Customer Reviews

Canon PowerShot SX210 IS Digital Camera - Black (14.1 MP, 14x Optical Zoom) 3.0 Inch PureColor LCD

5 star:		(110)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I have used a 7.1mp Olympus Mju compact digital camera for the past 2-3 years as a compact alternative to my main camera, Canon digital SLR. Results were fairly patchy and so I have been looking around for an upgrade for a few months. I was on the point of buying the Powershot SX200 but then saw that the SX210 was imminent, so held off until the camera was launched and the price came down from its fairly toppy launch level of £300+. As expected, as stocks improved, the price has fallen sharply plus Canon has now introduced its cashback offer, bringing the price of the camera down materially.

I went for the Powershot over an Ixus equivalent as a) its hugely powerful 14x optical zoom appealed, b) I am more concerned with picture quality than size and c) the Powershot isn't actually that big anyway. So far, I have probably taken around 200 photos using the camera in a variety of conditions and am really pleased with the results. Build quality is top-notch, the zoom lens produces fantastic results and battery life doesn't seem to be an issue (although I have bought a spare Canon battery from Amazon just in case). The menus are intuitive and very much in line with other cameras produced by Canon. As for the flash popping up automatically, I haven't found this to be an issue (in fact, I think handling is very good) but you can keep your finger on the flash and it stays down. There are different auto settings (e.g. 'portrait', 'landscape', 'indoors' etc.), all of which seem to work well plus movie mode (which I haven't tried) along with manual settings. I even used the digital zoom (which goes to 56x) with fairly decent results due to the image stabilsation.

I am using a standard 4GB SD Sandisk Ultra card and a Lowepro Apex 30 AW case, which fits well and leaves space for extra memory cards, batteries etc. If you can afford the extra for a really high speed SD card, I'd say it's probably worth it as with 14.1mp, files are pretty big and there can be some lag evident between shots.

I'm a big fan of Canon photography gear and the Powershot SX210is doesn't disappoint - you can safely buy this knowing that you are getting a great camera for your money.

I too have only had this camera for a few days, but I think it's brilliant. Its main selling point is of course that 14x zoom lens, which starts at 28mm so at the long end you get 392mm! The Image Stabilization ensures sharp pictures even at that length. I haven't tried any digital zoom. I find that setting image stabilization to "Shoot Only" works best.

The camera's second selling point is the Aperture priority, Shutter priority and Manual modes. It is well designed in that it has a proper dial to select the aperture and shutter settings. Unfortunately it is a dual-purpose dial and pressing down on it often selects another function. I have sometimes done this accidentally while trying to select aperture or shutter speed. I expect I will get used to it. The dial can also be used when selecting menu items.

The camera has a Wide mode which records/plays back images in 16:9 format, great for people who like to show photos on their HD TVs. I have this option selected all the time. Please note that despite the heading it's a 3.5 inch display on the back. I haven't yet found it difficult to see the display, though we have had some sunny days.

I used up a fully charged battery pack in two days, but I was playing with the camera quite a lot! I think it would last for about a week in normal use. I have ordered a spare battery pack because it's boring not to be able to get your photos for two hours while the battery charges.

I find that if I take a photo in low light, like indoors, the camera takes a couple of seconds to store an image, but generally it is fine. I have ordered a fast memory card to see if this helps because after all it's got to store 14 megapixels.

About the problem with the flash popping up, I find that when I pick the camera up, my left index finger usually rests on top of the flash cover, so when I turn the camera on, the flash can't pop up.

I have added some pictures to the customer images which give a better idea of what the camera is like because they weren't taken in the dark!

I use a digital SLR. I do a lot of walking including walking long distance paths. I finally got fed up with lugging my DLSR in my pack, so I decided to go and find something much smaller and lighter, but which would still give me a degree of control.

This does the job excellently. Obviously a compact will never do everything a DSLR can, but this met my spec excellently.
The auto, program, shutter priority, aperture priority and manual modes are easy to switch between, the screen is very clear, and the lens is of excellent quality.

In short, it takes good pictures, is small and light and is packed with features useful to the photgrapher who wants to be able to do more than just take snapshots.

I would have preferred a conventional viewfinder, and working out how and when the flash pops up and/or triggers is a bit of a pain, but for the budget I was looking to spend, this is definitely a fine bit of kit

I'm giving this 5 stars because for a compact it does everything you could want and expect it to do.
This review is made from mainly using the Programme setting.

The camera works well in low light. When I took photos outside at night, it did have an annoying tendency to lighten the sky, however I think that could be fixed using manual controls. Inside, the setting for tungsten light works superbly and the picture isn't afflicted with that horrible yellow colour. The image stabilisation also works well inside without flash.

I've used the HD video quite a bit and I'm impressed. The quality is good, and the zoom is very quiet and focuses quickly.

For me, the best things about this camera are the macro and the zoom. The images are sharp and full of detail, and even on the P setting, without any fiddling; you can get the nice background blur. The zoom produces clear and crisp images even at 14x.

Other little nice things are the fisheye and miniature settings, as well as very easy to use controls, especially when you want to use the manual settings.

