Labs

We've said image quality wasn't the Canon's strongest suit, but even so it rarely disappointed in our tests. It came out top for detail, producing photos that were sharper even than those of the five-megapixel cameras. There were no signs of JPEG compression, even at its medium setting, which doubles the number of shots you can fit on the 16MB SD card supplied from six to 12. That's still not many, though, so you really need to budget for a higher-capacity card.

The Canon's photos tend towards warmer tones, which may upset purists. In most instances it's actually quite flattering, especially for skin tones. Flash photographs don't have that cold, bleak appearance many cameras give, although some photos taken with the flash were a little over-saturated. High contrast subjects were handled impeccably, with plenty of definition in both dark and light areas of photos. However, in low light the Canon struggled when its flash was switched off. This isn't a camera for moody night-time photography.

The Ixus offers little in the way of manual controls or physical buttons with which to control them, but provides enough control to get by in most situations.

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Changing settings is a cinch. The refreshingly simple menu is extremely quick to navigate, so adjusting exposure compensation or white balance is barely any slower than if they had dedicated controls.

The camera is just as quick at taking shots. You can turn it on and take a photo in less than two seconds, even when using flash, and subsequent shots are just as fast. Switch to continuous mode (after disabling the flash), and it'll take full-resolution shots every 0.6 seconds until the memory card is full - a fantastic achievement. Video recording is also impressive. The Ixus captures 640x480-pixel video at 30 frames a second, although at this high frame rate, image noise is more of a problem than with other cameras. With video at this resolution taking up about 1.5MB a second, the 16MB SD card will only store 10 seconds of footage.

Perhaps most exciting about the Digital Ixus 40 is its appearance. Its tiny, rounded form oozes class, while its rear side is dominated by the 2in TFT screen - only the Fuji matches it for display size. The lithium ion battery helps keep the camera compact, and survived three days of frequent snapping.

The controls of the Ixus are generally well laid out, with the exception of the zoom, which sits on the edge of the shutter button. This makes one-handed use rather difficult, especially as the smooth design doesn't provide much grip. Still, holding the camera with both hands generally leads to steadier photos.

Images aren't without their foibles, but this camera is still capable of immaculate results. The exquisite, design and lightning-fast performance justify the Canon's higher price. Those in search of a highly portable snapper could well excuse our slight misgivings over image quality.