The Canon IXUS 860 IS is an attractive 8 megapixel camera. It has a 3.8x wide angle lens. Wide angle lenses are able to add extra width to a photo. This makes them a good choice if you like taking landscape type photos, groups of people, architectural shots or interiors. The IXUS 860 IS has a stylish, metal body.
Image Quality Canon IXUS 860 IS test shots
Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
There are four factors I look for in this test. The first is sharpness, next is colour, followed by lighting and then sun glare. The IXUS 860 IS handles the first three well, but there is evidence of sun glare causing a loss of detail in some areas of the photo.
Canon cameras produce some of the sharpest photos you will find from a digital camera and the IXUS 860 IS upholds that reputation with a photo much sharper than standard. Colours are a fair reflection of how the scene looked on the day and the photo is bright.
Where the sun falls on the boats and also on the white woodwork under the roof of the building there is a loss of detail.
Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
This can be a tricky photo for cameras as there is often a loss of focus when the lens is zoomed right out. This camera does a good job and overall I am happy with the levels of sharpness. The job is even tougher for a wide angle lens and there is a fall off in focusing levels towards the very edges of the photo.
Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
In this photo the IXUS 860 IS does well. The photo is a fair bit sharper overall than I am used to seeing.
Outdoor Portrait
What I like most about this photo is the colours the camera manages to draw out. I think these give the photo a pleasing warm feel. With face detection focusing on the camera has no problem with focusing. I have used the white balance cloudy setting for this photo.
Indoor Portrait without Flash
As you can see when light is not perfect it can be hard for even the better cameras to focus sharply without flash. The photo has a pinky tinge to it as well.
Indoor Portrait with Flash
With the flash on the focusing problems are overcome. Again I like the colours in the photo and it is pleasing to see the flash has been controlled well and hasn't washed the colour away.
Colours
As I have mentioned in a number of tests above, I like the colours the IXUS 860 IS produces. In each case they are a fair reflection of how the scene looked when the photo was taken.
Macro
This macro shot is someway above average. For any close up photo focusing is all important and this camera is right on the money.
ISO 400
Pushing the ISO setting up to 400 always has an effect on the photo. It introduces noise into the shot and leads to a decrease in overall quality. The IXUS 860 IS copes very well at this level.
ISO 1600
Pushed up to the maximum setting and the photo quality really suffers. Noise levels are very obvious at this setting.
Overall
Overall I have few complaints about my test shots. Canon digital cameras perform well in most situations and this is a good quality set of test photos.
Shutter Lag
I was able to take a single photo in 0.28 seconds and 5 in 7.27 seconds. These times are slightly faster than average. Turning the flash on increased times to 1.03 seconds for a single photo and 15.2 seconds for 5. These could be quicker.
You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.
Style: Almost a typical digital camera, but Canon somehow manage to give it a bit of extra style.
Dimensions: 92.6 x 58.8 x 25.9mm
Weight: 155g
Batteries: Lithium ion (NB-5L). Canon estimate you should be able to take around 240 shots between charges.
Memory cards: A 32mb SD card is shipped with the camera. This is enough for around 14 photos. It is also compatible with SDHC cards.
Ease of use rating: Good. There are easier to use cameras around, but you should soon get used to the IXUS 860 IS.
Points I like:
Sharpness of photo - build quality and design - red eye correction tool - clear LCD screen
Where it could improve:
Sun glare
Verdict:
Yes I would happily own the Canon IXUS 860 IS. It is a good all round camera. Build quality is very good. Picture quality is up there with the better compact digital cameras too.