Canon PowerShot SX200 IS reviewed, deemed pretty decent
By Laura June 
posted March 30th 2009 2:34PM
posted March 30th 2009 2:34PM
Photography Blog's just put up a rather exhaustive review of Canon's PowerShot SX200 IS. If you've already forgotten, this little guy boasts a 12 megapixel sensor, a 12x optical zoom, and a 3-inch LCD. Among the standout features of the cam, they like the PASM creative shooting modes, and its versatile 12x zoom lens. Drawbacks for the camera include its video mode, LCD (which is a lower resolution than some rivals), and a Smart Auto Mode that leaves a little to be desired. Overall, they seem to think that the camera stacks up quite well against most of its rivals, though they did find that it feel a bit short of its main competitor, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7. There's one more shot after the break, and hit the read link for the full on review.
Is the pop up flash just another thing to break?
Most expensive camera have pop up flashes too. My Nikon D40x has one.
Honey if you can't handle a pop up flash then you need a different kind of camera.
With a lens barrel this long and fat, the flash has to be placed a decent distance from it in order to prevent a shadow from being cast on close-up subjects.
12x = glad it has IS. the camera shake on a lightweight camera like that would be absurd - and probably still is. nice to not have to tote your 70-200 + DSLR when you can get the 300mm equivalent on your P&S.
The consumer market has really helped me not have to tote my DSLR to family trips - less to worry about losing/theft/broken. I would rather lose a $200 camera on Splash mountain than $4000 worth of gear. And it just plain sucks to not ride because of your gear.
Not to mention the great little hard plastic water-proof cases for P&s they make now.
Bought this late last week but ended up sending it back. I currently have a Panasonic TZ5 and I find the build quality of the SX200 lacking. Flimsy door hatches coupled with the mandatory popup flash were a real issue. Waiting for the TZ7/ZS3 to be released...
THANK YOU. I came >.< this close to ordering the 200 to replace my TZ5, but I think I'll also wait for the TZ7.
I have a TZ5 as well. The build quality is excellent IMO. Everything about that camera is. Although I have no interest in the SX200, I'm glad that Canon is producing something that tries to compete. The TZ7 will need to be dramatically superior (a tall if not impossible order) to the TZ5 for me to consider it.
i have one to, but i mean come on canon, panasonic has always tried to steal canon's market share in this category, happy to see it actually happening
While the panny may have better build quality, I'm willing to bet that the Canon has better high ISO though.
Or at least, that's generally the case, and for me, nicer high iso is all that matters.
Personal preference of course.
I like the idea of the Canon D10 better because you could put it in movie mode and play hot potato with it.
Canon can suck it. They have been doing a lot of unnecessary crippling of their products lately. If you'll notice, in all of the new point & shoot models they announced recently, none of them can optically zoom while recording video. And also they limited the audio to mono only. This is totally done on purpose because if you'll remember, the HD capable Powershot TX1 from almost 2 years ago was able to do all those things. Like, what? Did they all of a sudden forget how to do that?? Not bloody likely.
Canon is doing these things with their point & shoots because they also sell standalone camcorders. Now they're doing it with the new Rebel model (limiting 1080p to 20fps) to separate it from the Mark II 5D (which can do 1080p @ 30fps). It's basically a way to up-sell to the consumer by making them shell out more money to get the features that should have been there in the first place.
I love Canon, but screw 'em. There are plenty of other models that are gonna blow this away. The Panasonic DMC-TZ7/ZS3 being one of them.
The TX1 was a sort of hybrid concept from the beginning. Not many point and shoot cameras allow zooming while using video, and not many have stereo sound. This is nothing new. And Canon is definitely not alone in doing this. You might as well gripe about the various cameras that eliminate aperture/shutter priority modes and manual focus while you're at it. Those features have been limited for years and will be for years to come. If anything, Canon's A series grants more features than other brands because it offers lots of manual control in a budget body.
That's an awfully bright product shot, almost looks like it was taken with a P&S.
canon suck, they are crippling their profits so you buy their super expensive camera's, lets hope nikon can release a new DSLR which has 24/25/30/50/60fps 1080p video recording. I bet they could have made this camera 1080p if they wanted to. Wish some new company would release a compact camera that had mic input, 1080p video recording, zooming during filming and autofocus, all the other camera makers would be screwed then, they'd have to give people value for money then.
these TZ7/SX200 IS are £280 camera's, they need better video specs for such a high price.
Doing 1080p requires a fast sensor and quite some intense processing, and cheap chips have trouble with that, and besides, they 'cripple' their most expensive ones too, good luck finding an mic input on ANY of their photo cameras.
But yeah a lot of things seem to be deliberately made incomplete, I think it might have to do with import laws/taxes and licenses, for instance in the EU once it can do video above a certain size it's classified as camcorder, and they have to pay more import tax (and different license costs too to the various license holders), same for mic inputs I expect, and countless other annoyances.
That can't explain everything though, you see that sometimes when they hire some advisor like that gamer guy who then says 'add this simple thing' and they do and everybody is wondering why they need some gamer to tell them such an obvious thing.
supposed to say *products* not profits :P
That's a pretty hot camera.
Had this been out last summer, I probably would have picked this over the TZ5. Or if the G10/G9 had a 12x zoom, it would had made the choice easier.
A good camera, however Canon has almost over extended their product line. Yes, they own 60% of the Camera market, but they confuse the buyer with too many similar priced and featured models. Like the auto makers - they need to consoladte price points and features.