Canon Ixus 200 IS review

The Ixus 200 IS is Canon's first touchscreen camera, and it's a joy to behold. The metal lozenge shell - available in purple, bronze, blue or silver - and contoured buttons bring to mind a luxury car.

It's just as slick to use as it is to look at. Some touchscreen interfaces are unresponsive, but this 3in widescreen posed no such problems. It also facilitates a one-touch spot focus mode, which automatically tracks moving subjects. Buttons will always be better for some tasks, though, so we're delighted that there's a clutch of them to the right of the screen. They're quite small and fiddly but the wheel that encircles the five-way pad is particularly useful for dialling in settings.

The touchscreen isn't the only notable feature. The 5x zoom starts at an unusually wide-angle 24mm, a real boon for vistas and group photos. So too is the 720p HD video mode, which gave fantastic results in bright light and reasonable quality in gloomier conditions. Videos and photos looked superb on an HD TV via the HDMI socket.

In still-image tests, the autofocus and auto exposure proved outstandingly reliable, capturing attractive shots time after time. However, the 12-megapixel sensor captured no more detail than the two 10-megapixel cameras we reviewed this month. In fact, details were often a little softer, particularly in low light where noise reduction disguised noise but also discarded lots of detail. It's a more aggressive approach than that of previous Canon compact cameras, but the results are arguably more appealing if you're printing small pictures or scaling shots down to post on the web.

Fujifilm's F200EXR has the same resolution and zoom range but takes significantly better pictures in challenging conditions. However, the Ixus 200 IS's images are far from disappointing, and its HD video and HDMI socket are distinct advantages. If you don't mind paying a premium for these features, it's an excellent choice.