Looking for a great, high megapixel camera that will meet approximately all of your everyday photography needs? Well, look no supplementary than the Canon PowerShot Sx40 Hs. This camera looks great and you could mistake it for a D-Slr camera. What's surely predicted about the Sx40 Hs is its long 35x zoom range, coupled with that 12-megapixel camera resolution. Yes, you read that right - a 35x zoom range - which translates to a very great camera with telephoto reach. Read on and find out more about it.
1. Develop and Construction
What does the Sx40 Hs look like? Well, as you can see from the picture, the unit itself is neither ageement nor light. Its dimensions are 3.6 by 4.8 by 4.2 inches (Hwd) and it weighs in at 1.3 pounds. It's competitor, the Nikon Coolpix P500 is slimmer and lighter by comparison.
The Canon PowerShot Sx40 Hs comes with a metal body with a few plastic elements. I like the fact that there's a very deep handgrip which lets you hold the camera firmly. Throw in the Sx40's optic stabilization system and it means you can get a sharp photo at the greatest end of its zoom range. I tried zooming approximately 35x on the Sx40 Hs, without a tripod or monopod, and my pictures still came out pretty good and sharp.
2. Optics and Resolution
When it comes to long range zoom, very few non-digital Slr type cameras can match the Canon PowerShot Sx40 Hs. The 35x zoom range is better than many digital Slrs equipped with telephoto lenses and is surely one of the selling points of the camera.
With its 12 megapixel resolution, you'd expect that photos taken with the Sx40 Hs to be exceptionally sharp. Incidentally, I got to know about the Imatest software suite - which can be used to quantum cameras' doing in terms of image sharpness and noise. So here's what I did - to evaluate sharpness, I shot some photos of a test chart and analyzed them using a center-weighted algorithm. The Sx40 Hs averaged 1,836 lines per photograph height, which surpasses the 1,800-line benchmark that qualifies an image as being acceptably sharp.
I've tried many cameras in the past, along with the Kodak EasyShare Max Z990 which packs a 30x zoom lens, records a slightly higher 1,946 lines. So in terms of image sharpness, the Sx40 Hs is not the best - but I think its other features more than make up for that.
3. User Controls
Many cameras have very obscure or weird control placements. The Canon PowerShot Sx40 Hs doesn't have this problem. There are ample control buttons on the Sx40's body - a top-mounted dial lets you turn between shooting modes, and there's a neat rear four-way jog wheel to scroll straight through menus, adjust Iso, set exposure compensation, inaugurate the self-timer, and so forth.
The Canon designers obviously got the Develop of the menu system correct. In fact, the Canon Sx40 Hs menu system is one of the best I've seen around - comparable even to the top end Dslr cameras. You can swiftly way most of the base controls you'd encounter in a digital camera, without having to click all around menu after menu. I also like the fact that the Sx40's pop-up flash is manually operated. All I need to do is flip it up when you'd like to use it. Enthusiasts who want a better flash can fit in units like the Canon Speedlite flash, using the dedicated hot shoe.
4. Battery Life
The Canon PowerShot Sx40 boasts a very good and long persisting battery life. I could be outdoors shooting photos like no one's business and the battery would still be Ok. This contrasts strongly to some of the older Canon cameras I have, where the battery just dies on you when you're lining up for a very leading shot.
5. Storehouse and Transfer
Ok, the Canon PowerShot Sx40 Hs supports all manner of media cards - acquire Digital, acquire Digital High Capacity and acquire Digital Extended Capacity. The camera records 1080p24 QuickTime video - which in my opinion, looks quite good. To copy photos and video into your Pc, you can plug the camera into your computer via mini Usb to copy the files. Alternatively, you can join together the camera to an Hdtv via mini Hdmi. My family loves to do that - plug a digital camera to a huge Tv and enjoy the photos and video.
6. Shortcomings
I feel that the Canon PowerShot Sx40 Hs is a great camera - but it falls short in a few areas. For one thing, the camera isn't cheap! And although it has a great 35x zoom lenses, I could tell that it's doing in low light is not so good - especially compared to its competitors like the Nikon Coolpix P500, which captures clean images in as wee as one quarter the light as the Sx40.
Conclusion
All in all, the Canon PowerShot Sx40 Hs is a great camera with a great 35x zoom range. It has a host of innovative features which allow you to take photograph after photograph with ease. The capability of the photo shots are way above midpoint and is surely one of the better digital cameras in its class. Do check it out!
