Monday, April 18, 2011

Price & Details of Canon SX30IS

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High quality ultra zoom

The SX30IS is Canon’s latest ultra zoom, taking over from the SX20IS, and offering a massive 35x optical zoom. The SX30IS feels well built, with quality plastic, and has a nice grip, which, while not substantial is adequate. The mode dial on the top has a nice positive feel, while the buttons on the rear are well spaced out. The rear dial cycles through onscreen options and has smooth operation. The articulated LCD is quite clear, and the optional viewfinder is really a carbon copy of what you see on your LCD, and not really an optical unit, but as far as non-dSLRs go, it is pretty the lens feels better built than the SX30IS.

As is the norm with such tiny, densely packed sensors, the SX30IS was expected to produce noise in anything more than base ISOs, and in this regard it doesn’t disappoint. Even at ISO 400, noise is visible and this is not film-like grain, but digital artifacts, with off-coloured pixels. This is acceptable for small sized photos, which is mostly what people who buy such a camera will click.

Outdoors, at base ISO 100 there is much less noise, and this is more like film grain. The SX30IS produces decent detail, and good highlighting, but clipping is noticeable in many shots. Colour are neutral, but the dynamic rang is slightly limited. The 35x zoom is a winner. Even at the long end, image stabilization works pretty well. Video capture at 720p offers good quality, through there will be some visible noise, especially when shooting indoors or under dim lighting.

For Rs 25,000, the SX30IS is a good offering for those needing a long zoom and offers very acceptable quality for most shutterbugs. However, if you are discerning sort in terms of image quality, there is some noise at lower ISOs too – the demerits of having a tiny 14-megapixel sensor.