GoerginaA - Canon Ixus Cameras

[Gillian76]

I went into a camera shop to "play" with some cameras as you suggested. Well worth it - DH's Kodak is indeed a brick!

I was blown away by how small the Ixus was. They didn't have a 30, but had a 40 in stock. Looked fab. BUT, the sales guy said he didn't think it was worth the money. He reckoned the photos would be comparable to any other 3MP camera. He felt you were paying for the sleek image. Recommended a few cheaper cameras - Fuji, Samsung, Canon A75 (which was quite heavy).

So... what's so amazing about the IXUS? I looked on Which? and they rate Canon above average as a brand. Along with Sony, I think. Kodak et al were average according to them. Which also said the flash on the IXUS was only OK. How do you find it?

Sorry for all the questions. You do seem like a bit of an expert though

Yes the zoom was good

Ah... it uses AA batteries rather than its own rechargeable battery pack... not sure if that's good or bad though

I would have thought that with AAs you could have some in the camera and some charging. Camera would never be out of use then.

Yep, good point

For me, I'd still go for the Ixus, but then I have a bulkier camera with more functions as my "second camera" (gawd, sound so posh having a second camera, don't I ) and NEED my point & shoot to be small and portable. If I only had a limited budget, didn't mind the extra size and weight and wanted a bit more functionality then the A520 would probably get my cash. Does that help?

Very good review on it here btw. If you don't want to read through it all, the conclusions and the sample photos are a good place to skip to

Yes that does help. Unfortunately we are a one-camera family (or will be!). The A520 still seems to be light enough to carry around. Like you said, I fell it has bit to "grow into" as we get more experienced. Would you agree?

The ixus review on that site is here (in the states they call the ixus 30 the sd200)

Yep, I would agree. The A520 does seem to be a good "fit" in that respect

Go for it

So, decision made then. I am excited

Going to order from Pixmania I think.

(hey, this is really fun helping to spend other people's money - must try and get a job with Canon )

GeorginaA... get a life!!

hehehe

I'm excited too and I'm not even going to get to play with the camera, lol!

Soupy - life, wassat then?!!

Oh, that's what you see through the viewfinder, right?

Thanks very much, Georgina!

Will post a piccy on member profiles when we get it!

Something like that

Tempted to try and persuade DH it's time to upgrade our old Ixus for the 700 but I don't think it will fit in our underwater case.

The 700 is very VERY nice. Going to be replacing my bigger camera first though - aiming for the Powershot S2 as I want to be able to do more macro photography. This morning I had £100 in my "save up for new camera fund" but then nursery wanted paying for ds1's holiday club Bye bye money... sniffle

Gillian - will keep an eye open for the piccy Let me know what Pixmania is like too please - they seem quite competitively priced.

I sometimes look longingly at my old 35mm Pentax but it (eek!) takes film!

Film is highly overrated - played around with dh's old SLR - absolutely great and you can get some lovely shots, but you can't see the pics you've taken and you have to get it PROCESSED ffs! Much rather take 400 shots then ditch the 390 that are rubbish, hehe....

I know Even my dad has been converted to digital. My dear old Pentax took such fabulous photos though. Our current Ixus isn't really up to that quality (or possibly our printer isn't either).

I wouldn't go back to proper film now though.

Could well be the printer... I get all my pics printed at Photobox now anyway - it's so rare I want a hard printout (I use my computer as my "album" and back up regularly )