Megapixels and Zoom
The Canon IXUS 860 IS is an 8 megapixel camera with a 3.8x optical zoom lens. Zoom can be increased through a feature called safety zoom when shooting at lower resolutions. 4x digital zoom is also available.
The focal length is equivalent to 28 - 105mm in 35mm format. This makes it a wide angle lens and allows you to squeeze extra width into a shot. This makes it suitable for landscape photography, people group shots and photos of wide buildings.
The maximum aperture is f/2.8 - f/5.8.
Basics
- Image stabilisation
- Special resolution for widescreen television playback
- Self timer
- 60 seconds of commentary can be added to a still photo
- Red eye correction after photo have been taken.
Focusing
In macro mode the camera can focus from 3cm away from the subject. There is a special face detection setting for improving focusing for portraits.
LCD
The 3 inch LCD screen is made up of around 230,000 pixels. No viewfinder is available.
Flash
The flash modes you can use are Auto, Manual Flash On / Off. You can also turn on and off red eye reduction and slow sync speed. The maximum range of the flash unit is 4m. This falls to 2m when the zoom lens is in use.
To boost the power of the flash you can buy an external flash unit. This is Canon's High Power Flash HF-DC1.
Scene Modes
The scene modes available are Portrait, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater, Indoor, Kids & Pets and Night Snapshot.
Colour Effects
The following colour effects can be applied. Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, and Custom Color.
Movies
Movies of up to 1 hour or 4gb in size can be captured. Sound can be recorded, but optical zoom can only be applied before you start shooting a movie. Digital zoom is available during recording.
The maximum resolution is 640 x 480 pixels and the top speed is 30 frames per second.
You can also shoot time lapse movies with the IXUS 860 IS.
Advanced Features
Among the more advanced features are metering (Evaluative (linked to Face Detection AF frame), Centre-weighted average, Spot (centre)), exposure compensation (+/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments), sensitivity (ISO High ISO Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600) and white balance (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom).
Continuous shooting at a maximum speed of 1.3 frames per second is available too.
Sutter speeds are controlled automatically by the camera and work in the range 15 - 1/1,600 seconds.
Computer - Printers - Television
All the necessary cables and software are supplied to connect the camera to a compatible printer, television and computer.
Underwater Case
If you are thinking of taking the IXUS 860 IS diving, you will be pleased to know Canon offer a waterproof case (WP-DC17) and a weight for the case (WW-DC1). The case is waterproof to a depth of 40m.
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