Canon SX30IS 14.1MP Digital Camera with 35x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 Inch Wide LCD (OLD MODEL)
Canon SX30IS 14.1MP Digital Camera with 35x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 Inch Wide LCD (OLD MODEL)
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- 35x wide-angle optical zoom (24-840mm) with Optical Image Stabilizer
- Improvements to Movie modes: use the Optical Image Stabilizer in the wide-angle setting;Optical Zoom is now available while shooting video
- 720p HD video with stereo sound; HDMI output
- New Zoom Framing Assist button; DIGIC 4 Image Processor and 14.1 megapixels
- Capture images and video to SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card, MultiMediaCard, MMC Plus Card, HC MMC Plus Card (not included)
Brand : Canon
Category : Electronics,Camera & Photo,Digital Cameras,Point & Shoot Digital Cameras
Rating : 4.5
ListPrice : US $399.99
Price : US $399.99
Review Count : 504
Canon SX30IS 14.1MP Digital Camera with 35x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 Inch Wide LCD (OLD MODEL)
- Best Point and Shoot with Mega Zoom.I owned Canon Rebel T1i DSLR, considered Panasonic DMC-FZ40, bought, used and returned Nikon P500 and Fuji Finepix S4000. So, I will give my take on Canon SX30IS from this perspective.I am updating it after using this for a recent trip and after taking couple of hundred photos and few dozen videos.I never wrote this long review. I want to help everyone who is contemplating between DSLR and point and shoot. Also, help decide between comparable and competing models: Fuji Finepix S4000, Panasonic DMC-FZ40, Nikon P500 and Canon SX30IS.DSLR (Canon T1i rebel)Positives: Excellent pictures, shortest shutter (non-existent) shutter lag, low light performance, burst speed that no point and shoot on earth will ever match. Only way to go for professional looking pictures that require greater detail.If you can pay up to $850, willing to carry a heavy camera bag with DSLR body, at least two lenses (one normal and one telephoto) and willing to spend time to change lens as the situation demands, go for the DSLR. Carrying a DSLR with 70-300mm zoom in your neck is no fun. It is more than two pounds handing down the neck. More number of times you change lens, more dust will accumulate on the mirror and sensor which may need professional cleaning at some point (every couple of years).I didn\'t want to carry a huge bag, do not want to change lens frequently, do not want to spend $600 and above for an all-in-one zoom lens alone(18-270 Tamron AF zoom goes for $479 with rebate). It costs close to $1000 for the type of DSLR I want with an all-in-one zoom that fits almost every \'picturable\' situation and alleviates the need to change lens frequently and gives me respectable wide-angle and telephoto option. Hence, I returned T1i rebel to stick with a point and shoot.If you are a casual to semi-serious photographer who may want to share pictures, watch them on the monitor or TV, or print 10 x 14 size prints; then you don\'t notice much difference in image quality between T1i or Canon SX30IS (unless you take low-light, no flash pictures in less than ideal situation). If you want to capture low-light pictures all the time or high speed actions or spectacular shots for competitions, DSLR is the only way to go.Now, if you have decided that you don\'t want to go DSLR route, which PS (Point and shoot) is the next best.Why I didn\'t like these following cameras?Why not Fuji finepix S4000?Say, this is like a Kia Optima among the family sized sedans. OK quality and budget minded. 30X zoom but who cares if the lens quality and picture processing are mediocre.Horrendous movie capability. Totally unacceptable. Average picture quality. The camera looks and feels cheap. It is made in China and cannot come close to Japanese build cameras in terms of quality and durability. No offense to anyone, but in my opinion Japanese built cameras are the best. If you are on a budget, you can get this for $230 but you have to compromise on picture quality and live with the worst movie quality. If you want a quality camera, this not an option, despite its 30X zoom. Works on 4AA batteries, zoom is nice but noisy, picture quality is above average in good lighting conditions only.Why not Nikon P500?This is like a Toyota Camry limited edition. Not much different from DMC-FZ40, but way better than Fuji Finepix S4000.First of all, you don\'t get a battery charger. You have to charge it like a cell phone, directly hooking the charger to the camera. You can buy an after market battery and charger for extra money with arguable quality.Second, its auto focus is horrible. AF will try really hard to focus in low light conditions without much