Canon IXUS 310 HS review
Review Date : Mon, 6 Jun 2011
Author : Matt Golowczynski
- Sample Photos: Canon IXUS 310 HS review sample images gallery
The Canon IXUS 310 HS: Classic IXUS style meets backlit sensor technology. Read our Canon IXUS 310 HS review to find out more...
| Pros: | Excellent build quality, style, generally good image quality |
|---|---|
| Cons: | Touchscreen can be awkward, poor control over chromatic aberrations |
The Canon IXUS 310 HS may arrive less than a year after its IXUS 300 HS predecessor, but it sees a raft of improvements across all aspects of its specifications. It adheres to the previously seen backlit sensor technology, which Canon dubs High Sensitivity, but now offers a 12.1MP CMOS sensor in place of the older 10MP chip.
Similarly, the lens has had its minimum focal length widened from 28mm to 24mm, but it still maintains an impressive maximum aperture of f/2.0 at this setting. It travels up to 105mm and once again sees image stabilisation technology courtesy of a shifting lens group, although Canon now claims that the system is effective by an extra stop, now up to four EV stops of exposure.
The Canon IXUS 310 HS's screen has seen a number of changes, with a slightly larger dimension of 3.2in across the diagonal and a jump in resolution to 461k-dots. With touchscreen functionality incorporated, the camera can lock onto whatever subject is touched on the screen by the user and keep track of it should it move around, while most of the other controls are also accessed through the screen rather than through any physical buttons and controls. 
Movie shooting has also been upgraded to now offer full HD capture at 24fps and 30fps settings, along with optical zoom control during recording and stereo sound for greater clarity. Dynamic IS is on hand to help stabilise movies, while slow-motion recording is possible at 240fps and 120fps, although only at respective QVGA and VGA resolutions.
Elsewhere, the Canon IXUS 310 HS's exposure options branch out to provide aperture- and shutter-priority options, while a reasonable sensitivity range of ISO 100-3200 is joined by a Low Light option which captures images in particularly tricky conditions at 3MP. And, in addition to the scene modes we expect, Canon has also thrown in some creative filters, such as Fisheye, Miniature and Toy Camera effects.
The build of the Canon IXUS 310 HS feels incredibly solid, as though it has been carved out of a chunk of solid metal, but it still manages to weigh only 185g with a battery and card in place. Almost all control takes place through the touch screen, so it's good to see both large and reasonably responsive buttons, although navigating the menus requires finger swiping through somewhat resistant screens of options, which can be a little irritating when in a hurry.
Nevertheless, the Canon IXUS 310 HS powers up and down swiftly, and both zooming and focusing are carried out with minimal sound. Although the tracking option doesn't actually continuously focus as the subject moves, it sticks to the subject well in good light and only falters in darker conditions, while standard focusing is prompt and accurate, with large green boxes placing themselves clearly over the appropriate areas. The camera sometimes refuses to focus in particularly dark conditions, but then in such situations there will always be limits to what can be realistically achieved by such a camera.
The standard of image quality varies, but it's always between very good and excellent. In optimum lighting conditions fine details are recorded clearly and are only compromised by a little noise reduction, while sharpness extends to corners and edges once the lens has been stopped down. Exposure is spot on most of the time, and even in difficult conditions the camera is rarely persuaded to err too far one way or the other, while Auto White Balance performance also impresses, even if it does have a tendency of leaving images a little cold on occasion.
Colours are bright and punchy, although in contrasty conditions some highlight details are understandably lost. Considering the backlit sensor and top sensitivity of ISO 3200 image noise control is good, and across the camera's sensitivity range images turn out with minimal chroma noise and just a little texture. At higher sensitivities, details are understandably compromised and noise reduction artefacts are present, but the lack of chroma noise means that such images can still be successfully used. The only other disappointment comes through the camera's control over chromatic aberrations; many images are affected by fringing across edges throughout the frame, which includes some purple fringing across highlight areas.
Video quality is good in fine lighting conditions, and even at a lowly-lit pub gig the camera did will to render details well and keep subjects focused. As we may expect, some minor artefacts are present across repetitive details, and the familiar 'wobbling' occurs when the camera is panned across a scene, but when the camera is held still it deals with all manner of subjects with ease.
