In brief
Camera manufacturers always choose the strangest days to unveil products. With Canon's latest IXUS, the company chose to announce it on a day when much fanfare was being directed towards Sony's interchangeable lens NEX cameras.
Normally, the IXUS range is targeted towards photographers who want a stylish point-and-shoot. However, this camera has some extra tricks up its sleeve.
The IXUS 300 HS is positioned as the premium camera in the compact line up, and for good reason; it comes equipped with a 10-megapixel backside-illuminated CMOS sensor. The HS denotes the combination of the sensor and the Digic 4 image processor, which is purported to enhance image quality in low light. As with other backside-illuminated sensor cameras like the Nikon P100, the 300 HS has a very fast burst shooting rate, at 8.4 frames per second (fps).
More exciting is the lens specifications. The lens has a maximum aperture of f/2.0 which is great news for a compact camera, putting it in the esteemed company of other advanced compacts like the Panasonic Lumix LX3 and the company's own PowerShot S90. As would be expected, the 300 HS can shoot in HD (720p) and has an additional slow motion video capture mode. This reduces the video resolution to 340x240 and shoots at 240fps.
Manual exposure control is also a feature on the 300 HS, like the IXUS 980 IS before it. The 300 HS will be available from late May in silver, black and red. Local pricing is yet to be announced.
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