Canon PowerShot SX1 IS

Manual Controls

The SX1 has a full manual mode; set the mode dial to M and you can set the shutter speed and aperture directly. An option for manual focus is also available, but there is no focus ring; you have to focus using the 4-way control. This increases the flexibility of the camera, and is a good thing to see. While those who use manual control a lot will probably go for an SLR, including a manual mode gives more control to the user.

Focus

As mentioned above, the SX1 offers both the usual auto focus and a manual focus control. In our brief tests with the SX1 at the PMA show, we found the auto focus to be generally snappy and responsive.

ISO

The ISO range goes from 80 up to 1600. An ISO 3200 scene mode is also available, but this lowers the resolution.

White Balance

The usual options are available for white balancing; as well as the full auto mode, there are presets for daylight, cloudy, tungsten, two fluorescent settings and a custom setting that evaluates a photo to judge white balance.

Metering

The usual options for metering are also present; evaluative, center weighted and spot metering. If the face detection mode is enabled, the camera will use the detected faces to meter from.

Shutter Speed

A good wide range of shutter speeds are on offer; 15 seconds down to 1/3200 of a second. Some cameras allow you to go for a longer shutter speed if you use manual mode, but the SX1 has a fixed maximum of 15 seconds.

Aperture

The SX1 has a decent aperture range; it starts at f/2.8 and stays at that throughout the zoom range. This is one of the advantages of the bigger lens, and it would help with low light shooting, as it allows the camera to gather more light. The smallest aperture is a decent f/5.7, which should give a decent depth of field.

Image Stabilization

Like most high-end cameras, the SX1 includes optical image stabilization, where the camera shifts an element inside the lens to compensate for the hand shake. This is especially important on cameras like this with longer zoom lenses.

Picture Quality & Size Options

The size of recorded images goes from the maximum of 3648 x 2736 down to the minimum of 640 x 480. Three levels of JPEG compression are offered (normal, fine and SuperFine), as well as support for recording RAW images. The SX1 can't do the neat trick of recording both RAW and JPEG images that many SLRs can do, though.

Picture Effects

If you like to tweak photos after shooting within the camera, the SX1 has a few options on offer; images can be enhanced for vivid colors, turned to black and white or sepia or have skin tones tweaked either lighter or darker.