Canon PowerShot SX30 IS Compact Digital Camera 14.1 Megapixels 35 x Zoom Black

The camera is excellent and has a large number of resources to take good pictures. But we strongly recommend reading the manual, because even in AUTO mode, the photographer must press the shutter button halfway to focus, and then tightening them to shoot (even in automatic modes, the user must have a minimum of knowledge of the camera). I think that many complain about the image quality by not knowing how to use the various features of the camera (not knowing how to use the automatic features and the various resource manuals) or wait for the quality of a DSLR. If all machine resources are used, the photographer can get close to this quality of DSLR, but SX30IS is not a DSLR! See the pictures I posted in the gallery that show the strength and quality of the maximum zoom (840 mm - 35X) and image stabilizer. All photos taken by hand, without tripod! Pros: - The 35X zoom is really impressive and the image stabilization is spectacular. In the requirement zoom and image stabilization, there are no competitors that come near the SX30IS. You can get excellent pictures by hand using the 35X zoom. But in low light conditions the user must know how to use the resources and / or tripod to get sharp photos. (When using a tripod, the image stabilization must be switched off) - The menu is easy to use and intuitive. The LCD Flip-out screen is the best among the competitors, being very clear. - There are several features to take great photos. I'm still reading the manual and I can not use all resources, but the pictures and movies are improving as I know the camera better. - The movies are good quality Cons: - The greatest shortcoming of the camera is to have low FPS, because the camera does not take many pictures per second. In this variable the superzoom competitors are way better. - Do not shoot in full HD, though HD movies are already very good. It could have 3-inch screen instead of 2.7. - No High-speed frame rate (slow motion) in the movies. This feature is present in the competitors. But you can see the movies in slow motion in the camera (not the same thing already burn in slow motion). Thus, I considered this an excellent camera, especially because I'm still learning to use the various features, and photos are improving. I bought a tripod, a Canon 270EX flash, Canon filter adapter and Tiffen filter polarizer, which are greatly improving my photos. I'm still waiting for my Canon 270EX flash, which I believe will greatly improve my indoor photos, completion, macro and portraits (bounce flash) The tripod has greatly improved the pictures in low light. And now that I'm using Canon 270EX external flash indoor pictures and portraits have improved a lot! Great combination: SX30IS and 270EX! And I have much still to learn with this camera and flash! Highly recommended! Every day I learn to use resources better camera, I am more convinced of the five stars that dot the SX30IS. The full manual mode, knowing how to use, delivers excellent photos. And the automatic mode or semi-automatic'm also learning what the correct situation in which it must be utilized. The effect of leaving only one color appearing in the picture and the remaining P&B found it very interesting.

Alright, so I purchased the Canon SX30 IS and was expecting nothing more than an advanced Point and Shoot digital camera with a well known name. I've shot with Point and shoot camera's since they first hit the shelves. My last Point and shoot was a FujiFilm S1800 (great camera by the way, had it for about 3 years or more). I own a Nikon D7000 DSLR and love it (or used to). I've actually considered selling it now! I got this camera on the 13th of Oct. 2011 for a good stack of money. Talk on the net was that it was a bridge camera DSLR/Point and Shoot. I had to see this thing in real life action, so, I bought it. Reviews on the web i.e. youtube.com and other sites alike, made me almost not want to buy it. But, I did anyway. Here's what I've got to say about it. I "am" going to be replacing my D7000 with this Canon SX30 IS. Why? This camera is capable of shooting the same if not beyond the D7000 capability's without a doubt. I paid more than 1200.00 for my 300mm max zoom lens for my D7000 and am getting 500+ more power from a 350.00 point and shoot for 1. The clarity is amazing if you use the manual focus for all of your photographs and it's pretty simple to figure out. The best part about this camera is that you don't remove the lens and have to worry about dust or anything getting into the components and having to clean the camera about every time you turn around. The camera has full manual mode which allows you to set your ISO, Exposure, f/stop, and focus manually to your specs. Some reviews said it did poorly in low light, ha, okay, sure it did. I took a 30sec. Night shot of a water fall and believe me or not, It's beautiful, sharp, and very well lit with detail. Having the hot shoe is a major plus for me. Without it, I'd be lost with all of the portraits I take (which by the way, are amazing.) I've been a professional photographer for 6years young and having this camera saves me so much time and effort with the same and even higher quality photographs as the D7000. It does have it's flaws just like any other camera out there. But, does anyone complain when it's a DSLR that has flaws? No! So why complain about a bridge camera with the same types of flaws? I have a friend on a forum who shoots with a Canon Mark 5, he's been complaining about it since he got it about the same issue. (the manual focus don't work like the other's he's used to). It's an electronic what do you expect? Superb quality? Not me, I know the rules of electronics and that is that of each and every one on the shelf of the same exact product will be different in one way or the other, no electronic is made exactly the same. It's impossible. On with the camera! I have used every single setting on the camera just since I got it. I went to the local lake to shoot some wild life, portraits, and water sports along with waters capes and landscapes down to macro and back up to high above the atmosphere (moon). I didn't come up short in any hand with any of my photographs. Each and every one of them was sharp and in focus with the right exposure each and every time. 840mm is a distance and shooting completely hand held, with this quality, this camera should have been put in the market as a DSLR fixed lens. The biggest mistake most people make is (they don't read the manual). This is the most important thing to do before you even turn any new camera on. The manual will teach you how to take some really good photographs to start off and once you've got them down pat, then you can start advancing to more of your style photographs. I won't even get started on the software enhancements area it's just to much to deal with. Bottom line! It's affordable for almost anyone, It sits in your hand just right, it's also light compared to a DSLR, it takes crisp shots from the start, but most of all, it's a CANON. I used to be a Nikon fan, not anymore! This camera is amazing in all aspects. TIP: the camera is 14MP and has a sensor that isn't set for that high of a resolution. Go into the menu and down the resolution to med. This is where your crisp shots will come from. Med. is 7MP but well worth it. Besides, why take photographs so huge you can make a good sized billboard out of them? I normally don't shoot past 5MP do to the size and all of the re-sizing for prints I'd have to do, just saves more time and gets your work done that much faster. Good luck and happy shopping, oh, and if you do get this camera, happy shooting!

