Canon Powershot SX10IS 10MP Digital Camera with 20x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

I absolutely love this camera. I have only had the SX 10 for a little over a month and i wanted to be fully familiar with it before i wrote a review on it. I decided to get the SX 10 for several reasons. Cost, Quality, Functionality, and Ease Of Use. I have been using Canon cameras for many years. I love Canon products, they have never let me down. To me this camera is the best of both worlds. I do a lot of landscape and nature photography and so i really need the wide angle and the telephoto reach. The macro and supermacro modes are outstanding. To me the 5.0-100.0mm (35mm equivalent: 28-560mm) Lens is the most amazing thing about this camera. The lens on this camera is truly amazing. You can really reach out and touch somebody with this bad boy. The Canon SX 10 IS is a excellent choice if you don't have the money for DSLR. I am still learning and this camera is certainly a great one to learn with because you have many of the functions of a good DSLR. The Auto mode works really well and you can get away with most shots by simply point and shoot. But for the shots that you cant pull of in Auto you have the ability to go full Manual Which i love. There are way too many great functions on this camera for me to list. I didn't buy this camera for the video but the video is fantastic as well. I was actually shocked the first time i the recorded a practice session of my friends band, the audio and video quality are truly awesome. The SX 10 really is the one of the closest things you can get to DSLR without having to spend thousands of dollars. A lot of people seem to think that you can't use lens filters with the SX10, but they couldn't be more wrong. Just google Lensmate SX 10. I got the Lensmate Adapter 58mm, Hoya UV filter 58mm, an extra Lens Cap 58mm to fit the UV filter, and a Hoya HMC Circular Polarizer 58 mm and a few other goodies. I leave the Lensmate Adapter and the UV filter on the SX10 at all times to protect the main lens. This is the perfect addition. You can have a lot of fun with a Cir Polarizer. They are very useful for Landscape Photography because they help make the skies blue and the clouds white as they should be. The Polarizer is also great for taking the reflections off of water or glass. My only complaint with this camera is Canon or actually Myself. I bought this camera about a month ago and about two weeks later Canon sent me an email saying that the Canon Powershot SX 20 was about to be released. That really struck a nerve ha. I really don't know how they could improve this model very much but i would have definitely loved to have had a heads up about the new SX 20 IS. Oh Well i guess that's what i get for not doing more research. I am certainly very happy with the SX 10. And with this model i can use the Canon Powershot SX10 IS CHDK Hack to unlock many more functions and capabilities such as RAW Image Format, Time Lapse, Remote Shutter Release, Motion detection, Bracketing, DOF Calculator, ETC ETC. This was my first purchase from Amazon.com and i am extremely satisfied with Amazon. I ordered this camera late in the afternoon around 3:00pm or 4:00pm on a Thursday and it was at my house by 4:00pm Friday, ready for the weekend abuse. The Canon Powershot SX 10 IS is an excellent choice for beginner as well as advanced photographers. The Quality and Functionality of this camera greatly out weigh the cost. I would recommend the Canon SX 10 to anybody looking for an excellent all in one type of camera. Go ahead and pick one up you won't be disappointed.

This camera is almost perfect. I'm not going to be able to add much to what the other reviewers have stated: I agree with all the good points (type of batteries it uses, easy to hold, great lenses that adapt themselves to shooting almost anything, doesn't weight too much but, at the same time, feels solid, easy to use, the rotating LCD display, etc.). I cannot comment on the filming angle of the camera since I do not use it for films. I expect that, if I do use it to film something, it will be along the lines like the use of the camera that my cellular phone has: as an emergency measure only. If I need to film then I'll get a film camera. Getting back to the camera: I've had mine for a bit over a week by now and shot over 400 photographs. I'm definitively NOT a power user, but I do know a bit or two regarding what constitutes a good photograph: if I like it then it's a good one! This machine makes almost all shots look like good ones. If you don't want to bother about anything, just select the AUTO function and zoom to the point of getting in the picture what you want. Period. If, like me, you like to tinker a little (or a lot!), it has almost all the functions that you might wish for (and, perhaps, some more that you didn't know existed). When I say that it's close to perfect it is because: a) The shutter cannot be programmed for a lapse greater than 15 seconds. If you want to shoot stars or some other night pictures, this might be a bit of a concern. I would have liked the shutter to be fully programmable up to infinity. b) The low battery alarm only comes on when you're dangerously low on power. By then it might be too late. I would have liked a battery level indicator that tells me at all times what the level of power is so that I can take precautionary measures (like buying some more batteries ahead of time). c) The continuous shooting mode, when you have selected the 10 Mega pixel resolution, is slow. I was shooting a "corrida" here in México and action was a lot faster than what the machine was capable of capturing. Most certainly the 0.6 seconds that are specified need to be improved (perhaps up to 0.2 seconds or less). If someone tells me that I can get a faster response by lowering the resolution, my response would be: what's the point of getting a lot of low resolution pictures? If I'm shooting something it's because I'm interested in it in the first place! If I had to resume this machine it would go along these lines: It has almost everything that you might want but doesn't force you to use it: it leaves you the freedom to be the type of photographer that you are. Not much else that I can add.

