Canon PowerShot SX110 IS Digital Camera Review

Canon PowerShot SX110 IS

Digital Camera Review

Dec 08, 2008 - By Tim Barribeau
2.1 The PowerShot SX110 IS from Canon is a new point-and-shoot with an impressive 10x zoom in a reasonably portable package. It shoots at 9-megapixel resolution, and offers optical image stabilization to make handheld telephoto shots practical. It didn't score very well in our extensive lab testing, with the exception of color accuracy, but we were very impressed by the excellent user interface and significant degree of manual control. The SX110 IS is currently available for $249.99 in black or silver;  the full review follows.
Advertisement
Recently Viewed Products
Canon
A2000 IS		 $185
Top Point & Shoot Cameras
Max Price: $1020
$0 $255 $510 $765 $1020
Filters
All
Canon
Casio
Fuji
Kodak
Nikon
Olympus
Panasonic
Pentax
Sony
All
Compact
High-End
Pocket
Ultra-Zoom
1.Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1
Ultra-Zoom		$400
2.Canon SX1 IS
Ultra-Zoom		$527
3.Panasonic DMC-ZS3
Compact		$318
4.Samsung HZ15W
Ultra-Zoom		$280
5.Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T900
Pocket		$325
PowerShot SX110 IS Prices
Latest Camera Reviews
DSLR Point & Shoot
Panasonic
DMC-GF1		Samsung
TL225
Pentax
K10D		Canon
PowerShot S90
Olympus
E-P1		Canon
G11
Canon
EOS 5D		Panasonic
DMC-ZS3
Nikon
D3000		Canon
PowerShot A650 IS

Manual Control Options
It does our hearts good, here at digitalcamerainfo.com, to play with an inexpensive camera that has this depth of manual control. There's a full set of manual, priority and program modes, exposure compensation and manual white balance for shooting under unusual lighting conditions. If you want to customize the camera, you can alter the timers and a button on the camera's top left. This button can be set to alter white balance; manually white balance; red-eye correction; digital tele-converter (uses minmal digital zooming instead of optical to enable higher shutter speeds and prevent the aperture from decreasing too much); display overlay (which adds a grid to help with alignment); or display off. There are a few additional featureswe would like to have seen, such as auto-bracketing or a histogram display while shooting, but all in all the XS110 IS provides an exceptionally wide and deep level of user control.

Focus
Auto Focus (7.00)
The auto focus seemed quick to lock in generally, though it was a bit inaccurate while using facial detection. There is an auto focus assist setting that blows up the focal area so you can see just how well the camera is doing at focusing in on the important bits.

Manual Focus (5.00)
Manual focus is a choice here, with an additional MF Safety mode as well, where you can manually focus roughly, and then half-press the shutter and let the camera get the final touch. Once again, having a control wheel proves its worth, as spinning the wheel lets you quickly change the focus. As with auto focus, there's an assist mode to enlarge the focal area for fine detail

ISO (7.50)
The PowerShot SX110 IS has a respectable range of ISOs for you to play with. At full resolution you can go from ISO 80 to ISO 1600, as well as Auto and Auto Hi (the latter of which keeps the ISO in the upper reaches of the possible ISOs). If you're willing to take a resolution hit, you can also shoot at ISO 3200, but only at 2 megapixels (1600x1200). Our only significant complaint when it comes to the ISO range is high image noise at ISO 1600.

White Balance (5.50)
The white balance selection is average; there definitely could have been more choices. You can select auto, day light, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, fluorescent H or custom. Additional presets for shade and flash would have been appreciated, but the presets will do for most situations, and custom white balance, which lets you set the white balance yourself off a white or grey card, is particularly welcome to compensate for the camera's poor testing results in auto and manual preset modes.

Exposure (8.00)
Exposure compensation runs the standard range of ±2 EV in 1/3 steps. If you're shooting in manual mode, the SX110 IS will show a little graph on the right of the screen that shows the exposure as ±2 in 1/3 steps, so you can accurately visualize what your settings will do to your photographs.

Metering (7.50)
The metering can be set to spot, center-weighted average or evaluative (which uses the entire frame), once again a fairly standard run of settings. Be aware, though, that this is one of the few settings that will reset when you power down and power up again.

Shutter Speed (8.00)
Shutter speed runs from 15 seconds to 1/2500 of a second while in Tv (shutter priority mode). This is an excellent range, and marks the SX110 IS as a great choice if you're interested in playing with long-exposure photography.

Aperture (6.00)
In aperture priority mode, you can manually set the aperture range from f/2.8 to f/8.0 at the widest zoom setting, and f/4.3 to f/8.0 at maximum telephoto. It's not a blisteringly fast lens, but it's pretty good for its size. Just be aware that the substantial drop-off as you increase the zoom means that a tripod is a good idea for shooting distant subjects.


Modes Page 9 of 15 Image Parameters Canon PowerShot SX110 IS Digital Camera Review Navigation

 
Advertisement