 Better than I expected |
| Review Date: October 5, 2008 |
| Reviewer: D. Golden, Savannah, GA United States |
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 vital 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 simple to use, and equally simple to access. The Auto setting is honestly idiot proof and does a excellent 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 reckon this was one of the best buys 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. |
The most camera you can get for this price.
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| Review Date: November 11, 2008 |
| Reviewer: RLSd, Minnesota USA |
I'm a honestly serious leisure activity 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 excellent for most large prints, more megapixels would've meant more noise without much improved detail due to physical light diffraction limits.
- Excellent 10x zoom all the way to 360mm equiv.
- Macro mode focuses all the way close to 1cm (less than half an inch).
- Quick lens, meaning the aperture doesn't get too small as you zoom in so a quick 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 fantastic, 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 showed, it only pops up briefly when you change the zoom, and it's not exact. A better solution would've been to always show 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 larger 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 excellent for scrolling through a long list, but I would've preferred a less finicky button interface. Sometimes it's simple 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 huge 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 fantastic 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. |
First Impressions
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| Review Date: September 11, 2008 |
| Reviewer: One persons view, Tucson, AZ |
Out of the box impressions are brilliant. 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 right SLR's.
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Most Bang for Your Buck!
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| Review Date: November 22, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Monergist, Los Angeles |
*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 despised 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 choice, and I am very satisfied with my buy. 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 simple 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 terrible, 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 bought 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 buy 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 brilliant (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 bought 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 question 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.
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BEST CAMERA ON EARTH!!!!
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| Review Date: May 3, 2009 |
| Reviewer: D. Butler, Memphis, TN |
This is the best camera on earth. I bought this camera to make gorgeous 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 quick shots, without missing out on precious moments.
Quick Camera!!!
This camera has NEVER missed a shot and she's a very quick and quick small two year ancient. 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 really 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.
Fantastic Indoor Camera!!!
This camera also takes Fantastic indoor pics as well. It is a bit heavier than the small camera's out there....but if you want to sacrifice qaulity and performance...go for a small 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 really how I sold him on the thought 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.
Simple 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 simple 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 buy choice. I get compliments all of the time on how quick the camera is and how wonderful the pics look. I like this CAMERA!!! I can tell you that you won't regret this buy. |
Brilliant
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| Review Date: September 30, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Robert Belfield, California Maritime Academy |
I was very impressed by the features and capability of this camera, especially considering its size and price. The automatic mode delivers crisp, simple to take pictures with small fuss, and shutter lag is a non-issue. The lens zoom is fantastic, and the image stabilization is very useful in long range shots.
The manual modes give a ton of options, and are very simple to use and access. For walkabout and general photography I certainly prefer this camera over a more expensive and bulkier DSLR. |
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February 23rd, 2010 | 
Author: 
No video reviews found for this product.
Posted in Canon Digital Camera, Canon PowerShot | 
Tags: black, camera, canon, digital, image, optical, powershot, stabilized, sx110is, with, zoom
