Description

Decidedly slim and sleekly refined, the PowerShot SX210 IS packs a feature set that reads like a wish list. 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.

Customer Reviews

 Short Changed - Sep 02, 2010

I was suppose to receive a 4GB SDHC Memory Card free with the purchase of this camera. I never received it nor have I ever heard anything from Amazon regarding it. When purchasing an item worth this kind of money one would think that Amazon would live up to their end of the bargin. Will think twice before coming back to them.

 SX210IS - Sep 01, 2010

Overall great camera. However, seems to have a problem finding focus, especially if there is slight movement and with inside photos. After buying the camera, I went on a trip during which time I took about 150 photos. About 20% came out a bit blurry or seemed slightly out of focus (about 10% was caused by movement). Also, unlike with SLR's (or DSLR's), does not work well with depth perception.

 Keep it Clean - Aug 31, 2010

I've owned this camera for a few months now. It's got some nice features but one issue that really bugs me.
The good:
* Great Zoom
* Great pictures
* Great 720P video, even while zooming
* Lots of control options. It's not a DSLR but probably the next best thing for control.

The not so great:
* Flash is right where you want to hold the camera
* Microphones are right where you want to hold the camera.
* If you're narrating, the audio seems to vary a lot.
* Autofocus is pretty slow if you're using the camera for video.
* Not sure if image stabilization works for video, but if so, it does not work well
* Zoom motor noise is obvious in videos.

The bad (IMHO):
* This camera is not dust proof / resistant and dust gets into the optics really easily. It would be one thing if it were easy to clean but, it's impossible as far as I can tell. So, once it happens you're stuck with sparkles in every shot that has sunlight coming in from the side, lighting up those dust specs.

It's a shame that a couple o-rings weren't thrown into the design to make it more "pocketable".

joe

 What a disappointment!!! - Aug 30, 2010

Studied so many online reviews and thought this was the one! What a disappointment. After taking some pics, that look good enough on the camera...then downloaded to PC. They are too soft and granulated when zooming in on the PC monitor. Yuck! My old Canon SD780IS was way better! The camera has so many nice features, but the most important thing is good-quality pics! I am now shipping this back to Amazon, so glad that they allow returns!

 Great Compact Zoom Camera - Aug 25, 2010

This camera has just the feature set I wanted, and using it is a truly enjoyable experience. The best feature of the camera has to be the nice, sharp 14x wide angle zoom lens (28mm-392mm equivalent). While not the fastest lens Canon makes (f/3.1 at 28mm; compare to the S95's f/2.0 lens), it's very sharp and the camera seems to focus quickly, especially in well lit situations. The lens zooms by a small lever on the top of the camera--that's a design feature that likely will take some getting used to. It's a departure from the normal lever that surrounds the shutter. I personally like the traditional design better, but this works just fine.

The camera also sports the ability to take HD movies (720p). I wanted this feature to take videos of my children, but I've found it very useful in other situations as well. My main photographic interest is nature photography, and my DSLR is too old to take movies, so I now take this with me to shoot HD video of the scenes I shoot with my DSLR. Because it lets you set your video exposure manually, you can pan the camera while shooting to achieve a nice, even exposure. This was a nice, unexpected benefit to the camera.

The manual controls are also fairly accessible. There's dial that controls the on screen menus, and because the operations change in different shooting modes, they aren't printed on the camera, but if you touch the dial, they will appear on screen, and it's very easy to manually set the shutter speed, aperture, ISO and many other features. Unfortunately, the camera does not allow you to move the center focusing point to a desired position on the LCD screen. I don't know why they left this feature out, since it's helpful when using a tripod, and my older S3IS had that ability. But you're not likely to use this camera on a tripod often, so it's very easy to focus on the center point and recompose when you need to, so I haven't really missed this feature. When shooting people, you can set the camera to automatically focus on people's faces, and you can even choose a mode that will take the picture when everyone in the photograph is smiling.

