I've been running around with a big Canon S3IS for the best part of a year now & it truly is a great camera. Image stabilised, 12x optical zoom, a 0mm macro & in a size that's much more convenient than a full blown SLR (& markedly cheaper!). One day, I'm sure I'll take that next step, but for all the S3 does, I can't think of a better camera for my amaturist efforts.

That said, there are times when the S3 doesn't quite squish into the pocket as required & the 2 mega-pixel camera in my mobile phone really can't cut it for capturing a memorable moment. For that reason, I threw some money at a minuscule Canon IXUS 75. It's all rather automatic & doesn't have the whiz bang features required for all things arty, but to have it in the back pocket during a night on the town I think it's going to have been a worthwhile purchase.

Now, I'm yet to do any night out shooting (but some parties are a coming), so I scooted around the garden to see what it could do & I'm actually quite impressed.

Image stabilisation was something I thought would be a problem with the IXUS considering most new cameras now include it, but when the maximum zoom is only 3x optical it doesn't really become a problem, unless of course you're prone to jumping whilst taking photos. For the 12x zoom of the S3IS because zooming to that level, any movement looks like a 7 on the Richter scale. Hold the IXUS relatively still & you get a sharp photo. Couldn't get much simpler really, & you save a hundred or so on the price of the same camera with IS.

I suppose I'm now obligated to go out & do some night shooting. I suspect this may occur at some early hour, in a pub, at some weird angles & I may not remember taking any of them. But isn't that what these small cameras are all about!?