 Bought a Panasonic ZS3, returned it for a Canon SX200 |
| Review Date: June 30, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Firelock1776, |
I have been a Canon shooter for many years, both DSLRs and point and shoots. I own a Canon G7 for personal use and have been extremely pleased with it, but I am tired of having to add attachments for wide angle and telephoto photography. I also wanted a camera that is small enough to place in a jacket or shirt pocket easily. I chose that of the cameras currently on the market, either the Panasonic Lumix ZS3 or Canon SX200 seemed to be what I was looking for. I researched the product thoroughly and chose the Lumix ZS3 based on multiple reviews that gave that camera the nod over the SX200. (Specifications-wise, these cameras are near twins.)
After several days of testing the ZS3 I was miserable with it. The camera had poor low-light performance, a weak flash, and terrible color balance and contrast. (See my review of that camera on its Amazon product page.) I returned it and bought an SX200. This camera is a gem. The quality of the photos are what I was expecting from a camera in this price range (better given how much cheaper it is than a ZS3). The zoom is very quick which allows you to focus on the action quickly and get the shot you are looking for. (The zoom on the ZS3 is slow in comparison.)
The camera performs well in low light--much better than the ZS3. There is very small noise and Canon's optical stabilization allows for lower ISO and shutter speeds. The SX200 has a powerful flash that illuminates the subject very well and at a excellent distance. I am sure part of the reason for this is the much maligned pop-flash, as this helps the flash clear the large lens barrel. Also, the fact the flash pops up when not in use is something that I barely notice. (Sure, it would be nice if it didn't.) The overall quality in low light will not compare to a DSLR, but that is to be expected.
I will say that, like my G7, this camera seems to struggle a small in very bright outdoor conditions. Specifically, highlights have a tendency to get blown out if you are not careful. Even when using the exposure compensation this can still be problematic. But, the day has to be VERY bright for this to be a problem. Also, this is where Canon's variety of shooting modes helps, as using the Shutter Priority mode has helped me in this situation to get excellent results.
The build quality of this camera is brilliant. The physical controls are very well-done, and the on-camera software is first rate and much better than the ZS3. The Canon software is not only simpler to use and has more controls, but it just looks better with brilliant fonts and translucent menus.
The color saturation and white balance are brilliant, and the different shooting modes (program mode, aperture mode, manual, etc.) give the photographer a wide range of options that are not available on the ZS3. I use these modes probably more than half the time.
I nearly gave the camera four stars on the account of it not having optical zoom in video, but at this price point and given all the other brilliant features of the camera (wide angle, 12x zoom, brilliant software, etc.) I don't reckon that would be honest. The HD video is of brilliant quality, though I have to give the nod to the ZS3 on the video overall.
The only other negatives are the door to access the data ports, which has a flimsy plastic hinge, and the lack of a "super fine" quality mode for the jpegs like they had on my G7. (I really wish they would include RAW, but I know they reserve that for their high-end cameras.)
Summary:
Pros:
Brilliant physical quality
Brilliant on-camera software
Excellent low light performance
Powerful flash
Excellent HD video
Brilliant color balance and contrast
Variety of shooting modes and manual controls
Cons:
No optical zoom in video
Flimsy hinge on the data ports door
Lack of super fine quality mode
Tendency for overexposure in highlights on very bright days
Overall, an brilliant buy especially for the price. |
This thing is awesome...
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| Review Date: October 13, 2009 |
| Reviewer: T. Panek, Maryland |
I read all the reviews of this camera here on Amazon, as well as seeking out photography websites looking for recommendations for the best small point and shoot camera. Despite a few terrible reviews here, everything else I saw was pretty positive, so I chose to go for it. I am SOOOOO glad I did.
From the moment it came out of the box, it was like at first site.
The show is large and clear and crisp.
