Canon PowerShot SX210 IS – Good photo quality
Sum and Substance:
Thumbs Up:
Good manual and semimanual controls, photo quality is great, flexible lens is housed in a compact body.
Thumbs Down:
Shooting performance is slow, design is awkward, LCD is unimpressive.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Canon PowerShot SX210 IS is 4.2 inches wide, 1.3 inches deep, 2.3 inches high and weighs 7.8 oz. Resolution is 14.1 megapixels. Light sensitivity options include ISO auto, ISO 1600, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 100, and ISO 80. The camera has 4x digital zoom, shooting programs include Night snapshot, Stitch assist, Portrait mode, Kids & pets, Low light, Landscape, Fireworks, Foliage, Indoor, Beach, Snow. Special Effects include Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Positive Film, Custom Effect, Black & White, Color Accent, Vivid Green, Vivid Blue, Color Swap, Vivid Red, Miniature, Neutral, Fisheye, Vivid, Sepia. Maximum Shutter Speed is 1/3200 sec, minimum shutter speed is 15 seconds.
Exposure Modes include Aperture-Priority, Shutter-Priority, Automatic, Program, and Manual. White Balance Presets options include Fluorescent light (cool white), Fluorescent light (daylight), Tungsten light, Daylight, Cloudy. Video Capture resolution options are H.264 – 1280 x 720, H.264 – 320 x 240, H.264 – 640 x 480. Image Storage options include JPEG 640 x 480, JPEG 1600 x 1200, JPEG 2592 x 1944, JPEG 3456 x 2592, JPEG 4320 x 2432, JPEG 4320 x 3240.
Flash Modes include Red-eye reduction, Flash OFF mode, Slow synchro, Fill-in mode, Auto mode. The camera has Zoom lens – 5 mm – 70 mm – F/3.1-5.9 with focal length is 5 mm – 70 mm. Minimum Focus Range is 2 inches, optical zoom is 14x, lens aperture is F/3.1-5.9, Macro focus range is 5-50cm. Additional Features include I-Contrast (Intelligent Contrast Correction) system, Smile Detection Auto Shutter, Camera orientation detection, Motion Detection Technology, Scene Detection Technology, Face Detection AF/AE/FE/WB, Blink Detection technology, Face Detection Self-timer, RGB primary color filter, Digital noise reduction, 720p HD movie recording, Digital tele-converter, Digital image rotation, USB 2.0 compatibility, In-camera red-eye fix, Smart Flash Exposure, PictBridge support, Exif Print support, Resizing an image, Histogram display, Cropping an image, Built-in speaker, Wink Self-timer, AF/AE tracking, Direct print, DPOF support, Safety zoom, AF lock, AE lock.
The display of the camera is three inches big. Connector Types are HDMI, Composite video/audio output, and USB. Bundled software includes Canon ZoomBrowser EX, Drivers & Utilities, Canon ImageBrowser, Canon PhotoStitch.
Razzle Dazzle:
Color options for the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS are gold, purple and black and the device looks like a bit Digital Elph. This would have fit easily in a tight pocket had it not been for the 14x zoom lens on the front. But carrying this camera in a coat pocket or handbag will be quite easy. We will recommend you to get a protective case for this camera since the body is prone to scratches.
Inside Dope:
The new ‘in’ thing for camera manufacturers these days seem to be putting a long zoom in a compact body. Canon PowerShot SX210 IS has a 14 megapixel resolution lens and it the quite compact with 28mm-equivalent wide-angle lens. This is the successor to the SX200 IS which we got in 2009, both the zoom range and resolution are upped the body is trimmed down so that it fits in the pocket easily. Controls are improved, as compared to its predecessor but there are a few quirks in the design which frustrated us on some occasions. The shooting speed is disappointing too. We will recommend you this camera if you don’t care much about the design or shooting speeds.
Just like its predecessor, this camera too pops up the flash everytime you turn the camera on but this time, you can push it down if not needed. It is quite awkward to hold the camera if the flash is up because there is no place to put your fingers. The screen is bright enough but the resolution could have been better. The screen size is three inches but you get to use all the real estate only in the wide screen resolution. For all other resolutions, you get just two and half inches on the screen.
Controls of the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS are a mixed bag. Larger hands will find it cramped. On the top, there is the shutter release, zoom control nubbin, and a small power button which is quite flush with the body and it difficult to tell by feel. Your thumb will rest on the shooting mode dial when you grip the device. You might change the modes through your thumb accidentally.
There is a record button beneath the dial for shooting movies but you can program it for other tasks like white balance settings or ISO changing. The playback button is also located close to the record button. Underneath these two, there is the Control dial/directional pad. Touching the dial gives you access to focus settings, self timer, exposure and flash. Our only problem was that it popped up with the slightest of touch and disturbed us while shooting. Navigation is fast because of the dial and we found changing the shutter speed and aperture very easy. The movement is free but you will feel the stops when you rotate it.
In the dial’s center, there is the standard Func. Under this dial, there is the Display button which lets you change the playback and shooting options which show up on the screen. The Menu button takes care of basic settings of operation. Mini HDMI and Mini USB ports on the camera’s right lets you connect the device to a HDTV, monitor or computer. The memory card and battery compartment are located on the bottom.
Canon PowerShot SX210 IS’s shooting options range from simple point and shoot options to the full manual controls. As compared to most megazooms, the options for manual shooting are much better. You get full manual and semimanual control over the aperture and shutter speed and also for manual focus. Apertures include f8, f7.1, f6.3, f5.9, f5.6, f5, f4.5, f4, f3.5, and f3.1. You get only 3 of these when the lens is extended fully. You get options for setting contrast, sharpness, color saturation and strength of flash too can be adjusted. Output of flash is adjusted through flash exposure lock and it keeps the flash away from subject blow out.
If you are a newbie and get easily intimidated by advanced controls, there is the Canon Smart Auto which automatically determines the settings after detecting the shooting environment. The Easy mode too works in a similar way but the settings are heavily limited. You get 5 popular scene selections on the mode dial: Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Landscape and Portrait. There is also a SCN choice to access the scene settings which are not often used like Fireworks, Snow, Foliage, Beach, Indoor and Low Light.
Nitty Gritty:
We will recommend you this device if you are looking for compact camera along with good quality and manual controls.