It's not a DSLR but it comes pretty darn close. What doesn't it have that a DSLR does? 1. Well the obvious is you can't change lenses but with such a large zoom and super macro why carry around all that stuff just to take hobby shots? 2. The sensor is never going to be as great as the higher end cameras, but it does a darn good job if you know how to work your settings and use a tripod. 3. You can't shoot raw. Again this is for the person who likes to take photos rather than switching out lenses, cleaning innards of the body, and sitting in front of the computer tweaking all day. That being said if you're looking for a more "professional camera" go for the new Rebel (I believe the new one has live view that the older models don't and that is a real plus.) Okay so shooting at anything above 400ISO gets noisy. My solution - use a tripod for longer exposures at a lower ISO or use flash when possible. The zoom is great and though you do lose some quality there is an image stabalizer, you will get shake -- again use a tripod or monopod. The thing is so easy to use, I never even read the instruction manual. It's all right there on the camera, you just have to play around with it. Burst mode is kinda slow, but again it's under $400 camera -- there are going to be some trade offs for the all-in-one-point-and-shoot. USE the scene settings, they are marvelous, and can actually help train you on how to set the camera manually. The indoor mode is fantastic at setting the white balance. The best situation for any camera is lots of light so expect noise, blur etc in darker settings. Get yourself a flash -- Speedlite 430ex or better if you have the cash. I am still waiting for mine, but if you like to bounce flash off the wall behind you do some more research on it. Get a diffuser and/or bounce the crap out of it. Experiment and play. Once you learn the camera and its nuances, you will be able to get the most out of it. Spend the money and get a fast memory card with a lot of space. This camera is now my baby and I have used the Olympus Camedia 3.2 MP for quite some time and I have taken a lot of great photos with it. I had the older rebel, hated that it didn't have live view and didn't have the money to buy fast telephoto lenses. Sold it. I recommend you keep yours if you have one though... they are great cameras. I will be shooting intimate events (baby showers, small weddings, birthday and holiday parties) with this one and using my friend's rebel as a backup. LOL imagine that!!? I figure I can make some of my cash back maybe even enough to get the new rebel. If you want something that is easy to use, has a great zoom lens, takes great photos and is under $400, this is the camera for you. It's a canon and the resale value should stick should you want to upgrade in a year. T-

