Canon PowerShot SX30 IS (Black) review: Canon PowerShot SX30 IS (Black)

Let's get something straight: the Canon PowerShot SX30 IS is basically little more than a compact point-and-shoot camera with a long lens. It may look like a digital SLR, but outside of that, they have almost nothing in common. If you're expecting dSLR-like speed and photo quality, you won't find it here or on any other current megazoom camera. However, if you need a 35x lens and only have $430, this is the camera to buy. That doesn't mean it's great, just that it's more affordable than a digital SLR with comparable lenses. Though the SX30's lens range does allow for a lot of framing flexibility and has excellent image stabilization, shooting with it can be a trying experience. Everything about this camera is slow; from the lens to its movement to shooting speeds, it's just not a fast camera. Also, though photo quality is very good in bright light, there's a noticeable drop-off at ISO 400 and above. That's unfortunate since you'll need those higher sensitivities when using that long lens.

7.0

Canon PowerShot SX30 IS (Black)

$70 at Amazon

The Good

Flexible lens range; excellent image stabilization; features for every kind of user.

The Bad

Generally soft, noisy photos at full size; overall slow performance; no raw capture.

The Bottom Line

The Canon PowerShot SX30 IS is a point-and-shoot camera with a 35x zoom lens. As long as you're not expecting much more than that, it's a very good megazoom.

On the other hand, it has a lot of features outside of the lens including a vari-angle LCD, a one-touch record button for movie capture at 720p resolution, and shooting modes from full auto to full manual as well as some creative scene modes. If you need one camera to satisfy a whole family of users or just want one camera to handle a wide variety of situations, the SX30 IS might be the solution.

The SX30 IS looks somewhat like a compact version of a Canon EOS Rebel dSLR. At the front of the large, comfortable grip is a shutter release with a lever for operating the extreme 35x zoom lens followed back by a shooting mode dial and power button. Though the motor moves the lens smoothly, its range would be better controlled by a manual zoom like that on the Fujifilm FinePix HS10. It simply takes too long to move the lens in and out. A Zoom Frame Assist button on back next to the thumbrest helps a bit by pulling the lens back and sending it forward again when released, but it's still too slow when trying to track a moving subject.

Below the Zoom Frame Assist button to the right of the thumbrest are Play and AF Frame Selector buttons, the latter allowing you to move your AF frame according to where you want the camera to focus and change the size of the frame. Below that is a Control Dial that sits on top of a four-way directional pad. The Dial is used for navigation as well as changing settings. It moves too freely with no real stops, so it's pretty easy to blow past whatever it is you're trying to set. The directional pad also sets focus type, exposure compensation, ISO, and the self-timer. The Func/Set button at the center of the Dial selects options and brings up shooting-mode-specific settings. A separate Menu button below the Dial brings up the rest of the camera options. It's joined by a Display button.

The Display button is what's used to move back and forth from the 2.7-inch rotating LCD to the electronic viewfinder (EVF) for framing shots. That would be fine if you didn't have to cycle through different display settings to switch from one to the other: low-info LCD, detailed LCD, low-info EVF, detailed EVF. What's worse is that there are some modes that use the Display button to access secondary functions, so if you're in one of those and want to switch from the LCD or EVF, you have to leave the shooting mode you're in first. Or, you can flip out the LCD, which automatically turns on the LCD if you're using the EVF. Similarly, flipping the LCD to face into its cavity turns on the EVF. It's ultimately a very frustrating design choice and Canon should have used an LCD/EVF button placed next to the EVF like every other manufacturer. There are buttons on either side of the EVF, though. On the left is a programmable shortcut button, on the right is a one-press record button for capturing movies. If you want additional movie shooting options, though, you can select a full Movie mode on the shooting mode dial.

In the end, the controls are fairly easy to use, but definitely take some practice if you're not familiar with Canon's menus and controls. Even seasoned Canon users will want to examine the full manual, though, included on the software disc bundled with the camera.

Predecessors to the SX30 used AA-size batteries for power, but Canon switched to a large lithium ion rechargeable pack for this model. Battery life is good, all things considered, but if you wanted the convenience of AAs, you're out of luck. The battery is located in a compartment in the base of the grip, which is where you'll also find the memory card slot. The compartment cover doesn't lock--an odd omission for a high-end camera. Out of the box you may think Canon dropped the hot shoe from previous versions, too, but it is there on top; it's just covered up. (There's also a pop-up flash activated by a button on the left side on top, though it's fairly weak given the lens range.) For connecting to displays and computers there are Mini-HDMI and Mini-USB/AV ports under a door on the right side.

Again, there are a lot of shooting options on the SX30 IS, so it can act as a single camera for many people. There are program, shutter-priority, aperture-priority, and manual options. Available apertures at the wide end include: f2.7, f3.2, f3.5, f4.0, f4.5, f5.0, f5.6, f6.3, f7.1, and f8.0; available in telephoto are: f5.8, f6.3, f7.1, f8.0. Shutter speeds go from 15 seconds down to 1/3,200 second. If you come up with a set of values you'd like to use regularly, there are two Custom spots on the mode dial.

