Canon PowerShot ELPH 190 IS

The ELPH 190 IS is a pocket compact Canon released in 2016. At 95 x 57 x 24 mm and 138 g it is shirt-pocket sized, and the fixed lens means there is nothing extra to carry or choose.

That suits anyone who wants simple snapshots: family days out, holidays where weight matters, or a camera small enough to always be with you. Built-in Wi-Fi gives the camera a wireless connection, and the battery is rated for 190 shots, so plan on charging regularly on busy days.

Stills come from a 20 megapixel CCD sensor with Digic 4+ processing. That resolution leaves room for prints and modest crops, which suits a small, fixed-lens camera carried for everyday snapshots.

Sensitivity runs from ISO 100 to 1600, and the built-in flash provides light for dim rooms and evening gatherings. The 1/2000s top shutter speed gives you room to freeze everyday motion in good light.

Image stabilisation reduces the camera shake that blurs handheld shots at slower shutter speeds, so indoor photos without a tripod stay cleaner. It does nothing for subject movement, so active children and pets still need decent light.

With a single autofocus point and a burst rate of up to 0.8 fps, this camera rewards considered shots rather than fast action. Frame with the one point on your subject, then recompose if needed before you shoot.

Standard HD is the ceiling for resolution, and the top frame rate is 30fps. Those limits suit casual clips of family moments and holiday scenes destined for a phone screen or the web; a large television will show the resolution's limits.

Recording uses MPEG-4 or MOV file formats, so clips have a choice of two containers. Video files share the single SD card with your stills, so one card carries everything from a day out, ready to offload together.

There is no built-in timelapse mode, so interval sequences must be shot and assembled by other means. On a compact like this, video works best as a handy extra alongside the stills that are its main job.

Composition happens on the 2.7-inch TFT LCD with live view. There is no touch control and the screen does not flip out, and with 230,000 dots the panel shows limited detail when you review shots, though it serves fine for framing and playback checks.

Wi-Fi is the only wireless option; there is no Bluetooth and no GPS. Photos carry no location tag from the camera, so add one in an app if you want places recorded.

A built-in flash lights up dim interiors, and there is no support for an external flash unit. The body has no weather sealing, so keep it out of rain and spray.

Images record to a single SD, SDHC or SDXC card, and SDXC support accepts high-capacity cards for a long trip. With one slot there is no in-camera copy of your work, so offload your photos regularly to a computer.

The NB-11LH battery is rated at 190 shots. Treat that figure as a guideline rather than a promise of real-world endurance, since conditions and settings affect how long each charge lasts.

There is no USB charging, so the battery cannot be topped up from a laptop or power bank over a cable. A second NB-11LH lets you keep shooting while the first one recharges.