Canon PowerShot SX1 IS review

Every photographer longs for a single camera that can tackle any job, but the SX1 goes further – it's also a full HD camcorder!

What’s your idea of the ultimate camera? For some people it’s megapixels, for others it’s superzooms. The SX1’s ten-megapixel resolution is not to be sneezed at, of course, but its real selling point is its 20x optical zoom. It has a focal range equivalent to 28-560mm, so it can take on anything from wide-angle shots to ultra-long range wildlife and sports photography.

    But that’s not all. You can get this in cheaper cameras, like the Canon SX10 and Olympus SP-570. The SX1 is pretty expensive for a superzoom, and costs more than an entry-level DSLR – as much as many cut-price twin-lens SLR kits, come to that.

    This camera’s unique selling point isn’t visible from the outside, though. It’s the combination of a ten-megapixel CMOS sensor and Canon’s latest DIGIC IV processing system. Between them, these offer unprecedented image processing speeds in the world of compact camera design.

    Where many compacts struggle to shoot at more than 1-2 frames per second at full resolution, this one can shoot at 4fps. What’s more, it can keep up this speed for around 30 consecutive frames (that’s what we got in our tests, anyway, using a SanDisk Extreme III card). You need a high frame rate to be sure of capturing the peak of the action, and you need the camera to be able to keep it up for as long as possible when the exact moment’s hard to predict. The only compact we’ve tested that’s better at high-speed shooting than this one is the Casio EX-FH20, but that is a highly specialised camera.

    The SX1’s other unique selling point is even more impressive. All compacts can shoot movies, and most can manage a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels at 30fps. That’s about the same standard as a MiniDV camcorder. But the SX1 can shoot full HD widescreen movies. Not the half-way resolution of 1,280 x 720 offered by the best of its rivals, but the full 1,920 x 1,080, and at 30fps, too.

    High-resolution doesn’t always mean high quality. The definition may still be poor, and the camera may produce jerky, unconvincing movement. The SX1 is in the clear on both counts. Its movie footage is stunningly clear and absolutely streets ahead of any other compact’s. It’s so good that if you’re into movies you should think twice about investing in any full HD camcorder until you’ve had a look at the SX1.

    But what’s the SX1 like for everyday photography? The picture quality is very good, but it’s the design, handling and build quality that really set it apart. The chunky body is easy to grip and feels absolutely rock solid. The start-up time, the autofocus and the zooming speeds are all very good for a superzoom, and it feels a very responsive camera generally. The widescreen display on the back is very clear, crisp and bright, and it folds out and swivels, too. You can leave it folded away facing the camera to protect it, and just use the electronic viewfinder, or you can swing it out for composing shots at waist level or at other awkward angles.

    Just above and to the left of the LCD is a button for switching aspect ratios. You can shoot in the usual 4:3 ratio of compact digital cameras or swap to 16:9 Widescreen mode. You’ll need this to shoot full HD movies, although 16:9 mode can also produce striking landscape shots.

    The EVF isn’t quite as good as the LCD, though. The resolution isn’t particularly high, so it does have a distinctly granular look. Now that Panasonic’s paved the way with the 1.4-megapixel EVF in the G1, maybe we’ll see better quality units appearing in other cameras too? We can but hope…

    The controls are mostly first rate. Everyday adjustments are carried out using Func/Set menus that sit at the side of the screen and open along the bottom so that your view is not obscured. You can navigate around them using the directional buttons or you can use the integral spinning Control dial. This is one of the camera’s weak spots. It doesn’t offer a lot of grip, which means you tend to press down on it more to spin it, and this all too easily activates one of the directional keys instead. This is at its most frustrating when you’re trying to apply EV compensation and makes it far more difficult than it ought to be.

    That could be a problem, because you do often need to adjust the exposure with this camera. All compacts have fairly limited dynamic range, but the SX1 has a tendency to blow highlights even more readily than most, and it can be quite tricky to get exposures right on a sunny day (it does seem to have a general tendency towards slight overexposure anyway). Disappointingly, Canon doesn’t offer a RAW mode with this camera, despite its price and its high-level specifications in other respects. RAW files contain extra highlight detail that would make the SX1 just a little easier to work with in tricky conditions.

    For best results, it’s a good idea to set the ISO to 80 or 100. At ISO 200 or higher, the finer details start to show the smudging we’ve come to expect from small, high-resolution sensors. It’s a little above average in this respect, however, as is the lens performance. It’s sharp all the way through the zoom range, though you will see some purple fringing near the edges with some subjects.

    The Macro mode isn’t quite what it seems, alas. The ability to focus right down to 0cm (!) in Super Macro mode sounds terrific, but here the lens is locked at its minimum focal length, which is too ‘wide’ for most subjects. And in normal Macro mode, the lens’s minimum focusing distance gets longer as you zoom in, which is a pain. This is common in compacts, unfortunately, so bear it in mind when comparing macro features.

    It is possible to find fault with the SX1 in a number of ways, but it’s important to get this in context. For a start, it’s no worse in these respects than other superzooms, and in general it’s rather better. But on top of that there’s its stunning 4fps shooting and Full HD Movie mode. These are quite unique. The SX1 isn’t just king of the current crop of superzooms, it threatens to pull the rug out from underneath a whole raft of consumer camcorders, too.