Canon Ixus 990 IS review

Discover what this IXUS model has under its belt

The Canon IXUS 990 IS is at the top of the company's arsenal of compact cameras, and we find out why it's highly priced at £379.

This new addition has been given some impressive upgrades from it predecessor, the IXUS 980 IS.  These include a HD Movie mode, a 3" LCD screen and a longer zoom, now 5x optical. But with these improvements, Canon has made two surprising cutbacks. The manual exposure controls have been reduced, and choosing aperture and shutter speed is no longer an option. The camera shows you these settings but disappointingly doesn't let you change them. Displaying these is irrelevant if you have no control over changing them. Also, the IXUS 990 has reduced in megapixels, now 12.1 from the IXUS 980 IS with 14.7-megapixels.

 Canon has gone for simple and fast approach. It's a camera that's been made for an easy and worry-free shooting experience, though there are special features that give the camera the edge its needs.

 The sliding switch on the top of the camera controls three shooting modes: Smart Auto, Program, and Movie mode. Zooming is controlled by a ring around the shutter button and the Function Set button on the back of the camera holds all the main settings and creative functions.

 The most enjoyable feature of the camera is its speed, and at no point, shooting or in playback, are you left waiting for something to happen. Its responsive nature means you can dart around menus and experiment more easily with what it has to offer. When the camera is switched to Program mode, you have a choice of 18 shooting modes. These include left and right Stitch Assist to help compose panoramic images, Color Swap, and ISO 3200 for pushing the camera to its limits in low lighting situations.

 The Creative Light Effect is another shooting mode, which changes the tiny lights sources into different patterns, including stars and musical notes, although we found this very temperamental. An excellent feature is the Zoom Blur mode, which cleverly zooms in at the same time you take the picture. This creates a blurring around the central figure in your image, and is a technique that could only be done before by using a DSLR and a zoom lens. 

 The DIGIC 4 processor in the IXUS 990 IS keeps image noise under good control, and produces little noise up to ISO 400. From then on, at ISO 800, 1600, and set to ISO 3200 shoot mode, noise is more noticeable though bearable. The ISO 3200 shoot mode is ideal if you're in dire-need of high shutter speeds. This can help for shooting at night or for fast moving subjects, though Sports mode would be a better alternative. The camera's sensor also produces little purple fringing, making finished results very clean and crisp. 

 Auto mode is thin with settings, letting you only change the quality and flash. The in-camera menus are shortened too to give the basic options for basic shooting.

 The IXUS 990 IS third and final mode is Movie. Here the camera can record movies in full HD quality (1,280 x 720). It's a fantastic feature and now becoming a standard for compacts and DSLRs. We recommend using a HC (high capacity) memory card, as file sizes are very large. Alternatively, you can reduce the movie quality to free-up space on the card if it's not HC you're using. The colour adjustments and effects in the camera's Program mode are replicated in its movie mode. This makes videos even more creative, with the help of Color Accent and Color Swap. There's also a choice of 10 different My Colors to enhance various tones and hues of your recordings.

 The camera looks and feels tough while retaining an air of stylish charisma. Even the tripod thread on the bottom is made from metal and not plastic. For your money, we would expect a longer optical zoom, preferably 7x plus, and a wide angle lens along with more manual controls. Its responsive nature is why we can't help but enjoy using the IXUS 990 IS, even with a steep price tag.