Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon Digital IXUS 980 IS Camera - Black (14.7MP, 3.7x Optical Zoom) 2.5 inch PureColor LCD II Viewfinder

I am extremely pleased with this camera, just recently purchased. Fantastic features and capabilities, while very compact.

It does not compare with my Canon 50D but it is not supposed to. My wife has at last got interested in photography with this camera and is asking me what all the adjustments do. Sometimes it is quite sickening when she turns out a better picture than me!.
A small camera but it "does what it says on the box"

I was looking for a new camera to replace my 3.2MP Powershot A70, which produces excellent pictures. Trying a few test shots around and about I found that the Ixus 980IS does not cope as well with darker shots and you really need to ramp the ISO setting up to get comparable shutter speeds.

Taking the camera to a concert I found the limitations of the hardware and its lack of control very apparent. In the same kind of lighting conditions I never had to go above ISO 400 with the A70, and could get respectable shutter speeds. To get similar shutter speeds on the Ixus 980 I had to set the ISO right up to 1600 and it would often still opt for speeds that were too slow to be practical. Despite the high ISO, the good shots show remarkably little colour noise, but are nonetheless noisy.

The root of the problem seems to be the lack of any real aperture control, which effectively prevents you from allowing more light in to get shots on a lower ISO speed and allow faster shutter speeds. In manual mode, the Ixus 980 gives a choice between two aperture sizes (which vary), but these do not seem to affect depth of field so it seems that there isn't really a true aperture affecting the shots. The manual mode is therefore not as flexible as it would suggest since you have no real aperture flexibility with which to affect other settings.

On the whole though, the images captured by the Ixus 980 are excellent given the very high pixel count (remembering the golden rule that more pixels does not equal a better camera!). If you're used to more control over your shots and something a little closer to an SLR's flexibility you may be better off going for one of Canon's PowerShot models instead.

I opted for the Ixus for compactness and lack of protrusions but the size differences really aren't that much. Naturally with the compactness you have to make some compromises, but for its size, the 980's capabilities are still amazing. It's a beautiful little camera too, nice to hold, and the controls work very effectively though some obviously find the thumb wheel awkward. I find it well balanced and easy to use. It starts up quickly, and things like the battery and SD card slot are nice and easy to get to. Batteries charge quickly and last well.

On the whole a great camera packed into a tiny package, but be aware of its limitations if you want a little more than point-and-shoot when you hit its boundaries.

Judging by the other views I can only assume their is something wrong with mine .Yes it looks nice , its pocketable ,it's pretty and it takes not bad photos indoors . However , out doors it is woefull . I have seen just as good results from a throwaway camera .

This is one beautiful camera, and at a fantastic price.

I am using a SanDisk Extreme III CompactFlash 8GB Memory Card, and together they are turning out superb photographs.


I cannot wait to get on holiday.

Look no further!!