Canon PowerShot SX20 IS Digital Camera

Great camera, bad documentation

Strengths: Big zoom, big megapixels, compact size, great firepower.

Weakness: No paper manual. This is a real problem.

Missed a bunch of school reunion pics today because of no paper manual. I couldn't figure out how to get the flash to work. For 20 years, through several film and digital Canon cameras, to deploy the flash, you push the flash button. After repeated presses of the button, still no flash. Camera unusable in the low light situation. 1st thing on arriving home, I consult the computerized manual....
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Missed a bunch of school reunion pics today because of no paper manual. I couldn't figure out how to get the flash to work. For 20 years, through several film and digital Canon cameras, to deploy the flash, you push the flash button. After repeated presses of the button, still no flash. Camera unusable in the low light situation.
1st thing on arriving home, I consult the computerized manual. Right away I find that the flash must be physically lifted and the flash button selects various flash functions. A paper manual would have made it possible to get these once in a lifetime images. Thanks, Canon for leaving a loyal customer in the dark!

By DigitalMat - May 15, 2010

Great Camera - Great Price

Strengths: 12.1 Megapixel, great zoom, HD video, great shooting modes, image stabilization, no need to carry lots of different lens for different picture taking

Weakness: Have yet to find any other than it is not a DSLR but it is as close as you can get.

I received this camera as a gift to compliment my Canon T1i and Canon G-10. I started taking pictures and was very pleased with the results. The picture size allows prints of 8 x 10 with no problem and 5 x 7s and 4 x 6s are fantastic. The zoom is amazing and beats my 18 / 270 mm lens for the DSLR. The camera is a treat to carry being small and light. So far I have not noticed any appreciable...
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I received this camera as a gift to compliment my Canon T1i and Canon G-10. I started taking pictures and was very pleased with the results. The picture size allows prints of 8 x 10 with no problem and 5 x 7s and 4 x 6s are fantastic. The zoom is amazing and beats my 18 / 270 mm lens for the DSLR. The camera is a treat to carry being small and light. So far I have not noticed any appreciable noise at ISO as high as 400 and at 800 it can be corrected with a good photo program. The video is great and very clear even when viewed on a 50 in HDTV. This camera is as close to a DSLR as you can get without actually getting one and the price is much cheaper than any DSLR. Battery life using both alkaline and rechargable is very good allowing several days worth of shooting at a local zoo without affecting performance. The camera's flash is more than adequate for most indoor shooting and works great outdoors in lowlight. I have taken thousands of pictures to date and have not had a bad one yet. While Canon has just come out with the SX 30 IS, and it is 14 megapixal with a larager zoom, I do not see any need to change cameras. 1 20 times optical zoom is more than adequate for 99 percent of the zoom shoots you want and 12 megapixals delivers a clear and clean picture that can be cropped without loss of quality. It should be noted that Canon dropped the megapixals from the g-10 which is 14 to 10 without any negative affect on the pictures. Some pros welcome the reduction in pixal count in favor of quality of the actual picture. This camera will see a lot of use in the days and years to come. It is an excellant choice to take on trips where luggage weight needs to be watched yet you want a good camera that takes fantastic pictures and great HD video.

By anonymous; - Sep 14, 2010

Africa

Strengths: Great zoom and close-up capabilities. 12X Pixels were more than enough.

Weakness: Can't think of one.

I used this camera on a recent photographic safari to Africa and was laughing on the inside at all the people with expensive camera bodies with cumbersome, interchageable lenses. My shots were better than anyones and I am pretty much a "rookie." The video capability is also user friendly and the quality was superb.

By anonymous; - Dec 1, 2009

Canon PowerShot SX20 IS

THE GOOD: Solid battery life; articulating LCD; comfortable shooting design; can zoom during movie capture; ; hot shoe; exceptionally close macro focus. THE BAD: Slower than its predecessor overall; no raw support; images soft and noisy as low as ISO 80. THE BOTTOM LINE: The Canon PowerShot SX20 IS is a solid, but not standout, megazoom option for the money.
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By cnet.com - Dec 15, 2009

Canon PowerShot SX20 IS Review

Canon's latest super zoom, the PowerShot SX20 is mostly an incremental improvement over last year's model, including a higher resolution 12-megapixel sensor and a 720p HD movie mode. What hasn't changed is the Canon SX20's extreme image-stabilized 20x zoom that ranges from 28-560mm equivalent, a 2.5-inch articulating LCD, and stereo recording. In our testing, we were particularly impressed with...
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By Imaging Resource - Mar 30, 2010