Отзывы о Цифровой Фотоаппарат Canon PowerShot SX160 IS

I just received the SX110IS last week and have been playing around with it. I researched this purchase extensively, so I'll share a few thoughts about that as well as my experience so far with the camera. I'm a pseudo-serious amateur photographer who produces and shoots some video professionally.

My criteria for selecting a camera was as follows:

-- I wanted a very portable camera with great image quality to upgrade my trusty A530 at a maximum price of $200. (I think that spending any more than this on a point and shoot is a waste of money -- you'll never get the qualities of a quality dSLR, or a cheap film point and shoot, like shallow depth of field no matter how much you spend.)

-- I plan on upgrading my DSLR to a full-frame model with high definition video capability in the next year or so, so I wanted something now that was portable enough to carry in my shoulder bag or coat pocket (but not necessarily my shirt or pants pocket).

-- I valued advice from Consumer Reports, Steve's Digicams, and dpreview.com reviews (as well as savvy Amazon reviewers!).

-- I wanted at least some manual controls, optical image stabilization and at least a 4x zoom.

-- My bias was toward good low-light capability (although I understand the limitations of compacts) and AA-battery capability. I really dislike proprietary batteries. They tend to die a slow death, putting you in the frustrating position of deciding when you've had enough of their diminishing capacity and need to search for a replacement. You have to buy and carry a spare at all times and purchase a third one after a year or so, which adds at least $60 to the cost of the camera plus hassle. (New technologies in NiMh rechargeable batteries like Eneloop are versatile, economical, high performing and more environmentally friendly.)

-- The video size had to be at least 640x480 with a frame rate of at least 30fps. I was hoping for high-definition video capability, but still-image quality was paramount.

Just based on image quality and portability, I considered a handful of different models, like the Panasonic Lumix TZ5 (proprietary battery, so-so dynamic range, but great portability and high-def video), Canon A590 (can you believe they downgraded the 640x480 video to 20 fps? A non-starter for me), Canon A2000 (max aperture of 3.2 is too small, plus no manual controls like aperture-priority mode) and Canon SD1100 (great size and interesting video features, but lack of manual controls), and the one listed here, the Canon SX110. I had a hard time choosing, and finally went with the SX110.

I've been using the SX110 for a couple of weeks now. The image quality, when light is adequate, is nice, and the zoom is fantastic given the camera's size. I've done some side-by-side shots with my A530, and the image detail and low-light capability of the SX110 is quite lovely. (I have to say that it's downright depressing when compared to my cheapie Canon Rebel 35mm film camera with a 50mm lens on it--hence my comment about not spending very much on a digital point and shoot!)

At the end of the day, the SX110 is a great package overall with respect to optics and functionality. However, the build quality of this camera gives me cause for concern, despite the fact I'm VERY gentle with all my equipment. Aside from the entire camera housing "feeling" very cheap (much less sturdy than my "cheap" old A530), which is something that I could get over, there are two major problems:

1) The little "video out" door on the side of the camera, once opened, will not shut completely and stay closed. It seems the latch to keep it closed isn't engineered right, or else it must have broken the first time I opened the door. I thought it wasn't a big deal, but the fact that this little door is always ajar is a real pain (e.g., it catches on things because it just falls open when you tilt the camera on its side).

2) The sliding door that contains the batteries and memory card is extremely hard to open. It appears to have the same basic mechanism as my A530, but it is infinitely harder to operate. I can do it, using two hands and inserting my fingernail to move the door over, but it really feels like I'm forcing it, and I can guarantee it will break after a dozen or so times. And that door can't afford to be opening unexpectedly!

I don't know if I got a lemon, or if this is what I should expect out of this camera, but it is definitely going back. This weekend I'll stop in a local store who I know carries it and see if I encounter the same issues with their display model (I'll update this posting when I have more information). For now, I feel like being generous so I'm giving the camera four stars. It could go to five stars if I get a replacement model that has functioning doors, or to one star if that camera doesn't exist. If that's t

Have had issues with Canon camera and would not recomment for you to buy. I have now swithed to Nikon and love it.

Our model showed the battery empty indicator even with a brand new set of batteries. We tried at least three different sets, but the behaviour was the same with all of them. After working correctly for a few minutes the camera's battery empty indicator showed and the camera shut down. We got a replacement, but it had exactly the same fault. This is a very disappointing product from Cannon, who I'd always thought to be a paragon of Japanese quality and reliability.

