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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #608 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Canon
• Model: 3509B009AA
• Released on: 2009-03-16
• Dimensions: .49 pounds
• Display size: 3

Features

• Canon Camera Powershot SX200 Black
  • Canon Powershot SX200 IS 12.1 MP digital camera• Features 12x optical zoom, DIGIC processing, smart auto with scene detection technology, motion detection and face detection technologies, 3 inch LCD scre

Manufacturer's Description

Canon PowerShot SX200 IS Black - Wide-angle super zoom in your pocket

Manufacturers Product Description
With a wide-angle 28mm lens and 12x zoom, the compact PowerShot SX200 IS captures landscapes or distant subjects in stunning detail. Other exciting features include Smart Auto mode and HD video shooting.

Benefits

12.1 Megapixels
The number of megapixels determines the amount of sharp detail a digital camera can record. With more megapixels, you can print at larger sizes, plus crop and enlarge without sacrificing quality. PowerShot cameras provide all the resolution you need for finely detailed, photo-quality prints with plenty of scope for post-shoot cropping. A 12.1 Megapixel sensor lets you capture every scene in ultra-high levels of detail - perfect for turning your experiences into poster-sized photo prints.

12x Optical Zoom
Get the shot you want with a powerful 12x Optical Zoom and genuine Canon optics. Not only does the zoom get you up close quickly, but Canon optical technology ensures that your shots are bright, clear, and alive with true, vivid color.

Optical Image Stabilizer
Any slight shake while hand-holding a camera can cause blurred photos. Canon's optical Image Stabilizer (IS) technology ensures crisp, clear images by detecting and correcting this camera shake. The camera is able to microscopically adjust its own lens with absolute accuracy up to 4,000 times every second, so the image you see is the image you capture. Image Stabilizer is especially useful at full zoom, which exaggerates camera movements, and in low-light settings that call for slower shutter speeds.

Smart Auto Mode
Smart Auto has the intelligence to recognise 18 different scenes, from Portrait and Landscape right through to Macro (Close-Up). With AUTO Mode engaged, you no longer have to worry about selecting options from the camera menu. You are safe in the knowledge that your camera will use the most appropriate settings to optimise your image. For extra simplicity, the Easy mode function reduces the amount of information shown and all buttons except the shutter and flash are disabled. In Easy Mode the PowerShot SX200 IS exemplifies the term "point and shoot".

Motion Detection
With the inclusion of DIGIC 4, Canon's Motion Detection Technology now has more accurate judgement of subject speed. The 4 key detections are still made: Changes in brightness detected by the AE function; Changes between frames - pixel shift; Face Detection movements; Camera shake detected by the IS system

When the camera detects a face, Motion Detection Technology will now adaptively vary the shutter speed according to the speed of the face movement. The amount of camera shake is also taken into consideration and the aperture is set to obtain the optimum exposure for that perfect shutter speed. When the widest possible aperture does not provide a good exposure the ISO speed is increased.

Face Detection, Self Timer and Blink Detection
Utilising the power of DIGIC 4, Canon's Face Detection Technology ensures superb people shots by automatically detecting subjects in the frame and setting the correct focus, flash level and exposure. With Blink Detection technology turned on the camera will show a warning that a person in the photo had their eyes closed. This displays for three seconds whilst reviewing the shot right after shooting. With face detection self timer, the camera records the number of people detected when the self-timer is started. If photographer enters the frame (i.e. the number of people increases), the camera detects this and adjusts the focus and exposure. So you can take your time to get into the picture as the camera will wait until you are detected.

Red Eye Correction
The popular feature can now remove red-eye automatically during shooting, as well as in playback mode.

DIGIC 4
Processing the vast amount of data generated by the PowerShot D10 calls for power and speed. Enter DIGIC 4 with iSAPS technology, Canon's most advanced imaging processor yet. It is the power of DIGIC that delivers the superb image quality, responsive camera performance, faster AF, faster continuous shooting and extended battery life. DIGIC processors are so fast they can read, process, compress and write image data back to the buffer between exposures, reducing the data bottleneck for extended continuous shooting.

3.0" LCD Screen
The camera's 3.0-inch LCD screen gives you the big picture, whether you're shooting, reviewing or showing off your images. This extra-durable, high-resolution screen with tough scratch-resistant coating on the anti-reflective, PureColor LCD II screen offers a crisp, clear picture to make shooting, playback and using the camera's menu functions especially convenient.

HD Movies
Shoot super-smooth, VGA quality movies with sound. In-camera editing gives you creative control and slow-motion playback highlights every precious moment. With the new HDMI connection, shoot HD quality movies straight from your camera. Direct movie playback is possible via the HDMI connection and Image playback is also possible through HDMI for slideshows and review.

Additional Features

My Colours
Add a personal touch to your image or movie with Canon's My Colours. Choose from vivid blue for the sky, antique sepia for the portrait or classic black and white for the landscape. These creative options and many more - normally available only on a computer - can be applied directly from your camera, before or after the shot.