The design of the camera is very compact, slim and attractive. The largest complaint I've seen with the camera is that the flash automatically pops up when you turn on the camera, and if your finger is covering the flash, it will keep it from popping up. This was annoying to me at first, but I quickly learned to either hold the flash down when I don't want it or keep my finger off the flash when I do. And the flash can be manually raised or lowered at at any time, so it's not a big deal either way. The LCD screen is bright and colorful and LARGE. It takes up almost the entire back of the camera, which is very nice.

My biggest gripe with the camera is that Canon decided to cram 14 mega-pixels into the tiny sensor. This has to be little more than a marketing device. With a sensor size this small, crowding this many pixels into the sensor only increases noise, and then Canon compensates for the noise by running noise reduction, which then lowers the sharpness of the image. So there's no significant gain in overall picture quality by raising the resolution of the sensor. I wish Canon would have used the same 10 mega-pixel sensor they used in the s90 with this camera. I suspect the image quality would be significantly better.

That said, the image quality of this camera is pretty darn good. Especially at low ISOs (80-200), this camera performs very well. As you raise the ISO into the 400-1600 range, noise becomes a more significant factor, and Canon's noise reduction causes the image to lose detail. Because of this, I rarely use the automatic modes in lower light situations because I don't trust the camera to choose the ISO for me. I'd rather choose it myself and keep it at 400 or lower if possible. I've been very pleased with my results.

When I take this camera with me on nature shoots, I now frequently take roughly the same shot with this camera and compare my results to what I achieved with my DSLR. Of course, my 10 mega-pixel Canon 40D shooting in RAW is noticeably superior to what this camera can produce. The 40D is significantly sharper, has less noise, better color, and so on. This shouldn't be surprising. At the same time, however I suspect if I printed out both shots as an 8"x10" print, you'd be hard pressed to see the difference. With the noise reduction abilities of Lightroom 3, I'd be more than willing to shoot with this camera when I don't have my DSLR available. I've been very happy with the results of this camera.

This is just fun and enjoyable camera. The 14x zoom lets you get close to your subjects, and the HD movie performance is fine for well lit situations. When I researched this camera, I narrowed my choices to this camera an the S90. I chose this camera because of the 14x zoom and the ability to shoot HD movies. Faced with the choice again, I'd make the same one. I highly recommend this camera. But if you can live with less zoom, Canon just announced the S95. It has a 3.8x zoom and a fast f/2.0 lens, a larger sensor with "better" resolution (10 mega-pixels), and better manual controls. I'd check that out as well.

 Canon PowerShot SX210IS - Aug 24, 2010

Nice camera but with several somewhat annoying features: 1. Automatic pop-up Flash placed inconveniently where one naturally holds camera. 2. On-off button small and difficult to press. Image quality good, user-friendly settings and prompts.

 Canon Powershot SX210IS - Aug 23, 2010

Easy to use, however, one's left hand can very easily be in the way of the flash as it will automatically rise when the camera is turned on. The telephotic aspect is exceptionally good. The on/off button is too small and can be difficult to push.

 Best compact camera of 2010 - Aug 22, 2010

It's been one month i am using this camera and i must say this is the best compact i ever had.Like everybody else i did internet research and read lots of reviews on almost every respected website.
There is a reason for me to write such a lengthy review(for me it is very lengthy) because i found so much of information which was hard to digest for compact users, reviewers went to micro level(like cropping image up to 100% and then analyzing colors and sharpness among competitors. for god sake!!! most compact users are not professionals what is the use if newbie get reviews in terms of professionals).

