Labs

The Ixus i7 is the second most expensive camera on test, but design this adorable is sometimes worth paying extra for. At 105g and about the size of a mobile phone, it's a good travelling companion, although the meagre battery life is a nuisance and there's only room for a 1.8in screen.

The camera's menu layout is user-friendly, but the i7 could do with a few more buttons - the navigation pad doubles as a zoom control, for example. Performance is among the best here, capturing a picture every 1.7 seconds and with a 1.5fps continuous mode.

Pictures were usually sharp and detailed, but despite built-in face detection, some portrait shots focused on the background. Outdoor photos exhibited some image noise, pictures at ISO 400 were poor and the top ISO 1600 setting resembled a snowstorm. The 2.4x zoom and poor macro mode are disappointing, too. Colours were reliable though, with vibrant tones and balanced exposures, even in tricky lighting conditions.