Canon PowerShot SX10 IS review

Canon's ultra-zoom range has looked a little outdated in recent months, but the PowerShot SX10 IS puts it right back on track. Its 10-megapixel sensor is in line with the competition and the 20x zoom matches the biggest currently available.

The design is similar to its predecessor, the S5 IS, with a sturdy, bulbous plastic body, a hotshoe for an external flash and an articulated 2½in screen for shooting at awkward angles. It's a little bigger than the S5 and, loaded with four AA batteries, it's a relatively heavy 700g. The button layout has been updated, but the range of functions is largely unchanged. There's direct access to ISO speed, exposure compensation, manual focus, autofocus area, macro and drive modes. The latter has a FaceSelf-Timer option that captures a photo once you're in the frame, taking the panic out of self-timer shots.

Performance was excellent, taking just two seconds to power up and shoot - among the fastest we've seen from an ultra-zoom camera - and autofocus times were just as impressive. We measured an average of two seconds between shots in the standard drive mode and 1.4fps for continuous shooting.

Though digital still cameras' video modes have come on in leaps and bounds recently, few offer anything like the sound quality of a dedicated video camera. The SX10 IS is different, capturing stereo sound at CD-quality specifications with excellent clarity and reasonable bass. Moving image quality is high, too, with smooth automatic exposure and reasonably quick continuous autofocus. The 640x480-pixel resolution is disappointing, though. Videos are saved in the highly efficient H.264 format, but we would prefer the simpler Motion JPEG format if it allowed for 1,280x720-pixel HD capture.

Our image quality tests revealed remarkably sharp focus considering the massive zoom range. Wide-angle shots were impressively detailed and the 560mm telephoto position - the biggest we've ever seen - wasn't far behind. The macro mode produced stunning close-ups, although chromatic aberrations were quite pronounced at such close distances. Noise is usually a big problem for high-resolution, small sensors such as the one used here, but the SX10 IS fared much better than we expected. Images looked clean up to ISO 200. While higher settings produced increasingly vague details, the results were better than on competing cameras.

The SX10 IS is an excellent camera, but its price and specifications place it in direct competition with Panasonic's FZ28. Both produce superb images, with Canon's exhibiting marginally less noise and Panasonic's having slightly sharper detail. Both are fast, but the FZ28 is quickest. It can capture high-definition video (with basic audio) and RAW-format photos, it weighs less, and includes a rechargeable Li-ion battery. On balance, it's a better buy.