Canon IXUS 132 Digital Camera - Black (16MP, 28mm Wide Angle, Eco Mode, 8x Optical Zoom) 3.2 inch LCD

Product Information

Battery life - Battery life is rated at 200 shots according to CIPA / Canon testing, and 275 shots in Eco mode.

In our test shots, we got a lot of red-eye and it wouldn't go even with the red-eye correction system switched on. It's accessed in the Main menu under Flash settings. Interestingly, whenever we took any further portraits or self portraits, we didn't get red-eye at all. Using the batteries and memory card format supplied with the camera (where included), except where indicated. Smart Auto (32 scenes detected), P, Portrait, Smart Shutter (Smile, Wink Self-Timer, FaceSelf-Timer), Low Light (4.0 MP), Fish-eye Effect, Miniature Effect, Toy Camera Effect, Monochrome, Super Vivid, Poster Effect, Color Accent, Color Swap, Snow, Fireworks, Long Shutter, Stitch AssistIt's fair to say that when you have a camera that's placed at this price point, you have to take the rough with the smooth, right? Well let's hope so because the sensitivity results from the IXUS 132 aren't great. The camera only has a range from ISO 100 to 1600 and looking at the photographs at full magnification, it's easy to see why. There's slight instances of noise creeping through at ISO 100, which isn't a good start. This is only in the darker areas of the photograph and it's not easily noticeable. If you view the pictures at normal viewing distance, you won't see a thing. Mid-tones are still clear and edge definition is great. cm (2.7”) LCDA bright and clear screen (230k dots) lets you frame and view your shots with ease and makes sharing them with friends a pleasure. With the switch down, if you press the Function (FUNC) button and go into the Function menu, you can select from various modes and scenes in there including traditional modes such as Portrait mode, Low light, Snow and Fireworks. They're mixed in with some of the newer features such as Toy camera, Miniature and Fish-eye effect. What functions appear in the Function menu will be determined by the mode you select. Choose program (P) and they'll all be available. This is the most versatile mode to use as it allows you to adjust areas such as ISO sensitivity, white-balance, focusing and metering. The shutter speeds may not go as low as they will in the Night mode and this is something we'll look at in more depth when we test the camera at night. All data is based on Canon standard testing methods (according to CIPA Standards) except where indicated.

Close focusing on the Canon IXUS 132 is great at 1cm. We had objects practically touching the lens and the Canon still kept giving us the confirmation bleep of focus. There's only a small sweet spot of focus when this close, though. We managed to get the Canon IXUS 132 switched on, focused and taking a picture in 1.9sec. That's not bad going for a camera at this position in the market. The average has been about 2.5sec for a few years now, although we have noticed a decrease in the times recently. On the other hand, the continuous shooting mode certainly can't be called a burst mode. Canon specify a 0.8 fps (frames per second) continuous mode, but we got more 0.6fps. Either way, it's a poor show being the only continuous mode on the camera. Superb images, IXUS style with 8x zoomCombining sleek IXUS styling with simple point and shoot operation, the 16 Megapixel IXUS 132 features an 8x optical zoom with Intelligent IS for sharp detailed photos and HD movies. As expected with a CCD sensor camera, noise performance isn't great, and the camera limits you to ISO1600 as the highest ISO setting, unless you use the candlelight scene mode, where the image size is reduced to 4 megapixels and ISO goes up to ISO3200. The Canon IXUS 132 has an 8x optical zoom. In 35mm terms, the focal length can get as wide as 28mm and to 224mm when at full zoom.Canon SELPHY Compact Photo Printers and Canon Inkjet Printers supporting PictBridge (ID Photo Print, Fixed Size Print and Movie Print supported on SELPHY CP & ES printers only) The aforementioned Main menu is used for making permanent changes to the Canon IXUS 132 as well as the core features. It's split into two sections to help you work out where to go. The Shooting menu (designated with a camera) will allow you to change settings associated with general shooting and everyday use of the camera such as flash, i-Contrast, blink detection and focus options. The Set-up menu (indicated by the spanner and hammer) will go more in-depth and change areas you don't deal with on a day to day basis, such as language, date & time, volume, ECO mode and formatting the card. At wide-angle there's a slight amount of vignetting when not using the flash. Switch the flash on and the vignette increases ten-fold. Using flash seems to remove it a lot, although not completely. Digital Filters - The camera has a number of colour options, as well as effects, as shown above, giving some creative options. The camera doesn't feature a built in HDR mode or automatic panoramic stitching.

English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Greek, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Spanish, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Simplified Chinese, Chinese (traditional), Japanese, Korean, Thai, Arabic, Romanian, Farsi, Hindi, Malay, Indonesian, Vietnamese Values at maximum optical focal length. Cameras whose focal length exceeds 350 mm (35mm equivalent) are measured at 350 mm. Get closer: 8x zoom lens, 28mm wide-angleUse the 8x optical zoom to get closer to distant subjects or get even closer with 16x Zoom Plus - an advanced zoom technology with more visible detail and sharpness than conventional digital zoom. Fit more in the frame with 28mm wide-angle for sweeping landscapes and great group shots. We did notice an increase in image sharpness just by running the pictures through a basic sharpening tool in Adobe Photoshop. However, if you don't want to use one, or don't know how, the Canon IXUS 132 does sharpen them to a satisfactory level in-camera.Lens Performance - To improve dynamic range, it's possible to use the iContrast setting to retain shadow detail. There is slight vignetting at the wide-angle end of the lens, however barrel and pincushion distortion are minimal, and do not appear to affect the majority of shots. Detail is reasonable, although images become softer towards the corners, and towards the left hand side on wide shots. Purple fringing can be seen in the shot of the trees, however these weren't too noticeable in other shots. Smart Auto (32 scenes)Even complete beginners can effortlessly shoot high quality photos or movies with Smart Auto, which detects the scene and automatically selects the optimal settings from 32 variables. ISO Noise Performance - Noise is low at ISO100, but increases at ISO200. At ISO400 noise increases further, and detail suffers as a result. Noise becomes quite dominant at ISO800, and due to excessive noise ISO1600 is worth avoiding. Digital Approx. 4x. (with Digital Tele-Converter Approx. 1.6x or 2.0x and Safety Zoom¹). Combined Approx. 32x¹

An interesting feature on many Canon digital compacts and also on the IXUS 132 is the ECO mode. It works by reducing the operating time of the screen so as to reduce power consumption. This could be especially useful for holidays and days out as it increases the amount of photographs available on a single charge. It also makes for a useful camera for taking travelling. To switch ECO mode on, you need to go into the Set-up section of the Main menu. There are actually two menus to use when taking photographs using the IXUS 132.The following Speed Class memory cards are required for maximum record time: (HD) 1280 x 720 Speed Class 4 or above. (Full HD) 1920 x 1080 Speed Class 6 or above. (iFrame) 1280 x 720 Speed Class 6 or above.