Canon PowerShot SX210 IS Digital Camera
- Average rating of 3.5 stars from 32 reviews.
- Released 15 years 5 months ago (Feb 2010).
-770493650, 770497713, 770497714, 763992253, 807608392
The Canon PowerShot SX210 IS released on Febuary 2010 and is an upgrade on the much famed PowerShot SX200 IS. The SX210 is basically Canon's latest salvo in the super-zooms-in-a-compact-package category, which is seeing a lot of action lately by almost all camera manufacturers.
In this report we look at how super Canon has zoomed with the SX210 IS and some of the other significant hardware up-gradations. We then dig into what some of the major camera experts around the Internet have to say about the SX210. We finally let you know whether the SX210 is money well spent and some other models to check out before finalizing on it.
The Powershot SX210 IS is defined by the wide-angle 14x super zoom lens ably assisted by a 14.1 Megapixel sensor and the DIGIC 4 image processor.
This package offers some improvements on a bunch of other hardware specs and are outlined below.
1. A 3 inch wide-screen LCD (PureColor II) with a 230,000 dot resolution.
2. 720p HD video at 30fps with stereo sound.
3. Smart Auto, Scene Detection and an improved Face Detection for ease of use by even the noobs.
4. Full manual control for the more creatively inclined.
5. SDHC and SDXC memory cards compatibility with upto 2TB of storage capacity using SDXC.c
The Canon SX210 IS delivers great images according to most experts. Reviewers were extremely pleased all round with its strong colors, nice contrast, good sharpness, lack of distortion and good exposures. The image quality is good without exception. Period.
The high ISO performance was well received by most of the reviewers. eTech reported that even though ISO 400 started showing some softness, ISO 1600 was still good enough for making 8x10 prints.
Video quality is unimpressive for the SX210 IS. The big bummer is the slow to sluggish shooting performance reported across the board by most of the reviewers. The video quality even though is reported to be good by quite a few experts, some like Steves Digicam have rated it as merely average.
The 14x optical zoom does a fairly good job with the SX210. However there were some minor frills reported by most reviewers. Cameras.co.uk reported fringing at the lower end of the zoom range and Digital Camera HQ reported unimpressive results in low lighting conditions. The pop-up flash was also reportedly annoying with its tendency to get blocked by the left index finger due to the top left positioning.
The SX210 IS has a pretty easy-to-use interface according to most experts. The body is comfortable to handle and easy to get used to. The two-layered menu interface also found acceptance with most of the reviewers.
The LCD screen even though well received, was pointed out by most reviewers are being of lower resolution than what can be found on quite a few cameras in this class. The 230K resolution on the SX210 is much lower than the 300K found on most other cameras in this range. CameraLabs also reported a major gripe about the screen blacking out between frames.
The battery life is rated average for the SX210 IS. PCWorld rated it as good enough for around 250 shots which is slightly below the 300 shots average for the camera in this class.
As far as superzooms go, the Powershot SX210 IS does what it does best and puts the 14x optical zoom to good use.
The Powershot SX210 IS is certified by reviewers to have great images, well functioning optics and easy to use controls but dragged down a little bit by the just average video and battery performance.
Overall the SX210IS is a good offering in the pocketable superzoom category.
The Canon Powershot SX210 IS is a great buy if you are looking for a pocketable megazoom with good shooting control and a dependable Auto mode - just don't raise your expectations as far as the video quality is concerned.
In the pocketable megazoom category the other good offerings are the Panasonic DMC-ZS7 and the Fuji F300EXR. The DMC-ZS7 in particular does a great job with video too and should be checked out if you are particular about it.
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Canon PowerShot SX210 IS Digital Camera