Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(208)
4 star:		(113)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This camera marries some of the best features of the Canon S series like zoom and manual flash with the convenience of the A series. This camera is an upgrade of the SX100 and feels much more sleeker than the previous model.

Here is my take on the camera:

Strengths:
- 9MP CCD sensor with DigicIII processor, the CCD sensor is 1/2.3 inch which is bigger than the most SD series cameras resulting in better pictures
- Controls are intuitive and a separate replay start button on the back gives you the flexibility to switch on the camera for playback without extending the lens
- Feels good in the hands, battery compartment gives the camera a better grip, DSLR like black color
- Huge 3" LCD scratch resistant screen makes composing shots easy
- Great 10X optical zoom and 40X digital zoom
- Flash can be flipped up or down as needed, this camera also offers 3 manual flash settings which really helps with portraits
- Sharp pictures - Daylight pictures are excellent and zoom is great for capturing landscapes
- Many modes to shoot - night mode, portrait, landscape, kids and pets, indoors, special scene modes (fireworks, aquarium, foliage, snow, beach etc.) and custom colors too
- 2 extra buttons at the back for changing exposure in 1/3 stops and also adjust for face detection
- Macro mode results in stunning close-ups with outstanding level of detail
- Uses 2 AA batteries, can take 300-400 pics with one set of rechargeable NiMHs and if you run out of battery they are universally available


Limitations:
- Size and bulk makes it inconvenient to carry at all times, this will probably become your vacation/ special occasion camera.
- No optical viewfinder, has not bothered me but can become an issue for some especially in bright sunlight or if you want to conserve battery
- Noise is noticeable beginning at ISO 400, ISO 1600 mostly unuseable
- Cannot adjust focus or optical zoom while shooting in movie mode, you can only zoom in digitally which reduces movie picture quality
- Typical Canon chromatic aberration (common problem with P&S cameras)
- No RAW shooting mode

Overall, this is a great camera for the price if you want a camera with high zoom, especially for shooting outdoors in good light. It also offers some manual functions as well as flash reduction which helps you take the best picture.

I searched for along time for this kind of camera. (in the $200 range) I was drawn by the 10x zoom and Optical Image Stabilization(IS). (both work great and are very nice to have!) After using it for a few weeks, I have had mixed results. Before you read on, understand that I also shoot with a canon xti, often with a $300 50mm lens on it, so I think my standards might be a little higher than the average user. With that said, here is what I think:

When you shoot in auto mode, the ISO it chooses (ISO 200) will not be as clear as the camera is capable of. Thus I find you have to use a Program (P) mode and set it to ISO 80 to get better reduced-noise pictures. Otherwise pictures can be grainy. The pictures are poor at ISO higher than 200.

Focusing is a bit slow in low light, and unless you can balance the camera on something steady, and your subject is not moving, you will need to use the flash. As I have read it on reviews on its predecessor Canon sx100, the recycle time on the flash is somewhat annoying. You will have to wait a good 5-6 seconds before you can ready up for another shot. This is a drag when you have people who are posing, or for a subject that is passing you by, like at an evening parade. The flash is set "on" or "off" by manually raising the flash with your finger. No automatic pop-up. Not a problem for me as I don't like using flashes anyways, especially on this camera!!!

I think the video quality out of this camera is great, far better than what I got out of older Sony Cybershot models DSCW-50 and the DSCW-55. Note that you cannot optically zoom while shooting video; it will let you zoom digitally.

The upsides for this camera are many. The 3-inch screen is amazing. It does stick out from the back of the camera, rather than being inset, so it may be prone to scratching. The programmable features are excellent. You can adjust the exposure time to 15 seconds. Playback/review is easy and fast, due to a wheel that lets you scroll through pictures quickly. Viewing it on the big screen with auto-rotation (landscape-portrait) makes it easy to check for focusing and such. Macro shooting is amazing. You can practically touch the subject with the lens and get a clear, very detailed shot!

