I have my Canon SX10 IS - First Impression, Views and Review

I finally got my Canon SX10 IS camera yesterday night. Finally managed to play around with it a bit today.

What are you upgrading from…

A lot depends on your expectations of this camera and some of that depends on the what your last camera was. Especially if that was also in S series.

For example I upgraded from the S2 IS so for me this is a big upgrade although I do still have my quibbles. Those moving up from the S5 IS may find some stuff difficult to adjust to. It all depends…

People love to bash cameras

Let me rephrase that to they love to bash the latest versions. When the S3 came out, the majority of the reviews at that time claimed that it was no major upgrade. In fact many claimed the S2 IS was better.

Later when I researched on the S5 IS, apparently a lot of people thought the S3 IS was great and S5 IS not that much of an upgrade. Guess what they are saying for the SX10 IS. I am just waiting for the next version to come out so we can start getting rave reviews for the SX10 IS.

So how is it?

In two words:

I LOVE IT!!

HOW DOES IT FEEL?
It feels great in my hands. Although it is a bit larger than the S2 and much heavier. My hands were starting to hurt in the beginning. But I am getting used to it.

A lot of people claim it has a slippery grip. I personally don’t find it as such.

However, it is the lens cap which I do not like. Most people love the fact that it is a standard lens cap. But I find it a pain to put on and take off. I prefer the one from S2 IS. But I think with time I’ll get used to this one, too. It really isn’t a deal breaker.

PICTURE QUALITY
I am no pro. I take photos for the sake of capturing memories and I do some macro photography just for fun. So I’m not going to go into how the lens is slow at 20X zoom but rather that the 20X zoom is totally fab. I took some photos indoors and they came out so much better than I expected at max zoom.

I did notice that to start off with the camera was over exposing somewhat. I turned down the exposure a bit . The thing with me is that if there is something wrong with a photo I don’t go running off blaming the camera. It just means that I need to tweak it and learn its various moods and how to work it.

MOVIE
I so wish Canon had stuck to AVI. But it seems I am stuck with MOV here. The movie did go out of focus for a few seconds which has never happened with my S2 IS even when I used to move it around like mad. But I just made one movie and I don’t remember my zoom level at that point. So that might have been a combination of a high zoom level plus hand shake not to mention a very fast moving subject. My 2 and a half year old niece refused to sit still.

LCD SCREEN
It is the swivel screen which is one of the most important features of this camera for me.

People say the S5 screen was much better. I remember checking it in the store once and it most probably was. But since my comparison is with an S2 it is a major improvement. I have only tried it indoors as yet. So the real ‘in the sun’ test is still left.

It is true though that the viewing angle isn’t that great. The screen gets much darker if you vary your viewing angle even slightly. But then the whole point of a swivel screen is so you can look at it straight.

JOG WHEEL
I think I have hardly read a review where someone liked this. I can’t figure out why not. It works fine. I have absolutely no problems using it and choosing a setting by turning it. You might want to try it out in the store, though, as I happen to be the only person so far who is pretty ok with it.

NAVIGATION
I personally find the buttons and settings to be a lot more intuitive now. Really happy to have the macro button at the back as well. For me the layout is really good and everything is crystal clear and within my thumb’s reach

COLORS
And before I forget, I just love the colors. This camera makes things look better than they are. My niece was wearing a nice chocolate brown dress with multi-colored stripes. The camera made it stand out and the colors came out looking nice and vibrant.

RED EYE
The camera not only has the Red Eye reduction lamp but also has an inbuilt red eye correction. I have turned both to on and am happy to say I haven’t taken one photo with red eyes. I always got some with the S2 and loads with my sister’s camera. So this is a relief.

Love My Camera

I totally love this camera and am enjoying it thoroughly. I have been without my S2 for a few months and it is so good to finally get my hands on this. I was so lost without the swivel LCD and the zoom while using my sister’s borrowed point and shoot Canon. I cannot live with a fixed LCD and 4X zoom anymore.

This camera spoils you thoroughly. (And I haven’t even mentioned the wide angle, yet).

Tags: Canon, Canon S2 IS, Canon SX10 IS, S2, S2 IS, SX10, SX10 Review