Digital Cameras Ratings: Canon PowerShot SX210IS 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 14x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Gold) Review

Average Reviews:
4.2 out of 5 stars

(More customer reviews)NOTE: If you are confused about some of the issues brought up in the negative reviews, including the LENS SHADOW ISSUE, please read my commentary under the UPDATE section at the end of this review and feel free to ask any additional questions.

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REVIEW

People have already written excellent reviews for the black version of this camera and, obviously, everything applies to the Gold version as well. I will summarize my own experience with the camera and update the review as I learn more. Feel free to ask any questions.

I am a hobbyist and own a Canon DSLR with some high end lenses and accessories. It's a great setup, but because of its size and weight I rarely have it with me. I got sick of missed opportunities and knew I needed a pocket camera to take with me everywhere.
I've owned a Canon Powershot SX110IS 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black) previously and thought it was great, which is why I considered getting the Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3-inch LCD this time. However, it's not pocketable, so I've also considered the amazing Canon PowerShot S90 10MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3-inch LCD, Panasonic DMC-LX3 10.1MP Digital Camera with 24mm Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black), and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1/H 10MP "Exmor R" CMOS Digital Camera with 3-inch Touch-Screen LCD (Grey). These are all great on their own, but lack the zoom, and Sony also lacks manual modes. When I finally saw an SX210 at a local store, I almost bought it on the spot. It's pocketable yet boasts 14x optical zoom and all the benefits of the SX120 plus more!

Color: The Gold color is actually quite pleasant. It isn't the "bling" bright yellow gold as it might appear on pictures. It's a softer champagne-like gold that I personally love. It's perfect if you want something unique, yet not obnoxious. I was excited that Canon provides a color choice for this camera.

Size: The SX210 isn't as tiny as some Elphs or other manufacturer's (like Sony) pocket cams, yet it's borderline pocketable and quite light. I can put it in the back pocket of fitted jeans comfortably, although I definitely recommend a pouch (it won't fit into my back pocket with a pouch though).

Design: Nothing special about the design, but it looks classy and serious. Looks much more substantial than the somewhat plasticky SX1XX line. There aren't many buttons, but it's enough for easy and fast operation. If you've used Canon point and shoots before, you'll find the interface familiar, although it looks more sleek and refined than the slightly outdated SX110 interface.
The control (not the mode) dial is actually not physically labeled. BUT when the camera is on, touching the control dial slightly will display the functions of the buttons. Touch the left side of the dial and it will highlight the function for the left button and bring up a brief description. This allows for a dynamic arrangement of functions in various modes and although it took a little getting used to, I'm a big fan.
The mode dial is way too stiff for my liking and requires two fingers to operate. At least it won't change accidentally...
The flash position did startle me at first, but now I don't mind it at all. Yes, your finger is over the flash and it tries to pop up when you turn the camera on. However, the finger will suppress the flash popping up, and most of the time you don't want flash up anyway. So it's strange, but it works out in the end.

Screen: I would prefer a regular aspect ratio screen to the wide one on the SX210. It's catered towards HD video, but I use it more for pictures, so with the black borders around pictures it effectively becomes a 2.5" screen. But it's a minor drawback and the screen is gorgeous otherwise. It's much more accurate in terms of colors and exposure than the Sony TX1 screen I've tried.
There isn't much of a bezel around it, so I'd recommend a screen protector. (Don't use those film ones, use a stiff glass or plastic one. There are many available on amazon and ebay - you don't need a specifically SX210 one, just get one big enough and cut it to size. What I did is get a screen protector from a local Verizon store - they have nice stiff ones for the touchscreen phones like Droid and cost only $12 for 3 of them. When the protector is on, it looks exactly like the screen without a protector, which cannot be said about those film ones).

Operation: It's not the fastest camera around and the zoom is a little slow, although smooth. I've found it to be just fine for everyday shooting and the smooth zooming works great on videos (with other cams I'd often overshoot). As I said, the interface is in line with most Canon's point and shoots.