At the other end is Canon's reliable Smart Auto that analyzes your subject and automatically selects an appropriate scene setting from 28 specially defined settings. There are, of course, selectable scene modes, too, that include the basics like Portrait and Landscape as well as Canon's creative shooting modes like Miniature Effect, Fisheye Effect, and Super Vivid. There is a Sports mode as well, which is basically an auto mode with continuous shooting when you press and hold the shutter release. Canon includes its Smart Shutter option in the Scene modes, which features a smile-activated shutter release in addition to Wink and Face Detection self-timers. Wink allows you to set off the shutter simply by winking at the camera and the Face Detection option will wait till the camera detects a new face in front of the camera before it fires off a shot. Both work well.

For those who like to take close-ups, the SX30 IS has a 0-inch Macro mode, which is pretty difficult to take advantage while holding the camera. It does, however, mean you can get awfully close to your subject. Macro is also where the camera happens to be at its sharpest.

Shooting performance is slow. The only thing the SX30 IS does relatively quickly for a megazoom is start up; from off to first shot is 1.8 seconds. Shutter lag in bright conditions is a minimum of 0.5 second. In low light that goes up to 0.8 second, but there were times it felt longer. Shot-to-shot times averaged 3.5 seconds without the flash; turning on the flash pushed that out to about 4 seconds. There are two continuous options: one with autofocus and one without. If you opt to skip the AF, focus and exposure are set with the first shot, so any fast movement will likely result in out-of-focus images, but it shoots at approximately 1.6 frames per second. With AF slows that time to 0.6fps. Combined with the LCD refreshing after every shot, it can be very difficult to know exactly what you're shooting, so it's mostly press and hope for the best. Plus, moving subjects move quickly out of frame and even with the Frame Assist button it can be very difficult to track subjects. With all of that said, if you're good at anticipating action, this camera will certainly bring you closer to your favorite player to catch a shot of something.

Sample photos:
Canon PowerShot SX30 IS

Like most megazoom cameras, photos from the SX30 IS are noticeably soft. Also, when viewed at full size, photos are noisy even at the lowest sensitivity of ISO 80. Still and all, Canon does a good job of keeping the noise in check up to ISO 400. At that point subjects get visibly mushy looking, though some fine detail is still around at ISO 800. At ISO 1,600, noise and noise reduction are heavy, causing yellow blotching and only a notion of detail. Outside of the yellow blotching, though, color and exposure remain consistent, so photos should still be usable at small sizes with little or no cropping. However, compared with its competition, its photo quality is likely the best you're going to find. The biggest problem here is the lens; it's too slow when fully extended, which means even with a lot of light, you'll still need to use the higher ISOs. There is a Low Light mode, but the quality isn't good for much of anything and the photos are at a reduced 2-megapixel resolution.

In spite of being an ultrawide-angle lens, Canon keeps the barrel distortion in check; there is some on the left side, but it's barely detectable. When fully extended, the lens exhibits slight pincushioning, but not enough to be concerned. Center sharpness is good and the lens softens only a bit out to the sides and corners. It doesn't appear that Canon does much to help remove or reduce fringing in high-contrast areas of photos. Most megazoom cameras produce a lot of fringing, but some create more at the wide or telephoto positions. The SX30 IS is bad at both ends, to the point where you'll see it in larger prints or if you crop heavily. If you're able to look past it or don't mind removing if it bothers you, then it's a nonissue.

Color and exposure are generally excellent from this camera and consistent across its ISO settings. Again, though, you will see some yellow blotching from noise at ISO 1600. Also, as typical of compact cameras, highlights have a tendency to blow out. Canon's i-Contrast feature does help bring out shadow detail, though, should you choose to use it.

Video quality is on par with an HD pocket video camera. It's not stellar and won't replace a full-size camcorder, but is certainly good enough for Web use or casual viewing on an HDTV. You do get use of the optical zoom while recording and the lens movement is very quiet so it doesn't get picked up by the stereo mic. Image stabilization is available, too, as is a wind cut filter, though the latter didn't seem to do much. Lastly, there are options to use Canon's Color Swap and Miniature Effect modes for movies giving you a little more room to experiment with video.

The 35x zoom lens on the Canon PowerShot SX30 IS is definitely an attention-grabber. To some extent it deserves the attention, too, as it's no small feat to make a lens that long (and wide) fit in a compact camera for less than $430. The problem is that the lens is of limited use because it needs a lot of light to get good results. And even then, those results are just good on the level of an average point-and-shoot camera.

Shooting speed
(Seconds: smaller is better)

Time to first shot

Typical shot-to-shot time

Shutter lag (dim)

Shutter lag (typical)

Nikon Coolpix P100

1.8 

1.4 

0.6 

0.4 

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1

2 

1.4 

0.7 

0.4 

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35

1.6 

1.7 

0.9 

0.4 

Fujifilm FinePix HS10

2.2 

2.4 

1.1 

0.7 

Kodak EasyShare Z981

2.5 

3.2 

0.8 

0.6 

Canon PowerShot SX30 IS

1.8 

3.5 

0.8 

0.5 

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