Name decoder · Canon

Canon ELPH vs IXUS vs IXY: is it the same camera?

Yes. Canon sold the same compact digital camera under three names, and the Canon Camera Museum lists them together on one page per camera: the Americas name (PowerShot ELPH), the Europe, Asia and Oceania name (IXUS) and the Japan name (IXY).¹ For example, the PowerShot SD1000 DIGITAL ELPH is the DIGITAL IXUS 70 in Europe and the IXY DIGITAL 10 in Japan. The model numbers inside the names usually differ, so search for the exact name printed on your camera, box or manual.

By the Digicam Atlas team · Names and dates read from Canon's museum pages on 2026-10-20 · 79 cameras in Canon's "ELPH / IXUS / IXY" series · Dataset: canon-camera-names.csv

Find your camera below. The box matches any of the three names, the launch year, or the squashed form (type ixus70 and it works). Where we have reviewed the camera there is a link to the review.

Names are Canon's own, as the museum prints them; Canon prints the trailing numbers of IXUS v2, v3, i5 and IXY DIGITAL L2 to L4 as superscripts, which we write inline. "No name listed" means the museum shows no name for that region. The other 160 compacts in the museum list show one name in every region and are not in the table. Each "Canon museum" link goes to the source page.

Is a Canon ELPH the same as an IXUS?

Yes, in the sense that matters when you buy one. Where Canon's museum lists a camera under ELPH and IXUS, it is one camera with two labels. Imaging Resource checked this with Canon for one pair in 2014 and reported that the Japanese IXY 130 "is the PowerShot ELPH 140 IS by another name".²

That is 74 of Canon's 79 ELPH / IXUS / IXY cameras listed with all three names, from the first Digital IXUS of May 2000 to the February 2017 models.³ The three labels follow where the camera was sold: Japan is IXY, the Americas is PowerShot ELPH (also written PowerShot Digital ELPH or "SD" numbers on older models), and Europe, Asia and Oceania is IXUS.¹

Is my Canon IXY 180 an ELPH 180?

Yes. Canon's museum lists the IXY 180, PowerShot ELPH 180 and IXUS 175 as one camera, marketed February 2016.¹ The IXUS number is not 180, which is the trap: do not assume the numbers match across regions.

Numbers match only sometimes. Five cameras from 2015 to 2017 show it:

Note that the ELPH 160 is the IXY 150 and IXUS 160, while the IXY 160 is the IXUS 165, a different camera that Canon's museum lists with no Americas name.⁴ A US ELPH 185 is the Japanese IXY 200. The only safe method is to look the exact name up in the table above. Our ELPH 180 / IXUS 175 / IXY 180 review covers that camera.

How do I find out which Canon model I have?

Read the name on the camera body, box or manual and type it into the table above. The table searches all three name columns, so it does not matter whether yours says ELPH, IXUS or IXY.

If the name is a bare number such as "180" or "300 HS", search that: the table also matches the numbers on their own. If two or three rows match, compare the launch year and the other two names with what is printed on your camera. We found no Canon page that says where on the body each region prints its name, so we give no rule for that; a camera bought from another region can carry that region's name, as Imaging Resource's story about the ELPH 140 IS and IXY 130 shows.²

Why does Canon use different names in different regions?

We did not find Canon saying why, so we do not claim a reason. What Canon's own pages show is the practice: one page per camera, with a name for Japan, one for the Americas and one for Europe, Asia and Oceania.¹

The earliest digital case is on record. Canon's press release for the first digital model, quoted by DPReview in May 2000, called it the DIGITAL IXUS and said it "blends Canon's award-winning IXUS design with PowerShot digital technology", and DPReview wrote that it was "known as the Powershot S100 Digital Elph in the USA".⁵ The museum's name for the same camera in Japan is IXY DIGITAL.³ You will find stories online about where "IXUS", "IXY" and "ELPH" come from. None of the ones we read came from Canon, so we leave them out.

When did Canon drop "Digital" and "SD" from the names?

In steps between September 2009 and February 2011, by region. In the museum list, the last Japan name containing "DIGITAL" is IXY DIGITAL 930 IS (September 2009) and the next one is IXY 10S (February 2010).³

• Europe, Asia, Oceania: the last "Digital IXUS" is Digital IXUS 200 IS (September 2009); the first plain IXUS is IXUS 210 (February 2010).
• Americas: the last "DIGITAL ELPH" with an SD number is PowerShot SD4500 IS DIGITAL ELPH (September 2010); the first name in the new style is PowerShot ELPH 300 HS (February 2011).

So an old "PowerShot SD1000 Digital ELPH" and a modern "PowerShot ELPH 180" are both ELPH-line cameras, but the US naming scheme changed between them. Hence the quick test: an SD number in the Americas means a camera marketed between May 2003 and September 2010, as in the table above.

Are there IXY or IXUS cameras that never became an ELPH?

Yes, 5 in Canon's list have no Americas name: IXY 32S, IXY 600F Samantha Thavasa Petit Choice, IXY 430F, IXY 620F, IXY 160.³

• IXY 32S (August 2011): IXY 32S is launched only in Japan.
• IXY 600F Samantha Thavasa Petit Choice (October 2011): IXY 600F Samantha Thavasa Petit Choice is launched only in Japan.
• IXY 430F (August 2012): IXY 430F is launched only in Japan and Asia. Europe: IXUS 245HS
• IXY 620F (August 2013): IXY 620F is launched only in Japan.
• IXY 160 (July 2015) Europe: IXUS 165

If you only see an IXY or IXUS listing for a camera you cannot find under ELPH, check this list first.