Nice colors. Great zoom. Quiet & smooth zoom operation. Decent view finder with diopter. Lots of functions. Decent low light performance. Improved video performance. Pictures are sharp and clear up to 400 iso. After that, typical noise visible. Stereo sound. Uses 4 AA batteries instead of 2 thank goodness. Too many buttons in places where accidentally pushed too often & too easy. Easy to block the auto focus beam with your finger. Autofocus has been inconsistant. Especially indoors, or in lower lighting situations. I've had blurry pictures where I didn't have before or shouldn't have. I'm no pro but, I do take a lot of pictures. Some were published by the College where I work. I like the camera but, I find the inconsistant autofocus cause for concern. My powershot A710is is more consistant in autofocus. Also experiencing inconsistancies loading pictures onto the computer using Canon software & attaching the camera/computer via the cable supplied. Sometimes pictures load ok, other times, the process stalls. I found that using a card reader works better for me. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software, but no change. All in all it's a nice camera. For me, focus lock & patience is a must. It just doesn't focus quickly/easily everytime indoors or in lower light situations. (like i'm used to)

UPDATE 11/09
Had to return this camera to Canon for repairs. I started getting "lens error restart camera" message. Canon fixed it and returned it to me promptly as it was under warranty. So far, I am unimpressed. This camera gets glowing reviews everywhere I look. Guess I just got unlucky. I won't buy another super zoom. I'll go DSLR first. If i'm going to invest, then I just will invest more in the better camera.

It's really a shame because when the camera is right, it's awesome. I'm hoping that since Canon got it back on the repair bench, that just maybe they found some problems created at the factory, and now have this camera on the right road. I really like the features. What I also discovered was that the mov files are not compatible with windows vista. I had to buy a third party software to convert the mov files to either avi, mpeg or wmv should I want to make movies. Here's hoping.....

UPDATE 12/7/2009
Just got back from Walt Disney world. I put this camera through a lot of use with stills & video. As long as light is plentiful, the stills & videos are very clear. The autofocus was very good. It's under poor lighting where the autofocus really stumbled often. I get better results with my A710is in poor lighting. It's just hasn't been a good night camera for me. I tried the 1600 iso, but the noise was just awful. Forget 3200. I don't know why Canon even bothered putting it there. In my stills, I used the "vivid color" setting outdoors. I loved it. The colors were vibrant as I like personally. I shot outdoor video in "vivid" also. Those too looked better for me. The colors were richer.

I still hold my opinion of this camera as 3 stars. For the money I paid for this, I expect better performance from the autofocus. I understand that this is a glorified point & shoot with a boat load of features, and those features are useful. I'm under the impression that the objective of a point and shoot is simplicity, not constantly fussing with manual settings with almost evey picture taken under lower lighting situations. Any camera can take decent day pictures (providing the user sets the camera to its best settings). The autofocus system on a camera of this price should hold up under tougher lighting conditions better than this. Just my opinion. I still like this camera because of the huge zoom but, I think a huge zoom on a point and shoot is a mistake now. I think (suspect) the huge zoom is the entire cause of all the autofocus issues I have with this camera. Too much glass for the image to pass through. The lens is a good lens for point and shoot but, it's not an SLR lens........

If most of your picture taking and or video shooting is done under decent lighting, then this is a great camera for people. Their pictures and videos will please them greatly. The pictures are clear and sharp. The videos are also quite good. The camera with the MOV format zooms cleany while shooting video. You can brighten the video if need be while shooting. Just expect issues under so-so lighting.

My next camera will be a dslr.

