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1362 of 1376 people found the following review helpful.
An Amazing Compact Camera
By Stephen
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RBW5FATHST40A Update 5/31/2011 You may want to consider the new SX230. It has a quicker CMOS chip which will give you better low light picture quality. This was my greatest complaint with the SX210is.
211 of 211 persons found the following review helpful.
My thoughts on SX210 + update
By R. Murdock
First off - background on me and what I was looking for: I would classify myself as an intermediate photographer. I own a Nikon DSLR which I use mainly for low light situations having learned the hardway at my son's 18th birthday that my old point-and-shoot did a lousy occupation of photos in low light situations. I am planning a trip to Europe in the fall and merely did not want to lug my Nikon camera around with me along with all the other stuff - like map, dictionary, travel guide - that I would have to take with me as I wandered around whatsoever town I was in. So I started my search for a genuinely good PNS camera. What was I looking for in the PNS ? My goal in picture taking is to have a terrific photo of what I genuinely saw. So when I got home and looked at the photo, I would say: Yes, that's precisely what it looked like when I was there. So onto my criteria: First size. I wanted it to be little sufficient to fit comfortably in a pocket. Second, selfassurance that it would take good to great photos under normal (not low-light) conditions. Third, I liked the idea of HD videos of my trip, so I wanted that capability. Fourth and finally, at least decent performance in low light conditions as I expected to many times want to take photos inside a museum or art gallery.
The search turned out to be much more difficult than I had expected. Frustratingly difficult I will add. No one camera is loved by all reviewers. So those of you reading this review, who are still searching, I feel your pain. I came to the conclusion that presently there is no perfective PNS that does it all. I would do hours of exploration on the web and then go to the local camera store to actually play with the PNS cameras that had caught my interest. In the end I concluded that there are 3 or 4 somewhat good PNS cameras out there, but all of them required me to compromise on something I wanted. So figure out what your must-haves are and sort through the available cameras accordingly.
Obviously I chose the Canon SX210. I have had it with regards to 3 weeks now and have taken regarding 200 photos and regarding 6 HD movies. My remarks in no queer order:
1. the Canon does a good but not outstanding occupation of taking photos underneath normal daylight conditions. I did play with various photos on my computer and held zooming in on a queer point to see when the picture would deteriorate. Of course it did eventually, but again, since 8.5 x 11 is the max size I suppose for any enlargement, I do not see any problem with the picture quality.
2. the HD video capability is more fun than I had expected. Again as already noted, the mic's are located on the top of the camera. Great for recording my commentary, but not so good for recording sounds coming from whatsoever you are videoing. One other point: the Canon allows you to zoom in while taking an HD video. That's great, but with 14X optical zoom, the more you zoom, the more susceptible the camera and the video you are taking is to shaking. If you zoom all the way to 14X, I found it out of the question to stay clear from shaking when keeping the camera in my hand. At no zoom, there is no problem with shake when taking a video. Bottom line: limit your zooming in when taking a video.
3. I agree with every one else that placement of the pop-up flash and the telephoto zoom in-and-out mechanism is NUTS. What were the Canon engineers thinking ? However both are botherations rather than deal-breakers.
4. the battery life is reasonable but not outstanding. I never ran out of battery life for the duration of a day of shooting photos and the battery re-charges in regarding 2-3 hours. Not bad.
5. Speed - I purchased 2 Sandisk Extreme III 4 GB Class 6 SD disks. I agree with the suggestions that you have to step up to a Class 6 disk to refrain from severe delays when writing the photo to the disk. I likewise decisive versus one 8GB disk since I did not want all my pics on one disk. Back to speed - I likewise turned off the automatic review after each photo taken, and found that bettered the speed of the picture taking noticeably. You may also turn on ceaseless picture taking and take a "burst" of photos if so desired. Bottom Line: speed is fast sufficient for my needs.
6. Definitely buy a plastic shield (or cover?) to protect the 3" LCD screen on the back. The Apple Store has them if you can't find them for less any place else.
7. The camera feels breathtakingly heavy to me. But solid. I guess 14X optical zoom does invent galore weight.
8. I set the camera on 9MP pictures since 14MP is overkill for me. I would never enlarge a photo to more than 8.5 x 11 anyway. I left the movie on HD settings however. Dumming down the photos to 9MP likewise improves the write-to-disk speed BTW.