I have to admit, I'm a point and shoot type of person who likes a small digital camera that I can carry in the pocket of my jeans or in my purse so it's always handy. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money on a camera and have to spend hundreds on extra lenses. My Casio camera serves me just fine in many circumstances. I take a lot of people pictures and pictures at parties and get-togethers. But there were always those times when I was in a beautiful location and wanted something that would do a good job with pictures of mountains, lakes and other landscape features. Or I wanted to take a photo of our Christmas tree at night with the lights in a dark room and I just could never really capture the shot. I often wanted to take pictures of the squirrels or a woodpecker on the tree but with a 3x optical zoom you just can't get "up close and personal". This camera will do all that and more. It will also do automatic, point and shoot photos, just like my little point and shoot camera. I hate to read manuals and instructions. But with this camera it's something you just have to set aside some time and pretty much read through the well organized little manual that comes with it. It's easy enough reading and well organized with references to page numbers describing each feature and cross referenced well. Perhaps someone with experience on other SLR cameras or more complicated cameras would find this camera intuitive, but I had to sit down a study a bit before really getting into all the features. Once I had the camera set up and tried the different features and settings it was easy enough to do, but there is a little learning curve. The good news is there are many more things I can do with this camera than I ever imagined. With other cameras I've owned I could take macro photos of things like flowers or food. With this camera I can take a super macro of not only the flower, but the bee on the flower and the hair on his legs! With other cameras low light photos were just so-so. With this camera you can take photos in very low light which I find myself using more and more, now that I have a camera that will handle it. The 20x zoom is nothing short of amazing. This is great for taking photos of outdoor critters or spying on your neighbor's gardener. It's almost like having a pair of binoculars and being able to capture it on digital film. You can take great movies with stereo sound. It's so much easier than getting out the video camera every time you want to take a short movie of the dog doing something cute or your neighbor's kid doing something stupid. There are some special scene settings that are a quick way of setting up the camera for different types of photos. I've had very good results using these and look at all the different circumstances they cover: You have settings for portraits, landscape, night scenes or snapshots, sports, indoor, sunsets, foliage, snow, beach, fireworks (can't wait to try this one out), aquarium, ISO 3200, color accent and color swap. The flip-out and rotating 2.5-inch LCD screen is a feature I love and I haven't seen it on any other camera in this class. It makes it simple to see what you're taking from any angle and is nice because you can tilt it out of the sun. I find all the buttons, built in flash and controls easy to use and I can re-set it quickly for different types of circumstances. I really like the stitch assist for taking panorama shots that I can later stitch together on my computer into one wide panoramic image. There are so many more settings and things that you can do, just too many to list here. The camera will definitely not fit in the pocket of my jeans but the weight and size aren't bad. I bought the Carrying Case / Shoulder Bag for the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi, PowerShot S5 IS, Powershot SX1 IS, SX10 IS case which is perfect for this camera. I'm posting a short video showing the case and just a few features of the camera. It's too bad I couldn't use this camera to take the video. The close-ups would have been a lot clearer than what I could do with my video camera. I thought of including some photos taken with the camera on the video, but with the compression needed to fit the videos on this website the wouldn't do them justice. Even the photos posted by other reviewers on this site, as amazing as they are, look even better when you see them on your own computer or printed. I did a lot of research on cameras and then I hesitated for a long time, wondering if I would use it enough to justify the cost. I shouldn't have waited. This is an amazing camera and one that will keep me happy for a long, long time.

I bought this camera after a series of other Canon p&s camera (PowerShot series). I was very happy with Canon for the past 5+ years using either the powershot IS or the ELPH series cameras. Lately, I had a need for extra zoom for taking shots of kids at school stages, etc., so I reviewed several 'super zoom' cameras. Pros: o Zoom is great, although some reviews do not like that the camera shutter speed slows down as you zoom further out (at 20x, the fastest you get is 1/500) o LCD vari-screen is quite helpful (as opposed to the fixed LCDs in P&S), specially when taking low shots of kids or birds, etc. o I didn't miss many of the automatic scene options I got used to in prev Canon cameras o I like the 'super macro' feature a lot. I took some close up shots of a basket of oranges - great professional focus on the near orange surface, with short depth of field, and blurred background! Cons: o In automode, I'm just not seeing the image sharpness in the 'normal' zoom range. The camera takes great shots of close-up pictures. Great details can be found when viewing on screen. But try something 5-10 feet, and the AF just doesn't lock sharply. Same in face-detection mode, even as the face is framed well. I compared very similar shots from powershot and this camera. It just doesn't look consistently sharp. Ocassionally I'd get one or two sharp ones, but then I've had to work quite hard to do that - several adjustments of aperture, speed, etc. like some very old SLR shots without any auto features. o Images are very grainy, specially on the black colors even at low ISOs o The highest resolution is 10M, then next down is 6M, which leaves a big gap on resolution. I'd prefer 10M, 9M, 8M, etc. o The flash doesn't 'auto pop' in any mode. I'd have preferred that in 'auto' mode that it pops up (like one old SLR I had), to retain the feel of a P&S when needed o I'd prefer a rechargeable battery. I take many pictures, so what is better to carry around, a large box of batteries or a charger? o The sport mode is disappointing! I put it in sport mode and took several pictures of birds, some of my fish in the aquarium - not a single sharp shot! Yes, I have steady hands :-) I'm somewhat happy with the features and superzoom and Canon's reputation. But, I'm not able to decide whether to try another camera before returning this. Some symptoms indicate I may need to learn a few techniques, but I think at least the automode and scene modes should do as expected from sub $200 cameras! I've had it for a week and taken shots in many situations, and I'm thinking of returning it.

