Handling a Camera is perhaps an unrivalled act of complexity and perhaps Choosing a Camera is equally so, not only on account of the variables involved but also because Cameras are great tools of creativity. Many a times a nitty here and a gritty there is all it takes to produce a stunning photo.
Which brings me to the subject of this review - the Canon Powershot SX210IS. Purists like me always prefer dedicated gadgets like Camcorders & DSLRs. However the occasional need for convenience offered by a lightweight gadget with more than passable imaging and recording capabilities, is something that is too hard to resist. The SX210 promises to take care of almost all needs of an enthusiast in one do-it-all machine.
Lately compact superzooms have arrived big time in terms of the features they offer. Models like the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 or the Nikon s8000 or Sony H55 have displayed a remarkable range of control that is allowed to the user. Although the Panasonic TZ10 seems to lead the pack its availability is always a questionmark as is its premium price (you can buy a DSLR with that kinda money). Here’s how the Canon SX210 benchmarks on the list of essential & the not so essential features that compact superzooms can offer :-
To give you a perspective, we are talking about a 18K, 215 gm (including Battery & memory card) camera with 14.1 Mp packed on a 1/2.3 inch CCD sensor and a zoom range of 28-392 mm lens (35 mm equivalent format). Keep in mind that a typical DSLR weighs about 800 gms with lens while ’Bridge’ long zooms hover around the 450-500 gm mark. The SX210 leads the pack in terms of lightweight super zooms although 28mm wideangle is not much to write about against the 25mm offered by the Panny & sony. To me this is a major oversight thats hard to overlook. Thankfully not much else has been skipped.
Canon’s real USP has always been its image quality and natural tones of color which require very little adjustment, if any. And SX210 is no exception. The DIGIC 4 processor does a great job. The other thing that Canon has gained matchless expertise in, is the manual control it offers by way of the Manual, Aperture size and shutter speed Priority modes. Coupled with ISO speeds of upto 1600, what this does is enable the Camera to take brilliant photos in some of the most commonly encountered difficult situations like indoor photography, low light photography, twilight photography and even action photography (shutter speeds can go upto 1/3200 of a second). A look at the Exhibit will give you a good idea of the wonders Manual mode can work up compared to the useless automatic mode in demanding conditions.
With a 14x optical zoom and Image Stabilisation (IS) of upto 4 stops, telephoto is rather easy. Whats more the chromatic aberrations normally seen at the far end of the barrel (392 mm) isnt so pronounced in SX210 as it is in many of its peers. Also the images are sharper and vibrant at both ends of the zoom. The camera also offers the much popular Panorama mode for shooting wide landscapes, though much to the User’s chagrin, the stitching is not done on the Camera, its done on the computer.
Let me now come to the other critical part viz., Videography. The camera offers HD video capture upto 1280x720p with stereo sound. This may not be as outstanding as a good camcorder, it still gives you the freedom of capturing casual videos and playing them back on a large plasma/LCD (42 inch) without having to worry about pixellation and motion blur. The ability to zoom while taking video is a big bonus although it would be slow if focus is to be maintained while zooming. In addition to analog video output, the camera has a mini HDMI interface for direct playback in case you have troubles with playing the format in a normal DVD player.
Now for the Bonuses. The SX210 boasts of supporting SDXC (read ’Xtreme Capacity’ cards from 32GB-2TB! yes you read it right), so you stand future insured far as memory goes. The camera offers a few frills like fisheye filter, miniature effect and color accent, all of which add to the fun of photography. A 4GB SDHC card is thrown in and the battery charger is unbelievingly lightweight !!
