Canon PowerShot SX20 IS – Downgrade From The Previous SX10
Sum and Substance:
Thumbs Up:
Good battery life, the LCD has a flip and turn interface, comfortable to hold in hand.
Thumbs Down:
Slower than SX10, low image quality.
Inside the Trunk:
Included accessories – lens hood, lens cap and neck strap. Cables included are USB cable, AV cable.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Canon PowerShot SX20 IS is 12.1 mega pixel camera. It has light sensitivity of ISO 80 , ISO 100 , ISO 200 , ISO 400 , ISO 800 , ISO 1600, ISO auto, ISO 3200 (2Mpix). It has 4x digital zoom.
Shooting programs include beach, snow, indoor, sunset, aquarium, foliage, fireworks, pets and kids, landscape, night scene, stitch asset, portrait mode, high sensitivity, night sensitivity. Special effects include vivid, sepia, vivid red, neutral, vivid blue, color swap, vivid green, black and white, color accent, custom effect, darker skin tone, positive film, lighter skin tone.
It has optical image stabilizer. Maximum shutter speed is 1/3200 second, minimum shutter speed 15 seconds. It has exposure modes like program, manual, automatic, aperture priority and shutter priority. Videos are stored in H.264 format and pictures are stored in JPEG format. For video the resolution is H.264 – 1280 x 720, H.264 – 320 x 240 and H.264 – 320 x 240. For images the resolution options are 3840 x 2160, 640 x 480, 1600X1200, 2592X11944, 3264X2448, 4000X3000. Options for flash mode include
fill-in mode, auto mode, flash off mode, slow synchro, red-eye reduction.
For lens, the lens type is Zoom lens – 5 mm – 100 mm – F/2.8-5.7, with focal length of 5 mm – 100 mm, minimum focus range is 19.7 inches, macro focus range is 0-50cm, lens aperture is F/2.8-5.7. Other features include UD glass, UA lens, ultrasonic motor (USM), aspherical lens.
The camera supports SD memory card and multimedia memory card. The screen of the camera is LCD display, TFT active matrix, 2.5 inch. Ports for connectivity include Composite video/audio output, USB, HDMI output and a SD memory card slot for expansion.
Software bundled include Canon ImageBrowser, Canon PhotoStitch, Drivers & Utilities, Canon ZoomBrowser EX, Canon Remote Capture. The camera runs on 4 AA sized batteries.
Other features include AE lock, FE lock, DPOF support, audio recording, histogram display, exif print support, in-camera red-eye fix, digital image rotation, 720p HD movie recording, face detection self-timer, face detection AF/AE/FE/WB, motion detection technology, I-contrast system (intelligent contrast correction), AF lock, safety zoom, direct print, cropping an image, resizing an image, PictBridge support, USB 2.0 compatibility, digital tele-converter, RGB primary color filter, display brightness control, scene detection technology, camera orientation detection.
OS supported are MS Windows Vista, Apple Mac OS X 10.4 – 10.5, MS Windows XP
Razzle Dazzle:
Just like SX10, this camera also has a comfortable exterior and it feels great to hold and use for shooting pictures. It is a bit heavy and it is partly because it houses for AA batteries inside its body. There is an indent for thumb rest on the body and the darker color of the body makes it easier to read the labels of the buttons.
Inside Dope:
The camera looks quite intimidating from the outside and looks as if it is made for photo enthusiasts who love to have lots of options on board. It is the successor of Canon PowerShot SX10 IS which didn’t have a good mega zoom but it was better than what we often see. SX20 IS gives poorer performance than the previous one which is a bit of a surprise because when a new model is announced, it usually is better than the previous one. This camera has more MP but then overall we think it is not as better as the SX10 IS. On the positive side there is a mini HDMI connector with which you can play movies on a high definition panel and the camera has 720p video and also the zoom feature for capturing.
The right side of the SX20 IS has a dial for 4 way navigation and a function button in the center. The controls are good but we felt the dial was a bit mushy. It spins a bit too far and we wished there was better tactile feed back for the dial, the same goes for zoom switch they stop at preset distances series.
The LCD is foldable which means you can put the screen side inside to avoid it from damage when not in use. When you want to use it, you simply pull it out and twist it. Regular cameras have three inch screens this one has a smaller two and half inch screen. The viewfinder is improved as compared to the previous version but still there is no toggle between the viewfinder and the LCD which is pretty frustrating. You will have to cycle through option of four display settings like detailed EVF, low-info EVF, detailed LCD and low-info LCD and it is quite frustrating to keeping surfing between these options.
It has got the key for movie record just like previous version, the function menu has settings for color adjustment, white balance, exposure bracketing, metering, quality and still size controls and flash compensation. There is also self face timer which will shoot for the number of seconds that you have specified after it detects the face. You will have to specify how many shots you want to be taken with the custom timer. Other than this, there are all the features that you usually see in a camera like full auto and scene modes and PASM.
Like said before, even though SX 20 IS has more mega pixel rating, it is actually inferior when compared to the old SX 10 in regards to performance. The camera takes two seconds to power on and start shooting, it is good but then we have seen faster cameras than this. In bright light conditions it takes about 0.6 second for focus while in shoot, where as in dull light environments it takes 0.7 seconds.
The battery life is one of the best features of the camera, because it has a long battery life. But the four AA size batteries make the phone heavier. The quality of the photos isn’t bad but they are nowhere close to what other cameras are offering at this price. We were surprised to see the inferior quality even at ISO 80 settings. Photo quality will be best when you shoot in macro close-ups. The color and exposure and color representation is good but the slow lens will be a pain in the neck when you shoot at telephoto end as it seems that the light is always less. HD movies look a bit better than the quality of photos and the zoom for the lens is great.
Nitty Gritty:
Canon PowerShot SX20 IS isn’t any good as compared to SX 10, we would recommend you would stick to the previous version because this camera is not worth paying for.
