Canon IXUS 300 HS - Review

Great images, if you don't mind the price tag

Digital Compact Camera Review: Canon IXUS 300 HS
by Trevor Tan
05:55 AM Jul 09, 2010

THE Canon IXUS series has always been an embodiment of style and substance. Now, the IXUS 300 HS pushes the boundary further by incorporating a high-sensitivity backlit 10-megapixel CMOS image sensor and a 3.8x (28mm-105mm of 35mm equivalent) optical lens with a big aperture of f/2.0 at its widest focal length.

At 175g and 23.6mm thin, this camera - available in black, red and white - retains the sleek form factor of its IXUS predecessor. The three-inch LCD screen took up most of the rear area, with only three buttons and a wheel dial sitting on the right. Press the wheel dial to change flash or the macro mode. But you may forget which direction to press to get to the various functions, as there are no markings on the dial.

Even changing shooting modes requires extra steps, as you need to access the screen menu, scroll to Record mode, then scroll to the desired shooting mode.

Thankfully, camera operation is fast, taking around 1.5 seconds for startup and shutdown. Normal shot-to-shot timing clocks around 1 second. Auto-focusing is swift, taking around 0.3 seconds to lock onto a focus in good lighting. In poorer light conditions, it can take up to a second. Shutter lag is minimal for a digital compact camera.

The quality of the pictures captured is mind-blowing. Pixels are rendered smoothly, with colours so vivid and details so intricate that you would not believe the pictures came from a digital compact camera. Auto-white balance is spot-on in most occasions. Noise performance is top-notch. You can hardly spot a speck of noise artifact at ISO 400. Only at ISO 800 does chromatic noise surface.

The 720p high-definition video capture capability is competent, with fast auto-focusing when you zoom in or out during recording. But like most compact cameras, it picks up ambient noise.

You'll find the Super Slow Motion Movie function really entertaining - you can see your facial fat wobbling even with a simple head shake. You can go creative with the camera's Fish Eye and Miniature picture shooting modes as well.

A drawback of the camera is its price - $599. Add about $100 and you can get an almost similar camera but with external controls, such as the Canon PowerShot S90. Also, the camera's inability to shoot RAW files might put off professional photographers looking for a competent backup camera.

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