Canon Image Gateway
Open up a world of online digital photography with CANON iMAGE GATEWAY. Register your new Canon digital product today and start enjoying 100MB of online space for sharing photos with friends and family. Create themed photo albums with customised layouts and backgrounds. Order photo prints directly from your online photo album. Get hints, tips and ideas, plus customise your camera with great start-up images and sounds. With CANON iMAGE GATEWAY, you can.

Box Contains

SX200 IS

Wrist Strap WS-DC9

Battery Pack NB-5L (E) (with Terminal Cap)

Battery Charger CB-2LXE

AC Cable

AV Cable AVC-DC400

Interface Cable IFC-400PCU (for USB)

User Manual Kit

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Customer Reviews

Amazingly compact.
Canon has managed the tradeoffs between form and function well in this camera. There are some small things I would have done differently, (zoom control and flash) but I can live with them the way they are.
On the plus side:
Firstly, one has to comment on the massive optical zoom in this tiny body - 12x optical in a compact of these dimensions is a rare achievement. Most compacts are in (or below) the 5x range, so this is something special. The zoom has wonderful reach and the Image Stabiliser handles most camera shake well, even at long zooms. The build quality overall seems solid and what you'd expect from Canon.
At 12.1 Mpix, you can print photos the size of bath towels and have them look sharp, so there is more than ample MP for most uses.
Another seller for me is the inclusion of HD video, something Canon was slower than the competition to put into their cameras, but great that they've done it now. One thing to note - you can't use the optical zoom in video mode - only digital. This is great because zooming is completely silent, but not-so-great because you only get 4x zoom, so be sure to adjust your optical zoom before you start your video recording. Video quality is good, it uses loads of storage space though, so get a huge SD card (or 2) when you buy this camera. Oh, and make it a fast card too, an Extreme III for example - it makes a big difference to overall camera performance.
Lastly, there is no optical viewfinder, but the large LCD screen makes up for it, and does well even in bright light.
Otherwise, the camera is typical Canon, menu structure and controls are well laid out, the scrolling wheel is new, and helps to navigate menus and options, I still prefer the good old directional click, which is still available, but I can see the scroll-wheel being important for some people. Face recognition is nice to have, and works well. There is no RAW recording capability here, but I see that canon has released RAW for some other cameras in the SX series, so, who knows, maybe in a future software release. I've been able to achieve some nice effects with the camera, the images are sharp, sometimes a little too saturated, and it delivers decent bokeh, mainly due to its zoom ability - the lens is not an especially fast one (f/3.4 - f/5.3), but then again, that is not to be expected in this class of camera, and it's fast enough, even for most low light conditions.
On the negative side:
I don't like the flash implementation in this camera - well, specifically the way you can't control the flash pop-up. When you switch on the camera, the flash comes up and that's it - there's nothing you can do about it. I hold it down to keep it out of the way. There are rumours that Canon will fix this in a firmware update, and I hope they do, it's a significant design fault in my view. Also, on occasions where the camera is in use and the flash takes a bump - I can see it snapping off, or getting damaged - it's not especially sturdy, and I take good care not to damage it. (all the more reason to have it only show up on command)
The other niggly thing is the grip on the zoom control - I find it hard to get hold of, especially when I need to make fine adjustments to zoom length, this is a minor gripe, but adds a lot to the usability of the camera. I would like to see the zoom grip more prominent on the camera - there is space for it in the form factor and within the design too.
Overall - a lovely camera, powerful, functional, long battery life and should do well in most circumstances. Delivers good quality images, HD video and new features like face recognition and some others not mentioned here do a good job. If a versatile compact is what you're after (and that zoom!!) and you can live with an unruly flash and fiddly zoom grip, I would strongly recommend this camera.

Has Its Shortcomings but Full Manual Controls
I bought this camera as a replacement for my Canon Powershot A720 because I wanted a compact that had support for HD video but kept the same features. Originally I had my eye on the Panasonic Lumix TZ7 but it lacked manual controls for low light conditions - Something that auto mode usually fails at when flash isn't used so, I decided on this camera in the end.

PROS

+ World time setting allows you to set time easily when travelling.
+ Wide angle 28mm to fit more scenery into landscape shots.
+ "Auto" adjusts lens very quickly including to macro setting.
+ Large 3.0" LCD screen previews up to 100 photos at once.
+ "i-Contrast" for slightly more dynamic range.
+ Fairly good 720p HD movie support.
+ AV, 720p and 1080i HDMI TV output.
+ Full manual controls.
+ 1cm "Super Macro".

Powering up the camera for the first time, you're asked to set the time and date. Interestingly enough, this camera has dual time support and I think this is a great little feature for those who love to travel and don't want to spend time adjusting it in every country.

The large wide angle 28mm lens manages to squeeze in more scenery than the common 35mm most compact cameras come with. Shots taken at 12x zoom are also very sharp and the two stops on the zoom dial makes it very easy to zoom in on subjects slowly or quickly.