Image quality: Canon rarely disappoints in this aspect. The images are perfectly sharp (unlike the Sony TX1) and the colors are vivid yet accurate (unlike some Panasonic and Sony cameras). At lowest ISOs and regular conditions, the quality rivals some DLSRs. As in many point and shoots, noise becomes visible starting at ISO 400, but that's the price you pay for a 14x optical zoom. Low light pictures are not as good as the lead cameras' such as the S90, but they're not any worse than most point and shoots and are just fine for printing.

Lens: The lens is in line with most point and shoots today (f/3.1 to f/5.9). The zoom is very smooth (and you can control the speed), although a little slow. 14x is amazing and image stabilization works great. No noticeable distortion.

Flash: Nothing special, average for point and shoots. Good exposure. In auto mode, the camera does a great job trying to balance the background and foreground when using flash. Careful though, it might crank the ISO up to keep detail in the background when you shoot in low light.

Video: HD and normal video is great. The same awesome image quality as in picture mode. Videos look crisp and colors are great. The auto focus performs perfectly, works very quickly, and is very accurate even for moving subjects.
Many cameras won't allow you to zoom while taking videos, but this isn't a problem with the SX210. Since the camera is so small, camera shake is inevitable, so I would avoid zooming in too much if you're not using a tripod or a monopod. Audio is fine. Stereo audio sounds great on paper, but I don't hear much difference. Note that HD video eats memory cards in no time, so if you're just taping for web or the like, just change it to normal quality.
The dedicated video button is very useful to have! Can't tell you how many times I forgot to get into or out of video mode with other cameras. It still has a video mode, it just makes it faster and easier to shoot video on the go.

Features: This camera is pretty impressive in terms of features, both the serious ones such as manual modes and the more gimmicky features you see in lots of newer point and shoots cameras today. Here is a summary.
-Auto and Easy modes: intelligent scene recognition works great most of the time. Even I use Auto often instead of manual modes as it is very reliable.
-Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Program modes: godsend for point and shoots. You might not think you need them now, but if you start learning about photography more, you'll be glad you have them!
-Scene modes: All the general ones like sports and portrait, as well as cool unique ones such as:
-Smart shutter: camera automatically takes the picture when either a smile is detected, a new face is detected, or 2 seconds after a wink is detected. All of these are customizable and work just as described! Very useful for self portraits and such. As a backup, the camera fires after about 15 seconds even if it didn't detect anything, so no missed shots because it didn't recognize a face.
-Low light: Lowers resolution to improve quality. Sets ISO is pretty high. Nothing amazing, but good results.
-Color Accent and Swap: Canon's favorite - isolate a color (with the rest in black and white), or swap two colors)
-Fisheye effect: Look at sample fish eye images online. Just a fun effect. You can control amount of distortion.
-Miniature effect: Nothing like a true tilt-shift, but gets decent results. Blurs parts of image to make an illusion of a miniature. Customizable.
-Stitch assist: helps taking panoramas
-My Colors: tinker with colors - can add/subtract saturation or accent reds/greens/blues, can lighten/darken skin tones, etc. Great settings I use a lot.
-White Balance: learn to use custom white balance - it's quite painless and yields amazing accuracy in white balance. Use an opaque white object or a white wall to fill the frame, just press a button, and the white balance is set perfectly.
-Exposure Compensation for flash and for general exposure

Battery: I loved how the SX120 uses AAs (long lasting and easily available), so I was a little skeptical about the SX210. But I wasn't disappointed - the battery started getting low only after a week of moderate usage including many videos. Replacement batteries are very cheap ($5 off-brand).Other:

Something else unique about this camera is it recognizes SDXC memory cards...Read more›

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Product Description:
POWERSHOT SX210IS Gold-The 14.1 Megapixel CCD joins a 14x 28mm Wide-Angle Zoom for imaging power to spare. Frame your shots in the bright 3.0-inch widescreen PureColor System LCD, with the Low Light mode for sharp images in dimly-lit situations. It also captures stunning HD movies with Dynamic mode for enhanced image stabilization when shooting movies using wide-angle settings. Capture smooth HD video (720p) with stereo sound for a truly natural, high-quality HD experience. The PowerShot SX210 IS not only goes wherever you do, but takes your photography and video to a whole new place, too.

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