The Canon SX10 IS is a very impressive superzoom camera.
The ergonomics of the SX10 are excellent. The camera feel substantial but not overly heavy in the hand, and the fingers wrap around the grip very naturally and securely, leaving thumb and fingers well position for the controls. The menus seem very intuitive to me - almost all the settings are where I expect to find them. (This may be partly because I have owned several A-series cameras and know the Canon menus system, but I recall thinking with my first A-series camera that the menu distribution made a lot of sense.) The menu settings include a customizable menu list that can be set to include the users most frequently accessed menu items, edited to the order of the owner's choosing, and, if desired, set to be the default menu on initial access of the menu functions - overall a means of truly customizing the camera to one's own particular needs and uses. Many users will join me in applauding the presence of focal-length markings on the lens barrel - a nice feature that means a lot to more experienced photographers but is notably lacking on the models of most other manufacturers.
The range of capabilities of this camera is remarkable. Begin with the lens: 28 to 560 mm equivalent in 35-mm terms. This means that, from about 12 feet away, I could on Christmas morning make one exposure that encompassed the room, all the decorations, and the day's several celebrants, and without moving, fill the frame with a single ornament on the tree on the other side of the room. Both are remarkable in their own way. One of the things I have missed in moving to compact digital cameras from high-end 35mm cameras was a seriously wide angle lens. A 28 mm lens gets a lot of wear and tear in the kit of a serious 35mm shooter, begin used both indoors and out to capture wide expanses. Having a 28 mm short end of a zoom is vastly different than calling 35 mm "wide angle." On the other end of the scale, 560 mm is a lot of lens, and one would seldom attempt to hand-hold that much lens with a conventional 35 mm system. Image stabilization, however, allows sharp shots hand-held with the long lens. Image stabilization is said to allow a gain of 2 stops in exposure latitude. The usual rule of thumb is to reach for a tripod whenever your shutter speed is slower than the inverse of your lens length (i.e., 1/30 sec for a 28 mm lens, 1/60 for a "normal" 50 to 55 mm lens, 1/250 for the long end of an ordinary zoom in the 210 to 270 mm range. With practice, photographers can often beat that rule by one stop, but with IS I have beaten the rule by 3 to 4 stops with tack-sharp results.
The reason that Canon digitals attract a lot of gray-haired photographers with extensive 35-mm experience is because most of their cameras have easy access to shutter- and aperture-priority modes and a fully manual mode in addition to the several programmed modes on the dial. There are times when us old geezers look at a prospective shot, identify potential exposure problems, and solve them by selecting a specific shutter speed or aperture value, or sometimes both. Such settings remain easy to access and manipulate with the SX10, and the other specialized program sets are well-conceived, if rather standard, and equally easy to access with the control dial. The control dial also has a setting that can be customized to give quick control-dial access to a set of features and settings that the owner anticipates using frequently - thank you, Canon, for recognizing that your customers have brains of their own.
The software has some pretty gee-whiz features. Face detection seems to work very well, and the camera can pick out all the faces in a frame and it allows you to select one to be highest priority in focus and exposure. Even more remarkable is a delayed exposure option that counts the faces in the frame when the shutter button is pressed, then recognizes when a new face (the photographer's) shows up, and fires two seconds later. I am not sure how often it will be used, but the very capability is a remarkable bit of intelligence to be present in a camera. Focusing can be set to face-detection or a defined-zone system that starts with a central square and can be shifted by the photographer. Exposure options include evaluative, full-frame center-weighted, or spot metering, and the spot meter can be linked to the focus frame. The focus frame can be blown up either prior to shooting or in review to check focus. (I found this feature to be a bit distracting to composition, so I turned it off in the menus but I can imagine situations in which I might reactivate it.) Auto focus can be set to continuous or shutter-button activated; servo focus off or on. The flash is activated to raising or lower it; auto and forced flash is available; a red-eye lamp is pretty ineffective and can be turned off, as can the focus-assist beam; flash can be synced to first or second curtain. S

I got this camera as a present some time in 2006. This is the first one I ever owned and I honestly never had any problems with it - well, now the battery lid is hard to close and open but I think it's because I put something heavy on it. (So I can't complain because it's my fault.)

But really, this is a true survivor - like, survived rain and snow for a good while.
And I have no complaint as to the quality of the pictures - well, I'm more of a hobbyist where photography is concerned so I'm probably not great at it. The only thing is when I try to take pictures at night without the flash - when the ISO is too high, the pixellisation kind of ruins it for me. And the screen does not really help if you want to check the pictures for slight blurs. Considering that it's been around for almost 6 years, I do believe it's normal. Technologies moving fast and all. About the battery... if you are the type to snap loads of pictures at once, you may think the autonomy is not that great - at least, when the batteries are out, the camera still manages to shut down properly...

The good things about this Canon here are that it's pretty handy and that it can be trusted to last a long time. (I'm a messy person and have a terrible karma with electronic things, except with this one.)
If you want to have a camera to carry around with you, on holidays or anything, without feeling the need to get a reflex or anything let's say... more professional, I would say that this one is perfect.

I lost my last cap so I wanted one with a string to attach to the camera strap. This comes with this stick on piece for the string but theres not even a place to stick it to. I ended up drilling a hole in the cap and threading the string through it and tie it off.

The camera was even better than I expected. It arrived within 3 or 4 days and I couldn't be more pleased with the camera or the service.

I bought this camera to take with me to a concert I went to back in february. I knew that I was in the 6th row, so I needed a good zoom, and I needed something with fairly low noise at high ISOs because of the indoor lighting. I also needed something that was fairly low in price.

After much searching I decided on this little gem of a camera, and boy am I glad I did!

Some of the things I love about this camera:

It's compact. I was looking at the sx10is which is a bit of an upgrade, but ultimately the compactness of the 110 won me over.

It's inexpensive. At least as far as cameras go. I make very little money with my part time job, so I was looking for something that wouldn't break the bank and for about $[...] you can't argue with this.

You can set most everything manually. This came in great handy at the concert when I needed a quicker shutter speed than the pre-set settings wanted to give me. I also like knowing that I can control the image instead of just pushing a button and hoping for the best.

Beautiful 3in screen. Very lovely to use and very clear.

Manual flash. I hate hate hate built in flash for anything other than when you're taking a quick snapshot of you and a friend at night, so this was very convenient for me. I could flip up the flash when I wanted it, and when I didn't it would stay down.

