Canon Elph APS camera (IX 240)
The canon Elph is a very diminutive yet substantial APS film camera that came out in 1996. So many camera’s since have used the Elph moniker but this was Canon’s first as well as their first APS camera. It only has a 2 times zoom and a very pedestrian F4.5 maximum aperture but these are the sort of compromises that were made to create such a small camera. It weighs 180 grams but feels like so much more, I think because of how dense it is. The shell is made from a stainless steel alloy according to Canon and based on the small nicks and dings in my second hand copy it can take quite a beating. It has few features for creative control such as a +1.5 EV backlight exposure compensation that is determined by the camera and not user selectable. It does allow slow speed flash sync and with a half press of the shutter you can focus and recompose.
This camera in my opinion is an important milestone in the miniaturization of cameras as well as design, so many digital point and shoot cameras since have had similar styling that it’s hard not to see this as the precedent of the form. As for the images produced they are actually not bad as long as they are viewed at a reasonably small size such as 5×7″ which was really the intent of these cameras, to be small and carry anywhere camera to document life, before digital cameras and cell phone cameras ever came to market. The Elph IX240 even came with a case that had a belt loop so you could carry it on your hip, at a time I might add when cell phones didn’t.