So wanted to write reviews for those who are confused with in depth reviews and tech specifications and looking for user experiences.Lets see what person look for features in compact camera.I like shooting with manual controls and many times i want to override Auto settings to capture scene as per my likings.I have Panasonic DMC G2(micro four third), Nikon D5000(DSLR).Both cameras are best in their class.But sometimes when i go to places like SFO downtown or friend's place or party i always felt to have compact camera which fulfills all my needs:

1) A good zoom - which is a must when you have one multipurpose camera( you may want to capture closer shots of distant
buildings.For newbies if you need depth of field you need zoom to bring blur background)
2) Fast enough to take candid shots (please do not compare with DSLR)
3) Allow manual controls to take creative shots( for those who want to learn photography, or want to upgrade to SLR and in
learning mode, photo enthusiast. this is a must)
4) Can click decent pictures with good colors
5) Easy to carry ( This is most important factor otherwise there are DSLR available)
6) High definition video with speaker sound
7) Flash Performance
8) Features (This camera has 90% of entry level SLR features to explore)
Having stated all my requirements,I have few good things and few shortcomings which i would like to share

Good things

1) Accurate metering systems
2) color accuracy
3) Fast auto focus
4) Easy navigation of controls like ISO, White balance, Apperture, Shutter, Flash, Focus mode ( this is most important and
encourage you to come out of Auto mode)
5) Almost perfect Auto mode which beats all the competitors(exception is indoor night scene where you need to use custom white
balance even DSLR needs overriding)
6) Flash performance
7) Good low light performance - not best but good, low light mode can capture very good shot (all the compact cameras can not
perform in low light as compared to DSLR)

Negative aspect where only this camera lacks edge over competitor

1) Lack of RAW mode ( RAW mode capture image as sensor see it without performing any processing these images need post
processing with software like Photoshop and then converted to JPEG.Almost all the pictures(professional or commercial)you
see in magazines are clicked in RAW mode and gone edited in photoshop).

It is worth sharing that there is only one competitor in this class which have RAW mode, CASIO FH100.
2) Auto bracketing (I am not sure if any competitor provides this feature)

Overall this is best camera in travel zoom class.Does not matter what star rating you see for this camera in reviews just go to store and try all the cameras and try to shoot other than Auto mode(I am sure you know competitors SONY H5V, Casio FH100, Panasonic ZS7, Samsung HZ35W).You will agree with me that when it comes to camera no one can beat CANON.

As a final note if Zoom is not a concern try Canon S90 or S95(upgrade to S90).

 Great camera - Aug 21, 2010

I wanted a small, portable camera with a lot of features. I am certainly not disappointed in this camera. I like the powerful zoom which gives me a lot of flexibility in taking various shots. The focus is very good, and the controls are easy to use and understand. Very enjoyable and easy to slip into a pant or shirt pocket.

 I'm really pleased - Aug 20, 2010

I wanted the perfect combination between point-and-shoot and a full-blown SLR. This camera is a little heavier than I expected, and I'm always nervous about moving parts like the motorized retractable lens, but the optical zoom gives me exactly what I wanted to determine wide angle versus 50mm shots without losing resolution. The manual features that allow you to set the shutter speed or the aperture or both is exactly what I wanted. There are a number of automated settings (portraits, landscape, indoor) that look useful, but there's no documentation to say what the settings are or how they are determined. This camera will be a favorite friend over many years if it lasts that long. I think I'll be able to get exactly what I want in a quick shot when I get used to the camera settings for different lightings. It also allows you to set the ISO, but I haven't researched how these words from the old days of film translate to a photon collector. What I remember about my old SLR was that with 400 ISO film I could set the shutter to 1/125 or 1/60 and get a pretty decent photo in low light without blur if I kept steady. We'll see how it works with this one. You can also do tricks like setting the aperture really small and giving a long exposure for something like a sunset, and that way you get the depth of field as well as bring out the red wavelengths if you're on a tripod. Haven't tried the movie yet, but with a 16GB memory it says I can do an hour of video. I don't expect wonders from the micro tho. Haven't tested the batter life. All in all, I'm really pleased.