Pretty nice in low lighting. At the concert there was very little light on stage so I cranked the ISO up to 800 and was happy with the amount of noise. It was still there, but it wasn't distracting like on some other cameras.

Nice video quality. I wasn't sure of the video quality when I bought it and was hoping for the best at my concert where I know lots of videos get overwhelmed with the bass. Luckily, it didn't sound like a bomb was going off at every beat. The sound isn't as good (in my opinion) as the sx10, but it's still pretty good. The video is also pretty high quality.

10x optical zoom. I. Love. This. The whole trip I took while seeing the concert was filled with me playing around with the zoom from our 9th story hotel room. There was a group of police officers talking with a man directly across the street from our hotel and you could literally read their name badges from how close it could zoom in.

Now for some things that I don't like so much.

First of all, the screen has no protection so it's easily scratched if it's not in a case whenever it's not being used. This is a turn off for me only because I'm the kind of person who likes to throw stuff into my bag and be on my way without worrying about it getting scratched up, or having to worry about the bulkiness of a case. This is by no means a reason to not buy the camera as this problem is easily remedied by keeping the camera in a small case or using a screen protector.

Next is that you can't use the optical zoom while taking movies. This bothers me because I really like to take video at concerts and it's a pain if you set the zoom wrong at the beginning of a video and can't change it throughout.

On that note, it's also VERY easy to switch from "standard" video mode to "compact" mode. Compact mode is a considerably lower resolution than standard and is closer to the resolution on a camera phone than the much higher quality of the standard mode. This has happened to me on at least two occasions and I couldn't figure out how it was happening until too late. It can easily change if the wheel located near the right thumb is moved while the camera is in movie mode. This is the one flaw that is causing me to give the camera 4 stars instead of 5 (I'm still bitter about the footage I lost because of it). This, however, can become a non problem if you're aware of how it can happen and how to fix it if it does happen.

To wrap this up, the sx110is is an excellent camera if you want an awesome zoom, and good quality images on a budget. I will definitely continue to use this as a non DSLR concert/everyday camera far into the future!

EDIT: I tried to leave some links to pictures and video I took with this camera, but apparently I can't do links in a review. If you'd like to see pictures just search flickr for katiebean, for video search youtube for katiebean08.

I actually bought this camera at a yard sale for way cheap! I absolutely love it! I bought it just after I finished a photography class, so I knew a little about cameras and was excited to get my own, even if it was just a point and shoot. I quickly learned that this camera can take some amazing shots! It has a feature called "super macro" that allows you to get sharp pictures of very small things! It's an amazing camera for beginners who love to control what is in and out of focus!

I bought this camera in January 2010, and I had to call Amazon.co.uk immediately after using for 5 minutes as it had a rattling sound coming from inside the camera once the power to the camera was switched off. Full credit to Amazon, they gave me the option to get the refund or get a replacement. Thinking that the camera is made by such a big company, I decided to take a replacement option. Amazon sent the replacement without waiting for the return of the original unit. I returned the first unit straight away, although Amazon gave me 30 days to return.

The rattling noise never went away - it always gave me the feeling that the lens never retracted properly. I believe it is a design fault and perhaps other owners can also check. Unfortunately the camera lens does not open at all and gives me the error - "Lens error. Restart camera". I called Amazon, and they asked me to call Canon UK. Canon UK support was awful. They said that I should send the camera to a third party (gave me a choice to pick a company - one from Colchester, one from Stoke-on-Trent, one from Glasgow ). How would I know which company to pick. I then picked one from Colchester. After calling them it became very clear that this company had nothing to do with Canon. So if the camera is lost in transit or misplaced by this company. I am not sure where I will end up.

I explained this to Amazon, and they are now arranging the unit to be collected from me and have promised me to refund the original money (I notice that the new price has gone up by around £100 since January 2010).

I dont think I can add any more to the image quality of this camera, and is shown with great enthusiasm by some of the other reviewers, but the build quality is equally important. I am planning to go on holiday in 2 weeks time, and I am devastated that the camera does not even open.

My advise will be not to go for this model of Canon. I had a similar bad experience with Canon 5 or so years ago when I bought a high end, all singing and dancing camcorder, and exactly the same way, it stopped working one day after the warranty had expired. At the time I thought I will never buy Canon products again. May be I have been un-lucky or may be I don't use these camera enough to keep them in prime condition. However I have owned a number of Sony cameras over the last 10 years, and they are still working after 5 or 6 years.

I thought I share this experience with other customers who might be thinking of buying one of these. I use customer experience regularly and I am certainly influenced by what I read. I must admit it is hard to sit down and write, but then somebody got to write for me to read as well.

This camera takes good outdoor pictures. But that's about all it can do. It is slow to focus. It uses AA batteries and they must be replaced often. Low light pictures are very dark. Just not worth the money.

