PHOTO QUALITY. This 20-megapixel compact camera captured images with good quality. We judged this model very good for outdoor performance, such as shooting landscapes in the daytime; good for indoor performance, such as photographing a well-lit basketball game in a gym; good for performance under natural light without a flash, such as shooting under an overcast sky.
FLASH. The PowerShot ELPH 160 captured flash shots that were good. In our distance test, we found the camera's flash could illuminate most subjects that are closer to the camera, but had some problems with distant subjects. The flash also has good, relatively even coverage.
LENS. This camera includes an 8x zoom lens. The lens also has wide-angle (28mm) capability that's useful for landscapes and group portraits, although you may notice a bit of distortion when you're shooting faces up close, for instance.
IMAGE STABILIZER. This is an important feature; taking hand-held shots at the telephoto end of the zoom range can generally blur or soften images due to the slight movement of your hands. Shooting telephoto in well-lit scenes, this model did an excellent job of minimizing the effects of camera shake. But in low-light settings, it performed poorly and very often produced blurry photos.
SPEED. In terms of performance, the Canon PowerShot ELPH 160 powers up very quickly.
VIDEO. The Canon PowerShot ELPH 160 takes just fair video. It captures HD video at 1280 x 720 30p. As for sound, it captures good audio in mono.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS. Like most point-and-shoot models, this camera does not include a viewfinder, which means you'll need to rely on the LCD to compose your photo or video. It has a small 2.6-inch LCD, which has good quality that lets you compose your shots and has decent playback of photos and video. This compact is thinner than most in its class.
