
Compact Flash Compartment
 |
The IXUS 330's Compact Flash compartment can be found on the right
side of the camera (from the rear), it is opened by sliding the
clearly marked CF OPEN lever downwards. The door itself is spring
loaded. Inside you will find a Compact Flash Type I slot (Type II
cards are not supported). Opening the card door powers the camera
off, however if there are images still being written the camera
will emit a high pitch beep continually until writing is complete
to warn you not to remove the CF card (why couldn't they have done
this on the EOS-D30 / D60?)
|

Connections
 |
On the left side of the camera, behind a rubber cover, are the
A/V out and digital (mini-USB) connectors. Looks like Canon didn't
take on my suggestion of sinking these connectors and having a small
hinged door.
The rubber cover for these connectors is about the only thing
on the entire case which doesn't look right, it simply doesn't blend
in to the overall design. It's a real shame Canon didn't counter-sink
these and produce a more flush design cover.
|

Lens
 |
The IXUS 330 is fitted with the same extending 3x optical zoom
lens we saw used in last years IXUS 300. The lens has an equivelant
focal length range of 35 - 105 mm (on a 35 mm camera) and a maximum
aperture of F2.7 at wide angle and F4.7 at telephoto (not that fast
but typical for an ultra-compact). One thing we liked about the
IXUS 300 and it's still true with the 330 is the speed at which
the lens extends, it takes just about 1 second for the lens to pop
out (although full startup takes longer, see timings & sizes
section).
|

Base / Tripod Mount
 |
On the bottom of the camera you'll find a metal tripod mount, unfortunately
(and as seems to be the case with ultra-compacts) the mount itself
is too close to the camera edge (left side in this case) to be very
useful. The problem with close-to-edge mounts is that they tend
to cause the camera to tilt in one direction when the mount bolt
is tightened. Obviously this may not be a big issue for the target
user of this camera.
|

Flash / AF assist lamp
 |
In the top right corner
of the camera you'll find the flash unit, just beside this is the
AF assist lamp. The flash has a rated range of 3.5 m (12.5 ft) at
wide angle and 2.0 m (6.6 ft) at telephoto. The AF assist lamp (which
can be disabled) is used to illuminate the subject with a white light
in low light situations, this improves the chances of TTL AF system
being able to make a good AF lock. |

Box contents
Supplied in the box are:
- Canon DIGITAL IXUS 330 / PowerShot S330
- Wrist strap
- Battery Charger CB-2LSE (Europe) / CB-2LS (US/Canada)
- Battery Pack NB-1LH (840 mAh)
- AC Cable (Europe)
- USB Cable
- Video Cable (A/V)
- CD-ROM (Driver, Appl. software)
- 8 MB Compact Flash card
|