If you want a quick convenient camera for casual shooting, don't really care about too much zoom, don't get this camera. Get something smaller and faster, and something that comes with a rechargeable lithium battery. I would stick to Nikons, Sonys and Canons. This one takes two AA's, and dealing with those has its pros and cons. I bought this camera for the big 10x zoom for the relatively small size, and the programmable options. I studied studio tests from dpreview.com (great site!) and found this was the best for my needs. The Lumix TZ5 pics looked fuzzy and the design of the Sony H3 is ugly. For other models and side-by-side comparisons, check that site out. Hope this helped you, and good luck on your decision!

Was searching for a camera with an extended zoom and the resolution in the range of 8-10 MP. Caught hold of Canon SX 100 IS, but it vanished from the market before I could purchase it. Wanted a medium size camera so could not settle for Nikon P80/Canon S5 IS, because of its large size. Ordered Canon SX110 on the launch date itself with apprehensions about its features..but believe me, I am not dissapointed AT ALL.
Great manual controls for Aperture and Shutter speed make it a camera for Pros, while the Auto mode is wonderful for learning photographers. The zoom is great and the image stabilisation that the camera offers at the maximum zoom level (Even at 10x optical and 4x digital i.e 40x combined zoom) is awesome. The photos in low light during my recent trip to a hill station were good in the Night mode with lots of saturation of natural colours.
Face detection is also a good feature with the camera able to detect faces very very easily (I don't know how does it work, but it really works :-))
The Digital Zoom, unlike others cameras I have used, does not distort the image to a very large extent, thanks to the high resolution and the safety zoom features. I can upload photos to depict this.(I don't know how to do this in Amazon :-))
The battery life seemed ok only , as I was able to shoot around 200 shots with my Sony NiMH(2500mAH) bateries with flash. But the batteries are brand new and should gain more strength with a couple of charge-discharge cycles. But a spare set of batteries is always helpful.
I had a Nikon 5600 prior to this so wanted a middle size camera with extended zoom and manual controls, and glad to find SX 110 fit all my needs.
A thing that is missing is a Sports mode, which is a feature to shoot fast moving objects. I had this in my Nikon 5600, but could not yet find it on my SX110. Possibly the Manual controls for Aperture and Shutters could make this up for me. Still in the learning phase :-)

The feature that made me buy this camera was its image stabilization system. Friends who use digital cameras professionally all told me that Canons optical image stabilized zoom system was the best in its price range. Due to a slowly worsening tremor, this has evolved into an important issue.

The digital zoom is amazingly effective. Recently, I caught a game at Fenway Park. My seat was adjacent to the infamous "Green Monster". From that distance, I was able to take photos of players at bat, that captured detailed facial features. I was even able to get some very respectable images of players in action.

The camera settings are easy to use, and equally easy to access. The Auto setting is fairly idiot proof and does a good job under a wide variety of conditions. I found the SX110 to be solid, well built yet still small enough to fit into a laptop carrying bag.

I never imagined that I would buy anything other than a Nikon, but now I think this was one of the best purchases that I have made in a long time. It delivers on its promises, producing pictures whose quality rivals those of much more expensive digital cameras.

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.

What I love about this camera is it's just plain easy to pick up and use, but it's got a load of advanced features that you can learn as you go.

Pick up the SX110 and you can feel how solid and stable it is in your hands. Okay, it's not the new thinner camera, but it still fits nicely into a shirt pocket.

Right off the bat, all the controls are up top and pretty clearly marked and understandable. Good for Canon. I looked at another brand and someone had to clue me in on what "BS" meant in terms of photography. It means Best Shot, by the way, but should I have to read the manual to find that out? The 'easy' settings should be intuitive and they are on the Canon.

The zoom is 10X optical, which means you're going to get clearer zooms than you would with a digitally produced effect. That ends the jagged edges.

The 3" LCD is clear as a bell. Colors are sharp and they stay that way in the pictures. In order to defeat the automatic white balance correction, you have scene selectors for sunset, snow scene, and night scene among others.

Anti-shake means the camera will correct for tremors in your hands. This is great if you're like me and take a lot of scenes from a passenger side window.