 Amazing Little Camera - Aug 17, 2010

I bought this camera for a study abroad trip to Ireland this fall. To test the merit of the camera I went to the Giants v. Jets game at New Meadowlands Stadium. Sitting in the second teir using the zoom I was able to get crystal clear, beatuiful shots of the action. The video is clear and sharp but the microphone is suseptable to wind, but this was not so bad that it took away from the overall performance.
Overall this is an amazing camera with great picture quality, zoom, and battery life. It is still small enough to fit easily in a pocket.

 still figuring it out - Aug 16, 2010

I can't say I've looked too in depth into the manual, but I did have quite a time trying to set the settings on the manual mode. I can't blame the equipment yet because I'm not extremely familiar with the terms. I didn't give it a full 5 stars because one of the reasons I got this camera was for the supposed excellent indoor photo quality. while yes, it does take really good photos when its all indoor lighting, the quality change is pretty drastic if there is any amount of natural light involved as well. I tried playing with indoor and outdoor modes for this and it seems pretty difficult to find a medium. Perhaps someone with more experience would be able to figure it out more but as someone who purposely chose a point and shoot over an SLR for ease, it's a little disappointing. I read some complaints about the bottom right corner being darkened because of a "lense shadow" in indoor closeups, I haven't had any problem with that. Overalla very nice camera, excellent photos when zooming far in, just have a steady hand when taking them.

 Great still camera with HD video as a plus.... - Aug 15, 2010

Just returned from a 10 day trip overseas and purchased the SX210 as my video camera/still camera for the trip.

The trip was sightseeing outdoors, and the camera excels at photography in daylight. The images are beyond compare. I connected the camera to my 32" Panasonic Viera HD TV with an HDMI cable and stills look like you are there. Color and sharpness is outstanding.

There are a few tricks I learned to getting good results from the camera:

1) You must make sure you are focusing on the right thing. If you are shooting a photo of a person standing in front of the Grand Canyon, make sure the auto-focus focuses on the person's face and not a rock that's 5 miles away. You do this by centering the person in your picture and pushing the shutter button half way down. You will see the little focus target box in the viewfinder on your subjects face. Then compose the shot the way you want it to look.

2) Flash is amazingly good for a little camera, at least compared to the other 4 digital camera's I've owned. I always use the flash for fill when taking pictures of people outdoors, and find the pop-up flash very useful. Here's why: I have the camera set for "always use flash," but the flash is disabled when you close the pop up flash. Now I don't have to navigate through menu's to turn the flash on and off. This is especially useful if you're looking for a dramatic effect by using existing light in dim or night time conditions.

3) Pick up a few cheapie off-brand batteries here on Amazon. They're like $2 each, which is a lot better than Canon's battery price. Shooting video eats batteries a lot faster than shooting stills.

4) I got some fantastic night time pictures by setting the camera onto manual, opening the lens to its widest f-stop and selecting the shutter speed as I watched the image brighten in the LCD screen. What you see is what you get, but if your shutter speed is under 1/30th of a second, you're going to need a tripod, or at least a flat surface to steady the camera. I got a 5 second exposure by holding the camera firmly on a fence post, and it looks darned good for a point and shoot.

5) If your computer has an SD slot, you can transfer the images directly from the card to the PC without loading all of the Canon software. That's my preference.

I was a little disappointed by the video, but I think it's because I failed to set the camera properly. Video generally looks crisp on the camera's LCD screen, but when played back on my HDTV, it's soft. There's quite a few more settings than just selecting "best quality," and I didn't read the manual, so my bad. The video's not horrible, just not up to the quality of some of the samples I've seen from other users in their on-line reviews.

On my trip, four other people on our tour bus saw me shooting video with my point and shoot, and by the end of the day, they were all shooting video. Most of them didn't even realize their cameras could do it.