Do PowerShot A, SX, G and S cameras have regional names too?

Almost never. In Canon's museum list of 240 digital compacts, 160 outside the ELPH / IXUS / IXY series show a single name for every region. The one exception we found is the PowerShot SX280 HS (April 2013): the museum lists it as PowerShot SX280 HS/ PowerShot SX270 HS in Europe, Asia and Oceania, so a second model number came with it.³

Why do two different Canon cameras have the same number?

Canon reused numbers, in different regions and years. A name such as "IXY 200" or "ELPH 160" alone can be more than one camera, so add the year or the other names when you search.

Examples from the list above, using the numbers 160, 200 and 210:

These rows are the cameras whose Americas, Europe or Japan name contains that number as a whole number (it can be the model number or part of an S or SD name).

Which of these cameras have we reviewed?

31 so far. Each review is filed under the American name.

• Canon PowerShot S300 = DIGITAL IXUS 300 = IXY DIGITAL 300 (April 2001)
• Canon PowerShot S110 Digital ELPH = DIGITAL IXUS v = IXY DIGITAL 200 (May 2001)
• Canon PowerShot S230 = DIGITAL IXUS v3 = IXY DIGITAL 320 (October 2002)
• Canon PowerShot S410 = DIGITAL IXUS 430 = IXY DIGITAL 450 (March 2004)
• Canon PowerShot SD400 = DIGITAL IXUS 50 = IXY DIGITAL 55 (March 2005)
• Canon PowerShot SD500 = DIGITAL IXUS 700 = IXY DIGITAL 600 (March 2005)
• Canon PowerShot SD550 = DIGITAL IXUS 750 = IXY DIGITAL 700 (September 2005)
• Canon PowerShot SD600 = DIGITAL IXUS 60 = IXY DIGITAL 70 (March 2006)
• Canon PowerShot SD900 = Digital IXUS 900 Ti = IXY DIGITAL 1000 (October 2006)
• Canon PowerShot SD800 IS = Digital IXUS 850 IS = IXY DIGITAL 900 IS (October 2006)
• Canon PowerShot SD1000 = DIGITAL IXUS 70 = IXY DIGITAL 10 (March 2007)
• Canon PowerShot SD750 = DIGITAL IXUS 75 = IXY DIGITAL 90 (March 2007)
• Canon PowerShot SD850 IS = Digital IXUS 950 IS = IXY DIGITAL 810 IS (June 2007)
• Canon PowerShot SD870 IS = DIGITAL IXUS 860 IS = IXY DIGITAL 910 IS (September 2007)
• Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS = Digital IXUS 80 IS = IXY DIGITAL 20 IS (March 2008)
• Canon PowerShot SD770 IS = Digital IXUS 85 IS = IXY DIGITAL 25 IS (April 2008)
• Canon PowerShot SD990 IS = Digital IXUS 980 IS = IXY DIGITAL 3000 IS (September 2008)
• Canon PowerShot SD880 IS = Digital IXUS 870 IS = IXY DIGITAL 920 IS (September 2008)
• Canon PowerShot SD780 IS = Digital IXUS 100 IS = IXY DIGITAL 210 IS (February 2009)
• Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS = Digital IXUS 95 IS = IXY DIGITAL 110 IS (February 2009)
• Canon PowerShot SD940 IS = Digital IXUS 120 IS = IXY DIGITAL 220 IS (August 2009)
• Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS = IXUS 130 = IXY 400F (February 2010)
• Canon PowerShot SD1300 IS = IXUS 105 = IXY 200F (February 2010)
• Canon PowerShot SD4000 IS = IXUS 300 HS = IXY 30S (May 2010)
• Canon PowerShot ELPH 300 HS = IXUS 220 HS = IXY 410F (February 2011)
• Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 HS = IXUS 115 HS = IXY 210F (February 2011)
• Canon PowerShot ELPH 320 HS = IXUS 240 HS = IXY 420F (March 2012)
• Canon PowerShot ELPH 110 HS = IXUS 125 HS = IXY 220F (March 2012)
• Canon PowerShot ELPH 330 HS = IXUS 255 HS = IXY 610F (February 2013)
• Canon PowerShot ELPH 180 = IXUS 175 = IXY 180 (February 2016)
• Canon PowerShot ELPH 360 HS = IXUS 285 HS = IXY 650 (May 2016)

Related guides

Digicam terms explained · Which memory card does my digicam take? · Which cable does my digicam use? · All Canon reviews

Sources

1. Canon Camera Museum, PowerShot ELPH 180 page (IXY 180 / IXUS 175) (read 2026-10-20)
2. Imaging Resource, Canon's ELPH 140 IS comes to Japan, gets a new name (30 July 2014) (read 2026-10-20)
3. Canon Camera Museum, Digital Compact Cameras by series name (copy archived 23 September 2015) (read 2026-10-20)
4. Canon Camera Museum, IXY 160 / IXUS 165 page (read 2026-10-20)
5. DPReview, Canon announces Digital IXUS / S100 Elph (17 May 2000, with Canon's press release; Wayback Machine copy) (read 2026-10-20)
6. Each table row: the Canon Camera Museum page linked in its "Canon museum" link (read live on 2026-10-20).