Canon Digital IXUS 950 IS review

Canon's Digital IXUS series, also known in the US as the SD series, is an exercise in slow evolution. Since the company has hit on a very successful design, these compact point-and-shoots typically see only minor tweaks from year to year.

This year's follow-up to the popular Digital IXUS 800 IS is the new Digital IXUS 950 IS. The main differences between the two include a jump up to 8.3 megapixels (from 6.2 megapixels) and the new Digic III image processor, which brings with it face detection and a higher top sensitivity of ISO 1,600 (up from ISO 800). 

Design
Designwise, the 950 IS is almost identical to the 800 IS. The only real difference is the colours that adorn its body. That means that Canon hasn't fixed the wacky on/off button that irked us on last year's model. It sits to the right of the tiny viewfinder above the 64mm LCD screen on the camera back.

The button is in an awkward place and is also rather small and completely flush with the camera back. We've never had much of a problem with positioning the power button on top of the camera and aren't sure why Canon decided to put it here in the first place.

We also found that the mode dial, embedded into the right side, felt slightly flimsy and occasionally skipped a couple of notches when we were trying to move only one. Once we got used to it, though, it wasn't much of a problem.

Although not as small as Sony's T series, the 950 IS will easily fit into a pocket or small bag

Compared to last year's multi-controller pad, which was perfectly fine, the 950 IS's pad is an improvement. A raised ring around the pad gives it better tactile response. Plus, when you rest your thumb in any particular direction, a graphic appears on the LCD to show you what you'd do if you press fully. This came in handy, since you don't have to move your eyes away from the screen when changing settings. Plus, it makes it easier to discern the controller's multiple functions, since the onscreen graphic only shows the function that is active in the mode you're currently using.

Features
One slight niggle for us was with the 4x optical zoom lens. The 950 IS's lens starts at an equivalent of 35mm and ends at 140mm. For a compact camera such as this, we prefer a lens that starts wider, such as the 28mm-to-105mm lens found on the Digital IXUS 850 IS. The wider lens lets you fit more people into those group photos, or get closer to your subject, such as in a nightclub.

Of course, we can't really hold this against Canon in this case, since the 850 IS basically offers everything the 950 IS does, but with a different lens. So if you side with us in the lens debate, check out the 850 IS. Both cameras include Canon's very effective optical image stabilisation to help keep your images sharp even if your hands aren't very steady.

Performance
For the most part, the Digital IXUS 950 IS turned in a performance that is equal to, or faster than, that of the 800 IS, despite the increase in megapixels.

The 950 IS took 1.2 seconds to start up and capture its first JPEG. Subsequent JPEGs took 1.7 seconds between shots without flash but slowed significantly to 3 seconds between shots with the flash turned on. This is one area where the 800 IS outperformed. It took 1.9 seconds between shots with its flash enabled.

The 950 IS's shutter lag measured 0.5 seconds in our high-contrast test and 0.7 seconds in our low-contrast test, which mimic bright and dim shooting conditions, respectively. The other area where the 950 IS lags behind its predecessor is continuous shooting. The 950 IS yielded about 1.4 frames per second (fps) regardless of image size, while the 800 IS was able to churn out a more impressive 2.1fps.