I've had the PowerShot a590IS for only about a month now. I didn't expect the two AA batteries or the SD card that came with it to be anything spectacular. They weren't. Replaced the card with a 1gb eFilm PRO SD card and solved that problem. But the batteries -- After the supplied batteries quickly died, I replaced them with a pair of 2300 mAh Lenmar rechargables - fully charged. I expected to be off and running with a reasonable amount of battery life on hand. Not so. That wretched little, red low battery flashing icon came on in less than two hours of non-constant camera use. Two additional, freshly charged, batteries had the same result. I'm thinking this may be partially my fault as I did use the LED screen and flash about half that time. But I really do think I should have gotten more use from these batteries. So, I have purchased a pack of four Sanyo NiMH, Eneloop batteries and await their arrival. I did a lot of research on which batteries to purchase and try, and these seem to come out on top. It is claimed these particular batteries don't leak juice, just sitting there, the way others will. I have a Nikon dSLR and a Canon SD870IS and I'm just not used to low battery life. I wish this a590IS had the same type of battery that's in the 870. Perhaps I see the need to change the approach I have of tending to battery life with my use of the a590 camera. I've shut the LED off (on the 590) except for a few seconds of post-view after a shot. I have to use the LED to compose with the 870IS, but won't with the a590. I also find that the 590 gives me a "softer" print than the 870, but I can live with this. I really only want the a590 as a camera that can travel with me that I dont have to worry about. But, it would be nice to get some mileage out of it if I'm along the coast of Maine, or some such place for the day where it would get a good amount of use. I do really like this a590IS, but give it only three stars because I have no confidence in it's ability to last a reasonable amount of time. It hasn't done that yet. Perhaps the new batteries and my new approach (which I don't really think I should have to take) will make a difference here. I'll edit this whole thing if that's my experience after a reasonable amount of time. Maybe I should have gotten the updated Canon SD880IS and use 870IS as my travel companion. That would have been a great idea, but the 870IS is too expensive for the casual attitude I could have with the a590. Again, I do like the a590, but it does chew up the batteries - at least for me. I hope that changes. If it does, I'll report that. Until then. . . .
_______________________

Well, It's been almost two months since the above post. A very helpful person replied and suggested a stronger battery - but, please read on: The four Sanyo Eneloop batteries arrived and I purchased four 8X Energizer Lithium batteries (+/- $11 for either 4 pack). I took two of the Eneloops right out of the pack and put them in the camera. It's well over 200 shots later now and the Eneloops appear to be still going strong. I have become a believer in the Eneloops and now have the confidence in the A590IS that caused me to give the camera only three stars earlier. I have two of the 8X Energizer lithium batteries in the camera case for when the Eneloops need to be replaced, only to be recharged. The 8X Energizers are not rechargable. I have since purchased four additional Eneloops along with the charger for these batteries. Around $15, on sale, at Amazon. The Eneloops (and, possibly the Energizers) will eventually replace, and become my only AA battery. The Sanyo Eneloop batteries are only 2000 mAh, but they don't loose their charge the way other rechargables will while just sitting there. I don't seem to need anything more than this 2000 mAh rateing. If I could change the star rate of the A590IS, it would be to four stars. Not five because I would like to see a wider field of view at that end, and I do find that sunlight in back of me does diminish the LED effectivness - but the optical viewfinder is there for those occasions. I suppose the camera would be more expensive if it overcame these two points. So, it was the batteries all along. Sanyo Eneloops solved this and I expect the 8X Energizer lithiums will be good also. I would report on the Energizers, but the Sanyo product doesn't seem to want to give up so I can try the lithiums. Just a moment to say that I keep the camera on aperature priority or progrm so I can keep the ISO at 200 (manually set), or below. Others have complained about noise, but I haven't seen any at these ISO settings. It's good to have the confidence, now, in this nice little camera.

Very solid full metal construction. Strong leaf springs on bayonet. A little TOO snug but it is fine. The release button on the adapter isn't the best but it works fine. For the price you can't beat it.

I have this exact camera. It is sitting in front of me so I'm sure. I really don't remember what I paid for it, but I did NOT pay anywhere close to $688.00! I know that because I've NEVER paid that kind of money for a camera. I doubt I paid over $300 at a major retailer less than a year ago. It's a great little camera, but it doesn't have to cost nearly this much. I didn't buy it used and I didn't buy it refurbished. Mine was new out of the box from a major retail electronic store. And it wasn't a discount store. Or a Black Friday. I just found one new on-line for list $375, selling for $279. There is something wrong with this picture! lol, I didn't even mean to make a funny!

Amazon itself is selling the Canon PowerShot SX130IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 3.0-Inch LCD for $175.00 and it is the next higher model from the camera in this ad, Canon Powershot SX110IS 9MP Digital Camera With 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)

I like Canon cameras, and I really like my Canon Powershot SX110IS. I just don't think you have to pay almost $700 for it. I'm just saying, do some research before you order this camera for this price.

