Canon Ixus 900Ti

The IXUS series by Canon are some really good cameras, but it's purely hit or miss. For instance, the Ixus i7 was a true performer, although the Digital IXUS 60 was really low on performance. The 900Ti, in the current review, features excellent build quality and is easy enough to carry wherever you want to go, even for treks. The performance, however, disappointed us quite a bit. For a company like Canon, one of the major digicam manufacturers, a camera like the 900Ti that promises dynamic functionalities and good pictures, the result we got was something we didn't expect. See how.

Build
The 900Ti has a compact design, very much to my liking. And moreover, it features a brushed Titanium body. It won’t be wrong to say, that you will be smitten by the looks of this baby the moment you lock eyes on it. Well, I was! I like the overall design, perfect curves, and the fact that Canon has taken care in not going overboard with it. One of the plus points of having a titanium body is the sturdiness and also the fact that this makes it quite scratch free. You will know what I’m talking about when you hold it. At 91 x 57 x 28 mm it’s small enough, and trust me it’s as plush as it can get.

The controls are all in the right place. On top you will find the usual power, shutter release buttons and the zoom dial. The camera features a 2.5-inch LCD screen, and we had no hassles using it even in extremely sunny conditions. It also comes with a viewfinder, but the screen is more convenient to use. One thing here I would like to add is that the 900Ti at 205g is quite light for a camera. Also, speaking about ergonomics, it's easy to work with the camera single-handedly.

For users who are strictly against fiddling with the camera settings, the selection dial on the upper-right hand corner is all they need to use. It features the regular auto and manual mode, plus an easy access to scene mode settings. The same dial can also be used to view pictures taken and to shoot videos. Very convenient!

The function set button and the navigational keys, just below the selection dial, allow an easy access to most of what the camera has to offer (exposure settings, white balance control etc). On its own the keys act as a one-touch access to options like flash, continuous shots and macro mode. If you are still hungry for more, then the menu button will take you through a selection of functions like digital zoom, self-timer, face detection etc. It also has an optical view.

At the bottom you will find the battery and the memory slot. The AV out is on the right side of the camera. All good so far!

Features
Good design and feel is not all that the camera has to offer. Moving one step ahead of the 800Ti, this camera is loaded with a lot of features. To begin with the camera uses the DIGIC III processor with advanced noise reduction technology (we’ll come to this later).

The LCD screen is the anti-reflective 2.5-inch that can display upto 230,000 pixels, and features 3x optical zoom that you can extend up to 12x using digital zoom. One plus point of this camera is the AF/AE face detection technology it uses to detect up to nine faces in the frame. The 9-Point AiAF processing it uses also helps in optimizing focus and exposure accordingly.

The various scene modes that the 900Ti has to offer can come really handy especially to users who don't like waste time fussing around with the camera settings. The camera offers modes like Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Baby, Kids & Pets (for moving pictures), Indoor, Foliage, Aquarium and Underwater. You can take one step ahead of the scene modes by making use of the other shooting modes like Digital Macro, Color Accent, Color Swap, and Stitch Assist. The stitch assist tool is very useful if you want to stitch together a panoramic view.

Also the screen is versatile to recognize motion and based on the position of the camera, changes the view from portrait to landscape and back. Although this gets a little irritating when you try some weird angles and try and view it vertically — you will end up chasing the picture around the camera. It also records video up to 1024 x 768 (1 megapixel) with sound.

Performance
The camera uses high ISO (up to 3200) settings to shoot at fast speeds, obviously to prevent blurry images in low light conditions. But this only contributes to noisy pictures. Shooting in the night can be a bit problematic at such high ISO settings, as the pictures aren't sharp at all.

Considering the fact that the camera is 10-mega pixel, the amount of detailing is also a little disappointing. Although the color saturation is kept to the right level, high contrast reflections can lead to slight over-exposure at parts. This works great with sunset shots though.

The camera obviously goes one notch beyond the regular point-and-shoot function. The various settings available with the camera definitely help in getting a good picture. Using the color balance options will make the experience more lively — Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, and Black & White. It also allows you to manual assess the white balance proportions. We were a disappointed by the noise and the lack of good detailing in the pictures. This puts taking large prints out of the question.

The various mode settings and color balance functions come very handy. Using these can really enhance your experience. The battery is the proprietary NB-5L Li-ion battery that require about a couple of hours to charge. The battery life is good, but it depends on how much of the flash and the LCD screen you use. I got about 88 pictures without flash usage, and a lot of LCD usage (for reviewing) in a single charge. Flash usage can bring your battery life down, but it still held good for about 60 pictures with optimal LCD usage.

Speaking about performance, what I like about the 900Ti is that it takes about a second to start and takes about the same time between pictures. Obviously, you can set the preview time to up to 10 seconds.

Conclusion / Specs
Staying true to the IXUS series, Canon has kept the 900Ti stylish and very compact. The light weight titanium body definitely adds to the camera's overall appeal. When it comes to performance, the camera offers lots of features through its numerous scene modes to guarantee the right setting for every kind of shot you can imagine.

The lack of clear details and digital noise mar the otherwise lively images, which is the biggest negative factor in the 900Ti. Sadly these are also features that prevent it from being a true photographer's camera. At it's street price of around Rs. 20,000 (the MRP is closer to Rs. 24,000), it's a nice and compact digital camera for this vacation season, especially for those who want more style from their gadgets than performance. For anyone else, there are better 10 megapixel cameras available for a lot cheaper by Canon itself.

 

Specs

Dimensions	91 x 57 x 28 mm
Weight	205 g
Type	Ultra-Compact
Connectivity	USB 2.0
Storage	SD/MMC card
Battery Type	Lithium-Ion NB-5L battery
LCD Type	2.5-inch, 230,000 pixels
View Finder	Optical
Sensor	CCD
Effective Pixels	10 Megapixel
ISO Sensitivity	Auto, 80 ,100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
Optical Zoom	3x
Aperture	F2.8 - F4.9
Format	JPEG (EXIF 2.2)
Scene Modes	Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Baby, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Foliage, Aquarium and Underwater.
White Balance	5 positions, plus manual
Flash	Auto, On, Off, Slow, Manual (Red Eye On/Off)
Self Timer	2 or 10 secs
Sound	Yes
Street Price	Rs. 20,000