Customer reviews from usa.canon.com
Canon - PowerShot 10.0-Megapixel Digital Camera
Average customer rating
4.7
(300 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 300 reviews
5 Stars
229
4 Stars
54
3 Stars
12
2 Stars
1
1 Star
4
93%of customers recommend this product.
(
279 out of
299)
Customer Reviews for Canon - PowerShot 10.0-Megapixel Digital Camera
Customer Rating
5
Great Choice !
on February 6, 2010
Posted by: pebal
from AW
Really I 'm happy from this photocamera on my eyes, better and useful than last deployed G10 and G11 , mainly due to useful and handy ergonomics.
Pros: Good Low-Light Performance, Nice features/settings, excellent image quality, Bright LCD, Lightweight/Portable, Simple controls/menu, easy to use
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Great Camera
on February 9, 2010
Posted by: gtfan08
from Atlanta, GA
This camera got me started on photography, and there wasn't a better camera for it. It has great image quality from far away or very close up. I would recommend this camera to anyone.
Pros: good battery life, Nice features/settings, excellent image quality, Simple controls/menu, easy to use, super macro setting
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
i love my cam (SX10IS)
on April 3, 2010
Posted by: jkjoms
there is no compromise for high quality pictures so i was forced to buy canon SX10IS becuse there is nothing to surpass this model till date, i love my sx10is becuase it gives the real satisfaction of photographing!!!
i admit its bit costly but its worth it...the video control button and zoom functionality in video makes the camera even more amazing...battery life is an important factor and it gives surprisingly long usage time....take care of your camera (SX10IS) like your child...it will remain with you as your faithful servant.....its bulky but its loaded with features...manual mode is complicated but once you use it for a few times you wll get used to it
i admit its bit costly but its worth it...the video control button and zoom functionality in video makes the camera even more amazing...battery life is an important factor and it gives surprisingly long usage time....take care of your camera (SX10IS) like your child...it will remain with you as your faithful servant.....its bulky but its loaded with features...manual mode is complicated but once you use it for a few times you wll get used to it
Pros: good battery life, Good Low-Light Performance, Nice features/settings, excellent image quality, durable, Bright LCD, Lightweight/Portable, easy to use, designed to fit in our hand give excellent control
Cons: bulky
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Great Camera
on August 2, 2010
Posted by: Greywolf
from Metro Detroit, MI
This is a very versatile camera that is simple to use. I use this camera both for my hobby ( nature photography) and in my professional life as a protection specialist (imaging for site surveys, area reconnaissance and protective intelligence). The software that comes with this camera makes it very easy and fast to produce excellent quality images that can be quickly disseminated to my clients and members of my team. I give this camera a 10 out of 10 - great product!! There are only a few improvements that I can think of that would make this an unbeatable system for those not wanting to spend on a D-SLR.
Pros: "7-11 friendly" - uses standard alkali batteries, extremely versatile
Cons: cannot attach lens filters, no waterproof housing available for this model.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
4
Great little camera
on July 10, 2015
Posted by: PhotoMaster
from Wisconsin
Nice camera. Takes great pictures. Menus can be alittle troublesome, but overall I am happy with my purchase. Great camera for an on the go type person.
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
on November 13, 2008
Posted by: music guy
from Baltimore, MD
I moved to the Canon SX10 IS from an S3 IS, and had some thoughts to share. Taking movies is rare for me, so I have no comments about that. As of this writing there are not yet in-depth tests on the SX10, so my decision to buy one came primarily from the fact that the S3’s viewing screen was blanking out at certain angles. The choice was to spend 1/3 the cost of a new camera on the repair, or to replace the camera. The SX10 was only in stores for about a week at that time so I took a leap of faith and bought one. The following are initial observations—mostly relating the two cameras.
While I have no means to scientifically measure lens quality, any camera that can go from a film camera equivalent of 28mm to 560mm is amazing, indeed. The difference between the 35mm widest angle of the S3/S5, and the 28mm widest angle of the SX10 is night and day when shooting in tight quarters. At the other end of the zoom is an amazing amount of magnification. As an “all in one” camera, the SX10 combines this focal length with an excellent Image Stabilization system, so getting a good hand-held image at full zoom is far easier than it might be with a non-IS camera.
One interesting sidelight of having a lens this long is that you can fill the viewfinder with a face from about 18 ft away, but the effective range of the flash at full zoom (F5.6) is only listed as 9 ft.. Good thing there is a flash shoe on the camera, but that’s something else to carry around, and people buying an all-in-one camera probably won’t have it with them most of the time. The flash does better at wide angle (17 ft. at 28mm) when the aperture is F2.8).