The quality of the 720p HD Ready videos are stored in H264 Quicktime MOV format and don't look too bad on a Full 1080p HDTV. Details are a little bit blurred but clear enough that it won't bother you too much so long as you don't pay attention to textures. The mono sound mic doesn't seem to have any filter to block out the camera's mechanical hum or to minimise the sound of the wind blowing over it unfortunately.

Of course, other movie modes are available such as standard definition 4:3 640x480 MJPEG, AVI format.

The CCD sensor itself is nothing special at the small size of 1/2.3" which is very common with compact cameras but there is an "i-Contrast" feature that helps to artificially increase the dynamic range (range of lighting between dark and light areas) just a little bit more - Nothing that can't be done yourself in Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop. Unlike the Noise Reduction feature, this can be toggled on or off.

If you don't have access to a PC and browsing through the photos on your camera is the only option to view them, you'll find you can do this easily thanks to the big 3.0" screen. Up to 100 photos can be previewed at once so navigating to the one you want is quick and easy.

CONS

- The pop out flash.
- Photos seem to be softened with the noise reduction algorithm.
- No way to disable or adjust the NR feature.
- Doesn't include a mini HDMI cable.
- Cover to mini USB and mini HDMI interface quite hard to open.
- Second dial isn't very well utilised.
- Can't zoom during video recording and only mono sound.
- Stuck with Canon's short lived Li-Ion battery pack.

One persistent annoyance is the pop up flash light that is located at the top-left of the camera where your fingers would usually be to steady the camera. Many times you will find yourself preventing the light from sliding in and out of the camera when turning it on or off. It also leaves you with less finger room to hold the camera.

It wouldn't be so bad if the flash light didn't pop out when you didn't need it but it does anyway. At the time of writing, there is no way to disable it. To be fair however, you do eventually learn how to hold it to avoid blocking the flash light though.

Moving on, the SX200 has the addition of a second dial that the older A720 doesn't have. It helps to minimise the time spent pressing buttons and navigating menus but, I feel it can be put to better use. For example, it lets you flip through single photos but the circular buttons the dial encompasses already lets you do that so why have the dial perform the same functions?

For those of you who want to use this camera for video, you'll want to note you can't zoom while recording. You will have to adjust the zoom before recording.

On the bright side, you can record as long as your card has room (or anything up to 1 hour) while most compact cameras including the Panasonic Lumix TZ7 at the time of writing only have a small 10 - 15 minute restriction (Youtube's limit) for HD movies.

Photos seem to be a bit too much on the soft side when viewing them at 100%. Reducing the photo resolutions so that there is less lossy JPG compression doesn't seem to help so I am putting it down to the Noise Reduction feature which is used to minimise the graininess in photos. Digital cameras handle noise differently by making post adjustments after a photo has been taken and in this case, I think Canon decided to use some sort of blur algorithm to get rid of the noise. It's a pity I can't confirm this because there is no way to adjust the strength of the NR feature.

Furthermore, the camera doesn't hesitate to shoot at 800 ISO when in Auto mode to minimise "camera shake" and I'm sure that as all photographers know, anything above 400 ISO creates some grainy photos - Especially in low lighting. The only way round this is to select one of the manual modes or one of the other more suitable auto modes when shooting.

Also, while this camera does have support for HDMI output to view them in their glory on your modern HDTV, you will have to look around for a mini HDMI cable which isn't included.

The shiny plastic cover that covers the mini USB and mini HDMI port is quite hard to open compared to the rubber cover the A720 has. This meant I have resorted to a dedicated card reader when transferring photos off the memory card.

Last but not least is the battery power. You will be stuck with Canon's battery packs and the 1120mAh Li-Ion here doesn't quite last that long offering only 9 minutes of HD video and 154 shots - Without flash too! For comparison's sake, the A720 provided close to 500 equivalent shots on rechargeable 2700mAh AA batteries. Best to recharge the battery before you go out.

CONCLUSION

If manual controls doesn't mean anything to you and you want a compact camera that will allow you to adjust the zoom while recording HD videos, perhaps going for something else such as the Panasonic TZ7 that also offers better stereo sound instead of mono, might be a better option.

If not then, this Canon Powershot SX200 offers sharp 12x zoom photos and manual controls that keen photographers won't want to lose. Even though the camera itself may have quite a number of short comings, most can be fixed with a future firmware update.

Great performer
Great 12x optical zoom - and the image stabiliser works a treat even at the full zoom! With a steady hand you can get really sharp pictures right down to 1/5th of a second with the IS. Pictures are a little noisey close up but that is not a problem if printed (easily over A4 size) or not scrutinised pixel for pixel (they look brilliant in wide mode on a full HD TV with the HDMI cable!!!). The hi-def video mode makes camcorders a thing of the past - excellent quality again! I have have been an ixus fan for years before moving to this - truly small enough to carry everywhere!