Product: Canon Digital IXUS 400 Price: HK$3,980 Pros: Consistently good picture quality, 4x optical zoom, four-megapixel capability Cons: Bulky for an ultra-compact camera
Product: Canon Digital IXUS II Price: HK$2,980 Pros: Consistently good picture quality, uses SD cards instead of compact flash Cons: Bulky for an ultra-compact camera
A HK$1,000 will buy you only one more megapixel in resolution and an increase of 1x optical zoom capability.
If Canon's two latest offerings in the ultra-compact digital camera range are anything to go by, that's exactly the difference between Canon's newly released Digital IXUS II and its slightly older sibling, the Digital IXUS 400.
The Digital IXUS 400 sports a 3x optical/3.6x digital zoom with four-megapixel capability, while the IXUS II has a 2x optical/3.2x digital zoom at 3.2 megapixels.
The cameras are similar in design and dimensions, with the slightly bulkier IXUS 400 measuring 8.7x5.7x2.8cm - marginally qualifying it in the ultra-compact category.
The user interfaces on both cameras are intelligently ar ranged. The large shutter button is located atop the zoom switch on both, and both use a dial switch to change between the recording modes (manual, auto and movie), although the IXUS 400 has a redundant extra slider to switch to playback modes.