Canon Powershot SX110IS 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)

This camera is everything I had hoped for in a mega-zoom, compact digital. Over the past month, I've been able to really test it out, and it hasn't let me down even once. The 10x optical zoom is not a 10x digital zoom, it is true optical zoom with excellent lenses. Some of the other 10x (mega-zoom) camera were reviewed to have poor exposure results through their lenses, surprisingly this included Nikon. The Canon performance is awesome. The effective pixels total 9 mega-pixels, plenty of pixel density on a .28cm sensor. The main sensor is a CCD type that measures 0.28 sq cm. There is a huge LCD on the back and the screen is awesome with lots of detail and a built-in portrait-to-landscape accelerometer (orientation sensor). The flash is manual which means you just flip the flash up if the display says you need it; leave it down if you don't need it--no fumbling for buttons to set the flash preference. I haven't be disappointed by the shots I've taken on auto yet. With face detection, just a light touch on the exposure button, the face detection senses the faces in your shot and focuses perfectly. Then mash the button and get a great shot every time. Easy to learn right out of the box. Nothing complicated about this camera. If you want aperture or shutter priority, you'll have to spend more. This camera is the best value I was able to find for the features and I've been really impressed with the quality of the prints that I've made on top-quality photo paper. The video is awesome, even on a 52" plasma. We're using this camera exclusively and pretty much shelved our Canon DV video camera. The research that informed my choice included Amazon reviews, JR Photo reviews, Consumer Reports, Digital Camera Review, Canon Web site, Nikon Web site and the Sony Web site. In my research, I looked at the most critical things that mattered to me. Sensor size and mega-pixels ratings can be confusing and deceiving. The higher the number doesn't necessarily mean better shots, especially if you're comparing a compact with a subcompact. I used the buying guide at Digital Camera Review extensively to narrow down to the compacts with the best performance features and to make sure I was comparing apples to apples. I compared camera in the Consumer Reports ratings, and though I found that they didn't seem to pay much attention to CCD sensor size in their ratings, as always, the review was very informative and helped narrow down the top brands for features, performance and reliability. Once I had a narrowed down list of a few cameras that looked like they had the best mix of features, performance, usability, price and quality, the clear winner was this Canon. Plus the fact that I have had excellent experiences with other Canon electronics, I chose the SX110. Bottom line, this camera takes great pictures and video. I've photographed and shot video at the max of 60 feet from my subject with excellent results. I've photographed in low light, too, and as long as you're relatively still, great results with minimal blur. I've been amazed at how much I've been able to shoot without the flash. The flash does produce some red-eye, but it is possible to fix it with a feature right on the camera. I use a Mac Book Pro with iPhoto, and the compatibility is ideal. I'm sure the same is true with PCs. The first shot delay is almost not even noticeable; very quick and second shot recovery after using the flash is great. I also recommend getting a 4GB memory card and a Sanyo Eneloop 4 Pack AA NiMH Pre-Charged Rechargable Batteries w/ Charger.

