Canon Digital Ixus 120 IS review

"World's slimmest" is a phrase those with an eye on consumer technology hear a lot, and this month it's Canon's turn to wear the crown. At only 20mm deep and 90mm wide the Ixus 120 IS is smaller than a mobile phone, yet Canon has managed to squeeze into that tiny shell a camera fully deserving of the Ixus brand.

There's a 12.1-megapixel sensor inside that produces wonderful images, for instance. In our test shots we saw excellent colours, and the 4x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 28-112mm in 35mm terms) is sharp, with just a hint of softness towards the corners.

Beyond ISO 400 things start to look a little muddy, and by the time you hit ISO 1600 you'll need a very good reason to avoid using the flash, but in general we were delighted with our set of test shots.

The Ixus 120's current competitor is another Canon compact, the A-Listed Canon Digital Ixus 95.

Spotting differences between them is tricky. The Ixus 120 produces slightly larger images, thanks to its 12.1-megapixel sensor, and its 2.7in screen is larger than the 95's, albeit only by 0.2in. The Ixus 120 has also lost the 95's optical viewfinder - one of the last vestiges of the film era.

We can't say we miss it, though, particularly thanks to the Ixus 120's superb, bright screen. We also appreciate the inclusion of the AF-Point Zoom mode, which magnifies the focused area of the frame before you press the shutter - handy for checking focus.

There are some excellent face detection features too. You can set the timer to face detect mode and frame a shot of some friends, and the Ixus 120 will wait until a new face joins the crowd before it takes the shot. The blink detection feature also works well.

A small disappointment is the lack of any manual controls. Even in night mode, you have to simply trust that the Ixus 120 will expose a scene correctly. There are other problems too. First, the body is so small that the Menu button and the right direction pad button wrap around the side of the body, and it's so slim that it isn't terribly comfortable to hold, at least for those with big hands.

The problem of the price is more serious. For as long as the Ixus 95 can be had for less than £200, it's likely to stay on the A List. The Ixus 120 IS improves on the 95 in several ways, but doesn't take noticeably better pictures. So while the Ixus 95 is available, we recommend you save your cash.

Author: Dave Stevenson