Canon IXUS II Digital Camera [3MP 2xOptical]

The IXUS II is the first camera from Canon to support Secure Digital storage cards, instead of Compact Flash, which helps it achieve a small overall size. The 2x optical zoom can go to 6.4x if you add in digital zoom and 3.2 megapixels, which is good enough for A4 prints.

Key functions are easy to access and there are a whole range of buttons and selectors on the casing. Providing you're right-handed there is still space for comfortable one-handed use without your thumb obscuring anything vital. The metal casing is both good-looking and robust: after drop-testing an IXUS 400, whose casing is made of the same material, onto hard surfaces a few times it is barely scratched.

Canon is proud of its DiGic processor, which is designed to render images quickly an accurately. During testing, image quality was certainly perfectly acceptable and features such as the ability to manually adjust shutter speed proved useful. If you are a fan of digital movies this camera can shoot those too, although you won't get much on an SD card and Canon's Stitch Assist mode is on hand to help with panoramic shots. Desktop software PhotoStitch completes the process of panorama production and there is other desktop software for manipulating images.

Canon's IXUS range always impresses. Customisable start-up images and sound effects might not be your cup of tea, but some will like this feature and if you are a fan of SD cards and want a very small, light, and capable camera, this could be the ideal choice. --Sandra Vogel

Manufacturer's Description
Ultra chic and ultra sleek, the all-metal bodied Digital IXUS II has an irresistibly silky feel. The world’s smallest 2x retractable zoom lens, 3.2 mega pixels, video clip and sound recording functions have been packed into the slimmest and lightest Digital IXUS body ever.

The Digital IXUS II incorporates a high resolution CCD sensor with 3.2 effective mega pixels (approximately 3.3 mega pixels in total). This sensor allows the camera to capture still images as large as 2,080 x 1,542 pixels.

The Digital IXUS II features a newly developed, highly compact 2x zoom lens with a focus distance range from 5.4 to 10.8 mm (equivalent to 35 to 70mm for 35 mm film). Smooth Digital Zoom (6.4 x combined with optical zoom).

The compact SD card brings together the capabilities demanded of a next-generation memory card, such as high capacity, high speed writing, advanced copyright protection functions, and support for diverse formats. The Digital IXUS II also supports MMC memory cards.

The Digital IXUS II has several shooting modes, which can be selected from a mode dial on the camera.

Modes include Auto, Manual (Program), Stitch Assist and Movie (with sound).

The Digital IXUS II is more than just a still camera; it is also capable of recording voice-tags of up to 60 seconds to accompany each image, and can even capture movie clips of up to three minutes, complete with sound.

The Digital IXUS II uses the 9-point intelligent AiAF (Artificial intelligence Auto Focus) system. This means, that a large area is covered by the focusing system so that subjects can be focused on, without having to move the camera to focus and re-frame the subject.

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• Electronics & Photo > Photography > Digital Cameras > Up to 3.9 Megapixel