By Kenny Chee

WHEN she isn't rushing from one assignment to the next, my paper photojournalist Jamie Koh, 35, enjoys taking shots of her two cats.

"I like to document the daily habits of my cats in photos," she said.

And when it comes to these photographs, Ms Koh is exacting about accurately capturing the colours of the subjects and scenes.

That's why she likes Canon's latest compact digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, namely, the Ixus 130 and 210 14.1-megapixel compact cameras, as well as the 18-megapixel EOS 550D DSLR camera, which delivered on vibrancy of colour.

Ms Koh added that she would recommend the cameras for budding photographers, as the camera controls are intuitive.

The cameras can be purchased at Canon's booth 8101 during The IT Show.

The Ixus 130 ($499) weighs just 114g and is only 17.8mm thick.

The Ixus 210 ($649) is 137g and 22mm thick, and comes with a 3.5inch touchscreen display.

New to both cameras is a filter that can mimic the effect of a fish-eye lens, and another that gives images a miniaturemodel quality.

The camera body of the EOS 550D DSLR ($1,249) weighs 475g.

It can shoot photos in dim light and record highdefinition videos, too.

Ms Koh shows you her shots, and gives the lowdown on her experiences with the cameras.

kennyc@sph.com.sg

CANON IXUS 210

JAMIE SAYS: "The auto-tracking-focus function of the Ixus 210 made it really easy to take a photo of my pet cat, Charcoal."

"I wanted her eyes to be in focus, and all I had to do was tap on her eye as displayed within the camera's touchscreen."

"The camera then kept her eye in focus, no matter which direction she turned to."

"When she finally turned towards me, I snapped the photo."

"Not only are the details in this photo great, but the autotracking made photo composition a breeze."

"The 24mm wide-angle function also allowed me to get really close to Charcoal, giving me a picture with just the right amount of distortion."