An interesting feature on many Canon digital compacts and also on the IXUS 132 is the ECO mode. It works by reducing the operating time of the screen so as to reduce power consumption. This could be especially useful for holidays and days out as it increases the amount of photographs available on a single charge. It also makes for a useful camera for taking travelling. To switch ECO mode on, you need to go into the Set-up section of the Main menu. There are actually two menus to use when taking photographs using the IXUS 132. Megapixels capture fine detailCapturing all the detail from the genuine Canon lens the 16MP sensor delivers superb quality images that are perfect for large-scale prints (A3+) or creative cropping. Digital Approx. 4x. (with Digital Tele-Converter Approx. 1.6x or 2.0x and Safety Zoom¹). Combined Approx. 32x¹ The Night test was an interesting one. Normally we take a shot using the Night scene which uses a high ISO to react well in low light but produces noisy, broken images that aren't any good. Then we take a shot using controlled ISO in Program mode and they come out lovely and smooth. The Night scene shots are much better than the Program mode pictures. We took one at auto ISO and one at ISO 100 to be certain and it's true. Using Night scene mode is better than using Program mode.

At wide-angle there's a slight amount of vignetting when not using the flash. Switch the flash on and the vignette increases ten-fold. Using flash seems to remove it a lot, although not completely. It's fair to say that when you have a camera that's placed at this price point, you have to take the rough with the smooth, right? Well let's hope so because the sensitivity results from the IXUS 132 aren't great. The camera only has a range from ISO 100 to 1600 and looking at the photographs at full magnification, it's easy to see why. There's slight instances of noise creeping through at ISO 100, which isn't a good start. This is only in the darker areas of the photograph and it's not easily noticeable. If you view the pictures at normal viewing distance, you won't see a thing. Mid-tones are still clear and edge definition is great. Superb images, IXUS style with 8x zoomCombining sleek IXUS styling with simple point and shoot operation, the 16 Megapixel IXUS 132 features an 8x optical zoom with Intelligent IS for sharp detailed photos and HD movies. cm (2.7”) LCDA bright and clear screen (230k dots) lets you frame and view your shots with ease and makes sharing them with friends a pleasure.Lens Performance - To improve dynamic range, it's possible to use the iContrast setting to retain shadow detail. There is slight vignetting at the wide-angle end of the lens, however barrel and pincushion distortion are minimal, and do not appear to affect the majority of shots. Detail is reasonable, although images become softer towards the corners, and towards the left hand side on wide shots. Purple fringing can be seen in the shot of the trees, however these weren't too noticeable in other shots.

HD movies (720p) with movie buttonInstantly record high quality HD movies (720p) with optical zoom by simply pressing the dedicated movie button. Battery life - Battery life is rated at 200 shots according to CIPA / Canon testing, and 275 shots in Eco mode. Canon SELPHY Compact Photo Printers and Canon Inkjet Printers supporting PictBridge (ID Photo Print, Fixed Size Print and Movie Print supported on SELPHY CP & ES printers only) Using the batteries and memory card format supplied with the camera (where included), except where indicated.You'll also need to buy a memory card and a case or bag to keep your camera safe and protected - have a look at our complete guide to camera bags.

ISO Noise Performance - Noise is low at ISO100, but increases at ISO200. At ISO400 noise increases further, and detail suffers as a result. Noise becomes quite dominant at ISO800, and due to excessive noise ISO1600 is worth avoiding. Move on to ISO 200 and you can see that the noise reduction system is trying its best to temper the coloured blobs that are desperately trying to take over the dark areas of the pictures. Detail starts to break down in shadows at ISO 400 but thankfully the mid-tones are still untouched. Because of this, there's still a good amount of colour in the pictures. Intelligent IS for sharp resultsIntelligent IS combats camera shake to ensure all your photos and videos are sharp and detailed even at full zoom or in low light. It automatically adjusts the optical Image Stabilizer to the scene from multiple modes to prevent blur.We did notice an increase in image sharpness just by running the pictures through a basic sharpening tool in Adobe Photoshop. However, if you don't want to use one, or don't know how, the Canon IXUS 132 does sharpen them to a satisfactory level in-camera. Values at maximum optical focal length. Cameras whose focal length exceeds 350 mm (35mm equivalent) are measured at 350 mm. All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 16 megapixel Superfine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 6Mb. The aforementioned Main menu is used for making permanent changes to the Canon IXUS 132 as well as the core features. It's split into two sections to help you work out where to go. The Shooting menu (designated with a camera) will allow you to change settings associated with general shooting and everyday use of the camera such as flash, i-Contrast, blink detection and focus options. The Set-up menu (indicated by the spanner and hammer) will go more in-depth and change areas you don't deal with on a day to day basis, such as language, date & time, volume, ECO mode and formatting the card.