Canon PowerShot SX1 IS

I just returned (last night) from a 12 day MIT alumni safari trip in Tanzania. I've been a serious amateur photographer for 50+ years, and had planned to take my Rebel xsi and two zoom lenses. I bought… the sx1 3 months ago to evaluate it, and after many hours of using it, shooting test shots vs. the xsi, and traveling with it, I decided to take only the sx1 to Tanzania. Four people in our group had quality DSLRs and big lenses; one had an HD DVR. I am VERY happy that I chose to take the sx1. I got many more very good stills and HD videos than any one else. The DSLR people did get some exceptional stills that are better than anything the sx1 could do, but I knew that would be the case. My sx1 was always with me, always a second or two away from taking a quick shot, and even mixing stills and HD video simultaneously. I love that you can zoom while shooting video. I used Energizer "ultimate lithium" non-rechargeable AA batteries. I got 800 stills and 45 minutes of video on the first set before the "low battery" warning. For me, reviews that point out that the sx1 image quality is not quite as good as a DSLR+lens that are 4x bigger and heavier are not helpful. It is true, and should be obvious. The big lenses are also better in dim light. In good light and mid-distance scenes, I can't tell the difference in 8x10 images from my best DSLR and my pocket Canon SD970. I had a choice of taking the sx1 on safari, with a total weight of 1.47 pounds including batteries, or the xsi plus a canon 17-85 and a sigma 50-500 zoom, total weight 7.05 pounds without cases and charger. The sx1 was more than worth the image quality tradeoff, and the ability to shoot HD video was a real bonus. I'm fairly new to video, but using PowerDirector I'm integrating stills and video, all 1080 HD quality, into a really attractive presentation. I found that the Tamrac 5230 case was best for the sx1 on safari. I wore it on my belt, with the top unzipped (it has velcro and snap closures as well as the zipper). I put the spare batteries, lens cleaner, etc. in a big zip-lock bag and folded that in the bottom of the Tamrac, under the camera. The Tamrac would fit into the zip-lock bag in a downpour. I got an adapter (LensMate, I think), and kept a 58mm skylight filter on the lens, with no lens cap. I could wipe the filter clean quickly without worrying about scratching the lens. I kept a tiny tripod in the outer pouch of the Tamrac, and I was ready for anything. If you are considering a camera in this size and price range, and you want the 20x zoom and HD video, you will love the sx1.

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I purchased the PowerShot SX1 IS for my daughter to use in her college classroom. She instructs at Ball State and likes to record short movies to share with her students. Her students are learning English… as a second language. This camera is compact and with the 16 gig card can store tons of material. I also purchased two sets of rechargeable AA batteries. She will probably post lots of the movies on YouTube to share.