I couldn't make up my mind what type of camera I wanted to purchase; an SLR or a point and shoot. I knew what features I wanted, but up until recently I couldn't find a camera fitting all my needs. I decided that for my purposes of taking travel pictures I wanted something easy to use, but an upgrade to my present camera, a Canon PowerShot A610. I really liked the shape of the camera, which is easy to hold with one hand. Then one of the best features was vari-angle LCD. After searching different cameras I was thrilled when I found the SX10IS which had most if not all the features I had been looking for. I wanted at least 18x optical zoom and this has 20x; I definitely wanted the vari-angle LCD for taking pictures either higher or lower than a comfortable viewing level. (It sure saves on backs when wanting to take a close up of a flower and you can turn the viewer up and hold the camera down at arms length to get a great picture). It also has the easy grip like my older camera, however I find there are more buttons that I sometimes push inadvertantly, and get out of the mode that I want to be in. As I get more used to the camera I don't mess up as often. The pictures come out crystal clear and I can zoom in when viewing on my computer and still get great pixel clarity. The finished photos I have had processed have come out close to studio quality. Recently I took portraits of guests at our Christmas party and had rave reviews of the finished product with many ordering additional prints to send to family and friends. Also, I was extremely pleased when taking photos at the Tournament of Roses parade last week. Most electonic gadgets have more features on them then one will ever use, and this camera is no exception. Slowly, I am trying to learn more to take advantage of more features. On the other hand, if you want ease of use then with this camera you can be out taking pictures as soon as you put in your batteries and memory card. Speaking of memory cards, you will want to buy a high speed card to take advantage of the continuous shoot feature. This is great when taking pictures of moving objects. Another feature I haven't mentioned is the great video (with sound) that you can take with this camera. Having a high capacity memory SD card helps. I always carry extra cards, but with my new 8 GB card I won't be using the extra cards very often. Face recognition is another feature I haven't used before. It is an interesting feature and new tool when taking group shots. I could go on and on, there are so many good things I could say about this camera. I really don't have any negatives other than accidentally pushing buttons when I don't want to. As I had read in another review, the controls are "touchy" and you have to be aware of where your "fat fingers" land. I'm a senior citizen who loves to take pictures and have thousands of photos on my computer. I enjoy viewing slide shows of all the pictures of our travels throughout the USA and also abroad. If you want to take a step up from the compact point and shoot then I would highly recommend the Canon PowerShot SX10IS. It has features you will appreciate for taking photos both indoors and out.