9. Expect a severe learning curve with this camera. I printed out the manual from the PDF file and it is 180 pages. Not all was applicable to me and my interests, but still I have expended various hours reading and re-reading subsections of the manual. Since I will not take the manual with me on my upcoming trip, I have to recognise how to manipulate this camera.
10. The 14X optical zoom is in truth impressive. While that was not a top thoughtfulness for me, having that capability is very cool. You may without apparent effort zoom in to an amazing degree on something from a substantial distance away.
11. Low-light - I am still working on this one and how to manipulate the camera to get the best LL photos. In dim lighting it does OK - by upping the ISO, so you pay a price in the quality of the photo. In the black of night - it does OK if the subject of the photo is not more than 6-8 ft away from you. But I tried a photo at night of the moon shining off the Pacific ocean from my balcony and that did not work. Not a real surprise, but like I said, I need to experiment more in this area.
In summary - I would describe this camera as being a in truth solid good versatile PNS. You may put it on full Auto and snap away happily, or switch to one of assorted pre-defined settings (landscape, portrait etc), or if you are genuinely into it, go all the way to wholly manual and set everything yourself. That's not for me - but you do have that capability. The HD Videos are great, but even a short one takes up in regards to 80-90MB of disk space. And as noted, you are improbable to pick up the sounds from whatsoever it is you are videoing. PS: I have never came upon the much discussed problem with lens shadow.
All-in-all a solid performer in an amazingly little form element that will do what I am looking for and more on my upcoming trip to Europe.
10/10/2010 update: Just returned from my 3 week trip to Europe and wanted to update my review. Took when it comes to 1,500 photos and regarding 30 movies. And right now I am in the midst of reviewing them on my home computer. So how did the Canon carry out ? It was terrific. First off - I actually cherished the little form factor on the trip. It without apparent effort fit into a slot in my messenger bag that I applied on the trip or into a front pants pocket. I was capable to speedily retrieve it and snap photos very rapidly. Never missed a shot I wanted to take. Second - the zoom feature turned out to be very utile when I wanted to take a photo of something in a museum or art gallery along with 1,000 other tourists. I would stand as tall as I could and zoom in over the heads of the crowd and 90% of the time could snap a outstanding photo. Third - I took a lot of photos inside churches and art museums where flash was not permitted. Especially stained glass windows in assorted cathedrals. When I took the photo I could tell from the sound of the shutter, that the camera was using a very slow shutter speed. Most times I was taking the photo with only my hands to hold the camera - and always hoping that the effigy stabilization software would do a good job. Now that I am home I may tell you that the IS software did a noteworthy job. I have had to delete in regards to 5-10 photos at most. It veritably is impressive. Fourth - the movie feature turned out to be very worthwhile. As I look at the movies now, I am impressed with how in a faithful manner the camera captured what I was looking at at the time. Fifth - battery life was terrific. Never had any problem for the duration of the day when I would be taking the photos. However I did recharge the battery most each night. Overall - for me and what I am looking for in a point and shoot camera with a compact form element - the Canon SX210 turned out to be a perfective choice. Highly recommended.
287 of 290 persons found the following review helpful.
It's all regarding the zoom
By Iowadad
This is a very fun compact camera. I don't believe they upgraded the sensor from former Powershot cameras so the picture quality isn't a miracle or anything. What is actually cool regarding the sx 210 is the zoom lens. I get shots with this camera that just wouldn't have been possible with my old Elf. There is such a big divergence amidst using the unfeigned optical zoom on this or the digital zoom of my old camera. In that way, there is sort of an increase in picture quality because I may get in close on my subject and not have to crop my pictures and lose solution later.
The video function is also a plus. The sound from the stereo mic is decent and, again, the zoom lens genuinely comes into play in terms of the shots you may get. I've shot videos of my kids on stage, clear throughout a big hall, and in truth come up with a great deal of nice clips.
I haven't applied the manual settings on this camera as much as I thought I would. I've found it difficult to focus accurately or speedily sufficient with the little wheel. I play with it now and again for macro shots and such but, primarily, I've applied the automatic function to good effect. Someone who wants to spend the time and play with the respective functions and appliances will in all probability take delight in this rather a bit. I tend to have my hands full these days and it has been very utile as a point and shoot, intensified significantly by the capacity to zoom in close.
The pop-up flash takes a good deal of getting applied to but over time I've come to like that feature. There are a lot of times I don't want the flash to fire and it's nice to be capable to just snap it shut or hold it shut as you turn on the camera. It becomes second nature eventually.
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