June 2010
Latest IXY model adds an extra dimension of photography enjoyment
Photo 1: IXY 30S
This month’s technical report presents an overview and many of the features of the IXY 30S, which went on sale in May 2010. This new model pairs a high-sensitivity CMOS sensor with 10 effective megapixels and a 3.8x zoom lens (35mm-film equivalent： 28 – 105mm) with lens-shift image stabilizer.
Development objectives
The market has embraced our IXY Digital series as digital cameras that pack many features in a slim, stylish body design, that deliver excellent image quality, and that embody the fun of shooting photos. Since this year marks the 10th anniversary of the first IXY Digital camera, Canon took this opportunity to change the series’ name from “IXY Digital” to “IXY”.
The new IXY 30S (Photo 1) is loaded with many functions and innovations new to the IXY line. Our development objective for the new model was:
>> To realize a digital camera that adds an extra dimension of photography enjoyment while carrying on the IXY series’ tradition of superb image quality, full functionality, and stylish body design.
Feature 1 — Superb image quality
Figure 1: HS System
HS System brings together a high-sensitivity, 10-megapixel CMOS sensor and the DIGIC 4 image processor
The new 10.00-effective-megapixel CMOS sensor in the IXY 30S is dramatically more sensitive than conventional CMOS sensors because of its back-illuminated architecture. The combination of this new CMOS sensor and the DIGIC 4 image processor allow users to capture beautiful, low-noise photos even in dark scenes, which have always been problematic for previous digital cameras.
HS System (Figure 1) is the name Canon uses for the system that brings together the high-sensitivity sensor and DIGIC image processor to expand the user’s range of photo opportunities.
High-quality 3.8x zoom lens with a lens-shift image stabilizer
We developed a new f/2.0 (wide) – f/5.3 (tele) 3.8x zoom lens with a 35mm-equivalent focal length range of 28 – 105mm especially for the IXY 30S. The lens is constructed with seven elements in six groups, including one double-sided aspherical UA element. The inclusion of highly refractive glass and highly dispersive glass achieves superb aberration correction at all focal lengths. The lens design has also been optimized to virtually eliminate aberration fluctuations during image stabilization.
The IXY 30S is particularly good at shooting blur-free photos in low-light situations because of its high-sensitivity sensor and its fast f/2.0 lens at the wide-angle end.
Lens-shift image stabilizer
i-Contrast
Servo AF/AE
High-precision AE and AWB using iSAPS technology
Feature 2 — Rich functionality
Photo 2: Fish-eye Effect
Photo 3: Miniature Effect
Photo 4: Smart Flash Exposure (1)
Photo 5: Smart Flash Exposure (2)
Av/Tv modes
The 30S is the first IXY model to include the Av and Tv modes. These modes give users more creative control over their photos in the same way as the PowerShot G, S, and SX series.
Variety of scene modes
The 30S comes with a number of new shooting modes, including the High-speed Burst mode, which harness the CMOS sensor’s strengths.
High-speed Burst
By reducing the number of recording pixels to 2.5 megapixels, this mode lets users shoot continuously at a blazingly fast 8.4 fps. It is even possible to take more than 100 shots* consecutively at this speed.
*When using a speed class 10 SDHC card.
Smart Shutter
We added Smart Shutter as a scene mode to combine our past Face Self-timer mode with the new Smile and Wink Self-timer modes.
In Smile mode, the camera will automatically release the shutter when it is ready to shoot and the main face in the frame smiles. This mode makes use of the face detection function.
The Wink Self-timer mode also uses the face detection function. After the shutter button has been fully depressed to engage the mode, the camera will automatically release the shutter about two seconds after detecting that the main face in the frame has winked.
Fish-eye Effect
This mode processes photos after they are taken to produce the characteristic distorted effect of a fish-eye lens (Photo 2).
Miniature Effect
This mode applies a blurring gradient to the top and bottom of the photo without affecting the center section; thereby emphasizing the sense of perspective and making the main subject stand out (Photo 3).
Super Slow Motion
This mode records 320 x 240 movies at 240 fps and plays them back at 30 fps. This enables the user to watch fast moving objects in slow motion. When viewing movies on a computer using the ZoomBrowser EX or ImageBrowser applications included with the camera, the user can choose from eight different playback speeds — from 1/8 of the original speed to full speed. The longest continuous recording time in this mode is about 30 seconds.
