Canon's affordable Ultra Zoom is packed with features and built for manual control action. Check out the test shots in our Canon PowerShot SX10 IS review.
Review summary of the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS:
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 From the outside the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS looks like a formidable opponent to other Ultra Zooms in its class. It has a 20x optical zoom, versatile LCD swivel screen and all the manual controls and shooting options most amateur photographers could ask for. However, the Canon PowerShot SX10's basic imager just couldn't handle areas of high contrast, producing blowouts all over the place. Only in the right light will the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS crank out an acceptable image, and when it does you can bet your boots it will be a brilliant image. But the inconsistency was enough for us to consider this camera suitable for only amateurs those looking to teach themselves a little Photography 101. For the feature set, this camera is a bargain. If image quality is not the be all end all, then the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS is definitely worth taking a look at. Release: October 2008. Price: $335.
Pros: Rugged construction, 20x optical zoom, DSLR-like handling and design. Great interface and manual controls.
Cons: Limited dynamic range, leading to contrast issues. AA battery system with mediocre battery life. Bulky for beginners on the go.
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Full Canon PowerShot SX10 IS Review:
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Design Very Good
One of the coolest things about the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS is that it will actually make you appear legit. With a monumental 20x optical zoom lens and DSLR styled architecture, this camera will fool most onlookers into thinking you freelance for the New York Times. The two-tone gunmetal and black color scheme is quite alluring and the chrome shutter button and zoom toggle combo are not only flashy, but also ergonomically placed and easy to use. In addition, this is one solid camera, weighing in at well over a pound. The camera is nowhere near the definition of ultra portable. You'll need a decent size camera bag with pockets to accommodate the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS's bulky body, spare AA batteries and accessories.
Canon did an admirable job with the control layout on the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS, offering plenty of buttons, a spinning Set wheel and large Mode dial. Perhaps the most enticing feature to aspiring amateurs in this price range is the swiveling LCD screen that flips out horizontally a full 180 degrees and rotates vertically up to 270 degrees. This comes in handy for a number of shooting scenarios and angles, as we found ourselves able to seat the PowerShot SX10 IS right on the ground for certain shots. It's also great for crowd shots, allowing you to raise the camera up as far as you can reach and tilt the LCD downward. Unfortunately, it's only a 2.5" LCD screen, which appears dwarfed compared to the camera's mammoth body. Canon also tacked a hot shoe on top of the viewfinder and a flip-up flash rests above the lens. For the price, the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS is a major bang for the buck on the exterior.
Interface Very Good
Navigation on the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS is superb and the versatility of the spinning Set wheel is the core pulse within the interface. Not to mention the wealth of buttons and generously stocked Mode dial, most amateur shooters will never grow hungry for more options. Manual control fanatics will love the wheel for its rapid action and simple operation, enabling shooters to flick up or down to a specific shutter speed or aperture stop within seconds. There's no rifling through an endless scroll of options on the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS, as all menus are intuitively laid out and easy to access, no matter what shooting mode you happen to be in. Canon's Function menu allows you to scroll up and down using the directional pad and select an option via the wheel rather than all action being dictated by a clunky d-pad. You can use the wheel to scroll up and down in the Main menu as well, and you'll find that it's much quicker to do so. The wheel on the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS is your navigational saving grace.
Let's not forget about the packed Mode dial, which not only offers the usual Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Custom and Auto shooting modes, but also tacks on four different Scene modes including Portrait, Night and Sports. The rest of the Scene modes can be found within the Scene shooting mode, but it's nice to have some of the most popular options waiting in the wings. You can also instantly switch to Panorama or Stitch Assist from the Mode dial, and Movie mode is located at the end of the dial. The wealth of Mode dial selections whittles down menu options so that shooters are not bogged down during a shoot. Playback is just as easy, as the Set wheel runs through pictures while the d-pad and zoom toggle alter image size and change display settings.