I've had this camera for about three years. I normally don't write reviews, but I started looking for a new (additional) camera with a longer lens which got me to realize what a terrific buy this was. I have taken super pictures with it. I don't understand some of the reviews that complain of battery life. I've had a great experience with battery life. Now if I can only find a comparable camera with a much longer lens I would be very happy. The newer cameras have a gps for some reason and no optical viewfinder which is necessary in bright light situations. Dropping the optical viewfinder was a big mistake and many of the new bells and whistles hardly make a difference. I don't understand why manufacturers don't build on previous successes and instead wander off into the great unknown. As someone who is only interested in stills, I would like not to sink money into movie capabilities and gps's. Cannon seems to be asleep at the wheel. Don't they notice that the A590 is selling for many times its original price? Apparently not. Why could they not have simply improved on the 590 with a longer lens and possibly more pixels? Too easy? This seems to be a problem with the corporate culture. Idiots.

Quick review:

Pros:
- Great price.
- Easy to use.
- Feels like a real camera in your hand.
- Takes great pictures right out of the box.

Cons:
- It doesn't automatically get turned off when it's idle for too long.
- It takes grainy pictures when the light is poor.
- When you zoom in at some of your pictures in full resolution, you will find that some of them are grainy.

Full review:

I purchased this camera right before leaving for a long trip abroad. I expected it to be a wonderful camera for taking all those pictures of my vacation. It never did disappoint me and it produced wonderful results, some of which do indeed look very artistic. I have a friend who's a professional photographer, and he did praise some of the pictures that I took. It really never failed me.

The first major thing that other reviewers mention is the design of this beauty. It's very well-designed and isn't ugly at all. It sure isn't as slim as some other cameras, but I think that the size is just right, the buttons aren't hard to press and it has that intuitive Canon interface that allowed me to take my first pictures of my vacation right after I left the airport.

I bought Energizer Rechargeable Batteries for use with them, and they generally lasted for about 4-5 days of average tourist usage - this means taking a picture every 5-10 meters. I don't use flash as I only took pictures in daylight, when sightseeing and public transportation networks were functional. The battery life is great.

I only had one issue with the battery life. I always had the camera in my backpack, and it did get turned on somehow and remained on till the batteries were empty a couple of times. This actually prevented me taking any pictures of one of the most beautiful towns that I have been to, which is a real pity. It was on a weekend and I couldn't find any place where I can find some batteries. I think that Canon should add a functionality that will prevent the camera from staying on for too long.

Another issue that I had with this Camera was the fact that it takes grainy pictures when the light is poor. This means that most pictures taken in the dark will be somewhat grainy. I don't think that it's a real issue as taking pictures of ghosts isn't one of my hobbies, but it still is something to consider.

Another thing to consider is the level of the details. When you download your full-resolution pictures to your computer, open them in an image viewer, and zoom in to 200-400% you will notice that the pictures can be grainy. This isn't that great when you're editing those pictures in Photoshop, but this isn't a real issue if you're not a professional photographer or a hobbyist. You can not the pictures from this camera to be as crisp as those coming from a Nikon D3 after all.

All my customer images on Amazon were taken using this camera, you can see how great this camera really is.

I took thousands of pictures with this camera and it's still going strong. I think that it will really serve me well for my needs for years to come. I am not a photographer, and all that I am interested in is taking pictures of the places that I go to, family, and friends. This camera does that, does it well, and comes at a great price. It's unbeatable in this price range. It's a great camera for a student like me.

It really helped me document my vacation and gave me more than two thousands pictures of pure beauty. I am really grateful for that.

*4.5 Star Rating*

My first digital camera was a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W50. I dropped it a lot, and after 2 years of prodigious beatings it finally gave out on me. It was nice while it lasted, but one thing is for sure, I hated the fact that I could not zoom while recording in movie mode.

I received that Cyber-Shot 2 years ago, and when I recently researched Sony Cameras, I found out that they still did not offer zoom in movie mode, even in their top of the line equipment.

So my first priority when researching a new camera was to make sure Optical or Digital zoom was available while recording video. I researched every camera on the market, and after such extensive research, Canon was at the top of my list, followed by Nikon and Panasonic.

It took me about a week to finally reach my decision, and I am very satisfied with my purchase. Canon Digital cameras are top of the line, and most of them offer digital zoom in movie mode, and the Canon SX10 even offers 20x Optical zoom in movie mode, but it was too rich for my blood.

At the end of the day, the Canon SX110IS had everything I wanted and more. The things I was looking for were:

1. Zoom enabled in movie mode.

2. 3 inch LCD at 230,000 megapixels.

