Though it's long been a player in the megazoom market, Canon has tended to lag behind in lens lengths. With the replacement to the PowerShot S5 IS, it looks like that, as well as the model naming, is about to change. The PowerShot SX10 IS jumps to 20x zoom from the S5's 12x and takes the market lead in zoom reach.
Here's how it stacks up to the competition:
| Canon PowerShot SX10 IS | ||||
| Resolution | 8 megapixels | 10 megapixels | 10 megapixels | 10 megapixels |
| Sensor size | 1/2.5-inch | 1/2.3-inch | 1/2.33-inch | 1/2.33-inch |
| Lens (35mm equivalent) | f2.7-3.5 36-432mm (12x) | f2.8-5.7 28-560mm (20x) | f2.8-4.4 27-486mm (18x) | f2.8-4.5 26-520mm (20x) |
| LCD | 207,000 pixels, 2.5 inches | 207,000 pixels, 2.5 inches | 230,000 dots, 2.7 inches | 230,000 dots, 2.7 inches |
| Max ISO sensitivity at full resolution | ISO 1600 | ISO 1600 | ISO 1600 | ISO 1600 |
| Movie capture | VGA 30fps | VGA 30fps | 848x480 30fps | VGA 30fps |
| Mfr. pricing | $349.99 | $449.00 | $399.95 | $499.99 |
With the new lens, sensor, and body redesign, it's very much a new camera. I'm glad to see that Canon opted to keep the flip-and-twist LCD. The move to a Digic 4 image processor theoretically improves Face Detection, and adds Servo AF, Face Detection Self-Timer, and Intelligent Contrast Correction. The switch to a new lens makes this model an unknown with respect to photo quality, but otherwise it looks promising and quite competitive. It's slated to ship in October.