Canon Digital IXUS 70 review

Last year marked the 10th anniversary of Canon's IXUS cameras. The line started with a film camera, though the company's IXUS line of digital compacts still carries the Digital IXUS moniker. Canon positions the Digital IXUS 70 as a replacement for last year's Digital IXUS 60, which puts it below the new Digital IXUS 75 in the company's line.

Resolution has been bumped up to 7.1 megapixels from the Digital IXUS 60's 6 megapixels, but despite an almost identical controls layout (though different cosmetic design), Canon made a few changes on the inside.

The most noticeable internal change is the switch to the new Digic III processor. Canon says it enables longer battery life, faster startup, autofocus and shutter response (we call this shutter lag). Plus, the processor adds enough number-crunching power to add face detection, red-eye reduction (in playback mode) and lets the IXUS 70 reach further heights of sensitivity -- in this case ISO 1600. To Canon's credit, we did see some performance improvements over the IXUS 60 (see our performance paragraph below for more).

Design
While cosmetic differences abound, the IXUS 60 and IXUS 70 actually have very similar control layouts. Canon places all buttons on the right half of the body. A slider lets you switch between still image capture, video recording and playback. Other than three dedicated buttons, for Menu, Display and Direct Printing, the only other control is the circular four-way rocker with a Function/Set button in the middle.

We found the four-way rocker somewhat difficult to use. Since it's recessed and the rocker's ring isn't all that wide, on a number of occasions we hit the Function/Set button when we meant to hit the rocker.

The IXUS 70's new cosmetic look harkens back to the original IXUS with the big black circle around its lens, but drew mixed reactions from the people to whom we showed our sample. Some were turned off by the overall boxy shape, though just as many admired the tiny, simple shape. Likewise, about half felt the look was too retro, while the other half admired the throwback design. If you don't like the black-on-silver design, Canon also offers a silver-on-silver version.

Features
To date, Canon hasn't seen fit to include manual exposure controls in any of the cameras in the Digital IXUS line, and the IXUS 70 continues this trend. On one level, it makes sense, since the target audience for these compacts is casual users who often don't know an f-stop from a shutter speed. While we can't hold this against Canon (its competitors do the same thing), with more and more pros and advanced shooters looking for pocketable back-up cameras, it might be time to broaden the scope of these models.

Fourteen scene modes help you tackle specific situations, such as portraits, fireworks and snowy scenes. Some of these appear in the main function menu, but Canon makes you press the menu button again to see them all. In addition to scene modes there's also a full auto mode, as well as a mode marked manual, which lets you choose certain options, such as exposure compensation, white balance and metering mode (evaluative, centre-weighted or spot).

Covering an equivalent range of 35mm to 105mm, with a maximum aperture range of f/2.8 to f/4.9, this camera's 3x optical zoom lens is on par with the competition. We saw very little coloured fringing in our test images though, which leads us to believe it probably has higher quality glass than some compacts.

The 64mm (2.5-inch) LCD screen has a special coating intended to prevent glare, scratches and fingerprints. We saw very little glare, but plenty of fingerprints. Thankfully, these were easily wiped away, though you'll probably want to carry a small microfibre cloth with you if smudges bother you.

We were pleased to see that Canon still includes an optical viewfinder. Even if it is tiny and tunnel-like, it'll still come in handy in those situations when you've got your back to the wall, or you don't want the light from the LCD to bother others.