Canon Digital IXUS 960 IS > Reviews > Digital Ixus 960 IS

Author's product rating:   

Picture Quality	Excellent
Range & Quality of Features	Excellent
Ease of Use	Easy
Overall Look & Design	Excellent
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Image quality, face recognition, viewfinder, ease of use .
Disadvantages:	3 . 7 zoom, user guide .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I've just got back from two week's holiday in Crete and Santorini with this camera and I am very impressed with the shots I've taken.

I bought the Canon Ixus 960 IS as a solution to taking a digital SLR, plus lenses etc. due to hand luggage restrictions as it easily fits in a pocket.

The image quality is pin sharp, focussing exceptional and since I have problems with camera shake due to arthritis I was overjoyed to find that the image-stabiliser technology works really well, except in the very darkest of night shots (taken on the cruise ship's deck).

Facial recognition works surprisingly well, even when multiple faces are grouped together.

The 3.7x zoom is the only real drawback, but it's a small enough niggle.

In use I found it easy to swap between the different shooting modes, using the scene mode for most of my pictures. The 'aquarium' mode was especially useful for photographing fish fighting over bits of bread thrown to them by a restaurant owner in Elounda and the 'night scene' mode produced some excellent quality pics of my husband, sat across from me, at an outdoor restaurant. The beach mode allowed me to capture the sort of picture I had always wanted to take, but never quite managed to in the past - just the right light, shade and depth of colour.

We were both impressed with the accuracy of colour, especially in shots of the blue domes of Santorini that are so famous on postcards and book covers around the world.

The Titanium body is sturdy, without being heavy and the only disadvantage is it that it's curves are very slippery, so the wrist strap is essential.

Deleting poor shots is simplicity itself, although it is worth buying a generous memory card as this camera is so addictive you will find it is seldom out of your hand.

The viewfinder is a great advantage for those days when brightness is a problem and was one of the main reasons for my purchase of this particular model.

Transferring photos to computer is particularly easy - even without the enclosed software, you can do it with a Windows Picture Wizard.

The only real disadvantage I found, is the user guide which is a scant few pages and only covers the most basic of operations, however the full manual is enclosed on CD and it is worth printing out parts, especially how to use the various scene modes.