The IXUS 100 IS came out in March 2009 as the slimmest Canon compact ever made at the time — 18.4mm deep, all-aluminium body, and the first IXUS to ship with an HDMI port for HD output straight to a TV. It carried the same 12.1MP CCD sensor and DIGIC 4 processor as the larger IXUS 110 IS, compressed into a body that sat genuinely flat in a shirt pocket. Priced at £299 at launch — you were paying for the body as much as the camera.
NO FILTER: SHOT ON IXUS 100 IS
THE LOOKS
In red — officially metallic red — the IXUS 100 IS has a deep, saturated finish with a slight metallic sheen that catches light differently from every angle. The all-aluminium body is 87 × 54.5 × 18.4mm, completely flat when the lens is retracted, with a small optical viewfinder sitting above the 2.5-inch LCD on the rear. The top plate controls sit flush in a contrasting strip so nothing protrudes. Also available in black, silver, and gold.
THE SPECS
The 12.1-megapixel CCD delivers warm, characterful output — the sensor type that makes early Canon IXUS images so appealing now. The 3× zoom covers 33–100mm with three Optical IS modes: Continuous for general handheld shooting, Shoot Only for maximum stability at the moment of capture, and Panning for moving subjects. DIGIC 4, Face Detection, Blink Detection, i-Contrast for shadow recovery. 720p HD video with HDMI output — notable for a camera 18.4mm thin in 2009. Optical viewfinder alongside the LCD. 87 × 54.5 × 18.4mm, 135g.
DESIGN HIGHLIGHTS
- 18.4mm aluminium body — Canon's slimmest compact at launch: thin enough to sit completely flat in a shirt pocket with nothing protruding when the lens is retracted.
- HDMI output on a 2009 pocket compact: one of Canon's first compacts with HDMI, letting you run HD slideshows directly on a TV without cables from a separate device.
- Optical viewfinder alongside the 2.5-inch LCD: increasingly rare by 2009 — useful in bright sunlight and for conserving battery on a charge rated for just 210 shots.
THE VERDICT
The IXUS 100 IS is the IXUS design language at its most extreme — the thinnest body Canon had made, wrapped in aluminium, in four colors including this metallic red. The CCD sensor delivers warm, characterful output that later CMOS models traded away for high-ISO performance. The 33mm starting focal length is the main limitation, but for everything else this is a camera that prioritized feeling special in the hand and delivered on it.