Smart Flash Exposure
Smart Flash Exposure controls flash levels and camera settings according to shooting conditions, providing the right amount of flash to ensure naturally exposed shots. This mode uses the scene detection function to accurately gauge the distance to the main subject and the subject’s reflectance. This mode can prevent the partly shadowed faces (Photo 4) and dark backgrounds that often occur when shooting outdoors in strong sunlight. It can also prevent overexposing the subject (Photo 5), which tends to happen when the camera is close to the subject. The fastest flash synchro shutter speed has been extended from the previous 1/500s to 1/2000s. This faster speed can prevent underexposing the main subject, which occurs with daytime synchro shooting, by limiting the f-number at maximum aperture.
Low Light shooting mode
Photo 6: Low Light
This new shooting mode (Photo 6), which has already been used on the PowerShot G11 and S90, replaces the previous ISO 3200 mode. For the IXY 30S, the maximum sensitivity has been boosted to 6400, and this mode has been designed to automatically select an ISO speed between 125 and 6400 based on the peripheral brightness, subject movement, and camera-shake conditions.
Canon also made it possible to set the exposure correction and white balance. As a result, this mode can handle a wide range of scenes, from low-light scenes to scenes at normal brightness. Note that in the Low Light mode the recording size is fixed at 1824 x 1368, or about 2.5 megapixels.
Smart Shuffle
With the larger capacity of today’s memory cards, a single card can hold thousands of photos. Smart Shuffle is a new way of playing back large numbers of photos. With Smart Shuffle, the camera will automatically select and display four images based on the currently displayed photo. Selecting one of these four images causes the camera to select and display another four related images. By repeating this process, the user can make unexpected finds of images buried on the memory card and have fun playing back images in a surprising order.
Smart Auto
Safety Shift
Adjustable AF frame size
My Colors / My Colors for adding effects
Histogram
Feature 3 — Comfortable operations
Extended Autofocus range
In recent years, Canon cameras have featured an extended autofocus range in the Auto shooting mode, so that the Auto mode could cover everything from distant subjects to close-up subjects. On the IXY 30S, we have applied this extended autofocus range to most shooting modes, except a few specialized shooting modes. This makes it possible to shoot subjects at very short distances without having to switch to a macro mode. This improvement not only helps make the camera easier to use; it also reduces the number of missed photo opportunities.
And since all IXY series models, starting with those sold this year, feature a zoom bar display, users can check the focus range while shooting.
Touch control dial with a “hints and tips” feature
The control dial (arrow keys dial), when touched, displays on the LCD monitor the function or mode assigned to the arrow key as well as helpful information on the operation of the function or mode.
3.0-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD monitor
The IXY 30S comes with a PureColor 3.0-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD monitor. This monitor features wide-angle viewing and excellent color reproduction, and, thanks to a strong reinforced glass outer layer, it is tougher and slimmer than previous monitors (Figure 2).
Figure 2: LCD monitor construction
On-screen hints and tips
Range-specified bulk printing and deleting
Shutter sounds are linked to the actual shutter speed
Dedicated playback button
Feature 4 — Enhanced printing options and digital communications
Photo 7: Eye-Fi card
Accepts Eye-Fi cards
An Eye-Fi card (Photo 7) is a combined recording media and wireless LAN card. It incorporates an antenna and wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b/g) in a SD memory card or SDHC memory card. As long as the camera has an SD card slot and the proper wireless LAN settings are made on the target computer, it is possible to automatically save photos taken by the camera to the computer or an online photo service without any special wireless support on the camera side.
For the IXY 30S, we added a number of features to make the Eye-Fi card easier to use. The user menu includes a dedicated Eye-Fi section, and the LCD monitor displays the Eye-Fi transmission setting (On/Off), the access point SSID (Service Set Identifier), and the transmission status (Not connected/Connecting/Transfer standby/Transferring).