The camera design is a little flawed. You'd have thought they'd have learned from the previous Powershot regarding the flash always popping up, but to be honest it hasn't really irritated me the way it appears to have done to others, and the camera has such a quick start up time that turning it off and on again isn't much of a bother. It's also vry slim and lightweight.

I would most definitely recommend this to others, especially if you want a good macro and zoom camera.

Had this camera a couple of weeks now and pretty impressed. Great zoom for the money and being a compact. Really good selection of programme functions for getting more creative (fish eye, 'model/miniature', and 'foliage' - increases vibrancy of plant shots). I've taken some good panoramic shots with the stitch assist function, and the stitch software it comes with is very easy to use. Also, the wide format option gives a different perspective and more scope for taking landscape shots.

Really happy with this purchase - as an SLR user myself, I've found you can do a lot with this camera without all the SLR paraphernalia. Also - really good macro shots, fully tested at Kew Gardens!

Replaced my Ixus 75 with this impressive camera, wide angle to full zoom, macro also. Canon have fitted everything I wanted into this so no complaints.
I was considering the TZ10 also but prefered the look of the SX210, obviously as I did noy buy the Panasonic I cannot make a direct comparason.
Flash really is no problem, If you need it it lets you know anyway and with its low level light abilities you can be better off with no flash.
I am no camera expert and really just point and shoot with the occasional experiment, this makes this camera ideal for me. I am sure it will impress most people, I took a picture of the moon last night with full 56 x zoom (on tripod) you can see the Craters !!
One thing If like me you like to show your pictures on a TV then do buy a HDMI mini to HDMI cable, the normal hook up cable provided with the camera is rubbish, but with an HDMI cable you will be very satisfied.
Go Purple, You will not be disapointed with this.

The Canon PowerShot SX210IS digital camera is a newly released, slim, elegant and powerful product that packs a surprising number of features into its small body. Apparently, it was designed for advanced amateur photographers, and offers 14.1 mega pixels, 14x wide zoom, and 3.0" wide LCD. It was not available on Amazon until February 2010, and, so far as I know, was not first shipped until April 30, 2010, when I eagerly received it.

My purchase process here was a bit unusual for lazy old me: I needed a new camera, so first went online, looked up the ratings of digital cameras. Made up a short list of likely candidates by price and quality, went to Amazon and checked on the early users' reviews. Everyone raved about this new one, coming out soon, so I bit.

Well, there's no question, the camera is cleverly made. It seems to have, let's call it, a dumb auto, don't know who that is meant for, it doesn't allow manual control of the flash, but it will just take pictures. Then it's got a Smart Auto setting. Allows manual control of the flash. And it knows what's in your potential picture: human beings, or just scenery. Knows when more human beings enter the picture, and adjusts itself. Also knows if you are in close-up, bright light, backlit light, blue skies and backlit blue skies, sunsets, or dark. And adjusts itself for all of the above, which is pretty remarkable to me. It'll shoot short movies of course. It has manual settings appropriate for amateur photographers, such as people, landscape, night, kids and pets, and indoors and something called smart shutter. It doesn't have a sports setting unfortunately, which my old camera did, guess you'd take sports in the kids/pets setting.It's also got a setting that adjusts portrait/landscape, and settings for the more advanced that I'll probably never use, to change aperture and speed.

I do have a couple of quibbles with it. It has no built-in memory, and doesn't come with a memory card, so you can't use it right out of the box, unless you've a memory card handy. It also comes with only a very small booklet, "Getting Started," instead of a full manual: that comes on CD as 150 pages of PDF. I'd prefer to have this information in hard copy, but my little home system can't possibly print 150 pages. I've been told by other more knowledgeable users that that's the way better digital cameras are shipped today, and I can't argue with them. So, buy a hard-copy manual from the vendor? Anyway, guess both of these deficiencies were dictated by the desire to bring the camera in at the best possible price, and it does come at a very good price for all the exciting new technology it bears. If you want a pretty good new digital camera at a pretty good price, you ought to consider this one.

Given the positive reviews so far for this camera - I am assuming mine was faulty as I had to send it back to Amazon. I've bought Canon products often and can't really think of any previous instance of being disappointed with their products. I have an EOS 350 DSLR and it's still my first choice when I want really excellent quality image results. However, our much-loved family Canon Powershot A95 point and shoot died recently so we chose the Powershot SX210 IS as our new family camera due to the positive reviews and impressive spec. On first inspection, it's a nice looking camera. It feels robust, the design is attractive and the weight is comfortable in the hand. The only criticism I've read on Amazon is about the flash being poorly situated and popping up whenever you switch on. However, the positioning didn't bother me and I found that if you rest your finger gently over the housing when you switch on, the flash gun stays in its recess.

Switching on, one is immediately impressed by the sizable screen space at the back. The controls feel sturdy and responsive and the new Canon software is very slick, intuitive and fun to use. The indicated battery life is poor compared to the A95 (which took 4 x AA batteries), but the camera is much lighter with its dedicated battery. So far, so good. But then I attempted to take photos and shoot video with it. My criteria here is fairly straightforward - with the DSLR, I'm prepared to spend a bit of time with the settings to compose the best shot for the conditions I'm shooting in - with a point and shoot camera, I expect it to do all the thinking so I just relax and catch those impromptu family moments. With the A95 this approach produced perfectly usable shots 9 out of 10 times. On the SX210, it was more like 2 out of 10 good shots.

