Canon Ixus 130 review

An excellent point-and-shoot compact for beginners, with plenty of features and great image quality

Canon Ixus 130
Canon's Ixus 130 is light on options, but heavy on usability

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

youtube

Movie modes can prove an odd blind spot for Canon – although its DSLRs are class-leading, who can forget the top of the line G11 compact, which offers only 640 x 480 at 30fps?

Fortunately, the Ixus 130 offers a movie mode which, while not exactly cinematic, is at least HD-compatible. The maximum resolution on offer is 1280 x 720, with a fixed frame rate of 30fps.

There isn't a wealth of options – you can't choose a more cinematic 24fps, for instance – and, with the features lacking in stills mode, it's not surprising that the option to set your own shutter speed and aperture size are absent.

It underlines the Ixus 130's role as a fire-and-forget camera for those who'd rather capture a moment than agonise about their camera's settings.

As it is, though, the Ixus 130 offers good-quality video at high resolution, and while pernickety types would prefer a decent manual mode, for under £150 it's hard to argue with what you get.

Dave is a professional photographer whose work has appeared everywhere from National Geographic to the Guardian. Along the way he’s been commissioned to shoot zoo animals, luxury tech, the occasional car, countless headshots and the Northern Lights. As a videographer he’s filmed gorillas, talking heads, corporate events and the occasional penguin. He loves a good gadget but his favourite bit of kit (at the moment) is a Canon EOS T80 35mm film camera he picked up on eBay for £18.

Latest in Compact Cameras
Image showing detail of the Leica D-Lux 8
Still can't get a Fujifilm X100VI? This premium Leica compact costs less, and it's in stock
Fujfilm GFX 50R
First Fujifilm GFX100RF images leaked in build-up to expected reveal – here’s what they tell us about the unique premium compact camera
Canon PowerShot V1 in user's hands, oudoors with a snowy Japan backdrop
I review cameras for a living, and the new Canon PowerShot V1 could be this year’s vlogging star – here’s why
Canon Powershot G7 X Mark III
Canon’s rumored PowerShot V1 point-and-shoot could hit the sensor sweet spot – and be first of two new PowerShots for 2025
Flashback ONE35 redisposable digital camera on a wooden surface
I tested the Flashback ONE35 "re-disposable" camera, and it's a novel idea let down by a shoddy app
Canon compact cameras tipped for a big return with rumored Powershot V1 – and I think that's Canon's most exciting play for 2025
Latest in Reviews
WWE 2K25
I've spent days in the ring with WWE 2K25, and it's like a five-star match ruined by the Million Dollar Man
Curaprox Hydrosonic Pro electric toothbrush
Curaprox Hydrosonic Pro review: A powerful seven-mode, Swiss-made sonic brush
Atelier Yumia
I was already sold on Atelier Yumia as an RPG, but I wasn’t expecting it to have my favorite crafting system in all of gaming
Alienware 27 AW2725Q monitor on desk displaying a scene from Cyberpunk 2077
I played games with Alienware's new 27-inch 4K OLED monitor and now I don't want to see another LCD panel
PLAUD NOTE
I tested this AI voice recorder, and now I'll never take meeting notes manually again
MacBook Air 15-inch with M4 chip on a creative's desk with screen open
I've reviewed the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) - and it remains the best 15-inch laptop I'd recommend for most people