I'm a fairly serious hobby photographer and have used the previous model Canon SX100 in addition to the latest SX110. Everything about it is slightly better than the older model, so all the past reviews on the SX100 and praises still apply. The SX110 is like the cheaper version of the Canon G10 (minus RAW, wide angle, flash hotshoe, and build quality), but the CHDK mod could close the gap even more with advanced features. Here's my summary of likes and dislikes: Likes: - Superb image quality for a compact camera, lens corner to corner sharpness, minimum color fringing, and detail vs noise tradeoff are all better than other cameras in its class. - Manual controls (PASM), exposure compensation, contrast/saturation/sharpness adjustments, custom white balance, flash intensity are all adjustable. - 3" LCD screen with 230k resolution, average specs for new generation cameras today. Viewable from a wide angle, and visible in bright sunny conditions. - 9 Megapixels is good for most large prints, more megapixels would've meant more noise without much improved detail due to physical light diffraction limits. - Good 10x zoom all the way to 360mm equiv. - Macro mode focuses all the way close to 1cm (less than half an inch). - Fast lens, meaning the aperture doesn't get too small as you zoom in so a fast shutter speed can still be used to freeze action far away or in dim conditions. - Optical image stabilization works well giving about 2 stops advantage. - AA batteries are great, get the pre-charged (aka hybrid) NiMH and you can get consistently 400-500 shots per recharge. Also don't have to worry about lost charger on a trip. Better for the environment long-term than proprietary batteries that only fit one camera. Dislikes: - Wide angle not wide enough (28mm would've been better than 36mm) - Minor barrel distortion at the wide angle, only noticeable when there are straight edges in the frame, they look curved. - The zoom setting is not displayed, it only pops up briefly when you change the zoom, and it's not exact. A better solution would've been to always display the 35mm equiv value. Also a zoom resume or preset would be nice, so when camera is powered off and on, it resumes the zoom it was in before. This does happen when the camera powers off to save battery, but not all settings are restored in that situation, such as the drive mode or macro focus settings. - No optical zoom during video recording and HD video, only 640x480 30 fps highest quality. - The software interface is outdated and unintuitive sometimes. Turning auto ISO shift on should AUTOMATICALLY shift the ISO (like older SX100), not requiring the press of the "print" button after half pressing the shutter. Some of the features require a lot of button presses. Also auto-power off mode only has option of off or 3 mins, and lens retract in playback is either immediate or 1 min, there should be values in between. - Image noise is noticeable at ISO 800 & higher, not unexpected for a small sensor camera. Maybe if Canon used a slightly bigger sensor like 1/1.6" instead of 1/2.3"... - No live histogram. For a serious camera with manual controls, live histogram should be an option instead of only available after the image is taken. - The command wheel is only good for scrolling through a long list, but I would've preferred a less finicky button interface. Sometimes it's easy to accidentally scroll a value when you meant to press the button or vice versa. - Flash recycle can take 7-10 seconds after a full power discharge, but not a big deal since I don't use the on-camera flash much (I use natural lighting with higher ISO sensitivities, or an external slave flash triggered by the camera's flash). It's one of the tradeoffs of using AA batteries. I admit the dislikes are very nit-picky, overall this is a great camera, but I'm writing them here so that either Canon or one if its competitors can pick up on these issues and improve on them in future models.

I purchased this camera after a great amount of research. It was my fourth digital camera purchase from Canon. I tested it immediately upon receipt and really liked the controls, zoom, and image quality. One month after receipt I took it on a trip to American Samoa and a number of other Pacific islands. The interior lens surfaces fogged extensively after it's first exposure to outside tropical air. I understand the proper procedures for moving a camera from an air-conditioned room to a hot, humid environment and I thought I had warmed the camera adequately before taking it outside. (I live in S. Florida) I could not get the lenses to clear no matter what I tried. When I got back home, (after being unable to take any usable photographs on my trip) I sent the camera back to Canon. I was told I had water damaged the camera and that it was not repairable and it was not covered under warranty. I spoke to 3 separate people at their service center and was treated rather rudely. After my experience with Canon's customer "Service" department, this will be my last purchase from Canon. I am in the process of shopping for a new DSLR, I will probably go Nikon instead. Long story short, I managed to take about 20 good test shots of my back yard and living room, my once in a lifetime trip to the South Pacific however, totally photo free. Thanks for nothing Canon.