The SX10 is a Digic 4 camera with lots of bells and whistles, vs. the Digic III set-up on the S3 and S5. My off-the-cuff observation is that I now have a useful ISO of 400, compared to similar noise at ISO 200 on the S3. The SX10 will shoot a reduced size photo at ISO 3200, but it is only available from the “scene” menu (as opposed to the quick ISO selector on the back of the camera). Results are predictably nasty, and resistant to much cleaning up with software, but having the ability to use it is a good thing for those situations when the only other choice is attempting a shot clearly out of range of the flash.
One other ISO-related touch is that with the ISO set on Auto, or on Auto-HI, the SX10 will show you the selected ISO value in the viewfinder. This was not true with the S3, so you did not have an opportunity to try something else if you were headed for a noisy image in one of the Auto ISO modes.
One of the big deals with Digic 4 seems to be face recognition, so I have a few comments on that. First, it works. When I bought the camera I figured I’d leave this feature off. In doing so I learned that face recognition is the first item on the record menu, so it is quick to activate/deactivate when desired. Then I tried it on a random group of people sitting on the floor in the kitchen. It was a wide-angle flash shot under a large fluorescent light. I held the camera overhead at one end of the room. There was a baby and her Mom almost directly under the camera, and someone else about 12 ft away. The baby looked up and I hit the shutter, not expecting much. By all accounts that baby’s face should have had the highlights blown out to white, and the person on the other side of the kitchen should have been underexposed. On playback the camera identified that it had found the baby’s Mother’s face (next to the baby) and the face of the person sitting across the kitchen. Both were in focus (not hard at 28mm), and neither was blown out. In fact, the only portion of the photo that went completely to white was a white tray. White balance was excellent.
Face recognition is not just an exposure option. Related elements are woven throughout the camera, with one of the “display” modes for playback showing which faces were “recognized” and offering a magnified secondary image so you can quickly see what the face looks like. If multiple faces were recognized, touching the Function/Set button jumps the secondary image from face to face. Activating the zoom lever zooms the faces in or out. The ability to take shots of people without having to worry about underexposure, or blowing out the highlights, is valuable for general shooting, so I’ll probably leave the feature activated for those grab shots.
The camera is packed with other bits of trickery—selectable auto contrast correction, and auto red-eye correction. These can be applied either during shooting, or afterwards when viewing the image, with an option to either save the modified image as a new file or to ditch it. Of course, these are functions usually done after downloading to a computer, but my initial impression is that they are effective on the camera, and would be useful for the segment of the market that wants to go directly from camera to printer. Besides, if you hand the camera with these features activated to a "point and shoot" friend, the friend benefits not only from autofocus and autoexposure, but also from a slick “auto postproduction.”
The camera can also stay in focus while following a moving object. With face recognition turned on, that object will be a face (if it can find one). With FR turned off, it’s whatever was in your focusing frame when you half-depressed the shutter. I have not yet tested this feature.
One item that few will care about, but is significant to me, is that in full manual mode, there is a viewfinder graphic functioning like the “exposure needle” on my old mechanical cameras. Even though I’m looking at a screen with the picture represented, the presence of the “exposure meter” makes for a more secure situation when unfriendly ambient light makes judgments difficult. A thumb wheel for scrolling through aperture and shutter settings is also welcome.
The ergonomics of the SX10 are improved from the S3. Manual Focus and Macro functions are now accessible on the 4-way rocker instead of being on the far side of the lens. The other two functions on the rocker are ISO and a submenu of shutter options (multi, timer, etc.). One item on that menu will hold the self-timer until a new face appears in the viewfinder (presumably yours). After a warning it takes several shots—the number determined by a menu setting.
The SX10 is larger than the S3, and it will not fit in the same case. If you like the minimal belt pouch Canon sold for the S3 there is a similar one for the SX10, and it is not so much bigger as to be a problem, so figure the additional cost as part of the swap.
There have been several comments that the lens cap of the SX10 is not as convenient as the one on the S3. This is a pain in general use—especially if you tend to grab for the camera in its case for a shot that is fleeting. With the S3, you could activate the camera and the extension of the lens would push the lens cap free so it would literally fall off the lens and hang by the tether. The SX10 lens cap must be removed by hand. There is no tether. However there is a clip in the underside intended to fasten the cap to the neck strap. Eventually I’ll drill a couple holes and rig a tether for it.
Two other small gripes: Flash recharge time can get long—especially if you were trying to light a long telephoto shot. Also, my experience with the S3 makes me wonder about the durability parameters Canon had in mind when it made the inevitable compromises required to produce a feature-laden camera in this price range. An argument can be made that at the rate new models are introduced these days buying a new "pro-sumer" camera every three years is a viable alternative to the initial investment one would make for similar capabilities in body/lens combinations.
All in all I’m quite pleased with the choices Canon made in this evolution of their “superzoom” camera line. You can set the dial to Auto, and anyone can take excellent shots with this thing. Or you can put it on a tripod and contemplate depth of field possibilities for a portrait. As with previous models, the articulated LCD screen quickly becomes habit-forming, encouraging you to hold the camera overhead, lower it to ground level, or go stealth by looking in one direction while shooting in another.