success and leading to blurred pictures. However, in outdoors, it can easily match Canon in overall picture quality. Its LCD is the best.Now, the third worst attribute. It cannot focus clearly while zoooming in a movie mode. While recording a movie, if you zoom, you will have blurred image until you stop zooming and allow the lens to refocus. If you plan to buy the camera for dual purpose (images vs. movies), this is not for you.Fourth and the most important is the image stabilization feature. Compared to Canon SX30IS, its image stabilization, at slightly higher zoom (15x and above) is pathetic. Its like comparing Kia with Lexus. Forget it. Canon is a hands down winner.If you can compromise on all these issues, you can buy this and save $20 over the Canon SX30IS.Features I liked that Canon SX30IS doesn\'t have: Sweep panorama. Camera records images while you sweep the camera and produces a panoramic picture. No software processing needed on a computer. Very convenient. In Canon SX30IS, you have to do this using \'stitch feature\' and process it later with a software. For me, its not a deal breaker. It is also the lightest of these cameras, but Canon SX30IS isn\'t that heavy, just over a pound.Why not Canon SX30IS?I thought this is the answer for my search for the best point and shoot that can take very good quality pictures and videos with excellent zoom. But in the end, this is not the answer.This like a Toyota Camry, great overall sedan but not something that can knock you off with quality.Great zoom, nice pictures, ok movie quality. For some reason, the movies I shot tend to freeze and have no idea why. May be a bug in the camera software? Shutter lag is very high. Burst speed is very much non-existent. Painfully slow. Cannot capture fast moving actions in spur of the moment since camera take a while to respond, focus and capture the image.Pictures are soft and the color is way off. If I use vivid colors setting, reds are overblown and pictures are horrible. Overall, a decent camera but picture quality isn\'t razor sharp. Not what you expect from Canon. Indoor videos with decent light is grainy.If you don\'t have the memory card, can\'t capture even one image. On FZ40, you can capture upto 10 images of high resolution even if you happen to forget the memory card.Verdict: Not the best. Returned.My final choice:Panasonic DMC-FZ40.Say, this is like a Lexus among the family sedans. Good overall scores. Best camera for the buck.The zoom and autofocus of the camera are the best. Its zoom is the smoothest, fastest and quietest. You do not her any motor sound unless you are in a very quite room and listen very carefully. Outstanding.It can match or out perform Canon SX30IS in still picture quality (still testing). Only 24x zoom, but does the job in majority of situation. Power OIS is great. In fact, the pictures are much sharper and better color saturation over Canon or Nikon. FZ40 has excellent movie options that Canon SX30IS cannot match, especially indoors.Also, its shutter lag and burst options are excellent, better than Canon SX30IS.But, FZ40 is doesn\'t work well with after market spare battery and you must buy a Panasonic ($40 and above or 15% of the cost of the Camera) battery due to a security feature. After market battery may work, but you don\'t have any information displayed (how much battery is left) etc. I have no problems shelling out extra bucks for a quality battery.I think this camera, with comparable or better picture quality and better movie quality than canon, is the my choice. Priced $120 below the Canon SX30IS, it is the best value for the money with outstanding quality. Moreover, its slightly smaller and lighter than Canon. I returned my SX30IS after the trip and bought this for $285.Finally, why I stuck with Panasonic FZ40 instead of T1i rebel?Its smaller, lesser weight and less than half the cost than DSLR with lens kit that can closely come to the range of 35X zoom that SX30IS offers.Positives: Great pictures for most users (up to 8 x 10 sheets with excellent detail), light weight compared to SX30IS, portability, amazing, quieter and faster zoom among the PS cameras (better zooming than Canon), the best HD movie quality for almost all practical purposes with continuous focus maintained during zooming, excellent low-light performance among any point and shoot once you know how to play with manual options and use a tripod, and best bang for the buck.Its shutter lag, start-up time, full-resolution burst speed (upto 2.5 shots/sec can be achieved without flash and high-speed SD card).FZ40 takes 52 mm lens. I had 58 mm lens kit, so I bought an adapter (52 to 58 mm step-up) to use.So, zoom is not everything and Panasonic FZ40 offers the best value for the money.
