2. Canon IXUS 970 IS (PowerShot SD 890 IS)

IXUS (PowerShot) cameras have been released at a frenzied pace, but no two ever look alike. While it keeps the spirit of the IXUS design, this 970 IS is all curves, while other models in the series are very angular. Because of this difference, the new model’s handling is sometimes a bit slippery, and very different from what Canon has offered up until now.

Even if it’s no innovation, the scroll wheel used to navigate the menus is a good touch—though, since it’s placed right on the edge of the camera, it’s difficult to handle. That’s too bad, because the Canon menus are always so clear. Take away another point for the power button, which barely sticks out from the body of the camera and is a pain to use, and for the camera’s disappointing exterior finish. The traditional metal look, a mark of the IXUS series, has been dispensed with in favor of mediocre plastic.

As for image quality and functions, this IXUS also leaves us wanting. For starters, It’s one of the few cameras on our list that doesn’t offer a wide angle. To compensate, you have to zoom “further away” with a 5x lens, which starts out at 37 mm. We like the optical viewfinder, which definitely does the camera some favors, like saving battery life (with the screen turned off) or dealing with high brightness.

The colorimetry is decent, as is image quality up to around 800 ISO. After that, things have a tendency to go bad, though the Digic III processor stays functional nonetheless. Images also tends to take on a barrel distortion effect, which is especially noticeable at the 37 mm focal length. In video mode, the 970 IS sticks to a fairly traditional resolution of 640x480, which at least serves to get the job done.