The swivel LCD screen is a great feature to have for those who like to get down and dirty with their photography. How many times have you found yourself lying on the ground or jumping on top of a dumpster to snag the perfect angle? Using the swivel LCD screen allows you to simply tilt the screen at almost any angle you please in order to eliminate the need to flop down in the middle of the road, risking your life to capture a macro image of a manhole. Our one gripe is that the screen is too small. A 2.7" or 3" LCD screen would offer a lot more breathing room. Thankfully, the LCD screen resolution is sharp and detailed compared to most other screens in this class.
Features Very Good
The Canon PowerShot SX10 IS is an overflowing cauldron of features that will appease amateur photographers and impress more experienced shooters. This camera is certainly not geared toward your average point-and-shoot consumer. That's what the PowerShot SD990 IS is for. However, both cameras have a lot in common in terms of features. The Canon PowerShot SX10 IS just offers a more robust interface and more versatile monitoring situation via the swivel LCD and electronic viewfinder. You can shoot in Auto mode with it, but exploring the Shutter/Aperture Priority and Manual modes will produce the best results, especially since the small sensor requires more light. For situations when light is fairly uniform and the contrast is subdued, Auto will work well. The camera has a great Auto Focus and White Balance. However, we experienced difficulty in shooting environments that require a wide dynamic range.
The manual controls on the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS are excellent, offering a Shutter Speed range of 15 1/3200 seconds and an Aperture range of f/2.8 f/5.7. You can open up to a fairly wide stop, but there's also ISO that ranges from 80 to 3200. Of course, the high ISO brings in more noise, especially on a smaller imager. Canon's manual Focus is great, magnifying the center portion of the LCD screen and allowing the shooter to adjust the focal length via a slider bar on the right hand side of the screen. The slider bar measures from centimeters to meters to infinity, allowing you to roughly estimate a particular length and store it in the Custom setting. The Canon PowerShot SX10 IS also has an Exposure button that will brighten or darken the overall image in addition to the Shutter Speed and Aperture ratio, but your best bet is to leave it in neutral to avoid blowing out whites or darkening shadows too much.
For Scene modes, the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS has the typical Night, Landscape, Portrait and Sports settings located conveniently on the Mode dial. You'll find the rest in the Scene menu, including two very nifty color options called Color Accent and Color Swap. Color Accent allows you to highlight a particular color and desaturate the rest of the image while Color Swap allows you to literally pick two colors in the image and swap them. Not only can you artistically alter the color of your image, but the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS is stacked with a wealth of color options located in the Function menu. Here you can choose from Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black and White and a handful of other options including Custom, which offers the ability to customize the Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation and more. With bracketing, Face Detection, an accurate Histogram and digital light meter, this is definitely a camera amateur photographers can grow with.
Hardware - Good
So far the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS has really wowed us with its ample array of manual controls, intuitive interface and solid construction. However, on the inside, it's just like many other compact point-and-shoot cameras. It has a small 10MP sensor that struggles to take in a lot of light. Even the PowerShot SD990 IS has a bigger sensor with larger image resolutions. The little man behind the curtain has been discovered, and the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS is suddenly not as omnipotent as it seemed. Don't turn away yet. What you find in the Image Quality section might surprise you.
The zoom on this camera is massive, offering a 20x optical range. One of the most valuable features is the 35mm equivalent Focal Length chart on the top of the lens barrel, ranging from 28mm wide to 560mm. The Canon PowerShot SX10 IS also has Optical Image Stabilization with Continuous, Shoot Only and Panning options. We found the stabilization system to function quite well in most shooting environments, though there's not much that can help a slow Shutter Speed. Again, we're seeing a stellar design here with basic imaging underneath the hood.
Four AA batteries are the power source for the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS, but we'd rather see a rechargeable pack on this camera. The battery life was average on the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS, and starts to tank when you get zoom and menu happy.