The photos is takes are wonderful. I have seen low reviews talking about "noise" and "blurriness" and the only thing I can guess is that these people never took 5 minutes to figure out how to USE the camera. Set to the indoor setting, pictures taken inside are clear, crisp and brilliant. No noise. If you use the Kids&Pets mode, motion shots are nearly always perfect and without blurriness. If you try and take every picture on "Auto" you are going to get a mixed bag of shots on ANY camera, that is why the camera comes with different settings.
I've also seen complaints about where the flash is and how hard the camera is to hold. It is right that when turning the camera on, the flash has bumped my finger a few times. But this is hardly a deal breaker. So it bumps you - it isn't as though it is causing injury to the camera or to you, for goodness sake!!!! So it bumps you and you go your finger - huge deal! I cannot fathom why anyone would care about this. As far as being hard to hold, maybe if you had the hands of a 7 ft NBA player or a 350lb lineman, it might be a bit small in your hands and hard to handle - but so would ANY small camera. But both my husband and myself have had no issues holding on to it. If you are worried for some reason, that is what the camera strap is there for. Personally, I like the fact that it EASILY slips into a pocket so I don't walk around looking like a tourist, or have my hands full of camera while I want to be site-seeing.
The function section of this camera (SCN) is SUPER fun. You can take pictures where you turn everything in the photo black & white except selected color(s). This yields some AWESOME artsy shots with no effort (seriously, take pictures in candlight, where the color of the candle light is the only color - Incredible!!!!). You can also swap colors to take wacky, fun photos. People will reckon you are a photography genius, and all you did was point and click. There is also a straight B&W mode, and sepia mode, like most cameras.
All in all, I CANNOT imagine having chosen any other camera. |
Fantastic Zoom
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| Review Date: July 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Anav, NY, NY |
| I sold my Canon G7 because its zoom lens was pretty poor once it went into digital zoom mode. The SX200IS has an optical zoom to 12x and takes very sharp photos even in the 10-12x range. It's simple to use and can be used by novices (just set it on Auto mode) or by pretty advanced users (you can manually control nearly every aspect of the camera). The only new learning required for using this camera is to go your fingers off the pop-up flash at the top of the camera (not a huge deal). Certainly recommended for someone who doesn't want to lug a huge camera but wants a lot of features and control. |
Very nice looking, fantastic small p&s camera...
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| Review Date: April 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: John C. Walborn, Aurora, CO United States |
| Played around with it quite a bit today. Sharp pictures, very excellent options for the casual photog. The optical zoom is quite sharp and the digital zoom is as excellent as one could expect. Camera is certainly a huge larger than the competition, but that 12x zoom lens has got to go somewhere. Bought for a vacation to Cancun and I reckon it will be perfect. |
Like the Canon SX200IS
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| Review Date: April 13, 2009 |
| Reviewer: B. Powell, Carrollton, TX United States |
| I bought the Canon Powershot SX200IS because of the HDMI output. I like taking widescreen pictures and HD movies with this camera and showing them on my 52" Mitsubishi DLP TV. Wonderful detail and picture quality of both stills and movies. This camera does everything I want it to and more. Very pleased with the results. Looking forward to taking it on vacation to California next month. I bought the 16gb class 6 Transend SDHC and it works fantastic too. |
Makes me appear to be a better photographer than I am.
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| Review Date: August 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: J. A. Mccormick, San Francisco |
I bought this camera for a month long vacation to France. The camera was very simple to use, and the image stabilization was brilliant. My close vision isn't very excellent, but I could trust the camera to take a clear picture even if I wasn't wearing my reading glasses and couldn't see the viewfinder that well (not the viewfinder's fault, everthing's a blur up close without my glasses).
Also, the battery was a fantastic improvement on the previous battery technology. With my previous Powershot, after one day of pictures, the battery would run out. With this one several days passed and the battery still did not run out. In fact I would change to a recharged battery just to be safe after a few days, I never was caught with my power out.
Also it's pretty tough. I have a nice small case, but more often than not I just would dump it into my regular bag with all my other traveling junk. The camera was no worse for wear.
I like this thing. |
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February 9th, 2010 | 
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