Gadget review: Canon Ixus 1000 HS

The Ixus 1000 HS has 10x optical zoom and lets you shoot videos in slow motion
Bhavishya Kanjhan is a digital marketing professional and an early adopter of all things digital.

There are many reasons why Canon is a household name for cameras and it seems the Ixus 1000 HS helps strengthen that. Boasting a 10x optical zoom, the camera has been dubbed as the “slimmest superzoom camera”. While it is chubbier than most point-and-shoots, they offer only 3x or 4x optical zoom. This one — with a thickness of 22.3mm — will fit in your pocket or handbag comfortably. It comes with image stabilisation to negate the shakiness that comes at such high zoom levels.

Photos from the camera match the high-quality standards set by other Canon cameras. With a sensor packing ten megapixels, there is a lot of detail in the photos. Even in low light, the camera does an excellent job of maintaining image quality. When set in manual mode, you may push the ISO up to 3200 and the pictures are far from grainy. The macro mode lets you go up to 1cm away from the object in focus.

There are many shooting modes in the camera, including quick burst modes, colour accent and panorama assists. My favourite is the best shot mode, which burst-shoots five images and selects the best one. There’s a whole lot of other options — maybe one too many; the menu will take some time getting used to. However, there is a switch on the top to let you move quickly between auto, photo and video.

The Ixus 1000 shoots full HD video at 1920x1080 and the results are impressive. A lot of other point-and-shoots can shoot full HD video too but the 10x optical zoom is what makes the camera exciting by that much. You can shoot video in the colour accent and even in slow motion, which can make for videos that may seem either epic in style or hilarious.

You can connect the camera directly to your TV with Mini HDMI or Digital AV ports that are featured on its side. The bottom has the opening for the battery and the SD card.
Canon has done a great job of packing a lot into the Ixus 1000, especially the 10x optical zoom while maintaining the point-and-shoot form factor and that is what the premium is charged for. You could get a lot more bang for your buck if you threw in a few hundred dirhams more and got a semi-professional camera but that will come with all the bulk and that is exactly what you can avoid with the Ixus 1000 HS. This is definitely one of Canon’s star products.

- Bhavishya Kanjhan is a digital marketing professional and an early adopter of all things digital. Follow his tweets on @bhavishya