Image Quality - Good
Based on the smaller size of the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS's imager, we weren't counting on an allstar performance. However, it produced some beautiful images with minimal noise. Of course we shot most pictures at 80 ISO, which gives the camera the benefit of the doubt by significantly reducing noise levels. But in terms of color and detail the camera held its own.
The main issue across the board was the camera's inability to compensate for highly contrasted shooting environments. Nearly every intense white is exploding, clipping at the 255 level. Reducing the exposure will only underexpose the shadows and darker portion of the image. The Canon PowerShot SX10 IS simply does not have an adequate dynamic range. Therefore, it really depends on the light within the shooting environment.
Street Test St. Marks Place
Scene Test The Village
The street image is pretty darn busy. This is a lot for a camera to take in. For the most part, detail is sharp and colors are vibrant. But then look at the white brick wall, which has been blown out significantly. This is an example of the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS's inability to handle contrast. You can also see some slight aliasing along the edges of the flag banners and certain portions of the image a slightly out of focus. This is a decent image, but not great.
Now when the lighting is acceptable to the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS, it will produce an image like the second one. The sky is nearly flawless, detail is excellent and would you look at thatno blowouts! We can catch some acute noise along the beige building and some slight purplish blooming along the top of the Lincoln Town Car, but this is a great overall image.
Color Test - Mosaic
Color is Canon's thing, and this image puts the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS's palette to the test. The colors in this image are life-like and avoid bleeding and oversaturation. We usually see a little more pizzazz in Canon's palette, but the camera's wealth of Color options will take care of that. Overall, this is a great image if you look beyond the extreme blowing out in the background.
Sharpness Test - Graffiti
Here we're looking for solid lines and the camera's ability to provide a crisp detail along the edges. Unfortunately, the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS exhibits some significant purple and green fringing along nearly all of the black graffiti. This is not to say that the image is soft. Many of the lines are quite crisp. However, fringing is a sign of weakness within a smaller imager.
Detail Test - Pigeon
Here's another wildcard image captured in optimal lighting. In the focused portion, the detail is top notch. Noise is nearly nonexistent and you can actually see the paranoia in the pigeon's twitchy eye. This might be the best performance we've seen yet. Even the hexagonal stones are meticulously rendered. This is an outstanding image.
Contrast Test Mr. Cooper
The detail within the statue is excellent and the edges of the lettering are sharp, but this image is just another display of the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS's small dynamic range. This shot was taken numerous times at many different exposure levels, apertures and shutter speeds. We struggled with the blown out sky in each one. This image represents the crθme of the crop. It's so bad it almost looks like a deliberate Photoshop filter.
Macro Test - Phone
We struggled a bit with the camera's Macro feature and were unable to really get up close and personal with the phone. Hence, the overall slight blur.
Sports Test Knicks
Capturing the Knicks lose yet another game could never be easier thanks to Sports mode, which captures multiple images at a high shutter speed and ISO. This image was also zoomed, but we were able to steady the camera on a railing. Well, thanks to the high ISO the image is pelted with noise. At least it's in focus and the exposure looks good. We recommend going courtside with Sports mode.
Zoom Test Spike Lee
Just an example of what a 20x optical zoom can achieve from way up in a sky box.
Night Test Outside MSG
The Canon PowerShot SX10 handles low light fairly well, though we're introduced to even more blowing out. Noise levels are low and detail within the focused portion is great. However, the fringing along the curves of the taxi and the exploding Fox News sign render this image almost unusable.
Candle Test Program Mode
Candle Test Manual Mode On Tripod
It's becoming apparent that the Canon PowerShot SX10 only likes dim lighting with minimal contrast. So, a shooting environment like this one is ominous. In every candle shot we took, the flame was completely blown out, even at high shutter speeds and tight apertures. However, the detail within the cast of characters surrounding the flame is superb. We mounted the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS to a tripod and lowered the Shutter Speed significantly to achieve the second image. Again, it's blowout central but the detail and colors surrounding the light are excellent.
Price and availability
The Canon PowerShot SX10 IS is available online now for as little as $335.
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