Canon PowerShot ELPH / IXUS · on sale March 2012 · a retrospective

The Canon PowerShot ELPH 320 HS (IXUS 240 HS): the slim touchscreen compact with Wi-Fi

Sold in Europe as the IXUS 240 HS and in Japan as the IXY 420F.¹

In 2012 Canon put a 3.2-inch touchscreen and Wi-Fi on a slim aluminium compact with a fast 24–120 mm lens. Reviewers praised the lens and the low-light pictures and struggled with how to drive it.

Compiled from 2012 reviews by PhotographyBLOG and TechRadar, plus Canon and Imaging Resource launch data · we have not tested a unit yet

Release date and launch price: launched March 2012; launch price $279.99 · £279⁵³.

Meet the camera

It is a thin metal compact. PhotographyBLOG lists an aluminium body of 93.5 by 56.8 by 20.8 millimetres and about 145 grams, available in silver, black, purple, blue and pink,² and TechRadar's black unit was, in their words, wrought from matt aluminium.³ Both reviewers also found the thin plastic flap over the USB, HDMI and AV ports flimsy;²³ TechRadar added the battery cover to that complaint.³ PhotographyBLOG found no hand grip and a slippery surface, and advised shooting with two hands.²

Canon marketed it in March 2012 under three names: PowerShot ELPH 320 HS in the US, IXUS 240 HS in Europe and IXY 420F in Japan.¹ Imaging Resource listed US availability from 15 March 2012 at US$280, and its later specification table gives $279.99 retail.⁴⁵ In Britain, PhotographyBLOG quoted £279, and TechRadar put it level with the Panasonic Lumix FX80, Ricoh CX6 and Pentax Optio VS20.²³

Why this one was interesting

Almost no buttons

Imaging Resource's launch preview called the camera "nearly button-free thanks to its 3.2-inch touchscreen LCD", with one button on the back for playback.⁴ TechRadar said everything except the on/off switch and the playback button was reached through the screen.³ Canon's own feature list names a Touch Shutter, which takes the picture when you tap the subject on screen.¹

Wi-Fi in a pocket compact

Built-in Wi-Fi sent pictures and video to smartphones, computers and other Wi-Fi Canon products, according to Canon's museum page.¹ PhotographyBLOG described setup as relatively straightforward, though it needed some networking knowledge and, at the time of testing, an iPhone app with no Android version.²

A fast, wide lens

The zoom started at 24 millimetres with a maximum aperture of f/2.7.¹ TechRadar thought the lens was probably the camera's best feature and said it stayed sharp even in low light,³ and PhotographyBLOG rated the stabiliser at about 3.5 stops, working very well in low light and at the telephoto end.²

Two other Canon pocket zooms we have reviewed: the PowerShot ELPH 300 HS from 2011, and the PowerShot ELPH 360 HS from 2016.

What was lost

PhotographyBLOG's complaints about missing features were short: no raw files, no histogram while shooting, no 360-degree panorama mode and a slow zoom while recording video.² TechRadar noted that the camera records only JPEG files.³

The dark: its weak point is not the dark

This was the camera's strong suit. PhotographyBLOG found ISO 100, 200 and 400 free of noise, some noise and slight colour loss at ISO 800, more obvious noise and colour loss at ISO 1600, and ISO 3200 not too bad. The same reviewer called night shots excellent and noted a longest shutter of 15 seconds.² TechRadar's test shots held plenty of detail all the way to ISO 3200, and its verdict listed great low-light performance among the good points.³

Real photographs taken with this camera (sold in Europe as the IXUS 240 HS). The sensitivity shown is recorded in each file's own EXIF data.

Like that look? See recent eBay sold listings for this camera ↗

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The little wins

How it drew the picture

PhotographyBLOG gave image quality 4 out of 5, found fine JPEGs averaging about 5 MB, limited purple fringing and pictures slightly soft at the default sharpening.² TechRadar liked colour that was fairly neutral and the JPEG balance between file size and detail, but said the camera overexposes by up to half a stop, easily blows highlights, and struggles with dynamic range.³ Its explanation was that Canon had packed 16 million pixels onto a 1/2.3-inch sensor.³ The i-Contrast setting helped hold highlight detail, TechRadar found, while still lifting shadows.³

Photos taken with this camera, from Wikimedia Commons, credited under each picture.

Where it let you down

The touchscreen was the main complaint. PhotographyBLOG estimated shooting felt like 60 per cent tapping the screen and 40 per cent taking pictures, found it poorly calibrated, and said touch focus missed small subjects.² TechRadar called it insensitive, said they accidentally hit Reset All Settings twice in one session, and described the menu system as Byzantine.³ The screen was also hard to read in bright sunlight, with five brightness levels buried in the menus.³

TechRadar's Wi-Fi experience was worse than PhotographyBLOG's: the camera kept disconnecting from their computer, and uploads to Facebook posted a link with a preview hosted on Canon's own Image Gateway instead of the picture itself.³ Battery life was rated at 170 shots, which PhotographyBLOG called below average.⁵² Zooming while recording video took up to ten seconds from wide to telephoto.²

What the reviewers said in 2012

We found only two full contemporary reviews that we could read, so this page leans on them; other reviews exist that we could not open.

The timeline

• March 2012Canon markets the ELPH 320 HS, IXUS 240 HS and IXY 420F.¹
• 15 March 2012Imaging Resource lists it as available, at US$280.⁴⁵
• 24 May 2012PhotographyBLOG publishes its review.²
• 15 June 2012TechRadar publishes its review.³

Should you buy one now?

Buy one if you want a slim, stylish pocket camera with a bright wide lens and good high-ISO pictures, and you can live with a frustrating touchscreen. Treat the Wi-Fi as a bonus we have not tested. It launched at $279.99;⁵ what it sells for now is a question for the sold listings, not for us. Before you bid, check these:

• The name. It is the ELPH 320 HS in the US, the IXUS 240 HS in Europe and the IXY 420F in Japan, so search all three.¹
• The screen. The whole camera is driven through it, so test every tap, including zoom and the menu.³²
• The battery. It uses an NB-11L;¹ a fresh one is on Amazon ↗, and 170 shots per charge was the rating when new.⁵
• The card. It takes SD, SDHC and SDXC cards;⁵ see our memory card guide.
• The port flap. Both reviewers found it flimsy, so check that it is intact.²³

If you are wondering why cameras like this are being hunted down again, we tell that story once, in Pictures that never left the card.

See recent sold prices on eBay ↗Shop on eBay ↗NB-11L battery ↗

Sources

1. Canon Camera Museum, PowerShot ELPH 320 HS (marketed March 2012; names, lens, features, battery, size)
2. PhotographyBLOG, Canon IXUS 240 HS review by Mark Goldstein (24 May 2012)
3. TechRadar, Canon IXUS 240 HS review by Mark Sparrow (15 Jun 2012)
4. Imaging Resource, Canon PowerShot ELPH 320 HS preview (launch coverage, no lab tests; US$280, availability 15 Mar 2012)
5. Imaging Resource, Canon PowerShot ELPH 320 HS specification table (sensor size, SD/SDHC/SDXC, 170 shots CIPA, $279.99)

Camera photo by Plasmarelais (CC BY-SA 3.0); other photographs are credited under each one, all via Wikimedia Commons. Links to eBay and Amazon are affiliate links.