Canon Ixus 105 review

The Canon Ixus 95 is still a superb compact camera – just ask anyone who owns one, or check any issue of PC Pro between June 2009 and last month, where it held a deserving place on the A List. Nothing lasts forever, though, and we were pleased to see its natural successor – the Canon Ixus 105 – bounce into the office.

There are only the smallest external changes. The Ixus 105 ditches the Ixus 95’s optical viewfinder – not such a bad thing, as the old viewfinder was impossibly small. It retains Canon’s trademark excellent design, with attractively tapered edges.

Flip it over and there’s a bright, clear 2.7in, 230,000-pixel screen, plus a scattering of big, easy-to-press controls. It’s with only a hint of disappointment we noted the lack of a proper manual mode. You can adjust the Ixus 105’s exposure compensation, but there’s no direct access to the shutter speed or aperture size.

The obligatory bump in resolution is here, from the 10-megapixel sensor of the 95 to the 105’s 12.1 megapixels. That on its own isn’t worth an upgrade, though. The 105’s 4,000 x 3,000 pixel images aren’t significantly bigger than the 95’s 3,648 x 2,736 pictures.

The processor behind the images is unchanged, with Canon persevering with its ubiquitous DIGIC 4. It’s fair to demand great things from most of Canon’s line-up and the Ixus 105 didn’t disappoint in our tests. The wide-angle lens (28-112mm in 35mm terms) isn’t prone to chromatic aberration and is pleasingly sharp.

The Ixus 105 can have its ISO set as high as 1600. While colours were somewhat muted at this setting, and fine detail reduced, our test images were still presentable: you’d have to examine it closely to see any issues. Excellent news for anyone attempting flash-free indoor photography.

Noise was an issue, as was softness due to noise reduction, but faced with a once-in-a-lifetime shot you should be able to get a usable frame with a bit of care. It’s just a little disappointing that the Ixus 105 doesn’t apply this excellent level of detail capture to its movie mode – 640 x 480 at 30fps is all you get.

Canon’s Ixus range has an immense reputation and the cute, well-designed Ixus 105 does nothing to undo it. It excels as an all-purpose snapper, is easy to use and understand, and has a tiny amount of headroom for learners thanks to its manual ISO and exposure compensation modes. Best of all, it’s very affordable at a shade under £160 including VAT. Buy one and you won’t be disappointed.