 Best point and shoot I've purchased to date - Aug 15, 2010

I'm a professional photographer who is bitten by the point-and-shoot bug. I purchase a new point-and-shoot about once every year and a half. Not because I "need" one but because I'm on a quest to find the best one for the money. I am interested in long zooms with strong image quality, especially in the higher ISO's. Also, good focusing in low light is very important, as I like to photograph candids with no flash indoors. This camera has it all in these categories. The image quality is excellent and the zoom range is wide and long. It's the widest I've had in this price range and at 14x is long enough to get some excellent telephoto shots. Also, it's small enough to fit in the pocket, which was very important to me. I also love the matrix meter in this camera. It is not as affected by back lighting situations as my other point and shoots.

 Powershot SX210IS - Aug 14, 2010

Great camera. I bought it because of the telephoto zoom and it is everything I hoped for. Sharp images, easy to use. The only annoying drawback is the flash placement, so I keep my finger on it and ignore it. Whoever came up with it was not thinking clearly. For me, the other great things the camera has outweigh this mistake in design.

 Great camera with 1 surprise - Aug 14, 2010

I'll leave the technical reviews to others. I bought the SX210 primarily for the 14x zoom and it has let me get some fantastic photos. I was even at one event where a guy with a digital SLR who had been sitting behind me came up to me at the end and asked me about the SX210 because he had seen (over my shoulder) the shots I was getting with the zoom and was impressed.

I did have one surprise though. Apparently the LCD display is polarized. I found this out the first time I tried to take a vertically oriented picture while wearing sunglasses and all of a sudden the LCD went totally black on me. It took me a few seconds to realize that the LCD was still on - I just couldn't see it due to the combined effects of the polarization of my sunglasses and the polarization of the LCD display when holding the camera vertically.

 Everything is great except ... - Aug 10, 2010

Well it is great choice and I am very happy with my camera, but few things set clouds over my happiness:
Here it is:
Cons:
Very easy gets dust inside lenses, always use with care, protect and try not shoot when windy.
Very easy loses focus when filming.
No international coverage of the warranty.
In video mode zooming and wind can be heard in the clip. Do not zoom often in quite environment.
Almost useless flash, possible it is the worst thing in the camera, it makes handling difficult and when in use under artificial lightning it sets wrong white balance (pictures are yellowish), very short range.
Pros:
Outstanding good pictures in good light conditions.
Great focusing and zoom capabilities.
Compact and easy to use (except handling, caused by the pop up flash).
Very fast start and ready to shoot.

Overall experience is good, but looking for way to get the dust out of the lenses if someone can advise me how (currently abroad).

 Fully-loaded camera - Aug 07, 2010

The SX210IS is an impressive camera. I got it because of the 14 to 1 optical zoom. Like any sophisticated camera, it takes time to learn how to take excellent pictures with it. Easy mode works for a lot of situations, put anyone wanting consistently good results will have to learn to use the program mode. I found that taking outdoor shots in easy mode leads to pictures looking flat. Also, you'll have to do some experimentation if you want to properly handle situations where there is light coming from behind the subject. I am not used to the auto focus process where I have to push the button half way to get the auto focus to work. Auto focus can be turned off, but then I have to worry that when I ask someone to take a photograph of me, the picture may not be in focus. I love the video on the camera, but again, the auto focus can be a problem.

 My thoughts on SX210 - Jul 31, 2010

First off - background on me and what I was looking for: I would classify myself as an intermediate photographer. I own a Nikon DSLR which I use primarily for low light situations having learned the hardway at my son's 18th birthday that my old point-and-shoot did a lousy job of photos in low light situations. I am planning a trip to Europe in the fall and simply did not want to lug my Nikon camera around with me along with all the other stuff - like map, dictionary, travel guide - that I would have to take with me as I wandered around whatever town I was in. So I started my search for a really good PNS camera. What was I looking for in the PNS ? My goal in picture taking is to have a terrific photo of what I actually saw. So when I got home and looked at the photo, I would say: Yes, that's exactly what it looked like when I was there. So onto my criteria: First size. I wanted it to be small enough to fit comfortably in a pocket. Second, confidence that it would take good to great photos under normal (not low-light) conditions. Third, I liked the idea of HD videos of my trip, so I wanted that capability. Fourth and finally, at least decent performance in low light conditions as I expected to frequently want to take photos inside a museum or art gallery.

