Canon Ixus 200 IS

The Ixus 110 IS won five stars when we tested it, and so we're hoping that Canon will be able to repeat that success with the new Ixus 200 IS, which has a more powerful 24-120 mm zoom and a new touchscreen--a first for Canon.  On paper at least, the new star of the Ixus range promises a lot ...

Handling

The Ixus 200 IS has been carefully put together, but that's the least you can expect at this level.  Canon has opted for a bold design, with clean, sharp lines, although that doesn't always make for a very functional object.  The triangular slider that moves between three modes (auto, P and video), for instance, is difficult to use, and it's hard to get it to choose the middle option.  The flaps covering the HDMI and USB ports are just about impossible to open with your nails.


The large scroll wheel found on the Ixus 110 IS is replaced on this model by an option that Canon is more familiar with, a combined control with four-way arrows and a scroll wheel, which makes it easy to see what the four options are.  What's surprising, though, is the number of buttons there are for a camera that has a touchscreen interface.  Both Samsung and Sony have produced cameras where the touchscreen takes up the whole of the back of the reverse side.  But perhaps Canon decided not to choose that option to produce an easier-to-use interface?

Unfortunately, that's not the case.  Although the 3'' screen is a decent size, it has a pitifully low resolution, and it feels more like this camera is an Ixus 110 IS with a larger screen, rather than an entirely new camera designed with its new interface in mind.  You can't navigate through the menus using the touchscreen, nor can you use it to adjust settings.  What you can do is move from one photo to another by sliding your finger, zoom and play back videos.  When you're taking a photos, you can control the flash and choose a scene mode, as long as you're not in Auto mode.

All of these functions are available more directly using the physical controls, which work in exactly the same way as on Canon's other cameras.  In fact, the only real benefit of the touchscreen is pointing out the subject, which the autofocus will then follow, but only in automatic mode.  In reality, this partial move to touchscreen technology wasn't worth it.


Apart from this small 'detail', the Ixus 200 IS is an almost exact copy of the Ixus 110 IS.  They take the same (short) amount of time to start up, focus in the same way (well in good lighting conditions, more hesitantly with low light levels), and have the same slightly troubling 2.5 second wait in between two photos.  Overall, it's a decent average but far from exceptional.

Image Quality

We weren't surprised by how the Ixus 200 IS handles electronic noise, with blurriness becoming visible from 400 ISO.  At 800 ISO, there's clearly graininess in dark areas, despite a lot of blur--more than on the Ixus 110 IS.  A4 prints will be useable, but won't stand up to a close inspection.  Canon has managed to remove some of the purple fringing in dark areas of the frame that competitors with similar sensors still struggle with.  It's still very visible at 1600 ISO, but you should avoid such a high sensitivity because all detail is lost at this point anyway.


That's a shame, because the lens performs excellently, with a very even result across the whole frame.  The corners are just a little less sharp, but still have plenty of detail for such a wide angle.  Chromatic aberrations are also kept in check and only the most obvious distortion could cause problems.

Video is shot in 720p HD, and the sound that accompanies it is better than on many compact digital cameras, but still a million miles away from the quality offered by the stereo microphones that have begun to appear on Panasonic's camera.  Unfortunately, the zoom doesn't work while you're recording video, and the Ixus 200 IS falls back on a digital zoom whose negative effects are immediately obvious: the image quickly becomes blocky and pixellated.  This is a camera that isn't made for video.