3. Manual mode. (So I could prepare for Professional SLR cams)

4. Long range zoom in still mode, between 5x-20x.

5. AA cell operated.

6. 8-15 Megapixels.

7. 28mm Wide Angle Zoom Lens

The Canon delivers 6 of the options I wanted and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 delivers 5 of the options I wanted. The DMC-TZ5 is equipped with options 1,2,4,6, and 7, while the Canon is equipped with all of those options, except 7.

We might also note that the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 records movies in HD, and has "Optical" zoom enabled in movie mode, while the Canon SX110IS does not offer HD quality movies, and only has the "Digital" zoom in movie mode.

If you do not know the difference; For an easy summary, "Digital" zoom magnifies the target but distorts the picture as you zoom closer, while "Optical" zoom magnifies the target, and as you zoom closer it keeps the image as sharp and clear as possible. The Canon can only shoot "still shots" using the 10x "Optical" zoom.

In movie mode, it only offers the 4x "Digital" zoom, which is not that bad, considering I had no zoom at all in my Sony Cyber-shot. I have no quibble with the "Digital" zoom; I use it, and the picture quality looks fine to me.

I went with the Canon because even though I wanted the 28mm wide angle zoom (and the HD video quality, along with "Optical" zoom was tempting), I was willing to sacrifice those options for the full manual controls and AA cell operation (and this might only be a rumor, but I heard the Panasonic's picture quality didn't come close to the Canon). The Panasonic does not offer any manual mode/controls, which would've been an impediment to my learning in order to advance to professional SLR's.

I especially like having a camera that is powered by AA batteries. I recently went to an auto show here in Los Angeles, and I took around 300 pictures (with flash), and when my batteries ran out, I had 2 more AA's to back me up (Sanyo Eneloop, rechargeable (highly recommended)).

But even if I didn't have any of my rechargeables on me, I could have went to any concession stand and purchased a pair. But with a propriety (custom battery), I would've been out of luck.

The cons of this camera are as follows:

1. The flash can take forever to recharge sometimes. At the auto show, the cars spin around on a platform, and when you snap one shot with the flash, you could be looking at 10.3 seconds before your next shot (if the camera had to use the full power of the flash), but then you'll have to wait for the car to spin back around to the position that you wanted.

I watched as my neighbors with their thousand dollar cameras, snapped shot after shot, every half second with full power flashes, and never had to stop and wait. Of course, cheaper cameras offer those functions, but not every other feature I was looking for to go along with it.

2. There is no in camera picture edit, but that's ok, because Canon provides 3 software programs you can use to edit your photos which work perfectly for trimming, cropping, and sharpening, etc. You can turn on Red Eye Correction in the camera, though.

3. No optical viewfinder, which can really come in handy when you want to conserve power. But at the same time, I didn't want an optical viewfinder; I wanted a 3-inch LCD. Most optical viewfinders on cameras within this price range are going to be WAY off targeting (about %80 accurate), but will come in handy when you don't have a place to purchase batteries.

4. If Canon would've went with 28mm wide

Ordered b/c I lost my lense cap (of course). Shipping was FAST (like, 3 or 4 days!) and the cap fits just fine w/o popping off. The attachment string is perfect, I just attached it to the neck strap b/c I didn't see where to attach it anywhere else, and it will be wonderful b/c I can pop it off and not worry about it :) Great product

This little CANON is a tough camera that takes AA batteries. I have left this camera in the side pocket of my truck and it continues to take pictures after all paint has been rubbed off.!

Good size viewing screen with good definition. I have large hands and found that the operating buttons are very close together and I sometimes pressed the video button by mistake. Otherwise the camera performed well

If you buy this camera and want to shoot movies, get a separate, dedicated digital movie camera. You won't be able to get your regular photo settings back once you've set up the SX10 IS for Movie mode.

I've had this camera since it first came out and it performed heroically with all my still photo needs. I'm a researcher, so I need to photograph many documents and naturally, there is no point in shooting black-and-white documents in color. With this camera I could even get beautifully legible images from documents on microfilm.

No problems whatsoever--until a granddaughter had the lead role in a school play. So I set up the Movie shooting mode for the conditions that I knew I'd have to cope with. As it happens, I wasn't able to attend and didn't actually shoot even one second of the play. But now, in EVERY shooting mode, the camera essentially defaults to Movie mode for all settings. No more black and white; no center-point zoom to see if a document is legible.

The manual says "In modes other than Movie mode, some of the settings previously set in menus such as the FUNCT and REC. menus may be changed to those of the movie recording mode." What it DOESN'T tell you is that once that happens, YOU CAN'T CHANGE THEM BACK TO WHAT YOU HAD BEFORE! I took the thing to Samy's Camera--a large and very expert company--and they couldn't get the old settings back either. Canon wasn't much help either. They led me through the process which was supposed to restore everything to the default settings. It didn't work. The camera now insists on all settings in all modes being compatible with Movie mode.

