By Leonard Goh
24/11/2008
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/digitalcameras/0,39005881,44044213p,00.htm

The Canon Digital IXUS 980 IS was announced in September, and it succeeds the Digital IXUS 960 IS, which shutterbugs have come to love for its manual exposure function. The new IXUS 980 IS features an improved resolution and several some new functions including the face self-timer which makes taking group photos easier. The lack of a wide-angle lens and somewhat confusing shooting operations may deter new digicam buyers. But if performance and image quality are your primary concerns, this point-and-shoot will not disappoint.

Design

If Batman were to choose a digicam, the IXUS 980 IS would probably be on top of his list. Encased in a solemn black shell, the curves on the shooter reminded us of the Batmobile in earlier movies of the Dark Knight. Although there is a silver color option available for this snapper, we preferred it black as it looked sleeker with its dark tones.

However, the Canon is not a slim shooter. In fact, it is a little bit chunky and weighed us down a bit. But this actually complemented the overall design of the point-and-shoot.

What we found irritating was the zoom lever and the power button--they were simply too difficult to operate. The power button is almost flushed with the casing and pressing it required a fair amount of effort. The zoom lever's handle is so small we had some difficulty adjusting the zoom.

On the rear are controls that would be familiar to anyone who has used a Canon point-and-shoot. The mode switch gave excellent feedback and we could access it easily with our thumb while shooting. The scroll wheel didn't have enough feedback and we had experiences when we turned it too fast and missed the option we wanted to choose.

A nice touch to the IXUS 980 IS would be at the bottom of the shooter. There are four "feet" at each corner to prop the camera from the surface it is resting on and prevents it from getting wet on damp surfaces or scratched from rough planes. However, it can be difficult to balance the shooter on uneven surfaces.

Features

The IXUS 980 IS boasts minor upgrades from its predecessor, the IXUS 960 IS. The resolution has been bumped up from 12.1 to 14.7 megapixels, together with a few interesting but not essential features

Shutterbugs who take group photos often will have the experience of setting the camera on self timer mode and running back to the scene after pressing the shutter. While this method works, Canon has made it better. By incorporating face detection into the self timer, the shooter will fire the shutter after a few seconds when it detects a new profile in the frame.

Besides auto and scene modes, the IXUS 980 IS also offers program and manual exposure options. While this sounds great for photographers who want more control over their shots, we realized that there were only two aperture settings--F2.8 or F8. Also, program and manual mode share the same slot on the mode switch and we had to turn the scroll wheel to toggle between them. To change manual exposure settings, we had to press the Func Set button first, otherwise it will switch to program mode. This is definitely a hassle and we don't understand why Canon could not reserve a slot for the manual exposure option.

What we found ourselves using most of the time is the Quick Shot mode, which makes you frame the picture through the optical viewfinder while the LCD displays information such as exposure compensation and flash settings. We find shooting in this manner more intuitive and we had more options such as flash compensation and ISO sensitivity to tweak, unlike the full auto mode which lets the camera do all the thinking.

There are several things that have not been changed, though, and these could be a deal breaker for the IXUS 980 IS. The zoom range remains at a decent 3.7x with focal length ranging from 36mm to 137mm. The lack of a wide-angle lens puts the IXUS 980 IS at a slight disadvantage because some shooters in its class, such as the Nikon Coolpix S710, have 28mm or wider angle optics.

At 2.5 inches, the LCD screen of the Canon is the same as its predecessor. It's a minor compromise, given that there is an optical viewfinder which some shutterbugs will find useful.

As with almost all of Canon's point-and-shoots, there is no internal memory in the IXUS 980 IS. The shooter accepts SD/SDHC storage media. Power-wise, it relies on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

Performance

The IXUS 980 IS is quite a speedy shooter. In our Lab tests, it took the camera slightly more than a second to power up, and the shutterlag measured a short 0.05 second. In burst mode, we managed to snap two pictures in 1 second. For a compact digicam, the IXUS performed slightly above our expectations.

The autofocus speed on the Canon was quite fast, too. In well lit areas, the camera locked on to the subject quickly and when we activated Servo AF, it tracked the subject as they moved around the frame.

The optical image stabilizer system did a good job in reducing blur from hand shakes. The pictures we shot in dim-lighting conditions at shutter speeds ranging from 1/20 to 1/40 second were relatively sharp and acceptable for printing.

Image Quality

The new DIGIC 4 image processor was touted by Canon to deliver better image quality with more vibrant colors and lower noise reproduction. And it didn't disappoint.

At its lowest ISO 80 sensitivity, there was no visible noise and images were sharp. Fine details such as the fur on the soft toy in our setup were reproduced quite faithfully and didn't look smudged. Moving up to ISO 100 and 200, the digital artifact increment was gradual but noticeable. At ISO 400, we spotted light speckles dotting the image but unless we looked at the image at 100 percent magnification, they could not be detected easily. At ISO 800, we were quite surprised that we could still make out some small words in the picture. It was only at ISO 1,600 that we found the image to be too grainy for our liking.

The dynamic range of the IXUS 980 IS is also commendable. Pictures of high-contrast scenes showed that there were adequate details in highlight and shadow regions. However, purple fringing was apparent and we had to markdown the Canon for that.

Compared with the image quality from the Nikon Coolpix S710, the IXUS slightly superior. Our comparison of ISO 400 images taken with these two shooters favored the IXUS 980 IS, which had better reproduction and looked slightly sharper.

Conclusion

The IXUS 980 IS is a capable point-and-shoot that delivered decent images and has features to satisfy amateurs and enthusiasts alike. However, its operation can be improved on, especially the switch between manual and program exposure modes. Also, the lack of a wide-angle lens may put off potential buyers since some of its competition (such as the Nikon Coolpix S710) offer this feature. It is tough to make a decision between these two shooters, but we favor the Canon more for its better pictures and faster performance.