Canon Powershot SX110IS 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)
by Canon
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon Powershot SX110IS 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)
Customer Review: Canon make another winner.
Summary: 5 Stars
I was looking for an upgrade to my previous camera, the Canon Powershot A75, which had served me extremely well over 4 years. I purchased an Olympus camera, which despite its high price, I found in my opinion terrible in comparison to my old Canon.
As the camera was for our honeymoon, I decided to buy another camera. Unfortunately I purchased the Olympus online at a store that does not offer refunds or exchange on poor choice. Expensive lesson learned there.
I purchased the Canon SX110IS from a bricks and mortar store with refund/exchange policy, for peace of mind. Just days before I had recommended friends buy a Canon, and they bought this camera, and when I saw their shots, I knew this was the camera for me.
Straight away I felt so relieved and happy that I had purchased another Canon. Beautiful shots even on Auto and Easy modes, with lots of other modes and settings to play around with if you wish.
The most important thing about a camera to me is that it takes great pictures on Auto - as I dont like to spend much time playing around, I just like to have fun snapping.
The canon has the same size LCD as the Olympus, but the quality of the pixels is MUCH better, and clearer.
Image Stabiliser is excellent, (it stabilises the LENS, not the camera body like other cameras),sometimes my hands get shaky with some pictures, but they still come out absolutely beautifully.
The colour is amazing, pictures are crisp and sharp, even in low light. I took pictures in a completely dark room and they came out great. I don't mind waiting for the flash to recharge,it does not let you take pictures till it is recharged. In the Olympus I erroneously bought, you had no idea whether the flash was charged or still charging, so you could make the mistake of taking shots too quickly in low light.
The camera body feels very sturdy in your hands and you can easily grip it, your hand can wrap around where you see the silver bit, near the words PowerShot SX110. This is in contrast to slimline cameras that probably look prettier this camera. I'd rather have sturdy, especially with such a big lens and zoom. I was, however, surprised when I saw the camera "in the flesh" it is a lot smaller than I imagined.
Don't worry about lifting the flash (Where canon is written), it's not a bother at all, and the camera (at least in Auto and Easy mode) suggests you lift the flash when it deems it appropriate. If you lift it and have the flash on auto, it wont fire unless required. I just lift the flash whenever I take pictures, but it will only fire when needed.
Canon have improved their picture program for the computer too, but some people may not think the program gives you enough to play around with and may seek other programs.
One thing that i think would be neat would be the ability to change pictures to black and white or sepia on the camera. That is about the only thing that Olympus did that the Canon didn't do thousands of times better.
Overall, I think the camera's brilliant. I will never buy anything but Canon again.
Customer Review: Great top of the line point and shoot.
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently bought this camera after fighting with the decision to go with a Sony Cybershot DSC-H10 8.1MP or go up in size and get the Canon Powershot SX10IS 10MP. I chose to stick to a smaller size camera so I would take it with me most places instead of leaving the bigger camera at home. So even though I love all the features of the Canon Powershot SX10IS 10MP it's just too big for me right now.
First I would like to point out that this is a point and shoot camera, designed for everyday pictures and some advanced shots if you have the know how. We would all love to get the hand held digital camera that can take stunning SLR pictures but unfortunately that still doesn't exist. This camera with the right equipment and experience can come close though.
I have to disagree with those that are saying the battery life is short. I have had very good battery runs, including the batteries that were supplied with the camera. So far this has been one of the best point and shoot cameras I have ever used. Here are my run downs:
Pro:
-Great image quality, I mean really superb. Can go to ISO 400 and still be a good enough to print pictures. After that your going to need some clean up with an editing software or "noise" will be too prevalent.
-Fast response time from power up to shot. In between shots it depends on what level flash you use, the brighter the flash the longer it will take to recharge the flash. This problem, however, is in just about all cameras of this caliber. Even the sony and canon SX10 would take 5-7 seconds to recharge after a full flash was used. I have a sony alpha and that flash drains sometimes takes 4 or more seconds to catch up.
-Great LCD. I have it at half brightness and it's more than enough in almost any situation.
-Easy to learn operation, don't believe me, just set it to easy and it'll do all the work and be right most of the time.
-Nice solid feel to it.
-Prints have been excellent and full of color.
Cons:
-I wish the f/stop would go below 2.8. That's just me maybe.
-Even though I know the flash will take a few seconds to recharge, I wish someone could come up with a way to make that faster. It would save some missed pictures.
All in all it's a great camera. Easy to use and not so bulky that you won't take it with you everywhere. I carry mine in belt pouch and have been lucky I had it for some great pictures, that yes would have looked slightly better with my dslr, but I wouldn't have gotten them at all if I didn't carry my dslr with me.
Highly recommend it and am probably going to get one for my wife so she'll stop taking mine.
Customer Review: Outstanding outdoor camera
Summary: 5 Stars
When used outside in good light (or extremely bright indoor light, such as next to a window) it is an outstanding camera. It can take high-quality shots of stills, portraits, and action shots. The zoom is very effective at distance, and the settings can go from fully automatic to completely manual. In the right light this camera can get professional-quality shots.
However, indoors this camera is no better than a typical point and shoot camera that would fit in your pocket. The flash is weak (even at the highest setting), and pictures without flash are almost impossible. ISO greater than 200 is pointless as photos will be overcome by noise. If all you plan to do is have people hold still while you take a picture from less than seven feet, then you'll be fine. If you are trying to get action shots indoors, forget about it.