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I've been taking pictures for a long time, using a variety of 35mm film cameras, then digital ones. I've always had a selection of lenses, filters and other gear. I'd go out on a morning walk or an evening… photoshoot and take it all with me. Lately, though, I've begun to travel extensively and frankly, carrying it all around all day takes its toll. So, I started looking for an all-in-one camera. However, I had some must-have requirements. 1. It must shoot in RAW mode. 2. It must be able to do auto exposure bracketing 3. It must have a big focal range, starting with moderate wide angle and moving to a decent optical zoom. 4. It needs to be small, light and portable. 5. It must have Image Stabilization (Canon's name) or equivalent. I looked at a lot of cameras. I checked out some pancake lens cameras like the Olympus and some really tiny ones like Canon's famous G-series. I wound up with an SX1 IS. Although it is slightly larger than I had hoped, it meets all of my requirements. I've used it for about 3 weeks now, including taking it on a business trip to the Netherlands. I really do like it, though there are a few minor issues. Things I like: 1. It is small enough to fit into my briefcase 2. It is light enough to carry all day 3. The LCD swings away from the body and rotates, so I can hold it down low or above my head and see what I'm shooting without needing a right-angle view finder. It has some surprise features like wide-HD format and video. I'm not sure I'll ever use them but if I do want to experiment, the camera will cooperate. One really nice feature is auto-focus bracketing. This camera will take a series of pictures at slightly different focus points. Photoshop will merge them. I don't usually work in macro mode, but I did experiment with a flower and got three shots, auto-focusing on the front-middle and back then merged them together quite easily. There were a few things that took a bit of getting used to. Most digital SLRs have a crop factor of about 1.3 or even 1.5 to one, so a 35mm lens looks like a 50. Given that I carried a large range zoom (28-300) I usually didn't know exactly what focal length I had used when I framed a shot the way I wanted it, so when I saw it in Lightroom at, say, 200, that seemed right. This camera has a crop factor of about 6:1. At 8mm (which would imply fish-eye) there's no distortion at all because it looks like 35mm. The lens barrel does have marking that show actual vs effective, but I'm still finding it strange to see very low numbers in the EXIF while looking at images that clearly have much longer lens appearances. Coming from a mid-range camera body, I'm used to a continuous shooting mode that's pretty quick. This camera is noticeably slower, so some shooting techniques had to change. Here's an example of what I mean. I took a canal boat cruise in Amsterdam. There was a spot where I knew the boat would pass an intersecting canal and I wanted a right-angle that was taken on the centerline of the intersecting canal. Normally, I'd set the camera to burst mode and take 6-8 shots over two seconds and one of them would be just about perfect. This camera is much slower. I had to anticipate the motion and then hit the shutter, then wait for it to focus and shoot. I didn't even come close. Perhaps after taking a few thousand more images I'll have better instinct for the timing, but I suspect that this kind of shot is not one I should plan to get very often. Another bit is that the menus are quite deep. They scroll on and on, so getting to a particular feature isn't quick. Fortunately, I'm one to pretty much pick a setting and stick with it, so that isn't a problem for me, but it might be for others. Since the lens is built in, it doesn't have a manual focus ring. Similarly, the controls for changing shutter speed or aperture are on the back of the camera (a rotating ring) rather than on the lens or a wheel near the shutter as on my other camera body. Again, this is something to get used to, not a particularly big problem. A more negative version of this problem is that there are no threads for a polarizer or protective UV filter. I do have a split density filter that I can and do hold up in front of the lens, but sometimes the situation calls for a polarizer or ND4 and I just have to do without it. However, there are two things I particularly don't like, and they're related. This camera eats batteries.(4-AAs) A fully charged set is good for about 120 images. That means I have to go out with a spare set or two and then remember to recharge them. That will be an inconvenience on the next multi-city vacation. I would be happier with a single, slightly larger battery that lasted for twice as long. The other thing is that I use a monopod with a quick-release head. The plate, when screwed in, covers the opening to the battery compartment, so changing batteries requires removing it. Even if I mounted it directly to the monopod, it would still interfere. (I have a small "gorillapod" with an attachment head about the size of a US silver dollar. I tried it on and it just clips the edge of the battery cover.) These are, to me, more than just minor annoyances, and others might even rate them as more severe than that. Reading other reviews online, I've seen some comments on the quality of the lens or some possible distortion. If I can figure out how, I'll include two pictures here, one from a canal in Amsterdam, one from Utrecht. Both were taken as 3-shot RAW files, converted to HDR in Photomatix and slightly color enhanced in Photoshop and Lightroom. Photomatix had no problem aligning the images (I used a monopod, and of course the image stabilization helped) and I didn't observe any distortion. I'm perfectly happy with the optics. All in all, I recommend this camera. It is what it promises to be, and it meets all of the criteria I had when making the purchase.

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A lot has changed since my last camera purchase in 2003. I purchased this camera for my Vacation to Las Vegas. I wanted a High End Point and Shoot Camera. What amazed me most about this camera was the… 20X zoom and the FUll HD Video. I used the Full HD Video to capture clips that were almost impossible to capture taking a normal picture due to so much movement. I thought the pictures were amazing, but then again I had an old NIkon 4300 coolpix I paid 500 for with. The day pictures were Awesome, and the night pictures were good. The only night pictures that came out amazing where the vegas lights on the casinos. The flash feature work great, but only in a limited area not a huge casino. This camera comes with video cables so you can quickly show off your pictures. I highly reccomend to purchased 16gb class6 or higher memory, so You can take advantage of the video feature. I purchased the pre rechargeable Eneeloop batteries along with the Lacross charger bc-700. These batteries can hold there charge up to 12 months with no use. The normal rechargeable batteries will die with in 30 days even if the camera is not used.

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I'm not one for writing reviews, but I feel like I should share my thoughts on the Canon SX1 IS for any shoppers out there. The SX1 IS is one of the best point-and-shoot cameras you can buy. Its loaded with… features and is well-built. Most people would probably not regret buying this camera. However, for those of you out there that are trying to get excellent photo quality... I think you will be disappointed. There are some noise issues and it seems like pictures never come out crisply in focus. We're actually selling ours now after giving it about 4 months. We decided to make the jump to a true dSLR which is more a little more expensive and not as feature-laden, but offers uncompromising photo quality. So, if you are looking for a lot of bang for your buck and good pictures, this is a great camera for you. If you don't want to compromise on picture quality, then save yourself some grief and drop an extra $100-$200 on a dSLR like the Canon 450D (XSi) or the Nikon D3000 or D5000. Good luck!

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