As luck would have it, the old skinny jeans wearing hipster trend came around just in the nick of time as technology was getting small enough to fit neatly in those tight little pockets. Smaller than a packet of cigarettes, Canon has crafted a very slick looking little camera which also packs a serious punch.



Considering its size the Canon IXUS 510 HS has an impressive 12x optical zoom (equivalent to 28-336mm in a 35mm camera), a 10.1 megapixel and Canon’s High Sensitivity (HS) system for better performance in low light. ZoomPlus feature extends to 21x giving a good sharp focus and a shallow depth of field in macro taking you to 1cm of your subject while also doing a great job of finding focal points and separating out the rest of the frame into soft focus.



Simply put, the 510 HS takes great photos. White balance and exposure are consistently accurate so it handles sharp contrast well and produces clean, accurate edges with no vignetting or chromatic aberration. ISOs range from 100-3200 with impressive photos taken up to 800, after that though it gets noticeably grainy, that said however, it still takes a good photo at higher ISOs.

The body is a beautiful high gloss casing in a tiny little box design that would almost feel like a toy camera only for the weight of it which is heavy enough at 163g. Only downside to the slick-ass design of this machine is that it’ll pick up more fingerprints than a crime scene at the slightest touch so be prepared to pay a high price in annoyance for that. Another con to the IXUS 510 HS is that the 3.2inch touchscreen does not live up to the high sensitivity that we have come to expect from daily smartphone usage and instead takes a couple of taps to get the right box and requires more bend than glide. That said however the on screen menu is easy to find your way around and the physical buttons for playback, on/off, shutter and the zoom rocker are all neatly tucked away on top.



The main feature with the Canon IXUS 510 HS is its WiFi functionality meaning you can now leave the Medusa’s nest of wires behind and be free to upload to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, email or by default send images to another camera, smartphone or computer. Two minor problems exist with this, however, whereby you can’t edit albums uploaded to on Facebook which means that if you’re planning on travelling the world and creating different albums for each country, you will have to pre-set albums on a computer before jetting off. The other problem is similar whereby you have to pre-enter email addresses onto the camera via your computer software as opposed to being able to type in ad hoc.



The Canon IXUS 510 HS takes a great photo with Vivid Colours, sharp images and the touchscreen allows you to focus on parts of the photo with ease. Take note, however, as the 510 only has a MicroSD for storage so you will need to factor this into your budget. It has adequate features in the image pre-sets including fisheye, vignetting, tilt/shift, and Toy camera but disappointingly these effects can’t be added after the shot has been taken so a bit of pre-emption is required.



The Canon IXUS 510 HS come in Silver, White, Black and Red and is available from around $550, €350 or £349. Now, I know what you’re thinking “Holy crap that’s expensive!” But hey you pay for convenience right? The 510 HS is a little more expensive than Canon’s cheapest DSLR, the Canon EOS 1100D, and if you’re willing to compromise on lens length and WiFi you will find cheaper cameras but you’re unlikely to find anything more convenient. Battery life could be better with only taking a meagre 180/190 photos but overall the Canon IXUS 510 HS is excellent small and stylish point and shoot that’s crammed with technology. Effectively, a pint sized hero.