Canon Digital IXUS 960 IS Review
(also known as the Canon Digital ELPH SD950 IS)
Review Date: October 1st 2007
Author: Mark Goldstein
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 12 megapixel SuperFine
JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around
5Mb.
Noise
There are 6 ISO settings available on the Canon Digital IXUS 960 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 and 100, but noise and
slight loss of detail is already apparent at the relatively
slow speed of ISO 200, particularly in the
shadow areas. At ISO 400 image quality has deteriorated quite
a lot as the camera blurs detail to try and hide the noise.
ISO 800 is even worse, 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 960 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 960 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 960 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 960 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 (133mm) |
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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 960 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 960 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 960 IS produced images of 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 960 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 little red-eye and good overall exposure,
although the lens exhibits noticeable vignetting at the wide-angle
focal lengths. The night photograph was excellent, with 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 12 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 960 IS biggest image quality problem is
noise - it produces noise-free images at ISO 80 and 100,
but ISO 200 shows
some noise
and
slight blurring
of detail. ISO 400 has quite visible noise and the fastest
setting of 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. It also
partly makes up for the noisy images at relatively slow ISO
speeds.
 PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Canon Digital IXUS 960 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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