The search turned out to be much more difficult than I had expected. Frustratingly difficult I will add. No one camera is loved by all reviewers. So those of you reading this review, who are still searching, I feel your pain. I came to the conclusion that currently there is no perfect PNS that does it all. I would do hours of research on the web and then go to the local camera store to actually play with the PNS cameras that had caught my interest. In the end I concluded that there are 3 or 4 reasonably good PNS cameras out there, but all of them required me to compromise on something I wanted. So figure out what your must-haves are and sort through the available cameras accordingly.

Obviously I chose the Canon SX210. I have had it about 3 weeks now and have taken about 200 photos and about 6 HD movies. My comments in no particular order:

1. the Canon does a good but not outstanding job of taking photos under normal daylight conditions. I did play with several photos on my computer and kept zooming in on a particular point to see when the picture would deteriorate. Of course it did eventually, but again, since 8.5 x 11 is the max size I expect for any enlargement, I do not see any problem with the picture quality.
2. the HD video capability is more fun than I had expected. Again as already noted, the mic's are located on the top of the camera. Great for recording my commentary, but not so good for recording sounds coming from whatever you are videoing. One other point: the Canon allows you to zoom in while taking an HD video. That's great, but with 14X optical zoom, the more you zoom, the more susceptible the camera and the video you are taking is to shaking. If you zoom all the way to 14X, I found it impossible to avoid shaking when holding the camera in my hand. At no zoom, there is no problem with shake when taking a video. Bottom line: limit your zooming in when taking a video.
3. I agree with everyone else that placement of the pop-up flash and the telephoto zoom in-and-out mechanism is NUTS. What were the Canon engineers thinking ? However both are annoyances rather than deal-breakers.
4. the battery life is reasonable but not outstanding. I never ran out of battery life during a day of shooting photos and the battery re-charges in about 2-3 hours. Not bad.
5. Speed - I bought 2 Sandisk Extreme III 4 GB Class 6 SD disks. I agree with the suggestions that you have to step up to a Class 6 disk to avoid serious delays when writing the photo to the disk. I also decided against one 8GB disk since I did not want all my pics on one disk. Back to speed - I also turned off the automatic review after each photo taken, and found that improved the speed of the picture taking noticeably. You can also turn on continuous picture taking and take a "burst" of photos if so desired. Bottom Line: speed is fast enough for my needs.
6. Definitely buy a plastic shield (or cover?) to protect the 3" LCD screen on the back. The Apple Store has them if you can't find them cheaper any place else.
7. The camera feels surprisingly heavy to me. But solid. I guess 14X optical zoom does create some weight.
8. I set the camera on 9MP pictures since 14MP is overkill for me. I would never enlarge a photo to more than 8.5 x 11 anyway. I left the movie on HD settings however. Dumming down the photos to 9MP also improves the write-to-disk speed BTW.
9. Expect a serious learning curve with this camera. I printed out the manual from the PDF file and it is 180 pages. Not all was relevant to me and my interests, but still I have spent several hours reading and re-reading sections of the manual. Since I will not take the manual with me on my upcoming trip, I have to know how to manipulate this camera.
10. The 14X optical zoom is really impressive. While that was not a top consideration for me, having that capability is very cool. You can easily zoom in to an amazing degree on something from a considerable distance away.
11. Low-light - I am still working on this one and how to manipulate the camera to get the best LL photos. In dim lighting it does OK - by upping the ISO, so you pay a price in the quality of the photo. In the black of night - it does OK if the subject of the photo is not more than 6-8 ft away from you. But I tried a photo at night of the moon shining off the Pacific ocean from my balcony and that did not work. Not a real surprise, but like I said, I need to experiment more in this area.