This camera will gobble batteries faster than a pig runs to slops. You'll be lucky to get fifty pictures out of a new set of alkaline batteries. However, if you get a good set of rechargable batteries, you'll be overwhelmingly and pleasantly surprised by how many pictures you can get: hundreds. Go figure. I have four rechargable batteries. I use two at a time, and can easily take 500 pictures before having to recharge.
The flash is very slow to recycle, so again, indoor shots with this camera are slow and annoying.
The camera is very reasonably priced. I paid two Benjamins for it new and have taken a couple thousand photos already. The colors are brilliant and popping, but realistic. Like I said, with good light, you can't go wrong with this camera. I mostly use the TV setting. I set my shutter speed at about 250-360 and then I don't miss a single action shot. It's fast, reliable, and fun. This camera can get you results that look professional.
The camera is bulky. If you carry a large purse, you'll be fine with it, or if you use a backpack/briefcase. But if you're expecting to slip this into your shirt pocket or jeans pocket, forgetabboutit. It won't fit. It will only fit in a very loose pants pocket, and even then it's annoying. You could put it in a case and attach it to your belt, which works great, but ruins the style factor. This camera looks like an old 1980s film camera (although it performs like a dynamite digital). You won't win any style points with this camera.
If you are going to have to lug something around and want the best quality you can afford, look at the Rebel XS, the best priced digital DSLR on the market. But if you only have two hundred bucks, and can't go another three hundred, then get this SX110is. It's a great camera and I don't regret the purchase for a minute.
Customer Review: Excellent camera with advanced controls
Summary: 5 Stars
I did a lot of research before settling on this camera -- about 6 weeks' worth! After all that, I've reached the conclusion that most "expert" camera reviews are mostly written by pros who typically review nuances most of us won't care about.
As the proud parent of a toddler, I'm convinced the real test of a camera's capabilities is simply "how well does it handle indoor shots of a fast moving toddler?"
Well I'm happy to report that after 4 weeks of heavy use, this camera performs much better than my old Canon Powershot SD1000 (Elph) camera. But having said that, it does require a bit of fiddling with camera controls to get GREAT results. It's not very complicated really, just take plenty of test-shots and see which camera modes work best for your environment:
Maybe you're at a wedding, and you're not allowed to use the flash. Well, the telephoto zoom lens with good indoor lighting should be fine. (The zoom lens is a bit slow to fully extend, but once extended...whoa! Amazing clarity!) I found power-on time acceptable at about 2 seconds.
Maybe you don't want to carry a camcorder, but want the ability to take up to 1 hour-long videos. Well there are two vides modes , 30 and 15 frames per second. (I know the Quicktime MOV format is gaining popularity among the HD-video crowd, but I prefer the ease of AVI format which can be easily played/edited on most computers - no additional software required.)
Maybe you want to compare your customized settings with the Canon's pre-programmed modes. Well there are 13 automatic scene modes, plus another 4 traditional manual modes -- and a large crisp LCD screen to view your results.
But maybe, you're like my wife and just want to turn on the camera and start taking pictures. Well, there are not 1, but 2 auto-modes (one of which is an "Easy" mode that disables buttons from accidentally being pushed).
The point is that is an incredibly versatile camera. Smaller to carry than the traditional UltraZoom cameras, but more feature rich than your traditional point-and-shoot cameras.
PS- Forget any negative attention you might read about the battery life. I put in a couple of rechargeable AA (2650 mAh) batteries, and they lasted for hundreds of shots over 10 days.
Customer Review: Finally got it right...
Summary: 5 Stars
As an owner of several Canon digital cameras throughout the past 10 years, I'd have to say that I am really pleased with Canon's latest "prosumer" camera. It really captures the needs of a lot of different users, from great advanced features and access to setting modification for those who like to dabble with the outcome of their shots, to a large and vibrant display that will satisfy any mom or pop at Jonny's soccer game. Over time, Canon has trimmed its on-board buttons and menus down to a VERY useable and accessible set, now rivaling the super-easy to use (but not very high quality) Kodak line of point and shooters.
The picture quality on this guy rivals my Canon 30D's quality on automatic settings in both incandescent indoor shooting as well as outdoor shooting, but have not put the high ISOs to the test.
The face detection feature is really nice; it does a nice job of picking up on the faces in a shot, so you do not have to try to manually focus. Again, very nice for Gramma to take great looking shots.
It seems like there had been a boom in DSLR sales in the past few years, with people forking out WAY too much cash for more camera than they need (and end up using in the long run). If you are one of those folks who are tempted to get into photography "more seriously," but really don't have the money to spend on a number of lenses (let alone a decent body), or the time for classes at your local tech school, this is a really nice camera to consider. The 10x optical zoom, rarely before seen on a sub-$200 camera, can give you some added push in your shots. If you insist on "looking cooler" with a big camera that (until you learn its nuances) will yield shots of equal quality to this one in automatic mode, then I'd recommend staying in the Canon family, with a Rebel product or even a 40 or 50D. Canon really does the best job for the money.
The ONLY minute detail that I would point out to the negative would be the fact that small size coupled with the smooth rounded edges makes it just a bit difficult to grab and shoot if you have big paws like I do. Not a huge drawback, just something to mention.