Verdict
Those wanting a stylish and solid camera with a reliable standard of image quality should find little to disappoint with the Canon IXUS 310 HS. It’s also priced far more attractively than previous IXUS models, although the somewhat tardy operation of the touchscreen may be enough to deter some potential buyers.
Have your say!
Latest comments
July 06 11:26
Johny
Canon IXUS 310 HS review sample images gallery is not working (don't have to post this comment, just fix the link)
May 13 14:00
Krishna
(Electronics) To be fair, there isn't a great deal of difference beeetwn this and the 550d, but I went for it for the articulated screen. This has proved useful for taking shots of small children as you can place the camera down at their height and compose the shot without laying on the floor. Rather than looking through the view finder you can switch to live view' where the photo you take will be shown on the lcd panel. This is also good for taking photos of flowers in meadows etc, you can get some quite fresh looking viewpoints. I got this camera to take me to the next level, from a Canon Ixus 800 point and shoot (which in itself is a very good camera). As I wanted to really step up the quality of my photos I didn't get the kit lens, but instead started off with the Canon 50mm 1.8 II lens, which is around a385. This lens is notorious for taking very high quality photos for little money. (Be aware that serious lenses for these cameras are usually hundreds of a3a3 each). I also got a Trascend 16GB class 10 memory card which can handle photos and video capture very quickly. I took the camera down to family and friends and took plenty of photos inside and out. To begin with I just used the Scene Intelligent setting and let it do it's thing. Well the photos the camera / lens combination took were outstanding, much better than I have taken before. The sharpness and detail is really amazing when you zoom in to look at the detail. The photos look professional quality, whereas I am an amateur, so very pleased. Shots inside the house, which was not well lit look brilliant even without using the inbuilt flash. The 50mm lens is really a bargain, but is probably best used as a portrait lens, as on this body it is more like an 80mm. This means you can't really get group shots in a confined space. I have just ordered the 15-85mm EFS lens which will cater for wide angle and mild telephoto, and be a good general walkaround lens. But I will keep the 50mm, as it's low light performance is brilliant, being a 1.8 lens. I had a quick go at videoing with the 50mm lens, but the result wasn't great, because it is a bit of a telephoto, the results were jerky handheld but I've no doubt with some practice/tripod and a different lens the results will be great (especially one with inbuilt image stabilisation like the 15-85). But my gut feeling is this isn't going to be as convenient to use as a mini camcorder but I don't mind I bought it for the photos. In terms of weight, this is a very light camera to walk around with and fairly small. With the 50mm lens on it was quite inconspicuous and I carried it around on my neck all day without any neck-ache problems. I think the Canon bigger brothers are more like bricks to carry. There are an array of different modes to use apart from the simple point and shoot mode. I have been learning about things I never knew about with my Ixus, for example varying the depth of field by changing the aperture. In fact, this is probably one of the reasons why the photos I took of people are so good, the 50mm lens allows just the face to be in focus while the background is soft and fuzzy really makes a difference to the quality of the shot. These other functions bring a lot more creativity to taking photographs and I feel that this camera will give me a lot of pleasure as a hobby for many years. You can be confident that with a good lens or two the quality of the photos will never disappoint. I think with 18 megapixels, this is honestly as much, if not more than enough detail I will ever need. Photos can be printed at a large size at top quality. Also, with a sharp lens and 18 megapixels, you can easily crop the photos quite hard and still have a great result. For even more creativity, you can shoot photos in RAW mode. This means no processing is done in the camera. For this, you can use the included Digital Photo Professional software. This allows you to set the colour balance, saturation etc AFTER the photo is taken, rather than you being stuck with the settings you chose when you originally took the photo. Cleverly, you can tell the camera to take both a normal photo and a RAW photo at the same time. The RAW files are very large, but if you do happen to take a really fantastic shot you can edit it just how you like it, while deleting all the RAW files for the average photos to save space. I think that the 600D is capable of taking photos as good as it's bigger brothers, but at a fraction of the cost. However, it isn't built like a tank or weatherproof etc, so will need to be looked after.