Canon PowerShot SX100 IS

After using this camera for a longer period of time, I have a bit more to say about it than my initial review. While I originally touted the manual controls, I found that they were not as useful in real world situations as they were while simply getting to know the camera. This camera performs well in daylight, but shots requiring a flash will drive you nuts because of the long recycle time.

The Good:

* Compact size with great zoom (best feature)
* Great color (in good lighting)
* Flash is easy to control (doesn't fire when you don't want it to, a problem I've had with many other cameras)
* Nice LCD
* Comfortable grip, better than a mid-size pocket camera
* Easy to use
* Manual controls are easier than other compact cameras

The Bad:

* Flash can take up to 10 seconds to recycle, not good for people photos (for example, if you shoot a photo of a friend and find that it needs more light, you pop up the flash and have to wait 10 seconds before you can take another photo. most people find this wait time annoying.)
* Dead batteries leave the lens halfway retracted (making it risky to transport the camera until fresh batteries are installed)
* High ISO is too noisy (common with compact cameras, but I've seen other compacts that do better than this one when it comes to noise)

Overall opinion:

At this price point, the good mostly outweighs the bad here. If you are looking for a camera for travel, this gives you a long zoom, and thus a lot more freedom in what you can shoot, than a standard 3x zoom, without the bulk and weight of larger cameras and DSLRs. If your photography consists of mainly people, at all hours of the day and indoors, you might want to avoid this camera as it will feel too slow to get the shots you want. If your photography does NOT consist of mostly people, then this camera should work great.

I already have a SLR digital Rebel, but it is too big to carry to some places. So I was looking for something small, light and with enough features to keep me, a SLR buff, interested.

My wife wanted a sleeker, colorful and tiny camera. I felt that we needed a more jack of all trades model. So I looked for a good optical zoom (10x), and as much manual features as possible. I ended up with three cameras: a Sony, a Canon and a Panasonic. It didn't take much testing to see that Canon was superior in every aspect.

The menus are simpler than Sony's. The physical buttons are better placed and bigger than Panasonic's. The only thing that I will miss is to have wider lens. Both Sony and Panasonic have wider angles, good for that classic auto-photo with your friends in a club.

Other than that... My god. This camera is amazing. I didn't need the manual to figure the commands out. Everything is where it is supposed to be. You just navigate and the commands just appear in context of what you are selecting. So, if you are in full auto, you won't find controls for Manual Focus and flash. But if you change to other programs, these options are there.

The manual commands are great. The manual focus is almost perfect and the ISO options work perfectly. I prefer the way they built the flash: it does not open automatically when the camera needs it. It asks you to open. I hate when the flashes keep popping and opening without my consent. And also it is one more feature to break somewhere down the line. I like the idea of just opening the flash myself.

In the end. It is a little bigger than the models my wife wanted, but being an amateur photographer herself she didn't need much time to see that, for a few fractions of inches more, we had a better deal.

Oh. I almost forgot. The biggest problem, really, is the downtime between shots. These cameras need to be faster. It makes me crazy when I need to take a shot and I just have to wait while the microprocessor is working. Come on, guys. You can make it better.

Other than the speed issues... Great package. Amazing colors and lens. Almost perfect camera.

Whether you are an experienced DSLR owner (as I am) looking for a compact second camera or you are someone looking to upgrade from your old point-and-shoot digital camera, the Canon PowerShot SX100IS is a well designed compact camera that has a lot of rich features at a very reasonable price.

I've been using my Canon Digital Rebel (DSLR) for several years and am very pleased with it. However, I have become increasingly aware of how bulky it is, particularly when I want to go places where it's inconvenient to lug around - like going hiking. So I set out looking for a smaller pocket-sized camera that had as many features as I could find comparable to my DSLR.

Being a fan of Canon cameras I limited the field to the PowerShot G9, the PowerShot Pro Series S5 IS, and the PowerShot SX100IS, all Canon products. The G9 is promoted and priced as the best of Canon's non-DSLR cameras, although from the reviews I've read it is more appreciated for its look and feel than for its performance. It is an 12.1MP 6x optical image stabilized zoom camera that can shoot RAW images. In comparison, the SX100IS is an 8MP 10x image stabilized zoom camera that doesn't shoot RAW. (I've shot RAW using my DSLR and don't find it necessary to get great photos.) The SX100IS has almost all of the other features of the G9, is about the same size, but weighs a lot less.

The S5 IS is an 8.0MP 12x optical image stabilized zoom camera. It looks a lot like a DSLR but doesn't allow for swapping lenses, and it can't shoot in RAW. It has very similar features to the SX100IS but is considerably bulkier and weighs more.

Even though all 3 cameras live up to Canon's reputation for taking great shots, I chose the SX100IS over the G9 because it had a higher optical zoom capability, weighed a lot less and was about $200 cheaper. I chose SX100IS over the S5 IS because it is more compact and lighter, and is about $80 cheaper. (Also, the SX100IS' 10x optical zoom is pretty amazing in its own right.)

