Canon PowerShot SX10 Digital Camera Review

Canon PowerShot SX10

Digital Camera Review

The Canon PowerShot SX10 IS is a sophisticated 10-megapixel point-and-shoot with a huge optical zoom range (out to 20x) that would be an arm-breaking burden on a digital SLR or 35mm camera, but in this size is a portable pleasure for grabbing far away close-ups. Combine that telephoto power with extensive manual control options and you have a camera that should appeal to outdoor photographers, paparazzi wannabes and even current SLR owners looking for long-range shooting possibilities without the size and weight of an SLR properly outfitted for the task. The SX10 is scheduled to ship in October for $499.99. Here's our first impression of the camera based on hands-on experience at the Photokina show in Cologne, Germany.
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Canon PowerShot SX10
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Canon PowerShot SX10

Manual Control Options
Targeted at a serious amateur, the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS offers a good selection of manual exposure control options including Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Full Manual modes. There's also a custom mode where you can save your own settings for future use. This sort of flexibility is a big plus on a point-and-shoot camera.



Shutter speed and Aperture can both be controlled in full manual mode.

In Shutter or Aperture Priority modes you can adjust the respective setting using the rotating dial around the 4-way without any other button presses or intervening menus. In full manual mode you can also use the dial to adjust these two items, switching between them using the Exposure Compensation button at the top right. One item we noticed was not easily accessible even in full manual were metering options, you'll still need to go into the Function Set menu to set that.

Focus
The Canon PowerShot SX10 IS has a focal length of 1.6 feet to infinity and offers both a standard Macro mode and Super Macro. One nice bonus that you don't often see on many consumer cameras is a manual focus. You can enable this by pressing up on the 4-way, then use the rotating dial to adjust the focus.


ISO
ISO can be adjusted by pressing left on the 4-way and then using the rotating dial to select form the ISO options. In Auto mode your only options are Auto and HI, while in manual mode you can choose from a range between 80-1600 ISO.

White Balance

White balance can be set in any of the manual modes via the Function Set menu, which is accessible by pressing the center select button on the 4-way. White balance is the first option in this menu and you can choose from Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash and Custom. The last setting allows you to use a white card to manually set the white balance.


White balance settings can be found in the Functions Set menu.

 

Metering
The Function Set menu is also where you'll find metering options, about halfway down the menu. You can set metering to evaluative (balancing the exposure to best fit the full screen image), center-weighted or spot. Unlike the Canon G10 there's no dedicated button to quickly access metering options, and you can't switch between metering mode in addition to aperture and shutter speed when making quick adjustments in full manual mode.


Metering options can only be changed via the Function Set menu.

Shutter Speed
Shutter speed ranges from 15 to 1/3200, a reasonable range for a consumer point-and-shoot.

Aperture
The SX10 IS's aperture ranges from f/2.8 - f/8.0 when you are zoomed out completely. When zoomed in completely your aperture range gets slightly smaller at f/5.7 - f/8.0. This is a slightly smaller range than the SX5 IS, but you also have to consider that the SX10 IS ups the zoom ratio from 12x to a full 20x optical.

Image Stabilization
The Canon PowerShot SX10 IS offers optical image stabilization to keep shaky hands from ruining your shots, especially when you're using that 20x optical zoom.

Picture Quality / Size Options

The Canon PowerShot SX10 IS offers three quality options for still images: Normal, Fine and SuperFine. There are also six size options ranging from 3,648 x 2,736 all the way down to 640 x 480. A wide-screen mode is also available at 3,648 x 2,048, but unlike the Canon G10 there is no option to capture in RAW format.

Picture Effects Mode
You can apply photo effects to your images using My Colors from the Function Set menu. Your options are Vivid, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone and Custom.

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