This is an awesome camera! The zoom is phenomenal. I got a great shot of my husband water skiing. It froze the image (and for being in a rocking boat, that is a feat in itself). It showed the water cutting his ski and flying up behind him in great detail. It is reasonably light weight and the batteries last a long time. I like the various "scene" options like low light etc. I was able to get a detailed shot of the moon one night. It looks like it came out of a textbook. The flash seems to be powerful enough and it even has a setting where you can boost the flash if you need to. This is the first camera I've had that takes decent indoor shots. Usually, I take more outdoor shots than indoors. I bought the camera so I could have the zoom to get great nature shots. I have NOT been disappointed. It is reasonably priced for this type of camera. I like that it isn't as complicated as an SLR, but you can also manually set it if you want to. I found that the auto setting isn't always the best, but finding the best setting is just a matter of getting used to using it and experimenting. The image stabilizer in this camera is nothing short of outstanding. If you are looking for great pictures, with not much work, this is the camera. I can't think of one thing I don't like about it.

The feature set is terrific. Having the 840mm available is very useful and I find myself just leaving it fully extended and looking for subjects to shoot from 10 feet to a mile away....However, there must be plenty of light in order to enable a shutter speed of at least 1/250. Faster is even better. Low light focus is slow and inaccurate. My Panasonics and other Canons do a better job more consistently. Image sharpness is not as high as my other cameras and I have to work harder in Photoshop to get an equally sharp photo but it never really gets to a high enough level of sharpness. On balance, I will use the sx30 when I need the extreme zoom and will use my Canon G12 for everything else. The G12 does produce really sharp and detailed pictures. 720 movies are terrific. This is a feature I didn't need but am using a lot anyway. It is a little hard to hold the camera out from my head for long shots but the eyelevel finder, which image is very small, works ok for video even though it is pretty crude in sharpness to look at. Having autofocus and zoom for video in a still camera is awesome and appreciated. There is an intermittent vignetting in the lower right corner during video of a moving things like horses and cars. It might be the Image Stabilization trying to keep up with the movement during video shooting. It's not crucial but should not be there at this stage of technology. I would like an easier way to adjust the shutter speed and aperture manually. You have to switch back and forth now and do not have both displays open at once. However, there is a lot good value there for $400 and we will use this camera on photo safari this summer.

This camera is capable of capturing high-quality photos, but only when you have good light, a subject which fills most of the frame, and you set the ISO to to 80 or 100 (as is normally done in good light). I've had mine over 1 year and used it for several purposes, including family vacation photos and also for documentation purposes at work. It's held together just fine. Because it's your typical slow, clunky, point-and-shoot, I don't use it for sports or action photos at all. For those things, I use a DSLR. In most photos from this camera, I notice both graininess and softness when viewed at full size. The zoom 35x is a good feature to have, but it don't count on having quality images when you max out the zoom. If you want high quality shots from this camera, you should use it a close range and in good light. Besides not needing to change lenses, the only advantage I can see for this camera vs. a DSLR is the fact that it does shoot fairly good video. However, it's not ergonomically good to hold it and shoot video for a long perid of time. You'll get tired and you might even drop it. But, if you have the need for occasional, short video clips, it's great. Also, it's worth noting that the price has actually risen on this camera since I purchased it. When I bought it last year, it was $400 plus shipping. At the time of this review, it's gone up to $450. Given my experience with it this camera, one of it's predecessors, and several DSLR's, I would not pay $450 for it. Knowing what I know now, I'd give no more than $350 for this camera.