Canon Digital IXUS 330 (S330) Review: 5. Operation & Controls: Digital Photography Review

Top of camera controls

Controls on the top of the camera are all located on the right hand side. The mode dial allows you to select between the major camera modes, in the center of this is the power button. A power 'on' requires a 1.3 second hold of the button before the camera will power on, power off is instant. Beside this you can see the shutter release button, below which are the labels for the zoom controller (described in the next section).

Mode dial

ON/OFF	Powers the camera on or off Requires a 1.3 second hold to power-on, single press to power off.
	Play mode Switches immediately to play mode, displays the last image taken / last image on the Compact Flash card. The lens does not immediately retract if it's already extended, it will do so after 60 seconds in play mode.
	Auto record mode This is really the "point and shoot" mode, while you still have the option to choose resolution, JPEG quality and flash mode you can only select between self-timer and single shot drive modes, macro or normal focus mode, you can't change white balance (which is set at Auto) or set an exposure compensation.
	Manual record mode Manual record mode operates virtually identically to auto record mode except that you now have control over settings such as white balance, exposure compensation, spot metering, AF points, picture effects etc.
	Stitch Assist Designed to make shooting of panorama / stitch shots easier. You have a choice of two different stitch modes: left-right or right-left. The display changes to show previously shot frames in the sequence to help alignment of each frame. Exposure and White Balance are locked to the first frame.
	Movie Mode Shoot short movie clips (AVI format) at a variety of resolutions (all with mono audio @ 11.24 KHz), max file size is 4 MB: • 640 x 480, 20 fps, approx. 4 seconds * • 320 x 240, 20 fps, approx. 10 seconds * • 160 x 120, 20 fps, approx. 30 seconds * * Depending on subject (little movement = larger record time)

Rear of camera controls

The back of the camera looks different to the previous model, gone are the left and right arrows, replaced instead by a full 4-way controller (a considerable improvement). Buttons are also larger and have a more quality feel to them. Note that the 4-way controller provides settings control in record mode (all detailed below).

Zoom controller

	Zoom Wide Zooms towards full wide angle (35 mm).
	Zoom Tele Zooms towards full telephoto (105 mm), if you pass the 105 mm mark the camera will begin to digitally zoom (indicated by a blue text display). This year Canon has listened and provided a menu option to disable digital zoom.

Button controls

Metering mode

• Evaluative metering
• Spot metering

AE-Lock / FE-Lock

With the shutter release half-pressed press this button to lock Exposure; AEL (if flash is enabled this will lock flash exposure; FEL). AE/FE lock is active until you press this button again (even for multiple shots).

Focus modes

• Normal focus range
• Macro focus range
• Landscape (Infinity focus)

AF-Lock

With the shutter release half-pressed press this button to lock Auto Focus, AFL is displayed on the monitor. AF lock is active until you press this button again (even for multiple shots).

Flash mode

• Auto Flash
• Anti-Redeye
• Fill-in Flash (forced on)
• Slow-sync Flash
• Inhibit Flash (forced off)

Drive mode

• Single shot
• Burst shots (continuous)
• Self-timer (2 or 10 secs)

Exposure Compensation / White balance / Photo Effect

This button toggles through three different on-screen settings menu bars which allow you to set exposure compensation, white balance and photo effects. As described below:

	Set exposure compensation +/-2.0 EV in 0.3 EV steps. If "Long Shutter" is enabled (menu option) you can use the up / down arrows to set a long exposure (1 - 15 sec).
	Set white balance: Auto, Fine (Sunny), Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent High, Manual Preset.
	Select photo effect: Off, Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Sepia, Black & White.

SET

No Action (Used to confirm menu settings)

MENU

Enter / Leave Record Menu

The record menu is detailed later.

DISP

LCD monitor / preview display mode

• Simple mode (just AF points)
• Detailed mode (AF points, all camera settings)
• LCD monitor off

The IXUS 330 shows its maturity with the surprising addition of AE-lock, FE-lock and AF-lock. Not only are these features available on this pocket camera but they're also the best implementation I've seen, once the lock is set it remains set until you cancel it (even for multiple shots) which is perfect for guaranteed matched exposures or difficult focusing situations. Kudos Canon.

Control functions in play mode

	Browse through images: previous / next
	Used to navigate menus
SET	Used to confirm menu settings
MENU	Enter / Leave Play Menu Play menu detailed later
DISP	Image review mode • Image review, no information • Image review, basic information (date & time, folder, filename) • Image review, exposure information and histogram
	Toggle Thumbnail view (wide button) Toggles between display of a single full screen image, 3 x 3 thumbnails on the LCD screen or 3 x 3 thumbnails scrollable a page at a time.
	Playback Magnify (tele button) Press to magnify the image, hold to magnify up to 10x. Use the 4-way direction controller to scroll around the image.

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