In summary - I would describe this camera as being a really solid good versatile PNS. You can put it on full Auto and snap away happily, or switch to one of several pre-defined settings (landscape, portrait etc), or if you are really into it, go all the way to completely manual and set everything yourself. That's not for me - but you do have that capability. The HD Videos are great, but even a short one takes up about 80-90MB of disk space. And as noted, you are unlikely to pick up the sounds from whatever it is you are videoing. PS: I have never encountered the much discussed problem with lens shadow.

All-in-all a solid performer in an amazingly small form factor that will do what I am looking for and more on my upcoming trip to Europe.

 Love it! - Jul 30, 2010

This is a great camera. It takes beautiful pictures about as well as an SLR camera! The only downfall, is the high amount of megapixels make the videos harder to download. Not a big problem and its worth it for the beautiful pictures!

 No HDMI cable - Jul 28, 2010

Just got the camera, and so far so good. nice quality photos and innovative features. But it reacts a little slower than I hoped for - my 7 year old Sony is about the same speed - albeit 1/3 the mega pixels. But I'm a little disapointed that a camera touting HDMI output requires me to get cable separately (they include an analog style red/white/yellow cable like what you used with a VCR) So I will have to wait for the accessory cable to arrive to see how my photos and videos look on the 50" plasma. I skipped the canon brand $40 HDMI and ordered a $4 no name brand. Keep in mind this is mini hdmi to hdmi. I jut feel that for the price $329 they could include the cable that takes advantage of HD video and HDMI output offered on this model.

BTW my charger is a nice compact unit with a built in plug - nice to avoid yet another charger cable.

 Great Camera! - Jul 27, 2010

The picture quality is great and the size and weight are perfect. I wanted a camera small enough to carry around in my purse but that also created great quality pictures and that is exactly what I found in this camera.

 Good camera, only if you know what you're getting - Jul 26, 2010

This review is my personal opinion. I bought this camera elsewhere, but Amazon is still perfectly safe. The SX210IS has a wide screen LCD. This is great is you like to take a lot of movies. If not, the screen is just too big for the pictures that it takes. I bought it mistakenly thinking that it could take shots in the same shape as a print, that is 4 by 6. But this camera does not do that. It takes 4:3 shots and 16:9 shots (as in standard and wide screen TVs). Most folks will want 4:3 and for this, the screen is too wide. The camera has what reviewers call "heft." I call it heavy. Too heavy for my shirt pocket. On the plus side, it takes very decent pictures and has a number of settings usually found on SLRs, such as Aperture and Speed priorities. In short, if you want a mini-SLR and you don't mind the default 4:3, than this camera will work great. On the other hand, if you want a second camera, one to just throw in your purse or carry in your pocket, then look for something lighter.

 outstanding product - Jul 24, 2010

Just bought one. great optical zoom and image quality. great image stabilizer. good value for product. battery life reasonable.

 Videos won't play with Windows Media Player - Jul 22, 2010

With the newest release of PowerShot models Canon has changed the recording format of the videos from Motion-JPEG based.AVI files to Quicktime.MOV files. According to them this was done to reduce the file size and improve the quality of the videos.

You can use the ZoomBrowser software to convert the files to other format types and save them:
It takes about 15 to 60 minutes to convert the videos, but I only need to convert the videos that I am e-mailing to friends that don't know about QuickTime.

1. Select the images.
2. Click [Export]. The [Export] menu appears.
3. Click [Export Video]. The settings window appears.
4. Specify desired settings. For detailed information, click the [?] button and refer to the Help displayed.
5. Click [Finish]. The processing window appears and the settings are
executed.

Using the ZoomBrowser software that was provided with the camera you can
create original movies by linking movie clips and still images. You can
even add titles and other text, background music and various special
effects. To do this, open the ZoomBrowser software and select [Edit]
and [Edit Movie], then follow the steps outlined in the software.