Canon describes the PowerShot SX200 IS as a 'super-compact wide zoom', but that's stretching it slightly. It's actually something of a monster as far as compacts go. The specs are good, though, with 12 megapixels, manual controls and a 12x wideangle zoom, but the SX200 will set you back about £280.
Positives
These compact superzooms are catching on. Regular superzooms might have a longer zoom range, but they're styled like mini SLRs and there's no way you're going to be able to shove one in your jacket pocket like you can with this camera. Besides, the 12x zoom on the SX200 still has a long enough reach for all but the most distant subjects.
Long zooms need image stabilisers to keep the picture steady, and Canon's IS mechanism does a great job here. Canon says it offers a 4x shutter speed advantage, and it certainly steadies up long-range shots remarkably well.
At the other end of the scale, the zoom is equivalent to a 28mm wideangle, so this really is a very flexible do-it-all camera. It's a good one for learning about photography too, because, although it has idiot-proof fully automatic modes (plus new help screens), it has aperture-priority, shutter-priority and manual modes as well.
Negatives
But, while it looks great on paper, the SX200 chucks away much of its potential due to the way it's designed and the results it produces. Some aspects of this camera are just unnecessarily annoying, like the flash which pops up as soon as you turn on the camera and can't be clicked down, even when you turn the flash off -- and it's right where you want to rest your left index finger when you're holding the camera.
Also, Canon's clearly determined to stick with its spinning control-dial arrangement on the back of the camera around the outside of the navigational buttons. In theory, you spin this to adjust ISO, lens aperture and a host of other settings, depending on the mode. In practice, it's far too slippery, and, half the time, you activate the directional buttons by accident just because you're pressing down to try and get some more grip. Canon, it's useless. Get rid of it.
And then there's the picture quality, which is alright, but no better than that. The detail rendition isn't bad in the centre of the frame -- although it's not the best we've seen from a 12-megapixel compact -- but the lens does go slightly woolly towards the edges and, at longer zoom settings, there's a fair amount of chromatic aberration too. For a camera with only average picture quality, £280 is expensive. Admittedly, the SX200's pictures at high ISOs aren't bad. There's some detail loss at ISO 1,600, but the overall result is still decent.
Conclusion
The Canon PowerShot SX200 IS' manual exposure modes might tempt keen photographers, but these are undermined by the awkward controller. The image stabilisation is good, but the pictures are average. You'd have to be a real Canon fan to pick this camera over its rivals, which include the smaller, cheaper and much better Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ6.
Edited by Charles Kloet
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G W 9 October 2009
Good: 12x zoom lens, HD video, some good picture modes
Bad: irritating pop up flash behaviour, .mov QuickTime video format, control wheels
Comment: The SX200 just misses the target for me and it does so for no other reason than sloppyness and unexplainabley poor design decisions on the part of Canon.
The SX200 is not a particularly large camera but it's not truely compact either. It will fit in your pocket but not totally unobrusively, you'll always be very much aware that you are carrying it around.
The number one feature of the SX200 has to be the 12x zoom lens. This alone makes it very versatile in a wide variety of situations and it can't be knocked for that. There are however some negatives associated with it, the main one for me is linked to the quite obvious fact the SX200 doesn't have an optical viewfinder. When fully zoomed your field of view is very narrow and it is easy to lose track of the subject on the screen, particularly if the subject is moving, like a wild animal. On numerous occasions I've found myself having to hunt around to get the subject back in view. It is simply much easier to keep track of a moving subject when deeply zoomed through an optical viewfinder. The ever present limitations of having to rely solely on the LCD screen in certain bright light conditions crop up now and then too.
I find the pictures the SX200 takes to be good and more than acceptable. Curiously the option of superfine compression found on my previous Canon cameras has been removed. Maybe to keep file sizes under control with it having a 12MP sensor. As previously hinted I like to take pictures of animals and use the continuous shooting mode now and then. The continuous shooting speed of the SX200 is nothing short of hopelessly slow. Significantly slower than my little Ixus50.
A good positive (in one respect) for the SX200 is it's ability to film very high quality, high bitrate HD video. I believe it is in the region of 24 Mbits/second, so as you would imagine, it eats up memory at an alarming rate. Canon then go and completely ruin it by having the camera save the video in Apple QuickTime .mov format. This is an appalingly bad decision of no benefit to the end user but with lots of disadvantages regards playback and editing versatility. The video files will not play smoothly on my computer despite using the latest QT player. Once the files are converted to the near identical MP4 format they play nicely. Why Canon didn't choose MP4 or another less idiosyncratic format is beyond me. Firmware update please Canon!
Lots has been said both in the editorial review and all over the internet regards the stupidly irritating behaviour of the pop up flash unit. I'll just echo it. Why Canon? Why? If the flash is already deactivated at switch on the flash unit should not pop up, end of. We should also be able to push it down and it latch down in place at any time too. Firmware update please Canon!
On top of the SX200 is a mode wheel for quickly selecting the main modes of operation. Overall I find this quite convenient however it is very easy for the mode wheel to be inadvertantly rotated when pulling the camera out of your pocket or a close fitting case so I find myself always having to double check the correct mode is still selected at every use. I also agree with the sentiments of the editorial review regards the control wheel on the back of the camera. It is cheap and nasty in feel and use and out of place on the SX200.
I've had my SX200 a few months now and have found the battery life to be very good. Perhaps just as well considering the price of buying an extra one.
I don't think the SX200 is a bad camera by any means but it just has a number of silly little issues that detract from my overall perception of it. When I hold it in my hand I just feel it should be better and it's the lack of some simple changes that stop it from being a better more usuable camera.
harrowhill1 23 September 2009
Good: the lcd
Bad: nothing so far
Comment: I got mine on crazy cameras and what I like is :
1. face detection
2. lcd size
3. retro look with the pop up flash
4. you can grow into this camera as your technique improves
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