6/12/2011

PowerShot SX130IS Review

Super zoom digital cameras are fun little gadgets to play around with especially for people that cannot afford the pricey and powerful DSLR cameras. The market for super zoom models started pretty small early 2008 but now it is more competitive than ever as megapixel wars extended to the optical zoom wars.
PowerShot sx130is


Buyers are also becoming smarter in choosing a reasonably priced camera that contains the features that matter most. With these facts, the Canon PowerShot SX 130 IS can look very appealing for the average consumer who wants to go the extra mile with zooming capabilities.


To get the PowerShot SX130IS at the best price click here




Design


The design of the PowerShot SX 130 IS is very good considering its low price. Its matte black frame makes it very comfortable to use and it adds a nice chrome element next to the lens. It also has a neat flash module that pops up and doubles as an Auto Flash mode activator too. While the 230,000-pixel resolution is an LCD display’s bare minimal for a compact shooter, the display ends up being big measuring 3 inches diagonally.


The PowerShot SX 130 IS is a bit heavier and bulkier than many other PowerShot models because of its 12x optical zoom. This is the only main compromise in terms of design which is very understandable considering its price.




Usability


The design delivers some huge benefits to the usability as well. There are plenty of dedicated controls to work with so the menus do not have to be accessed as often. It also reduces the confusion that some people may experience when dealing with multi-purpose buttons. For instance, the Face Detection feature which is very common in modern digital cameras has its own button in the PowerShot SX 130 IS.


It also has a dedicated Exposure Compensation button. What it does lack is a video recording button which is a slight downside but the SX 130 is really intended for image shooting. The mode dial is conveniently located on top for choosing scenes while the spinning dial works well in choosing options quickly.

Image Quality and Performance

As long as the lighting is adequate, the PowerShot SX 130 IS pretty much shines in all major aspects. The color is nice while the other details and sharpness are spot on. The results really show when using lower ISO settings on a shallow focal length. Beginners should have no trouble attaining some good results because the Auto ISO setting does its job nicely.

There are also some fun Scene modes to choose from including the Super Vivid mode which is one of the newer additions along with the Poster mode. It is possible to take images of up to 12 megapixels in size which should be good enough for sharing clear images on the web or printing standard photographs.

It gets weaker when going to the low light performance as it has the slightly outdated 1/2.3-inch CC. It is possible to tweak the ISO settings and widen the aperture, but that only results to sluggish shutter speeds. Low light images in general are a bit noisy, but nothing too alarming about this value camera.

The real strength here is the 12x optical zoom and it certainly opens up a lot of possibilities when taking shots out doors. What matters most is that the zoom fully delivers and does not lag too far behind the higher costing cameras that have 12x optical zooms as well. The Canon’s Image Stabilization feature is the savior here as it handles motion well while taking both images and video.

Video Quality and Performance

Despite the lack of a dedicated video button, the video quality and performance makes the PowerShot SX 130 IS a pretty usable video recorder. Its maximum 720p resolution makes this camera a bit limited in the HD department, but the video quality looks better than the typical high-end smartphone. It even captures sound well without much annoying static.

Bottom Line

The PowerShot SX 130 IS is very ambitious in its features and it covers all of the grounds fairly while peaking on usability and image quality with good lighting. It entered the market with a $250 price tag and that was late 2010 so this model should be a bit cheaper now in many online stores. Buyers must note that the PowerShot SX 130 IS purely relies on AA batteries making the battery life less impressive than many of the modern digital cameras today. The best way to compensate this is to get the rechargeable AA batteries.

To get the PowerShot SX130IS at the best price :
click here

No comments:

Post a Comment