I bought this camera to take with me to a concert I went to back in february. I knew that I was in the 6th row, so I needed a good zoom, and I needed something with fairly low noise at high ISOs because of the indoor lighting. I also needed something that was fairly low in price. After much searching I decided on this little gem of a camera, and boy am I glad I did! Some of the things I love about this camera: It's compact. I was looking at the sx10is which is a bit of an upgrade, but ultimately the compactness of the 110 won me over. It's inexpensive. At least as far as cameras go. I make very little money with my part time job, so I was looking for something that wouldn't break the bank and for about $[...] you can't argue with this. You can set most everything manually. This came in great handy at the concert when I needed a quicker shutter speed than the pre-set settings wanted to give me. I also like knowing that I can control the image instead of just pushing a button and hoping for the best. Beautiful 3in screen. Very lovely to use and very clear. Manual flash. I hate hate hate built in flash for anything other than when you're taking a quick snapshot of you and a friend at night, so this was very convenient for me. I could flip up the flash when I wanted it, and when I didn't it would stay down. Pretty nice in low lighting. At the concert there was very little light on stage so I cranked the ISO up to 800 and was happy with the amount of noise. It was still there, but it wasn't distracting like on some other cameras. Nice video quality. I wasn't sure of the video quality when I bought it and was hoping for the best at my concert where I know lots of videos get overwhelmed with the bass. Luckily, it didn't sound like a bomb was going off at every beat. The sound isn't as good (in my opinion) as the sx10, but it's still pretty good. The video is also pretty high quality. 10x optical zoom. I. Love. This. The whole trip I took while seeing the concert was filled with me playing around with the zoom from our 9th story hotel room. There was a group of police officers talking with a man directly across the street from our hotel and you could literally read their name badges from how close it could zoom in. Now for some things that I don't like so much. First of all, the screen has no protection so it's easily scratched if it's not in a case whenever it's not being used. This is a turn off for me only because I'm the kind of person who likes to throw stuff into my bag and be on my way without worrying about it getting scratched up, or having to worry about the bulkiness of a case. This is by no means a reason to not buy the camera as this problem is easily remedied by keeping the camera in a small case or using a screen protector. Next is that you can't use the optical zoom while taking movies. This bothers me because I really like to take video at concerts and it's a pain if you set the zoom wrong at the beginning of a video and can't change it throughout. On that note, it's also VERY easy to switch from "standard" video mode to "compact" mode. Compact mode is a considerably lower resolution than standard and is closer to the resolution on a camera phone than the much higher quality of the standard mode. This has happened to me on at least two occasions and I couldn't figure out how it was happening until too late. It can easily change if the wheel located near the right thumb is moved while the camera is in movie mode. This is the one flaw that is causing me to give the camera 4 stars instead of 5 (I'm still bitter about the footage I lost because of it). This, however, can become a non problem if you're aware of how it can happen and how to fix it if it does happen. To wrap this up, the sx110is is an excellent camera if you want an awesome zoom, and good quality images on a budget. I will definitely continue to use this as a non DSLR concert/everyday camera far into the future! EDIT: I tried to leave some links to pictures and video I took with this camera, but apparently I can't do links in a review. If you'd like to see pictures just search flickr for katiebean, for video search youtube for katiebean08.

Too bad it won't let me change the star rating. The camera was well taken care of, kept in a case, wrist strap always used, never left out for little hands to grab. Went on vacation and was in the process of putting the camera back into it's case when it dropped to the floor (maybe a 2 foot drop). Immediately the flash stopped working, even when it was raised I got the 'raise flash' error. It still took pictures, but you had to have perfect artificial lighting for the camera not to need the flash to focus. I kept it throughout the summer and sent it off to the repair facility. For all purposes of this review, I will skip 99% of this story. Just make a mental note that if you crap from Canon breaks and it 'might not' be under warranty DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THE SERVICE CENTER. They are by far the worst customer service center I've ever had to deal with. After keeping my camera for a month, (and failing to email me status updates, as they had promised) I find out the camera is being shipped back to me because it's 'beyond economical repair'. For a camera that was as well taken care of as this one was, and dropped ONCE, 5 months old and cost a few hundred dollars. It should be a little more durable than that. I went from a 'buy nothing BUT canon' to a 'never buy Canon (or allow my family to buy) canon ever again.' It's pitiful that one customer service department cost this company hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of business from screwing over my family alone. We will be upgrading to Nikon and participating in the extended and accidental warranties. Surprisingly all of the photographers I personally know recommend Nikon anyway. Now why didn't I just listen to them in the first place? ^ EDIT ^ I put a lot of work into picking out this camera. I wanted a better quality camera for a great price. The more professional cameras started at $400 it seemed, so I stuck with the bargains. I had the Powershot A630 with a flip out screen previously. My daughter found it on my desk and started to play with it, dropped it and the shutter broke and the auto focus seems to be off too. (For Christmas she got her own durable kid's camera, lesson learned!) So the first brand I started reading about was Canon Powershot. I saw an ad for this camera by chance while browsing another Powershot and immediately I loved it. It looked like a great balance between the SLR's and the pocket cameras. It's exactly what I wanted. Pros: Very large LCD screen, large viewing range, 9MP, Great auto focus and a great pop up flash. It's a 'meaty' camera. It makes me feel like it's durable-although I'm not going to let my 3 year old test that theory. It takes AA batteries. I guess that could be a pro or a con, depending on your preference. I prefer AA's because if I get in a bind I can just run into any store and pick up some cheap batteries to last a few hours. Cons: No eye hole (sorry, don't know the correct term for that thing!). It's a little slow recovering from a busy picture. If there is a lot going on in the background it takes a few seconds to write the picture and be ready for another one. It's also large for a pocket camera. That doesn't bother me, but if you're looking for an Elph size, this isn't for you.

