Dec 10, 2008 03:59 AM
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I was looking into buying a camera for my India trip in a few months. Working at an electronics outlet, I had a chance to get some honest reviews from the guys who sell camera's for a living(ofcourse the employee discount was quite nice too). Anyways, the first choice for me was to go for a DSLR or a non-DSLR. Since iw anted something smaller, lighter and easier to carry, DSLR was out the window. Then I focussed on compact ultrazoomz. The few I had in my mind were the Nikon p80, Sony DSH10, Panasonic DMZ5, Canon SX110 IS and the Canon G10. I got "CANON all the way man! " from every camera guy I asked. So, left with SX 110 IS and the G10, throwing rest out the window.
Now the G10 was really tempting, with 14 mpxl lens and the ability to do raw format images, closest thing to a DSLR without the bulk, although$200 more expensive but worth the price. Then I weighed my options.
SX110 IS is relatively small, somewhat lighter and very easy to use whereas the G10 was a little bulkier, heavier and somewhat complex to use, for someone like me who just wants to press a button to take a picture. Also, the 10X zoom on the SX110 was my selling point whereas the G10 only packs a meesly 5X zoom(although a lens can be fitted on the G10 to get telephoto zoom, but then again, might aswell get a DSLR if I want to lug a lens around).
SX110 has a very bright 3 inch lcd screen which is very clear, even in direct sunlight. The 9.1 mpxl lens is more than a casual photographer needs. The optical zoom is amazing for the fact that such a small body packs such a long zoom and pictures are clear at max zoom levels, provided enough light settings. The best thing I liked about the SX110 was the ability to go to the picture viewer mode without turning the camera on(power it on). Simply press the play button and you can browse through your pictures by turning on the lcd screen only.
Although the zoom makes a little bit of clackering noise when auto-focussing at moderate to max zoom levels, it dose not bother me for that I know the pictures that I will get are amazing.
Image stabilization is pretty good and so is face detectiong. another cool feature is the face tracking feature. Once a face is detected by the camera, it tracks the face when you move the camera around, keeping the focus on the face. havent seen any other camera do that.
Overall, the ease of use to shoot at auto settings or change every possible setting in the manual mode is very convenient.
This amera is for both novice users and advanced users. Not realy that bulky as some reviewers have commented it to be, but for a sub-compact with a 10X zoom, what do you expect. Can't really compare it to a compact with a 3X zoom. The lack of optical viewfinder is negligible to me as I would not use it anyways, since thats what the lcd viewfinder is for.
All in all, i'm happy and satisfied with my purchase.
