The compact camera I picked up was a Canon IXUS 115HS, with its first-party housing from Canon. The latter is coming from an eBay seller, so it’ll still be at last a week before it arrives. As for the camera itself; it’s a 12 megapixel shooter, with a fully automatic for-dummies mode, and also a somewhat more customizable Program mode.
After spending the better part of the day tinkering around with it, here’s what I think are the camera’ strengths:
It’s really tiny, and easily the most pocketable compact camera I’ve got now.
Maximum aperture of f2.8 – nice!
Lots of scene modes (not that I’ll bother scrolling through them if ever)
Full 1920×1080 movie capture, though only at 24fps.
And for the immediate downsides:
It’s so tiny that wrapping the camera strap around your wrist is a must, lest you accidentally drop it.
No handgrip, which makes the above pointer even more critical.
No A, S, or M modes, unlike Ling’s Panasonic LZ8.
Pictures out of box are pretty soft. Sharpening in post-processing will be necessary for this bugger.
JPG pictures don’t quite have the ‘pop’ when compared to the E-PL2.
Oh well. I know what I was buying into; and besides, I don’t intend for this camera to be a replacement for my E-PL2. Once the underwater housing comes in, expect an updated review of this and our first water pictures of Hannah.=)
I’d be afraid of it slipping through my fingers and flushing down the drain!