With canon now being a market leader in digital cameras and the IXUS range being one of their top achievers its not suprising they hit the mark with the IXUS 500.
Straight out of the box, having charged the battery the camera was giving me great pictures with the controls being extremely easy to use. On first glance that camera is very attractive with its all-metal body that both gives the camera a stylish look and provides plenty of protection (it has taken a few knocks and drops but has made no complaints).
The LCD screen isnt the largest on the market so if you want a good sized one the IXUS 500 probably isnt for you. The screen on IXUS 500 is a mere 1.5 diagonal inches. I found it very satisfactory though with the image quality being excellent.
The IXUS 500 captures images at a range of resolutions up to 2,592 x 1,944 pixels, which is enough to print at larger than A4 size. Images at this size take up a lot of space with the memory card from cannon only story a few pictures as it is only 32mb, so its a good idea to get a big card such as a 512mb or even a 1gb if you dont want to run out of space!
A great feature of the camera is the ability to capture movies with sound. The qulity of the is excellent and many funny moments have been captured using this function. The zoom lens can be extended to 3X optical and 12X digital, although digital zoom may compromise some of the image quality.
One of the great plus points of the IXUS 500 is the ease with which you can make and change settings, altering things like the shutter speed and white balance without having to make more than a couple of key presses.
Sadly, the great experience I had with the camera ended when the zoom lens began to jam irregularly. The camera then displayed the dreaded, well documented E40 error and sadly that was the end. Sadly this was a few months after the 1 year warranty has expired. Fortunately amazon agreed to refund it.
Verdict = The IXUS 500 is a smashing little camera, great features and nice images. The camera doesnt come with a case which is a little annoying and if you get E40 error message canon won't help abit!
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Hi and welcome to Ciao. ~ A particularly good first review. It certainly told me all I wanted to know. And I'm well impressed that you were able to get a refund from Amazon out of warranty. ~ Tony
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Advantages: Camera has a small footprint, is packed with features and has a quality feel about it Disadvantages: You probably need to increase the memory card and buy a case for it
JohnnyFive 09.03.2005 (09.03.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Canon Digital IXUS 500
Jul 7th, 2006
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