The following images were taken with a Canon IXUS 100 IS / PowerShot SD780 IS. The IXUS 100 IS / SD780 IS was set to Large Fine JPEG quality, Auto White Balance and Evaluative metering. Image Stabilisation was enabled for all these handheld images.

The individual exposure mode, file sizes, shutter speeds, aperture, ISO and lens focal length are listed for each image.

The crops are taken from the original files, reproduced at 100% and saved in Adobe Photoshop CS4 as JPEGs with the Very High quality preset, while the resized images were made in Photoshop CS4 and saved with the default High quality preset.

The three crops are typically taken from far left, central and far right portions of each image.

Note: you may wish to open a number of galleries for direct comparison of detail and noise: Canon PowerShot SD 880IS / IXUS 870 IS sample images, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T77 sample images and Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7 / ZS3 sample images.

Landscape: 3.01MB, Program, 1/200, f9, ISO 80, 5.9-17.9mm at 5.9mm (33mm equivalent)   This first shot was taken with the IXUS 100 IS / SD780 IS zoomed-out and set to its lowest 80 ISO sensitivity. Under these bright conditions it represents a best-case scenario, and the crops from well-corrected areas are certainly sharp and detailed, with only the faintest smattering of noise textures in shadow areas. Our main results pages revealed softness in the corners of images at wider focal lengths and there's also evidence of that here.       Landscape: 3.55MB, Program, 1/200, f9, ISO 100, 5.9-17.9mm at 5.9mm (33mm equivalent)   Another shot taken under bright light with the lens zoomed-out and the sensitivity nudged up to 100 ISO. The areas cropped here are sharp and detailed, although the flat areas of blue sky reveal a slight increase in visible noise textures to the pixel peepers out there - as also seen in our High ISO Noise results page. There's also some softening again in the extreme corners, although the subject matter here is relatively forgiving.       Landscape: 3.65MB, Program, 1/800, f5.8, ISO 200, 5.9-17.9mm at 17.9mm (100mm equivalent)

				For this shot of an approaching boat we zoomed into the longest focal length, increased the sensitivity to 200 ISO and set the drive mode to Continuous. We also used the camera's Servo AF mode to track the boat. The Canon easily kept the subject sharp, although with a continuous shooting rate of just 0.8fps, it's no action camera. Optically we've few complaints here, but the increase to 200 ISO has resulted in greater noise levels and a softening of ultimate detail.

Portrait: 2.65MB, Program, 1/125, f16, ISO 200, 5.9-17.9mm at 17.9mm (100mm equivalent)

						For this portrait we kept the Canon's lens fully zoomed-in and left the sensitivity at 200 ISO. The combined AiAF / Face Detection mode recognised and tracked the subject with ease. The crops of the subject are sharp, although like the sample above, there's visible noise appearing in flat colour or shadow areas and a lack of crispness to edges. Viewed at 100%, the background is a little blurred, but like other compacts you won't get the really small depth-of-field effects on a DSLR.

						This shot was taken at the Canon's closest focusing distance of 3cm with the lens full zoomed-out. As always, we increased the sensitivity to 400 ISO for this shot. The depth-of-field here is fairly small, with a tightly defined strip of sharpness across the middle of the shot where we've taken the crops from. In this area, the crops are sharp and detailed, and unlike many compacts, there's no coloured fringing to complain about in the corners. The boost to 400 ISO has further softened edges though.

Indoor: 3.28MB, Program, 1/80, f3.2, ISO 400, 5.9-17.9mm at 5.9mm (33mm equivalent)

						Our first indoor shot was taken with the Canon set to 400 ISO and zoomed-out. The default AiAF / Face Detect mode once again locked-onto the subject with no problems. As seen above though, the increase to 400 ISO has resulted in greater visible noise in shadow areas or those of flat colour, along with a softening of edges. It's still ok for smaller prints, but pixel-peepers or those wanting laregr prints will want to stick to lower sensitivities.

Indoor: 2.70MB, Program, 1/15, f3.2, ISO 800, 5.9-17.9mm at 5.9mm (33mm equivalent)

						Our second indoor was taken with the Canon increased to 800 ISO. The camera's stabilisation had no problems with a 1/15 exposure here, and in our tests offered over three stops of compensation. As you'd expect, there's another increase in noise artefacts and some smearing due to noise reduction. But the crops do still contain a reasonable amount of detail and it's certainly not a dramatic drop beyond 400 ISO. Still best-reserved for smaller prints though.

						Our final shot was taken with the Canon at 1600 ISO, and noise reduction has really kicked-in here, smearing out fine detail and leaving a somewhat mushy mess in places. Like most compacts, 1600 ISO is a step too far and should only be used for emergencies, or very small reproductions. The Canon then goes onto offer a 3200 ISO option as a Scene Preset, albeit at a greatly reduced resolution of 2 Megapixels. You can see a sample of it and other sensitivities in our High ISO Noise results page.