Starting in 1996 with the ELPH/Ixus APS film camera, Canon has built a great reputation for its range of compact Digital Ixus cameras.

The Digital Ixus 75 is one of the latest in the range and is certainly very compact. In some ways this is a drawback because it is so small it can be hard to hold and operate. The slick surfaces mean it can easily be dropped, so fitting the included wrist strap is a must.

From the back, one of the most striking things about the Ixus 75 is the size of the LCD viewing panel; at 46mm by 61mm it appears to cover most of the back of the camera. There is no optical viewfinder, but even in daylight the LCD is surprisingly visible thanks to its anti-reflection, high contrast coating.

On the bottom of the camera a latched flap allows access to the tiny 3.7V rechargeable li-ion battery and the SD memory card (a 32MB card ships with the camera).

There’s an anchor point for the wrist strap on the right edge and above that is a pop-out flap concealing the 3.5mm AV socket and the mini USB digital output. A slide on top of the camera selects between movie and still modes.

The power button is recessed between the mode slide and the shutter button and the camera responds satisfyingly quickly to turn on in under half a second.

The on-board Digic III system packs in a lot of image processing power providing advanced noise reduction and automatic face detection/focussing and we were impressed with out test shots. All in all, the Digital Ixus 75 a versatile point and shoot compact.