A huge plus is the camera operates on two AA size batteries. Trust me, this is a very good feature. We once got ready to go on a whale watching cruise only to discover our fancy camera's proprietary batteries were DOA. What to do? No camera store in the vicinity. We were lucky to find a disposable film camera to take semi-decent shots, but if our camera took AA's we could have bought replacement batteries right off the wharf.

The only drawback in this camera is the proximity of the flash to the lens. Even with red eye on, photos of my Siamese cat looked wrong. We finally took pictures in room light with 1/10th of a second exposure counting on the anti-shake and got EXCELLENT shots of the cats.

If you're looking for a portable camera that's easy to use and supply, this little Canon is a great camera to look at. For the money, the features and quality of pictures are excellent!

Rebecca Kyle, October 2008

Out of the box impressions are excellent. Skipped the manual and wanted to see how it did in Auto. If you owned an SX100 or read the reviews this camera fixes any cons that were written. The LCD is very bright and no issues in the sun. One other item of quick notice is the digital zoom which is normally a gimmick is pretty impressive. At full optical zoom and 4x digital images are still sharp when using the "super fine" and 9MP settings. Gonna read the book and start playing with all the features. If I find a time lapse feature I am set. I would say this camera is about the best you can buy for a point and shoot before entering into the SLR like and true SLR's.

*4.5 Star Rating*

My first digital camera was a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W50. I dropped it a lot, and after 2 years of prodigious beatings it finally gave out on me. It was nice while it lasted, but one thing is for sure, I hated the fact that I could not zoom while recording in movie mode.

I received that Cyber-Shot 2 years ago, and when I recently researched Sony Cameras, I found out that they still did not offer zoom in movie mode, even in their top of the line equipment.

So my first priority when researching a new camera was to make sure Optical or Digital zoom was available while recording video. I researched every camera on the market, and after such extensive research, Canon was at the top of my list, followed by Nikon and Panasonic.

It took me about a week to finally reach my decision, and I am very satisfied with my purchase. Canon Digital cameras are top of the line, and most of them offer digital zoom in movie mode, and the Canon SX10 even offers 20x Optical zoom in movie mode, but it was too rich for my blood.

At the end of the day, the Canon SX110IS had everything I wanted and more. The things I was looking for were:

1. Zoom enabled in movie mode.

2. 3 inch LCD at 230,000 megapixels.

3. Manual mode. (So I could prepare for Professional SLR cams)

4. Long range zoom in still mode, between 5x-20x.

5. AA cell operated.

6. 8-15 Megapixels.

7. 28mm Wide Angle Zoom Lens

The Canon delivers 6 of the options I wanted and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 delivers 5 of the options I wanted. The DMC-TZ5 is equipped with options 1,2,4,6, and 7, while the Canon is equipped with all of those options, except 7.

We might also note that the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 records movies in HD, and has "Optical" zoom enabled in movie mode, while the Canon SX110IS does not offer HD quality movies, and only has the "Digital" zoom in movie mode.

If you do not know the difference; For an easy summary, "Digital" zoom magnifies the target but distorts the picture as you zoom closer, while "Optical" zoom magnifies the target, and as you zoom closer it keeps the image as sharp and clear as possible. The Canon can only shoot "still shots" using the 10x "Optical" zoom.

In movie mode, it only offers the 4x "Digital" zoom, which is not that bad, considering I had no zoom at all in my Sony Cyber-shot. I have no quibble with the "Digital" zoom; I use it, and the picture quality looks fine to me.

I went with the Canon because even though I wanted the 28mm wide angle zoom (and the HD video quality, along with "Optical" zoom was tempting), I was willing to sacrifice those options for the full manual controls and AA cell operation (and this might only be a rumor, but I heard the Panasonic's picture quality didn't come close to the Canon). The Panasonic does not offer any manual mode/controls, which would've been an impediment to my learning in order to advance to professional SLR's.

I especially like having a camera that is powered by AA batteries. I recently went to an auto show here in Los Angeles, and I took around 300 pictures (with flash), and when my batteries ran out, I had 2 more AA's to back me up (Sanyo Eneloop, rechargeable (highly recommended)).