In bright sunny weather, I found blue skies to appear very artificial as if overly processed in Photoshop, with severe purple fringing. I also found in practice that lovely screen very difficult to see in sunlight. Auto focus appeared to be quick and responsive - until I downloaded the images. Just about any slight movement in the shot caused some degree of blurring in the image - regardless of which settings I used. Colours frequently seemed unreal - not something I would normally associate with Canon - lovely warm colours on both my other Canon cameras. In particular, on still shots, the camera could not focus in macro mode - I tried 100 different positions around several objects and never achieved a sharp image.

On the video, the 720p resolution was one of the main reasons we chose this camera as our old Powershot only had 640. Unfortunately, the video was unusable in practice - the feature uses auto focus and auto white balance, and both were active constantly during shooting. Even without using the zoom, in a living room with controlled lighting and filming my daughter seated and playing, the camera continually refocused and changed the light balance. I contacted Canon to try and troubleshoot this problem but was advised just to return the camera. It appears you cannot disable these features.

I'm really hoping this was a faulty camera as the SX210 looks and feels like a quality point and shoot - but this experience has made we wary about replacing it for the same model. A few photography blogs that have reviewed the SX210 have alluded to the limitations of putting 14m megapixels on such a small chip and described the sorts of issues that I experienced in the stills I took with this camera.

We have used Canon cameras in the past, and this one seemed to have surpassed the large zoom style Lumix ones. This one gives very little distortion with wide angle, and the 14x zoom gets some excellent results. There is plenty of control over the camera to get interesting shots in multiple conditions, including a manual focus, shutter and aperture priority, and the auto-switch to macro mode is very good. The focusing is generally very good, and the image quality is better than previous Canons we have had, which were already very good. On top of that, the camera looks nice.

As expected, with a large zoom, it gets hard to take shots at full zoom due to the reduced light into the lens, but it still deals well with this.

It doesn't get five stars because on multiple shots, the screen shows the picture you have taken, rather than what you are trying to take next, which makes it difficult taking multiple shots of a moving image.

The best bit we found is that we get far more, and better, pictures than with our digital SLR since we almost always have the camera with us as it just slips into a pocket. The SLR tends to stay at home because it is too bulky.

Other reviews we read say they were concerned that the flash may get damaged if you "accidentally" hold it down when it is opening (it lifts the flash automatically when you turn it in) but the instructions say you can do this anyway to avoid the camera using the flash, which is easier than going into the menus and means the camera is designed to be operated this way.

The video is good for a camera rather than a dedicated camcorder, with 720p video.

If you want to use video, ensure you get at least a class 4 card.

For us, this was an excellent purchase and certainly worth recommending to others.

I bought my SX210 IS two months ago ans have tested it thoroughly, I also have a Canon IXUS 960 IS. At first glance this looks to be a great camera and great value for money however be warned it is not all its made out to be, having the older IXUS I am able to compare the two.

The zoom on the SX is great, zooming to a SLR equivalent of 380 mm and as long as good light it will take a clear picture at full zoom. You can turn off the digital zoom which is good as it spoils the shot, I am very pleased with the zoom function.

The picture quality is superb not as good as a SLR but that's not expected, it is better than the 960 Ixus but not by much though the SX widescreen is better and fully available through the zoom. I have taken some great pictures with the SX and I pleased to see that you can still cheat the lens to thinking it is dusk when shooting into the sun as to get some nice sunset shots in broad daylight.

The HD movie created a .MOV file on the SX and this is trouble I found, firstly finding free software to edit this I found impossible, secondly and more important when played on the PC there is no sound! After a google I found many have the same issue with this camera, also I can't say the image quality on playing the .MOV file is great either. After I converted the .MOV file to MP4 then the sound was present and from there I could edit it with the NERO suit. For films I must say the IXUS 960 better as it creates a AVI file and to my mind a better quality film when compared on the PC.

Now what really annoys me about the SX it is SO slow, .5 to .7 shots per second useless! My Ixus 960 3 shots per second. If you want to shoot anything the moves forget it with this camera, in its defence from reading the spec on the new Ixus that is exactly the same so what the hell has Canon done, gone backwards!

General usage of its controls is OK but not as easy as the Ixus 960 though once you get used to it that's not a problem, the flash will always pop up when you switch it on but you can hold it down to stop that and soon you do it without thinking. It is a nice touch that by just lifting the flash it is switched on for use unlike the Ixus 960 where you have to alter the controls. The SX flash is slow to become ready though and if you're after a quick flash shot forget it unless it was already on.

The SX is a little bigger than my old Ixus and so does not fit the hand so nicely but that's ok, the SX came with a rubbish carry strap and I had to buy another off Ebay within an hour of opening the box, OK only two quid but again what the hell is Canon doing.

If it wasn't for the zoom and picture quality this camera would be sold but those make it a great camera, it is however the last Canon I will buy. My advice look closely at the other compact digitals before buying.