The Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS offers a Macro setting that
allows you to focus on a subject that is 5cms 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.
Flash
The flash settings on the Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS are Auto,
On, Auto Red-eye Reduction, Slow Synchro and Off. These shots
of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Auto Flash - Telephoto (140mm) |
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And here are some self-portraits.
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Flash Off (100% Crop) |
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Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS 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 1/60 second, aperture of f/2.8 at ISO 100. I've included
a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
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100% Crop |
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Overall Image Quality
With most shooting conditions returning impressive results,
the nine point AiAF is pretty spot on, picking up on subjects
that are not always dead centre of frame, while macro down
to 2cm is great for photographing summer blooms. In Japan
recently, I also used the Night Snapshot and Foliage settings
from among the shooting modes a lot, because, quite simply,
they worked, picking up background detail and adding some
pep to the foreground respectively. Though red eye is occasionally
a problem with low light people shots, this is not uncommon
in a compact of its ilk, as is the occasional fringing. A
top sensitivity setting of ISO 800 is respectable, and, although
noise starts to noticeably intrude upwards of ISO 400, results
via this maximum setting are still perfectly usable. A good
performance from a digicam for which style matters nearly
as much as the end result; indeed overall I found the results
from the IXUS 800 IS more consistent than those from the Fuji
F30 I was using for the same period, under the same conditions.
As mentioned in the body of the review, image stabilization
is more reliable than not, and it’s certainly a handy feature
to have for those who’ll be taking snapshots under a wide
variety of lighting conditions, with or (preferably) without
flash.
 PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Canon Digital IXUS
800 IS 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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