Canon PowerShot SX110 IS Digital Camera Review

Canon PowerShot SX110 IS

Digital Camera Review

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.
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The Canon PowerShot SX110 IS is available in black and silver, and looks a bit clunky. It has a largish body with big features, which actually helps make it easy to handle and hold. It's light enough to sling around without much trouble, and doesn't suffer for its size.


Front (7.50)
There's a slightly raised area on the left of the front, bordered by a sliver of silver plastic, which acts as a hand grip. The lens is permanently slightly projected by about a half-inch, but this is substantially less than you'll see in most other ultra-zooms. Above the lens is the flash, which has to be manually raised and lowered, and to its right is the auto focus assist lamp.

 


The area to the left projects slightly as a grip.

Back (7.75)
The rear of the camera has the LCD flush against the left side, with a small button directly above the top left corner, which can be customized to a number of shooting functions, and is used for printing while in Playback mode. To the right of the screen is the primary method of navigating menus, a control wheel. This interface will be familiar to iPod users, as it's a dial with four buttons integrated in the four directions, with a button in the center used for accessing a quick menu or okaying options. Below it are two curved buttons, one for altering the displaying settings, the other for accessing the menu. Similar buttons above the control wheel change face detection settings and exposure compensation. Finally, there's the Playback button, which triggers its namesake mode.

 


The buttons are all distinctively shaped, which helps you differentiate by feel.

Left Side (7.00)
The left side is mostly blank. There's a small panel that can be loosened, which houses the internal battery, used to maintain date and time information.

The left side is mostly bare.

Right Side (7.00)
The right side has a small silver tunnel for the lanyard loop, and above that the thin cover for the USB and DC inputs.


The right side houses the ports.

Top (8.00)
On the far left of the top is a cluster of holes covering the speaker, then the flash. To the right of that is the mode dial, which projects slightly out from the back of the camera to make it easy to adjust. The shutter control and zoom are placed slightly forward, directly above the enlarged grip, and to their rear is the ever important power button.

The flash is manually raised and lowered.

Bottom (5.00)
The PowerShot's bottom offers a tripod mount that feels a bit fragile, and the door to the compartment housing the AA batteries and memory card slot.


The tripod mount doesn't seem particularly resilient.

 

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