As an owner of several Canon digital cameras throughout the past 10 years, I'd have to say that I am really pleased with Canon's latest "prosumer" camera. It really captures the needs of a lot of different users, from great advanced features and access to setting modification for those who like to dabble with the outcome of their shots, to a large and vibrant display that will satisfy any mom or pop at Jonny's soccer game. Over time, Canon has trimmed its on-board buttons and menus down to a VERY useable and accessible set, now rivaling the super-easy to use (but not very high quality) Kodak line of point and shooters. The picture quality on this guy rivals my Canon 30D's quality on automatic settings in both incandescent indoor shooting as well as outdoor shooting, but have not put the high ISOs to the test. The face detection feature is really nice; it does a nice job of picking up on the faces in a shot, so you do not have to try to manually focus. Again, very nice for Gramma to take great looking shots. It seems like there had been a boom in DSLR sales in the past few years, with people forking out WAY too much cash for more camera than they need (and end up using in the long run). If you are one of those folks who are tempted to get into photography "more seriously," but really don't have the money to spend on a number of lenses (let alone a decent body), or the time for classes at your local tech school, this is a really nice camera to consider. The 10x optical zoom, rarely before seen on a sub-$200 camera, can give you some added push in your shots. If you insist on "looking cooler" with a big camera that (until you learn its nuances) will yield shots of equal quality to this one in automatic mode, then I'd recommend staying in the Canon family, with a Rebel product or even a 40 or 50D. Canon really does the best job for the money. The ONLY minute detail that I would point out to the negative would be the fact that small size coupled with the smooth rounded edges makes it just a bit difficult to grab and shoot if you have big paws like I do. Not a huge drawback, just something to mention.

I was looking for a replacement to my SD600 that went down for the count with the famed 'lens error'. Not wanting a full-blown DSLR I figured this somewhat pocketable superzoom might do the trick but no luck. First off, this has a manual flash. A manual flash...in 2009? Why? Second, this is bulkier to carry around than four SD600's, that's right, four of them! Third, the LCD is set waaay too bright, even on the dimmest setting. Goodbye battery life... ...and fourth, since I'm on the batteries, it conveniently runs off 2 AA's but the flash recharge time (time between shots) is the slowest of any camera I've used in over 20 years - film or digital! While the flash is recharging, you can't even take other non-flash pictures. Sigh, why Canon, why? As a result of the flash recharge and screen brightness defects I returned the camera after just one day. For what it's worth, the few pictures I took were reasonably clear but even with the image stabilization they were no better than those taken with my old SD600. Back to the drawing board for me. If you can live with it's shortcomings, the superzoom is nice, but I found the deficiencies too much to bear.

I wanted a camera that was very easy to use yet very versatile. As intuitive as possible and this one fits perfectly. The oversized screen is terrific and the easy knob for selecting types of picture is quick and convenient. I use my camera for a variety of different situations ranging for travel and outdoor shots to closeup shots of small objects. It focuses quick and does a nice job. I really like the tuck away flash. It stays tucked away and if the picture you are taking needs the flash a message will tell you to raise it. Picture quality is excellent and the oversized viewing screen is really nice. glad I got this one over a less expensive model. Cost me a few dollars more but worth it. This camera has a little bit more heft to it than many other smaller and less expensive cameras and I like that. It has a good feel in your hands. Overall an excellent camera, easy to use, good price and very intuitive. Canon has a nice user friendly set of buttons and knobs that are standard across many of their cameras. My camera gets a lot of heavy website use and its perfect for me. Connect the camera to a cable then drag and drop the pictures where I want them. The drag and drop isn't the only way to transfer pics, just one of the ways and the easiest way for me.