- I\'ve had a number of Canon digital point & shoots over the last 7 or 8 years. We\'ve had compact ones that my wife likes and I\'ve several of the \'S\' and \'SX\' models.We did our dream vacation this summer - Alaska cruise and land tour. Purchased an SX20IS and got some great pics. Part way through the vacation I broke the latch on the battery door and finished the trip with it taped closed. When I saw that Canon had a new model with a 35X zoom I decided to sell the broken one and buy the SX30. Glad I did. This is by far the best of the Canon\'s I have owned. Things I like -1. I wear glasses & always dial in the focus on the viewfinder. On all of the old models I would have to re-adjust after the camera was handled. Canon added a ratchet \'clicker\' on this model to lock in the adjustment. Small improvement, but handy.2. The button to zoom out when trying to follow a subject at extreme magnification is a wonderful feature. Have only had the camera for a couple weeks but I think it will be great. Example - On the Alaska vacation it was a big challenge to try and follow moving wildlife like killer whales with the SX20. Wish I had this camera on the trip.3. One of the SX30 reviewers commented about poor resolution with this model compared with the SX20. I did not find that to be the case. All of the pics I saw from this other person were taken past the optical zoom and at the extreme digital zoom. Personally, I never use digital zoom because I know the images lose quality. The chickadee I posted for this camera was taken about 75 feet from our deck & was hand-held. I cropped the image slightly. Think it looks good. Nature photography has been one of the greatest thrills of the extreme zooms on these cameras.4. Location of controls. Quite a few years ago I lost the tip on my right index finger in an industrial mishap. My grip on the camera is a little different because of this. On the SX20 I found myself bumping the manual focus control frequently. The SX30 moved this control to a different `clock position\' on the rear control. Have not had any problems bumping the manual focus at all.5. Battery stuff. I had several sets of Rayovac Hybrid AA batteries for the SX20 & loved them. Great shelf life and lots of power. Was not sure how I would like going to a proprietary battery on the SX30. The battery on the SX30 appears to be a monster. The battery life indicator in the viewfinder is a terrific feature too. I shot 45 minutes of HD video at a grandkids Christmas show and played it back into the PC to burn a DVD. The battery indicator never moved off full. When I first got the SX30 I thought about buying a spare battery. Now I\'m not sure if I will ever need it. I mentioned that I broke the battery door on the SX20. The SX20 door seemed kind of flimsy, which is unusual for Canon products. I think the battery door on the SX30 is more `robust\' & doubt I will ever have a problem.5. The control wheel on the top of the SX30 has more heavy duty grooves than on previous models. Would be nice if shooting in the cold with gloves on.All in all, I think Canon really has a winner in this new model. I\'m an active amateur, not a pro. I\'m not sure what benefits RAW format has. It is missing on this model too. I\'ll let some other reviewer comment on RAW format images. I may add comments as I use the camera more.Notes added 12/29/10 - I still think this is an awesome camera. I\'ve seen comments comparing this camera to Nikon DSLR\'s and the fact that it doesn\'t have the features or accessories that a Nikon D50 has. Duh, this isn\'t an $1800 DSLR, it\'s a $369 (as of 12/2010) high end point and shoot. You cannot compare this camera with a DSLR. It you want all of those other features and accessories, go out and spend another $1500. For what this camera is and what it costs, it does a tremendous job. It gives you awesome zoom capabilities, a nice size screen, wonderful results when used on auto and programming features that allows you to customize your shooting session if you like to do that. All this is in a compact size with a lot of easy to access controls. I have found from owning several of these type Canons (SX20IS, S2IS and S5IS), I often leave the camera on \'P\' as I like to set \'film\' speed lower to get better images. One thing I changed on the camera was the strap. Although the factory strap is decent, it is shorter than I like. I spent $20 of a Tamrak N45 strap. It is longer than the factory unit, looks tough as nails and is comfortable and non-slip on your shoulder.One thing I noticed taking flash pics during the holidays - I got better results using the \'P\' mode with the flash turned on and ISO set to 200. This forced the shutter speed to 1/60 where the auto mode may have used a slower shutter.**************
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