Select images and quantity for printing with DPOF
Supports PictBridge
Able to join Canon iMAGE GATEWAY
Feature 5 — Array of system accessories
Photo 8: IXC-400 soft case
Photo 9: IXY 30S colors
Photo 10: IXY 30S and its kit components
Accepts SDXC memory cards
Starting with the IXY 30S, all Canon models released from this year will accept SDXC memory cards. These memory cards are based on a new standard published by the SD Association in April 2009. This standard extends the maximum card capacity from the 32 GB of SDHC memory cards to 2 TB and updates the file system from the SDHC’s FAT32 to the exFAT file system.
Soft case
The special IXY-400 soft case is available as an option to protect the camera (Photo 8).
This completes this month’s look at the IXY 30S. The IXY 30S is available in five colors — silver, black, white, red, and yellow (Photo 9). Table 1 lists the camera’s main specifications, and Photo 10 illustrates the kit components that come with the camera. There is no fixed suggested retail price for the IXY 30S.
| IXY 30S | |
|---|---|
| Imaging sensor | 1/2.3-inch CMOS with 10.00 effective megapixels (10.60 total megapixels), high-sensitivity sensor type |
| Color filter type | RGB |
| Photographic lens (35mm-film equivalent) | 28 – 105mm, f/2.0 (wide) – f/5.3 (tele), 3.8x zoom |
| Digital zoom | ~4.0x (~15x max. zoom when combined with the optical zoom) |
| LCD monitor | 3.0-inch (TFT color LCD, ~230,000 pixels, wide viewing angle) |
| Autofocus | Single (Continuous in Auto mode)/Servo, Face Detect AiAF/center point |
| Focusing range | Auto mode: 3cm to infinity (wide)/30 cm to infinity (tele); Macro mode: 3 – 50cm (wide), 30 – 50cm (tele) |
| Shutter | Mechanical shutter + electronic shutter |
| Shutter speeds | 1/2500 – 1 sec., 1/2500 to 15 sec. (total shutter speed range from all shooting modes) |
| Light metering methods | Evaluative, Center-weighted average, Spot (fixed to center) |
| Exposure compensation | ±2 stops in 1/3-stop increments |
| ISO speeds (Standard Output Sensitivity) | Auto, ISO 125, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200* *To 6400 in Low Light mode |
| Flash ranges | 30cm – 6.0m (wide), 50cm – 2.0m (tele) (when ISO speed is set to Auto) |
| White balance | Auto, Day Light, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom |
| Shooting modes | P, Auto, Av, Tv, Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Smart Shutter,* High-speed Burst, Low Light, Color Accent, Color Swap, Fish-eye Effect, Miniature Effect, Beach, Foliage, Snow, Fireworks, Stitch Assist, Movie *Smile, Wink Self-timer, Face Self-timer |
| Continuous shooting | Normal continuous shooting: ~3.7 shots/sec. High-speed Burst: ~8.4 shots/sec.* Low Light continuous shooting: ~6.0 shots/sec. *Speed varies depending on zoom position. Continuous shooting speed may slow down after taking a certain number of continuous shots. |
| Image quality (still images) | Recording pixels: Large, Medium 1, Medium 2, Medium 3, Small, Widescreen, (Medium) Compression: Fine, Normal |
| Recording pixels (still images) | Large: 3648 × 2736, Medium 1: 2816 × 2112, Medium 2: 2272 × 1704, Medium: 1824 × 1368,* Medium 3: 1600 × 1200, Small: 640 × 480, Widescreen: 3648 × 2048 *In High-speed Burst mode or Low Light mode |
| Movies (MOV format) | Standard, Color Accent, Color Swap: HD 1280 × 720 (30 fps), 640 × 480 (30 fps), 320 × 240 (30 fps) Super Slow Motion mode: 320 × 240 (240 fps) |
| Recording media | SD memory card, SDHC memory card, SDXC memory card, MMC card, MMCplus card, HC MMCplus card |
| Color space | Standard (sRGB) |
| File format | Compliant with DCF and DPOF (Ver. 1.1) |
| Power supply | Rechargeable lithium-ion battery: NB-6L AC adapter kit: ACK-DC40 (sold separately) |
| Dimensions (CIPA standard measurement) | 100.0 × 54.1 × 23.6mm |
| Weight (CIPA standard measurement) | ~175 grams |
Table 1: Main specifications of the IXY 30S
