This is a wonderful little
digital camera, which is almost exactly the same as the previous
S100 model, and retails for around $400US as of early 2002. The branding for the camera outside of the US market is the
Ixus v. The camera features improved electronics which allow it to save power, for example, when transferring files via the
USB interface.
However, this upgraded Elph also improves upon its predecessor by including support for creating 20 fps, 640x480/320x240/160x120 MJPEG AVI movie files! This feature gains it a microphone on the front and the ability to play back both video and audio through its A/V adapter cable. Picture quality is around what you expect for motion capture with high compression, and it will record as much as about 3.3MB or whatever's left on your CompactFlash card at a time (presumably, this capacity when uncompressed is most of its internal memory). This translates to 30 seconds of 160x120 video, 20 seconds of 320x240, or 6 seconds of 640x480. The audio is 8kHz, 8-bit, mono.Limitations of the mode are that similarly to what happens when the shutter is pressed halfway, the settings for zoom, exposure, focus, and white balance are locked in for the duration of the capture.
Despite the limitations, it's an amazingly cool feature for a digital device the size of my wallet. I'd not have minded pay a little extra premium to have more memory available and gain the ability to record up to 90 seconds of 320x240 video and the ability to take many more rapid-fire shots in sequence. Don't overlook this camera, though: it may only have 2.11 megapixel quality and 2x zoom, limited manual settings, and smaller amounts of buffering, but in exchange for these it has a very simple user interface, a very natural feel, and a size which convinces you to not even have to consider whether you'll want to carry a camera with you wherever you are going.
(Note: there are definitely some places I wouldn't take it unless I get the all-weather case for it ^^;)