Canon IXUS i7 review

A tiny, flamboyant compact

It’s a widely accepted fact in the camera trade that we in Britain like our compacts to be silver or black, and don’t really go for all those crazy blues, pinks and oranges that periodically show up in the latest camera ranges. Are people too serious about their cameras to demean them with a frivolous colour? If that’s the case it’s a shame, because photography above all else should be a enjoyable and creative pastime.

Canon has always tried to inject a bit of fun into photography with its IXUS range, which emphasises style and usability but still delivers a high standard of image. The new IXUS i7 is the most stylish and compact of the range, superseding the previous i5 with a higher 7.1-megapixel count and a choice of body colours: Denim Blue, Steel Grey, Sepia and Sizzling Pink. At less than 10cm long and 5cm tall, the i7 is among the smallest cameras on the market, making it extremely light and easy to carry. The finish is shiny metallic and extremely solid, although the clunky buttons don’t sit particularly well on such a streamlined body. Without wanting to appear sexist, we think this model will have a lot of appeal to women. It’s perfect for slipping into handbags, convenient to use on a night out and, frankly, we can’t imagine many blokes opting for the Sizzling Pink.

The downside of the i7’s small size is that its feature set is unavoidably limited. The LCD is small at only 1.8 inches. Likewise, the tiny lens is quick to protrude on startup but it can only manage a zoom capability of 2.4x – less than the average compact. Fortunately the i7 also provides a feature called Safety Zoom, which enables you to expand the optical capability of the camera up to 10x zoom by shooting at lower megapixel settings.  Although the camera has a separate menu button, the key control you’ll need to use is the Function/Set button, as this gives you access to a choice of shooting modes. There’s an Auto and a Program mode available (described as ‘manual’ in the blurb) enabling you to alter common settings, such as ISO (up to 1600), white balance and metering, but there’s also a range of scene modes to choose from, along with Colour Accent and Colour Swap modes for replacing particular colours within your frame.

Boosting the i7’s credentials as a point-and-shoot social camera even further is Canon’s Face Detection AF/AE technology. If you’re photographing a person or group of people, the camera automatically recognises up to nine faces within the frame and optimises focus and exposure accordingly. Where there’s strong backlighting, Face Detection will also employ fill-in flash to compensate. This is an extremely useful feature, particularly as it functions without any effort on your part. However, there’s no indication on screen when it’s operating, so you’ll need to make sure it’s selected in the menu first. However, the camera’s most interesting features can be found in Playback mode. Here you can view your images as a slideshow using a choice of transitions and you can add My Colours photo effects to your images. The latter feature is effective if you want to convert your picture to black and white or sepia, but we couldn’t see much difference between the original photo and the modes that strengthened red, green or blue within the image.

Overall picture quality is highly impressive for such a small compact. Most images are smooth and crisp, offering a range of colour tones that are always realistic, if sometimes a little dull. Detail is exceptional, making the i7 a nifty performer in close-up situations. However, the camera tends to struggle more in high-contrast situations, leaving obvious areas of washed out overexposure. There’s nothing here, though, that would trouble the user who wants quick, high-quality snaps without having to fiddle with camera settings.

The size of the i7 means that there’s no room for the usual connections on the camera body, so it comes with a docking station that carries all your usual USB and AV connections. You can only recharge your battery or upload images using this dock, which is fine at home but may be less convenient if you want to transfer images elsewhere. The dock has to be carried around too, which negates the advantage of the i7’s small size. Nevertheless, this is a cracking little camera for point-and-shooters. There’s nothing here for serious photographers, but if you’re looking for an easy, portable model for capturing undemanding snapshots, the IXUS i7 ticks every box, and looks good to boot.