But even if I didn't have any of my rechargeables on me, I could have went to any concession stand and purchased a pair. But with a propriety (custom battery), I would've been out of luck.

The cons of this camera are as follows:

1. The flash can take forever to recharge sometimes. At the auto show, the cars spin around on a platform, and when you snap one shot with the flash, you could be looking at 10.3 seconds before your next shot (if the camera had to use the full power of the flash), but then you'll have to wait for the car to spin back around to the position that you wanted.

I watched as my neighbors with their thousand dollar cameras, snapped shot after shot, every half second with full power flashes, and never had to stop and wait. Of course, cheaper cameras offer those functions, but not every other feature I was looking for to go along with it.

2. There is no in camera picture edit, but that's ok, because Canon provides 3 software programs you can use to edit your photos which work perfectly for trimming, cropping, and sharpening, etc. You can turn on Red Eye Correction in the camera, though.

3. No optical viewfinder, which can really come in handy when you want to conserve power. But at the same time, I didn't want an optical viewfinder; I wanted a 3-inch LCD. Most optical viewfinders on cameras within this price range are going to be WAY off targeting (about %80 accurate), but will come in handy when you don't have a place to purchase batteries.

4. If Canon would've went with 28mm wide angle zoom with this camera, I'd be in heaven.

Those are the only things I didn't like. But trust me, the picture quality is so superb, that even when the camera recommends you use the flash, you don't have to, and your pictures will still come out excellent (as long as you had the right settings); so also the functionality, wide range of options, and the manual mode also make your experience highly enjoyable.

I also recommend that you buy at least an 8gb memory card. I purchased the SanDisk, Ultra 2, which is class 4 in speed. I uploaded around 300, superfine (highest quality), pictures to my computer within 3-4 minutes.

For only $200 bucks, the Canon SX110IS is easily worth the buy. Check out the images I upload from the car show.

I check my comments often, so ask any questions if you're still unsure on which camera to go with.

And lastly, I don't know why people are rating this camera at 2 and 3 stars, but most of the reviewers sounded like they didn't know what they were doing. But I do know one thing;

Jesus is God.

This is the best camera on earth. I bought this camera to create beautiful memories of my daughter growing up. I'm mainly leaving this review for people with kids who are wondering if this camera can keep up with taking quick fast shots, without missing out on precious moments.

Fast Camera!!!
This camera has NEVER missed a shot and she's a very quick and fast little two year old. I've captured every single quick smile, precious pose, and all of her active moments. I do this using the sports mode. In this mode, the camera actually takes the picture the very same instant you press down on the button (no delay whatsoever). In this mode, when she's running, there is no blurryness.

Great Indoor Camera!!!
This camera also takes GREAT indoor pics as well. It is a bit heavier than the little camera's out there....but if you want to sacrifice qaulity and performance...go for a little one.

Outstanding Detail and Zoom qaulity
I wanted something that was powerful, and something that my husband can take to football games, basketball and other sporting events. That's actually how I sold him on the idea of purchasing this camera. The zoom capability is out of this world. For example, we went to the park the other day and I was able to get pictures of the ducks from the OTHER SIDE OF THE LAKE....and in very clear detail. Now that's powerful.

Easy to use!!!
The minute this camera arrived, I took it out of the box and started using it. I didn't even read the instructions...that's how easy it is to use. I'm more of a beginner type when it comes to camera's. I popped the batteries in, and went crazy taking pics. The video mode has a dedicated button so you can video events very quickly without fussing with dials.

No Regrets!!!
I hope I've helped someone out on making their purchase decision. I get compliments all of the time on how fast the camera is and how wonderful the pics look. I love this CAMERA!!! I can tell you that you won't regret this purchase.

I was very impressed by the features and capability of this camera, especially considering its size and price. The automatic mode delivers crisp, easy to take pictures with little fuss, and shutter lag is a non-issue. The lens zoom is great, and the image stabilization is very useful in long range shots.

The manual modes give a ton of options, and are very easy to use and access. For walkabout and general photography I definitely prefer this camera over a more expensive and bulkier DSLR.