This makes the camera useless for my purposes.

Pity. This was a great camera until it got set for Movie mode. Now I'm going to have to shop for a replacement. If you want to shoot both movies and still photos, get a separate camera for each purpose. Anything this expensive shouldn't have this kind of bug.

This camera is a great product for those who want to take great digital photos without a lot of fuss.
However, you can grow into the more advanced features if you want. The image stabilization is a must for any digital camera owner who wants sharp pictures in movement situations. The 20x wide angle lens lets you bring far objects into great focus, again with the image stabilization zoom in day time light. It has a video feature which also records sounds in stereo. With the available cable, you can watch your videos on your T.V. I also like the option of either looking through the viewfinder, or using the digital screen. Many other features make this a fun camera to use. All in all, my favorite camera yet!

This is a second update. It comes after several months working with an SX10 IS.

SHORT LIST

Pros:

Excellent resolution
Very good noise control
Image edge and corner sharpness
Less than average color fringing
True wide angle and phenomenal telephoto
iContrast for highlight/shadow
Vari-angle LCD
Focus frame size adjustment
Brightness, contrast, sharpness and color settings
Great movie mode with stereo sound
Hot shoe
Lens hood

Cons:

Slow f5.7 maximum aperture beyond 100mm
Tendency to overexpose (though this can be an advantage--see below)
Low light autofocus issues
Minor lens distortions and color fringing at either end of zoom
Tedious control dial
LCD hard to see in bright outdoor light
Zoom sounds audible in movies

IN DEPTH

A semi-pro photographer with 30+ years' shooting experience, I am respectful yet rigorously demanding of my photo equipment. I push parameters, often absurdly so, but the SX10 doesn't seem to mind it one bit. For its price point, features and class, this is a stellar offering, and I highly recommend it.

The camera is solidly built and, although hefty for a point-and-shoot, feels well balanced in the hand. Controls are intuitively placed and easy to find with your fingers--no need to take your eye off the LCD or viewfinder when you've become acquainted with their positions.

Performance is excellent in all but low light, where autofocus and shutter lag are sometimes at issue. The camera powers on and is ready to shoot very quickly. Image recording time is swift, especially with a Class 6 card, and in reasonable lighting focus is both swift and accurate. Resolution is superb; image stabilization is best in class. And the sheer zoom range--wow!

Point-and-shoot capability is great. Open the box, install batteries and memory card, and fire away. It's so easy, kids can do it. And given a little time and tinkering, in its creative modes the camera really shows its chops.

In this review, you'll see several references to existing-light photography. It's my personal preference; I only use flash when I must. So I've spent a lot of time working out the angles for that sort of shooting. What you won't see is anything more than a cursory remark about action photography. It's not something I've used this camera for just yet.

In this model Canon addresses several issues inherent in the "S" series--most notably noise and dynamic range. Though still noisy at ISO 800, about half the images I've shot at that setting have been okay for prints, and nearly all are very good at ISO 400. Pictures taken between ISOs 80 and 200 are clean and excellent. Noise reduction at higher ISOs does degrade saturation and details a bit (more noticeable at the longer end of the zoom, especially in low-contrast lighting) but not enough to abandon the higher sensitivities altogether.

Both edge and corner sharpness are very good at anything but widest angle and full zoom, and even here sharpness is much improved over the S5 at ANY focal length. In truth, no zoom lens of such wide range has edge-to-edge sharpness at its focal extremes.

Color fringe is a mixed bag. Depends somewhat on the focal length, ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Overall, fringing is not that bothersome. At both the widest angle and full telephoto ends you'll see some colored edges, most noticeably in areas of high contrast. Bumping the zoom lever once or twice makes all the difference.

Some barrel distortion occurs at the wide end as well, though not too bad. It's only noticeable where there are obvious vertical or horizontal lines (again, a bump or two of zoom, and lines strighten right up). These issues can of course be corrected in most photo editing programs, although not in Zoombrowser EX, the camera's supplied software.

Achieving focus in certain lighting can be iffy and sometimes fails. Changing the focus frame size will usually remedy this. When it doesn't, manual focus feature comes to the rescue. Fortunately this feature is improved in the SX10. The autofocus issue seems linked to extremes in contrast, whether low or high, rather than actual light available. Low contrast, low light situations present the most difficulty, but a couple of times my copy has struggled and failed in high-contrast, intense lighting, too. Lowering the ISO helped.

If you prefer existing light photos and stay at ISO 400 and under, at focal lengths beyond 100mm you'll need to reduce shutter speeds due to narrowing apertures, and action shots get tricky. For stationary subjects, though, the camera can be hand-held at speeds as low as 1/6 sec to produce sharp images without flash--phenomenal. This works best with image stabilization set to single shot rather than continuous.

It IS a good