Canon Powershot SX10IS 10MP Digital Camera with 20x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom - 2665B001

Canon Powershot SX10IS

4/16/2010

Great megazoom camera. One lens does everything I want with the built-in stabilization. Incredible detail at long distances. Good range of automatic settings. Feels solid to hold but numerous buttons on the body makes it easy to make wrong selection. Some button labels are hard to see. Included software does not work with Windows XP (x64). AA battery power makes it easy to find and use inexpensive alkaline or rechargeable NiMH batteries.

Cannon sx10is

4/16/2010

This camera has been a disappointment. I like the viewfinder very much, but everything else just doesn't come up to the standards I thought Canon stood for. The flash is very limited in its scope,(blows out flesh tones) most flesh tones are on the red side. The camera is VERY touchy on still shots. It is difficult to let a stranger take a pix of myself without getting the shot out of focus.
As careful as I try, getting sharp images is a difficult task.
My wife has a hundred buck camera of another make that is just a point and shoot unit, and most of her pixs have a overall better look to them. Most of her color tones are better, out of focus shots are fewer and most of her shots are as good and a lot of them are better. For the money I paid for this camera, I must say that I'm not to happy with the results.

CanonS10 IS

4/11/2010

Has all the good features of my Canon S5 IS plus more. Optics very good.Still in the "testing" stage of using the camera, but like what I have seen so far !

why so much hype?

2/27/2010

for average to low usage: don't buy. i like to take pictures on my trips (national and state parks), family, in and out... sorry, i do not understand the extremely good ratings on canon cameras (i own also a little compact SD1200IS) particularly this model..
cons:
-low light pictures are grainy, very grainy.
-the colors are a bit saturated for my taste.
-the auto-focus is slow and kind of unreliable. it grabs what you do not want to focus on ...
-you can not put a filter to the lens (mainly to protect the lens from scratches ... basics)
-it drains batteries faster than expected, much faster. it even drains the batteries when it is off for a week or so: unbelievable.
-there is no monitor of battery charge on the screen ... when the batteries die, the camera shuts down with no warning! even the small cheap compact cameras have that feature!
-4 AA batteries make the camera heavy.
-many 'push buttons' placed almost randomly all over the right side of the body that make little sense unless you master the manual perfectly.
-no on-screen display of the beginning of a self-timed shot makes it awkward to use (many, if not all, small cameras have front and back warnings that the timer started).
-the x20 zoom is useless if you do not have a tripod.
-zooming in and out is too sensitive. it is difficult to set.
-the software menus are cumbersome to my taste (i've used kodak, panasonic, samsung, nikon so it is fair to make the statement).
-esthetically, and that's my personal taste, the body looks big and unrefined. we passed the 2,000s 10 years ago ... some re-design would not hurt (ie look at panasonic, nikon).
pros:
there are many 'pros' already described by other reviewers.

in summary, what's the hype with canon? digital cameras perform in general good nowadays so i think we need to think more about ergonomics, user friendly software, battery life and forget about 'the brand hype' that obviously canon benefits from. i understand that a low review will not do 'anything' on the average star of the product ... it is the review that counts: i hope it is of any help.

I Chose The SX10 Over The Newer SX20

2/25/2010

I bought this camera from Amazon in August of 2009. A few weeks later, Canon released the newer version (SX20), so I still had the option of keeping the SX10 or returning it to Amazon for the SX20. After researching the SX20, I decided to keep the SX10, and I'm glad I did. The main reason is that most of the "experts" out there who tested both cameras claim that the SX10 has slightly better image quality, and that was important to me. I know that the SX10 has a "Super Fine" image quality setting, while the newer SX20 can only go as high as a "Fine" setting. The SX10 comes with a full printed manual, while the SX20 does not, and the SX10 has a voice recording option, something they left off the new SX20.

Before I purchased the SX10, I was searching for a digital camera that had a lot of zoom, took decent photos, and shot good quality video with excellent sound. Well, this camera has lots of zoom (20X), good for taking shots of wildlife. The video is very good, and the stereo sound is far, far better than my older point and shoot camera. No need for me to buy a separate camcorder. The photo image quality is OK, but not spectacular. Some photos have "noise", but I keep reminding myself that this is NOT a thousand dollar SLR camera, so I don't expect perfection.

For those people who are not camera geeks, this camera will serve you well in Auto setting, but I advise everyone to read the instruction manual and play around with the many manual settings, as there are lots of fun things you will discover, and you will be able to take better photos as well.