I bought the S3 as a first camera with which to learn while I transitioned from film to digital. The S3’s 6 megapixels were sufficient for 13 x 19 prints that hang proudly next to my 11 x 14 chemical prints. Canon’s success with this class of camera can be measured by the fact that I did not for a moment consider going “back” to separate bodies and lenses when the S3 started giving me trouble. While there are obvious advantages to 10 megapixel images, they take up more storage space, and are slower to work with on a computer. For average family photography I’m tempted to opt for the 6 megapixel setting on the SX10.
I’ve heard it said that the best camera is always the one you have with you. Like the S3 IS, the SX10 IS is always in my briefcase, doing 90% of the work that a knapsack full of bodies and lenses can do. My experience with the S3 IS was most satisfying. In real world situations it often brought back a useable image when friends with fancier rigs did not. I see no reason why working with the SX10 IS will be any less rewarding,
Pros: easy to use, Nice features/settings, Bright LCD, excellent image quality, the camera you keep with you., uses aa batteries
Cons: lens cap, built-in flash not up to lens capabilities
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
A surprisingly good camera...
on November 6, 2008
Posted by: sx10dude
from Oregon
Overall, Canon's SX10 IS produces images that are on par with most of its 10MP rivals. If you were expecting SLR-like images, you were not being realistic.
For a camera with a very small sensor crammed full with 10MP resolution...this camera does surprisingly well in containing ISO noise. It isn't a dramatic leap over most other 10MP cameras, but it is no worse (better, in some cases). ISO 800+ looks better here than it did on the S3 and S5 predecessors, so that is one area where the SX10 clearly outperforms its predecessors. At "normal" sensitivities, the SX10 isn't such a noticeable improvement (though the larger file size does make for more cropping flexibility).
The 20X lens (28-560mm) has a fantastic range. The benefit of the 28mm wide angle will be immediately noticeable to those that use the camera. Lens is a tad soft at full wide angle and full telephoto, but nothing serious and it can be sharpened up in software. Chromatic aberration is visible, but can be tamed by stopping the lens down to to around F5 or so (when practical to do so). It doesn't seem to be any worse than the typical SLR "vacation" lens with a similarly long focal length. Overall, I think Canon did a great job.
I would have liked a less "plasticky" feel to the camera. My SD790 IS is metal, and it feels nicer in hand than the SX10 does. Eh. That's a minor nitpick, I guess.
Battery life with included (alkaline) AA's is fairly good, but those end up in the landfill quicker (and more frequently) than a good set of NiMH rechargeable units. I have used Energizer's 2750mAH batteries and they work very well.
The fact that you can't attach filters is disappointing, especially since prior models had that ability (though they did require the purchase of a barrel adapter). The lens hood is nice, but isn't a replacement for filter attachment capability! I am hoping that Canon comes up with a mount for the lens that can accept filters.
Pros: easy to use, Simple controls/menu, Nice features/settings, Bright LCD, excellent image quality, Good Low-Light Performance, portable, good battery life
Cons: Missing features/settings, Heavy or bulky, Flimsy Construction
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Does what it's suppose to do and more
on November 13, 2008
Posted by: Buster
from Upstate New York
After using pro DSLRs for many years I decided to retire. My daughter followed my work and I donated the majority of my equipment to her. To be honest, this is my first Canon and also my first point and shoot. I did a lot of resaerch on these cameras and decided to wait for the SX 10. I am glad I did.
I love this camera and with few exceptions I can honestly tell you I don't miss the big boys at all.
1- The lens is incredable. No longer have to carry a series of heavy lenses. The glass isn't perfect but close enough.
2- The features are great as well. Being an old timer I love taking control of the camera and the SX 10 allows me to be more of a photographer and using my own skills to get the photo I want like bracketing and other manual controls.
3- Weight and grip are perfect. Now I have the camera with me all the time.
4- ISO is excellent under 800. Gets a little noisey over 800 but acceptable.
5- Features galore. I don't think you will ever get tired of them. Yes they are a little tricky, but there if you care to find them.
6- Macro and super macro are great.
7- The LCD is great especially if you are tall and using a tripod or in a situation where a straigt view isn't possible. I like the idea of being able to make it brighter.
Now there are a few things I don't like at all.
1- THE DARN INSTRUCTION BOOK NEEDS WORK AND A LOT OF HELP AT THAT. The instructions are all over the place and not too instructive. A first timer is going to have trouble.
2- No threads for filters. I miss that a lot.
3- The lack of a cable release. Needed for long exposers, long zooms and macro work.
I like the camera very much and I would suggest this camera for those with some digital experience.
Pros: easy to use, Simple controls/menu, Nice features/settings, Bright LCD, excellent image quality, portable, durable
Cons: Complicated controls/menu, Missing features/settings, bad instruction manual, no threads for filters, no cable release
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com