Canon PowerShot SX210 – Flexible lens in a compact body

Digicam — By Ricky on May 13, 2010 at 12:05 am

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Good options for manual and semimanual controls, good compact body containing flexible lens, photo quality is commendable.

Thumbs Down:

Shooting performance is slow, LCD is unimpressive, some issues with design.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Canon PowerShot SX210 has 4x digital zoom, is 14.1 megapixels device. Light sensitivity options include ISO 80, ISO auto, ISO 100, ISO 1600, ISO 200, ISO 800 and ISO 400. The camera has a 4x digital zoom. Shooting programs include Beach, Foliage, Landscape, Kids & pets, Stitch assist, Snow, Indoor, Fireworks, Low light, Portrait mode, and Night Snapshot. Maximum shutter speed is 1/3200 sec, minimum shutter speed is 15 seconds. Exposure modes include Aperture-priority, Manual, Automatic, Shutter priority and Program. White Balance Presets include Fluorescent light (daylight), Daylight, Fluorescent light (cool white), Tungsten light, Cloudy.

Supported formats are H.264 and JPEG. Video capture options are H.264 – 1280 x 720, H.264 – 640 x 480 and H.264 – 320 x 240. Image storage options are JPEG 640 x 480, JPEG 2592 x 1944, JPEG 4320 x 2432, JPEG 1600 x 1200, JPEG 3456 x 2592, and JPEG 4320 x 3240.

Zoom lens – 5 mm – 70 mm – F/3.1-5.9 lens has a focal length of 5 mm – 70 mm. macrofocus range is 5-50 cm and minimum focus range is two inches. Lens aperture is F/3.1-5.9, has 14x optical zoom. Additional features include AE lock, I-Contrast (Intelligent Contrast Correction) system, AF lock, Smile Detection Auto Shutter, Safety zoom, Camera orientation detection, DPOF support, Motion Detection Technology, Scene Detection Technology, Direct print, Face Detection AF/AE/FE/WB, AF/AE tracking, Blink Detection technology, Wink Self-timer, Face Detection Self timer, Built in speaker, RGB primary color filter, Cropping an image, Digital noise reduction, Histogram display, 720p HD movie recording, Resizing an image, Digital tele-converter, Exif Print support, Digital image rotation, PictBridge support, USB 2.0 compatibility, In-camera red-eye fix, Smart Flash Exposure

Razzle Dazzle:

Color options for this camera are gold, blue and purple. We got the gold one in our labs for review and were quite pleased by the aesthetic appeal of the camera. The device would have been more pocket friendly if the 14x zoom on the front had not been there. But you can still slip it comfortably in your coat pocket or handbag. The metal shell can get scratched easily and hence we will recommend you to buy a good protective case.

Inside Dope:

Thin seems to be in and hence there are a lot of manufacturer trying to put a long zoom in a compact body for camera. This model is a similar type of camera which has a 28mm equivalent wide angle lens along with 14x zoom. This is a follow up to the SX210 IS which we had in 2009. Both the zoom range and resolution has been increased and the body has been slimmed down to make the device more pocket friendly. Controls have been improved a bit but there are still some issues with the design. The shooting speed performance too could have been faster. On the flip side, the photo quality is nice and we liked the set of semimanual as well as manual options for shooting that the camera had to offer. We will recommend you this camera if you don’t care much about speed and are in the market for a compact megazoom camera.

Canon PowerShot SX210 IS digital camera

Just like the previous iteration, the Canon PowerShot SX210 too has a flash that pops up everytime you start the camera. But in this case, you can press it down and it will stay down. We, however, were concerned if this would put pressure on the mechanism of the camera. We wouldn’t have put the flash down at all but the problem is that when it is up, holding the camera in your hand is quite awkward as there is no space for the finger. The screen is really bright and it has a low resolution which you will find on any cameras in the market.

We had mixed opinions about the controls of the camera. Thicker fingers might have a problem with the buttons which seem cramped and small. On the top of the Canon PowerShot SX210, there is a shutter release, tiny power button which is flush with the body and is difficult to locate without looking. The zoom control nubbin is also located here. Be careful while holding the camera as your thumb might sit on the shooting mode dial and change the modes accidentally.

Canon PowerShot SX210’s shooting options are varied. It will satisfy a point and shoot user as well as someone who likes full manual controls. The options for manual control are better than what you’d get on other compact megazoom cameras. There are full manual as well as semimanual control over apertures and shutter speed. There is also manual focus along with safety for fine tuning. Apertures included are f8, f7.1, f6.3, f5.9, f5.6, f5, f4.5, f4, f3.5 and f3.1. You can use only three of these when the lens is full extended. Shutter speed options range from 15 seconds to 1/3,200 of a second.

Photo quality of the Canon PowerShot SX210 is really good but there are some issues. Compact digi cam photos soften quickly when you go above ISO 200 and this camera too suffers from the same fate. Still you can print 13×19 inch images. Photos started getting softer when we used ISO 400 but surprisingly, photos even at ISO 1600 were good for making 8×10 prints. Photos taken in low light conditions aren’t as good as that seen on Sony Cyber-shot HX5V. On the flip side, SX210’s low ISO stills are better than that of Sony. The High ISO mode has been renamed by the manufacturer to Low Light which might confuse some people. This mode can shoot 3.5 megapixel photos at ISO of 400-6400. The results look a bit grainy and in the darker areas of the photos, there is yellow blotching.

The best part about the Canon PowerShot SX210 is the color performance. Colors in our stills looked well saturated, bright and were reasonably accurate. Exposure is good but when it comes to highlights, there is a bit of struggle. Video quality of this camera is as good as that of a pocket minicamcorder.