This is my first digital camera (besides borrowing my mom's compact point-and-shoot) and so far I love it. I wanted a camera that would be able to take decent macro shots but could not afford a DSLR with macro lens. The SuperMacro setting on the Canon PowerShot SX10 works nicely for what I need (after I figured out that you need to set the camera into manual mode to use it). I'm impressed with the zoom as well. I've taken pictures of the moon that people won't believe I've taken without a telescope just using the zoom on the camera. I've read a few complaints about grainy pictures, but I find with using sufficient light, low ISO setting and manual mode this isn't really an issue. I take most of my pictures in manual mode and love fiddling around with the settings. I've been able to get a few surprisingly good bokeh shots as well using the zoom and/or macro settings. The only complaints I would have might be that it's too easy to accidentally press a button on the back of the camera when holding it, thus changing your settings in the middle of trying to take a picture. I've annoyed myself doing that on multiple occasions. I wished the manual focus would work a little better - it's sometimes challenging to get it right and it's a bit hit and miss. Most of the time, the auto focus and focus lock work fine for what I want to do though. And on the SuperMacro setting, it can be tricky to get the lighting right without casting a lens shadow on your subject, but I suspect that's probably an issue with all macro photography and I wouldn't hold that against the camera. If I could add something to the camera to make it better, I would suggest a thread to add filters etc and put the lens cap on a strap so it can't get lost. I know there are adapters and alternate lens caps available, but it would be nice not to have to purchase those extra. Update (December 2011): I've been using this camera for almost two and a half years now and have taken over 50,000 pictures with it for an average of 50-60 shots per day (gee, has it really been that many?), so I figured I would provide an update. I had to send it in once for repairs due to spots on images because "the optical assembly did not operate properly" and Canon fixed it for me under warranty. Since then the image quality has been great and seems still the same after 50,000+ shots. The zoom still works well most of the time, but occasionally will get temperamental and show me a "lens error" asking to restart the camera. The other error message I see quite a bit is "E02" which appears to be an autofocus error, though I have also seen it pop up when trying to use manual focus, and I had a bogus "card error" once. Turning the camera off and back on usually fixes these errors, but sometimes the camera keeps up with it and I have to put it away and give it a rest for a while. It happens most often in hot and/or humid weather, with heavy use (1000+ pictures in a day), and when I try to zoom at odd angles or with the Raynox lens attached. The Raynox macro conversion lens is a great addition to this camera, btw, and has given me some great macro shots. It does not require an adapter to be used with the camera. I've purchased a small SpeedLite flash (270EX) and have been very happy with it, too. It gives more power than the built-in flash and can be set to bounce off the ceiling. I've also purchased the Lensmate filter adapter and played around with 58 mm neutral density and polarizing filters. The camera works well with one filter attached, but more than one filter may give you vignetting at wide angle. All of these have been great and useful "upgrades" for the camera. As long as I only had the camera without any accessories, the Lowepro Edit 110 was the perfect camera bag for it. I had to upgrade to a larger bag to fit all the additional stuff that I bought though. Overall, I have been very happy with this camera, aside from the occasional "lens error" annoyance.

Before purchasing the Canon SX10IS I did about three months of looking over reviews, going in stores to actually hold different cameras, and constantly changing my mind from Canon to Sony to Panasonic and back again. As you know there are plenty of diehard Canon and Sony lovers that have reviewed their particular purchase. I have not been brand loyal when it comes to digital cameras. I have had mostly Sony's, a few Canon's and some lower end Kodak's. So when I finally made my decision to push that order button on the Canon SX10IS it was because I felt it was the best camera for me. I was in a heated internal battle between the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 and the Canon PowerShot SX10IS. Both cameras have great ratings and reviews on Amazon and other electronic sites. One small thing to others was a big thing to me, the battery situation. I prefer to be able to use AA batteries over having to buy Sony batteries. Just for the ease of AA being handy no matter where I go. The other selling points for me were the flip LCD screen and the hot shoe feature for future use if I decide to get serious with my photos. I have waited to post my review because I wanted to use the Canon a while before giving my final thoughts. I am by no means a top tier photo person and I do not know half of what my Canon will actually do (yet, still reading the manual as needed). However, I can honestly say the pictures are flat out beautiful that I have been taking. The 20X zoom is far more than enough for all my needs. The pictures I was taking so impressed the folks sitting next to me at a recent concert that they wrote down the model of the Canon so they could go home and order it from Amazon too! We were sitting in the middle of the arena and my shots of the singers are like I was in the third row. Not only are the pictures great because you can actually see who is on stage (unlike some of my previous camera's photos due to low zoom capability), but they are also so crisp. A major concern of mine prior to buying my camera was that there are not too many reviews that talk about concert photos. I give an A+++ on this bad boy when it comes to concerts. The Canon SX10IS is a tad heavier than the Sony DSC-H50, but after holding both I liked the little extra weight. When we are getting to this level of point and shoot cameras, I liked the feel of holding something with a little more substance to it. I hope this review helps you make a decision. On a side note, the shipping from Amazon was wonderful. My camera arrived two days earlier than expected!

Easy to use