Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60827 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Canon
• Model: Ixus 500
• Released on: 2004-02-04
• Dimensions: .44 pounds
• Display size: 1.5

Manufacturer's Description
The ultimate in stylish, high performance digital photography, the Digital IXUS 500 delivers quality prints up to A3 size. With a super hard Cerabrite finish, this flagship of the IXUS range brings together uncompromising build quality and an abundance of integrated technologies in a triumph of miniaturization.A 3x optical zoom culminates 60 years of Canon optical heritage to deliver crisp, corner-to-corner clarity. A 3x optical zoom (12.3x combined) offers a wide angle of coverage, while the 9-point AiAF ensures accurate focusing, even with off-center subjects.High performance demands plenty of processing power - which is why the Digital IXUS 500 incorporates Canon's dedicated DIGIC processor. DIGIC delivers superb image quality at high speed with less drain on the battery for extended performance.iSAPS is a hidden photographer's assistant, instantly analyzing the scene and making adjustments even before the shutter release is pressed. iSAPS optimizes exposure, white balance and auto-focus settings in every shooting situation for consistently brilliant results.An Intelligent Orientation Sensor automatically rotates images before playback. Movie mode allows up to 3-minute movie clips (30 seconds in VGA mode) with sound recording, playback and 'in-camera' editing. Auto mode is perfect for 'point and shoot' situations, while Manual mode puts you in creative control. An optional waterproof case protects your IXUS to a depth of 40m.The camera prints directly to all PictBridge or Canon Direct Print compatible printers. Create beautiful, instant photo prints by connecting camera to printer and pushing the Print/Share button, which also speeds up online sharing to any Windows PC. When used with a Canon Compact Photo Printer, you can print ID photos, or a series of movie clip frames.With Canon's ZoomBrowser EX (for Windows) and ImageBrowser (for Macintosh) you can arrange albums, crop photographs and adjust image contrast and brightness.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

A truly excellent camera!
Having seen many digital cameras in my time I can say that the Ixus 500 is without doubt the best money can buy for a point & shoot camera. I own a PC retail shop and I could not find this camera at better price than Amazon and that includes my trade suppliers! The photographs produced just using the automatic settings are exceptional. The quality of build is superb and is amazing for a camera of such a size. The only small gripe that I have is the camera did not come supplied with a case. A larger memory card would have been nice as well. The manual is fairly comprehensive and is easy to follow should you be a novice. I haven't had time to push the camera to its limits but I am very confident that it will meet all my needs now and in the future due to the huge array of functions and utilities available. Despite spending an entire evening playing with the camera the batteries are still going on their initial charge so battery life looks promising. I have ordered another spare battery just in case as I am worried of running out of power on holiday! I would recommend that anyone interested purchasing this camera should look at a larger memory card of at least 512MB and make sure it is a fast card. I have ordered the Kingston 512MB compact flash pro card to fit this purpose. I think this is a perfect camera and the price being asked is quite frankly ludicrous. I would have happily paid another £100 to have it.

To sum up I say if your looking for a compact digital camera then look no further!

I find them brilliant
I have been a fan of Canon digital Ixus cameras for quite some time. I had one of the first 2 mega pixel models, and loved the image quality. Unfortunately I dropped that one from a great height and broke it - then moved on to the 3.2 MP model, which I also found excellent.
I subsequently bought an Ixus 500 when it was introduced and, partly on my recommendation, a few relatives and friends also have them. Our experience is entirely favourable. (Had we experienced the troubles reported by other reviewers we may not be so pleased with our choice). Battery life seems good, though I have invested in spare batteries just in case.
The image quality of these small pocket cameras really is excellent. Contrast and colour in the photographs produced using the camera's default settings are superb (unlike pictures from Nikon Coolpix 4500 and Coolpix 5000 cameras I have used).
One minor ergonomic niggle (the Ixus 500 is not as bad as its' predecessors), it is too easy to select movie mode by accident. Also a little more versatility with fill in flash would be appreciated.
These cameras really have provided us with some stunning quality images almost comparable to those provided by the splendid but very much bigger, heavier and more expensive Nikon D70!

Achingly stylish exterior conceals a powerful bit of kit
This product is ideal for those wishing to have a highly capable digital camera in a compact size. It's sturdy, looks great and even on full auto settings takes good quality photographs with just a point and shoot.

Those wanting more will find the manual settings suitably capable of producing a more or less ideal range of personally-adjusted pictures. As indicated elsewhere, these options may limit those wanting complete control. However whilst truly advanced photographers will want more, this is intended to be a camera for the demanding amateur, not the professional.

If you aren't in need of 5.0 Megapixels (most of us aren't), then the IXUS 430 may suit you better. It's the same camera, just with less impressive maximum resolutions. If like me you just like being ahead of the field, the 500 is a beauty and is priced almost at entry-level. Buy it!