Introduction

Ease of Use

As it says in the marketing material of the Canon IXUS 190, the camera is indeed very slim. You shouldn’t have any trouble fitting this into a trouser or jean pocket, or a very small bag on a night out or similar. The camera is very light and is made from plastic, which leaves it having quite a cheap feel. Rounded corners and the black finish of the one we’ve been supplied with give the camera quite a sleek appearance to look at, though.

On the top of the Canon IXUS 190 there’s the on/off button, along with the shutter release. Surrounding the shutter release is a zoom switch for extending and retracting the 10x optical zoom. It’s quite a small and fiddly zoom switch, but it feels relatively solidly built. The zoom itself moves in and out relatively quickly, with a slight pause before moving into the digital zoom territory. You’ll also see a zoom bar at the top of the screen, which will display yellow when you enter the digital zoom, and blue when you push the digital zoom even further.

Moving to the back of the Canon IXUS 190, there’s quite a basic layout - something which you’ll be familiar with if you’ve ever used a Canon compact before. There’s a playback button just next to a dedicated video record button. A four way pad has a different function assigned to each directional key. The up directional key controls the different shooting modes available, the right key is for flash functions, the left key switches on  and off the date/time stamp and the down key changes what is displayed on the screen. In the middle of the navigation pad is a function button, which you can use to bring up a quick menu (depending on your shooting mode). You can also use this button as a "confirmation”  button when selecting options in the main or quick menu.

The final two buttons are a menu button, for accessing the main menu, and a wi-fi button, which you can use to quickly set up a wi-fi connection to your smartphone or tablet.

It’s fair to say that this camera is aimed towards a beginner audience, and as such, the default shooting mode is automatic. There’s also an "Easy Auto” mode, which can be set to automatically activate when you switch the camera on. Alternatively, if it’s switched off, you can switch the mode on by holding down the up directional key. This mode gives complete control to the camera and is ideal for those who just want a simple point-and-shoot type set up.

With the standard auto setting, you still don’t have a great deal of control, but you’ll find a few different functions in the quick menu, including the size of image, drive mode and timer. For those that want to take a little bit more control, there’s a Program mode available. With this, you can change certain key parameters including ISO, exposure compensation and metering. More advanced controls, such as shutter speed and aperture can’t be set. You can also access creative filters through the program menu, as well as changing the focus mode (between Normal, Infinity and Macro).