Canon Ixus 130 review

Does the latest IXUS perform as well as it looks?

Canon’s IXUS brand has long been associated with gorgeous-looking compacts, and the latest generation is no exception. The IXUS 130 is a remarkably small camera, yet is packed with features that will appeal to beginners and experienced users. The body is a mix of contoured metal and plastic that feels great to hold and is slim and smooth enough to slip into a pocket or handbag. Choose from vivid pink or orange, or black or silver.

Despite its diminutive size the 130 is easy to operate, although the controls are unnecessarily small and a bit fiddly. Our only real gripe with the body is the plastic cover over the output sockets on the rear top right. This flops about when open and has to be pulled right back for a lead to be connected.

The 130 powers up almost instantly when you press the recessed button on the top plate. You can then choose

from three basic shooting modes – the ubiquitous full auto, plus creative and video. Full auto suffices for most occasions, with scene detection assessing the subject and picking one of 22 scene modes accordingly, including Portrait, Macro and Sunset, as well as straightforward Auto. In this mode, the camera also uses face detection, which recognises up to 35 faces and optimises focus, exposure, flash and white balance to help ensure a naturally exposed portrait. A square appears on the LCD around each face, and it does work well.

For more control over your photography, flick the switch to the creative position. This gives you settings to suit a range of subjects. There’s also Smart Shutter mode, which fires the shutter when the subject smiles. Gimmicky perhaps, but it really does work. More serious is Program mode, which experienced photographers will enjoy.  Much like Program on a DSLR, it lets you set exposure compensation (up to +/–2

stops), choose the flash mode (On, Off, Auto and Slow Sync), and the focus mode (Normal, Macro and Infinity). You can also set the ISO, white balance, drive mode (Single or Continuous) and the metering mode (Evaluative, Centre-weighted or Spot). Other camera settings are accessed by a range of clear menus on the LCD and written prompts explain what each setting is.

All that lets down the user experience is the zoom, which is controlled by a small, protruding plastic lever. This is fiddly and we’d rather see a toggle switch or rotating control, as per previous versions. What’s more, the zoom itself is slightly jerky through its 4x optical range; a digital zoom takes that figure to 16x and can be disabled, which is useful if you wish to retain image quality.

Speaking of which, the 14.1MP sensor produces high-quality images in most standard situations, especially at ISO 200 and below; in low light and at higher ISOs, there’s a noticeable deterioration of contrast and increase in noise. However, the effective anti-shake technology means that you can get away with using lower ISO settings.

Lens quality is also good, with little noticeable weaknesses throughout the optical zoom range. However, the digital zoom reduces quality. Macro shots are possible down to 3cm, which makes it very versatile.

The default evaluative metering copes well with a range of lighting conditions, and a maximum shutter speed of 15 seconds means that creative low-light photography is possible. The built-in flash steps in to illuminate subjects up to four metres away. The flash gives natural results with portraits, although you have to be careful not to obscure it with your left hand. The last shooting mode on the 130 is Video. The camera shoots 720p HD movies although the optical zoom is disabled during filming, so this is not a serious substitute for a ‘real’ camcorder. An HDMI socket also usefully allows you to link the camera to a television.