Canon Ixus V3 Digital Camera [3MP 2xOptical]
Average Customer Rating
(5.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First (5 out of 5)Long time waiting
Until now I had been waiting for a couple of years for a digital camera to come out with the complete package. As a graphic designer my criteria for the camera was that it had to be quick and easy to use, take good quality images and was compact and small enough to take everywhere with me. I considered the Konica KD-400 and Kyocera Finecam S3/S4 for a while but they didn’t feel as solid as the Ixus series. I needed enough confidence in a camera to take good quality images for presentations and as reference source, the V3’s 3.2 mega pixels certainly provides this coupled along with the filming feature.
I have found it very simple to use, you can just use it as a point and click camera or use the other features in manual mode such as shutter speed and ISO settings to created something a bit more dramatic. While in playback mode you can view all the settings you have used for that particular shot, so if you want to reproduce it, you know exactly what to do. So whether you are a novice or an experienced hand, the V3 certainly has enough features to keep you happy. The automatic rotation feature in playback mode has been very useful too. This allows you to view all of your images the right way up no matter which way round you have taken them.
I would advise buying a 128 mb card or at least a 64mb card with the camera, as the 16 mb card that it comes with fills up in no time especially if you are thinking of taking it away with you. A 128 mb card in 640x480 mode will hold up to 1357 images, 2048x1536 will hold up to 274, not bad for a week away. I haven’t used it constantly yet, but no doubt if you are away for a while, it is a good idea to get a spare battery – just in case!
2 years later I’ve finally bought one, but I had to feel confident enough to part with my hard-earned cash. I think the Canon Ixus V3 certainly does this.
(5 out of 5)Canon Ixus V3
I have recently bought the Canon Ixus V3 camera and am mightily impressed with its tiny size, sleek design, multitude of useful features and most importantly excellent picture quality!
I bought the camera as a 'step up' from my Kodak DC215 1 megapixel camera; it was quite difficult handing over that sum of cash when I already had an acceptable camera. However, any fears were instantly quashed when I took my first shots with this cam, it is a truly amazing piece of engineering that takes the most precise and clear shots. I favour the high resolution super fine shooting mode as it makes sense to take the best quality pics all of the time, there is little point in spending this type of money on a camera to limit it to 640x480!
One of the features that came with the camera is the 'movie mode' and to be honest I was sceptical about it before I bought it; presuming that the movie quality would be shoddy and hardly worthwhile. I have to admit just how wrong I was; the movies it can take are of an excellent quality considering they are shot from a tiny 'digital still' camera, the only drawback being slightly tinny audio, hardly a major problem!
The best accompaniment to this camera is a large memory card, preferably a 128 or a 256mb card. This is required due to the large file size of the snaps taken. I have also invested in a spare battery for the camera; this is a sensible purchase as it doesn't cost very much and provides a bit more piece of mind if you are away on a long trip and are worried your battery may run out at precisely the wrong moment (which is always the case!)
Overall I would recommend this camera to anyone who was in the market for a good quality camera at a reasonable price. It does everything you could possibly want a digital camera to do and is wrapped up in a super small shell that won't feel out of place in your pocket!
(5 out of 5)A worthy successuor to the Digital Ixus
Having recently lost my Digital Ixus (the original model, not the V!), I decided to wait for the V3 rather than go for the V2. I found the V3 easy to use - and certainly much easier than my previous camera when it came to image previewing, as one can zoom right in and move around the image to check focus, etc. The video feature is a gimmick, being limited to 30 seconds and having none of the image stabilisation & zoom features one expects on a 'real' video camera - however, it's a nice one, and more useful than I thought it would be, aspecially at the higher resolution (640x480). When viewing images full-size on a computer screen, the seem as sharp as with my previous camera - and as the V3 is 3MP rather than 2MP, this means pictures print larger, better. The camera has a robust feel, and the flap over the compact flash slot has been redesigned - a weak point in the earlier model.
My gripes? Well, it would have been nice if the USB connector could be used to charge the battery - or even just run the camera, so the battery was not drained when transferring images or using the time-lag exposure features. It would also have been nice if the camera could have been used as a webcam, and if there was a way to use the microphone to annotate pictures (the main competitor for the V3 is probably the Minolta Xi, which offers both audio annotation and audio note-taking - but does not seem as robustly built as the V3). Perhaps the V3i model will address these points! Finally, whilst the older version of the ZoomBrowser was clunky, I much prefer it to the new version - amongst it's other faults, it will not recognise remote file systems. (I use the software on my laptop, but prefer to keep the main archive on a shared volume on the main home computer so that all is not lost if the laptop breaks or is stolen).
Despite these faults, I would still recommend it if you are looking for a high-quality, easy-to-use digital camera that is small and robust enough to take anywhere and offers a degree of control to the creative user. Make sure you buy a bigger CF card though, together with a spare battery and camera case.
Canon - how about an adaptor, one end of which clips into the battery charger and the other end goes in the battery compartment of the camera?
(5 out of 5)If anyone can Canon can!
This has got to be the worlds best smallest Digital Camera, The ammount of features is incredible and i still wonder how it works, You have a camera no bigger than the size of your hand and inside you have the compact flash card and a battery as well as all the Lenses and circuitry! Plain Unbeleivable i think...
I normally use the Large/Super Fine Setting ( Hence why i just bought the 256 mb Viking Card from here ) and on 256 mb card at the max setting you would normally fit about 154 images.
The camera is a 3.2 Mega Pixel one and with this ammount of pixels you can have prints done at the size of 10' X 6' with no loss of detail... This camera is worth every penny as if you look at the 4 mega pixel ones your only talking slightly better picture definition but a more bulky camera and an extra £200 minimum outlay to purchase one.
It weighs not very much either ( 184g without the battery and flash card ) but like a mobile phone they dont weigh any noticable difference with the battery on / off.
I have waited a while to buy a digital camera and only had mine now for a few weeks, I have had the opportunity to play with a canon G2 for a few hours and personally think that the V3 is much better for the price you pay as the more expensive 4 mp cameras have too many features to actually know what your doing unless your a fully qualified photographer...
Buy this and a 256 mb compact flash card if you want a small light weight state of the art digital camera that will fit in any ladies handbag or your pocket with ease.
(5 out of 5)Small Beauty
I short listed several cameras for my first proper digital camera, these were the Fuji F601, Minolta F100 and Ixus V2. The Ixus was preferred as I've already got an Ixus z70 APS camera and am fairly please with that and like the styling. So I was pretty much set on the Ixus v2 only problem was the low 2 mega pixels. So when the V3 was launched this seemed to be the perfect package and after more than two weeks I'm not dissapointed.
The camera is absolutely great, get yourself a 256Mb compact flash card which will store something like 156 shots at the highest resolution, or several thousand at the lowest. I have taken lots of photos (mainly of my three children) and have to say i have already got some of the best shots ever - even better than 'professional' photos. Sure the camera is great, but with the LCD screen and a never ending film you can just snap away until you get "The Shot".
The prints are sharp and clear and A4 prints from my Epsom 830 printer are indistinguishable from those from photolabs , they are also far superior to those taken on my APS camera or previous 35mm SLR equipment. Very impressed.
The Ixus V3 is also very tiny (perhaps too small), but all the controls are easy to use. The battery life seems quite good too, probably around 200 shots with mixed use of flash, reviewing shots, zooming etc.
The package is great, only criticism is 16Mb CF card is too small to be of any use, and ..it really wouldn't take much for Canon to have included a case!