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Question

Next stup up from Canon PowerShot SX260HS

Jul 23, 2015 11:44AM PDT

I have been using a Canon PowerShot SX260HS for a few years now, and love it. But I've about worn it out, so have been looking at what is available. After three hours of perusing specs and reviews, my head is spinning. I'd appreciate some suggestions.

The main reasons I love my current camera are the zoom capabilities and size. I take a lot of pictures of wildlife and landscapes, but don't always have a lot of time to set up the shot and can't be lugging a big dslr around or switching between lenses. But it is important to me that I can take good resolution images that can be printed out.

I guess the things I'm looking for in an upgrade would be more optical zoom, higher megapixels than the 12.1, reasonably compact, and fast enough shutter to not blur all movement.

I wouldn't be against just replacing my camera with the exact same thing, but figured there would be some better options available now than when I first bought mine.


Any suggestions or thoughts will be appreciated!

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
why more than 12 MP's?
Jul 23, 2015 12:08PM PDT

I have an older Kodak 8MP and leave it set for 5MP most of the time. If you like what you have, why not get another that is the same?

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Print quality
Jul 23, 2015 3:44PM PDT

Maybe I don't need more megapixels, but I do want to be able to print wall-size fine art prints that are clear, even if I've done some cropping. I can do that with my current camera if the shot is left at original size or cropped minimally. I'm hoping to increase that capability at least some without having to go to a large pro-size camera. I'm not a photographer by trade, and a lot of the time I have just a handful of seconds to grab my camera out of my purse and snap a shot because I'm with other people who don't want to wait around, or I'm in a moving car and can't ask for it to stop every time I see a photo op. So I'm looking to keep the portability and ease of use of my current camera, and maybe bump up the quality and capabilities just a notch or two.

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Answer
Canon SX530
Jul 23, 2015 4:44PM PDT

Take a look at the Canon SX530.
It has 50X zoom and 16 megapixels.

The 16 megapixels will let you print larger prints.
But it will not work as well in low light.
When you use the same sized sensor and add more pixels each pixel will be smaller and will produce less light. That is why 12 megapixels is preferred on a camera with that size sensor.

Using a higher ISO will make the sensors produce more light but that will also produce more noise.

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Answer
re: Next stup up from Canon PowerShot SX260HS
Jul 23, 2015 6:19PM PDT

While snapshot's Canon SX530 is a very good recommendation, if you can live with "only" 30X zoom and would like something smaller (similar to your SX260), you might have a look at the SX700 (which is also 16MP BTW).

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Answer
Decided on the Canon SX700
Jul 23, 2015 6:25PM PDT

Thanks for the input. I decided to go with the Canon PowerShot SX700 HS. It's basically Canon's newest version of what I have now. I have loved my SX260 HS so much, and after hours of comparing models, I think I will be happiest sticking to what is familiar.