I first came to know about the Canon IXUS 265 HS about a month ago when my father asked me to help him out with his search for a digital camera. Having his camera stolen while on vacation to Barcelona, he was looking to get the stolen camera replaced. My father said that he did not wish to spend more than € 150 (around 190 USD or 118 GBP) on a new camera.

While one can find several low cost camera models, there is no need to say that some of the cheaper models do not produce the best of photos. Thus I carried out several hours of research on the Internet until I finally concluded that the Canon IXUS 265 HS is one of the best cameras for my father’s budget. One of the most comprehensive reviews that I came across is this review from Tech Radar.

Having a list price of $179 in the USA, the Canon IXUS 265 HS fell within my father’s budget requirements. My father opted to buy the camera from a local computer store, which was selling the IXUS 265 HS for €165. In the end it cost him almost €200, which included the price of a high quality camera case and a 16GB SDHC Class 10 flash memory card.

Main Specifications

The IXUS 265 XS comes with a 12x optical zoom lens, which is pretty surprising when considering the small size of the camera and the relatively low cost. Apart from that, the camera is also capable of taking ultra-wide angle photos.

The 265 XS is also capable of producing 16 Megapixel photos and 1080p full HD movies with a maximum size of 4GB or 29 minutes 59 seconds in length. Inside the camera one can find a Digic 4+ image processor. This is not the latest image processor technology from Canon; however it is expected given the price bracket in which the camera falls.

Other features include red eye reduction, face detection and macro (enabling one to take photos up to 1cm in front of the camera lens). One can also use the GPS tagging feature, however this can only be carried out while linked to a compatible smartphone. For a full list of features, please take a look at Canon’s official site:

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_Camera/IXUS/ixus_265_hs/.

Data Transfer Methods

Unlike older digital cameras, it is not possible to transfer photos and movies directly from the IXUS 265 XS to a PC by means of a USB cable. Having said this, it is possible to transfer the files using Wi-Fi connectivity, NFC or simply by using an SD card adapter. Transferring files using NFC would require an NFC enabled smartphone.

Using Wi-Fi it is possible to transfer images and photos to a PC with the appropriate Canon software installed. Worth noting is the fact that the Wi-Fi file transfer utility requires a PC running Windows 7 with service pack 1, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1. I wasted a couple of hours trying to transfer files to my father’s Windows XP PC using Wi-Fi until I gave up and decided to use a memory card reader to transfer the files. It was only after a couple of weeks that I checked out the user manual and realized that it will never work on a Windows XP machine.

Conclusion

In the end my father was really happy to follow my recommendation to buy the Canon IXUS 265 HS. In fact he has already used it while on vacation in Turin and I have to say that I too was surprised with the quality of the photos. While there are definitely better, more expensive cameras available on the market, it is difficult to find a better camera for the price at the time of writing.