The SX100IS has almost as many features as the other 2 cameras at a considerably lower price. I particularly like the Macro setting (which allows me to take really close-ups shots of ferns and the like on my hikes), and I like the manual focus capability for when the situation is such that the auto focus won't work properly. Also, I find that the lack of a viewfinder isn't bothersome. In fact, in some instances like when I'm playing around with white balance, I can get a preview of how the exposure changes on the 2.5" LCD screen, which isn't available on my DSLR.

Since purchasing the SX100IS about a month ago, I find myself reaching for it more often than I do my DSLR. For my money and for most of my needs, this camera is superb.

I have used this camera for one month and will comment on my observations. First the zoom lens is superb. It works smoothly and is easy to operate. I use it all the time. The pictures at full optical zoom (10X) were crisp, detailed and clear. The color was bright, warm and true to life. I found myself saying, "Wow, wow, wow. I can't believe how great these pictures look ". They are superior to the ones I take with my Canon S2 1S. One brght and sunny day, I took some pictures of a near by river and pedestrians who were at least 100 yards away. I used the digital zoom to enlarge the pictures 40X. They were surprisingly good..again couldn't believe it. However, on a gray day this was not the case. The pictures were pixilated and of poor quality. However, the 10X optical zoom pictures were always excellent. The superb image stabilization system contributed greatly to the quality of the zoomed pictures. My Canon Powershot SD 1000 is a wonderful pocket sized camera but at times frustrated me because it only has 3X optical zoom without image stabilization.

The macro setting of the SX100 IS is superb and easy to use. The picture quality caused more "Wow, I can't believe how good they are." Some of my most exciting pictures have been in the macro setting.

The camera is small enough to fit in my pants pocket albeit with a noticable bulge. I have been carrying it this way for the past month even though I have a carrying case for it. I wanted a camera with a decent zoom lens to carry with me on most days. It works but it is definitely not as portable as the Canon Powershsot SD 1000. I don't mind the increased size because I love the zoom. Thus far the unprotected LCD screen has not been damaged in my pocket. The screen itself is good size, easily cleaned and scratch resistant. The screen in no way reproduces the fine quality of the pictures as seen on a computer or when printed out. The screen has fewer pixels than the SD 1000 screen. This is not a problem for me. There is no viewfinder but the screen works reasonably well for me in bright sunlight.

The camera has a solid feel which I like and is relatively easy to hold steady for zoom shots. The battery and SD card cover at first felt a bit fragile but on repeated use it seems to work just fine.

The movie function is average at best. The low resolution movie setting takes poor quality movie that are unacceptable to me. At the high resolution setting the movies are o.k. You can zoom during a movie but it goes out of focus. If I want a close up movie shot, I zoom first in the camera mode and then switch to the movie mode and shot the movie. The results are o.k. My Canon S2 1S zooms while shooting a movie which
I like.

I have not used the manual controls so I can't comment on them. I have use the programed shooting modes for evening and inside shooting etc and they work just fine.

This is a great camera albeit not perfect. For me, the picture quality is it's greatest asset. It is a pleasure to give it a 5 star rating.

This is a great camera for the pro/am shooter that wants a little, but sturdy camera around. I normally shoot with a Canon Mark II, so I'm sometimes reluctant to shoot with smaller cameras, but this is a great deal for the price and features.

First off, understand that no point-and-shoot will ever match the quality of an SLR... but as far as point-and-shoots go this is one of the better ones.

The top feature so far to me is the image stabilization. Absolutely amazing. With decent support I can take shots at 1/8 shutter speed and still come out with a clear shot. It's so much better than sacrificing picture quality with a higher ISO.

Second plus is the price. At around $250 the SX100IS is as good as the Canon A640 and about $100 less. The A640 is 10mp, 4x zoom and has a flip screen, but the SX100IS has 10x zoom to trump it. 8mp is all you need in a camera like this. Don't get me wrong, the A640 is a great camera, but the SX100IS is the better deal.

Everything else is what I've come to expect from Canon and more. Much better manual controls -- the scroll wheel makes it simpler to change settings. A wide variety of ISOs from 80 to 1600. Good face recognition technology.

The SX100IS falls short in only one area... the flash.

Before I get to the negatives, the great thing about the flash is that it doesn't pop up automatically, and yes that's a good thing. I like this because it's simple -- flash down, it will not fire. Flash up, it will fire. No fumbling around for the flash button, no unexpected flash in the museum, etc. It's a very common-sense approach. Kudos to Canon for believing that their customers aren't complete idiots and that they don't need an automatic flash.

Where the flash disappoints is in performance. First, as usual, it over powers on most close up people shots, whiting out faces. This is at least correctable by dialing down the flash power in the function options.

Red-eye is another problem I always seem to have with Canon point-and-shoot flashes. I don't think the red-eye reduction feature works at all.

There also seems to be a little delay when using the flash. Not that this isn't the case with other point-and-shoots, but this one seems a little longer than normal.

Finally, the automatic color processing with the flash doesn't compensate enough for the flash. Pics look a little blueish. It's not too bad, but again I've seen better.

So this camera gets a 4 out of 5 because of the flash issues, but if you're mostly shooting without flash (and with that great image stabilization, you can shoot a lot more no-flash) then it'd be 5 out of 5.