Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS Review
(also known as the Canon Digital ELPH SD870 IS)
Review Date: September 27th 2007
Author: Mark Goldstein
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 8 megapixel SuperFine
JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around
3.5Mb.
Noise
There are 6 ISO settings available on the Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS which you
can select at any time if the camera is in the normal shooting
mode. There is virtually no discernible noise at the slowest
settings of ISO 80, 100 and 200, but noise and slight loss
of detail is apparent at
ISO 400, particularly in the shadow areas. At ISO 800 image
quality has deteriorated quite a lot as the camera blurs
detail to try and hide the noise,
and ISO 1600 should really be avoided at all costs. Here
are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each
ISO setting:
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 just a little soft at the
default sharpening setting and benefit from some further
sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively
you can change the in-camera sharpening level if you don't
like the default results.
File Quality
The Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS has 3 different image quality settings available,
with Superfine being the highest quality JPEG option. Here
are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various
options,
with the file size shown in brackets.
Chromatic Aberrations
The Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS handled chromatic aberrations very well during
the review, with only small levels of coloured fringing mainly
present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations,
as shown in the examples below.
Macro
The Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS 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.
Flash
The flash settings on the Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS are Auto, On, Red-eye
Reduction, Slow Synchro and Off. These shots of a white coloured
wall were taken
at a distance of 1.5m. There is noticeable vignetting at
the wide-angle lens setting.
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Auto
Flash - Telephoto (105mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots.
The Auto setting caused
a very small amount of red-eye which was completely removed
by turning on the Red-eye reduction mode.
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Auto
(100% Crop) |
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Red-eye
reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS's 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 8 seconds, aperture
of f/2.8 at ISO 80. I've included a 100% Crop of the image
to show what the quality is like, which is excellent.
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Night
Shot (100% Crop) |
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Anti Shake
The Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to
take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital
cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same
subject with the ISO speed set to 100. The first shot was
taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned
on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results.
As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are
much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature
really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing
a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
Overall Image Quality
The Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS produced images of very good quality during the
review period. As expected from previous use of Canon cameras,
colours
are naturalistic bordering on warm, especially when it comes
to skin tones, which is no bad thing. And of course there's
the added ability to adjust these in-camera if you don't
like the default results. The Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS dealt
very well with chromatic aberrations, with limited purple
fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations.
The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and
good overall exposure, although the lens exhibits noticeable
vignetting at the wide-angle focal lengths. The night photograph
was excellent, with very little noise or artifacts and the
maximum shutter speed of 15 seconds allowing you to capture
enough
light in most situations.
Macro performance is very good, allowing you to focus as
close as 3cms away from the subject and capturing lots of
detail. The 8 megapixel images were just a little soft straight
out of the camera at the default sharpening setting (which
can be changed in-camera). The Canon Digital IXUS 75 produced
noise-free images at ISO 80, 100 and 200, with ISO 400 showing
some
noise and slight blurring of detail. ISO 800 has quite visible
noise and ISO 1600 is best avoided at all costs. Anti-shake
is a feature that sets this camera apart from its competitors
and one that works very well when hand-holding the camera
in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto
end of the zoom range.
 PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Canon Digital IXUS 860 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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