I2K4
•
Senior Member
•
Posts: 1,441
Re: Powershot SX20 IS Thoughts?
1
kojack wrote:
What does everyone here think of this camera? positives - negatives?
I'd suggest you look up some old reviews and a manual. The SX20 was the fairly quick successor to the SX10 I own and still use, nearly identical except that it went from 10mpx to 12mpx sensor and to 720p video.
Pro: it's been quite durable. It uses ordinary or rechargeable C batteries. Its 560mm EFL is enough zoom for me. The CCD sensor output still has its fans, and Canon's JPEG color output is very good relative to other brands. It has full manual controls and saves one "Custom" mode, the Canon menu and navigation are generally praised, and the control wheel is very usable. Shortcut button can be set to "back button focus" AFL or other. The EVF and rear screen resolutions are "good enough" and articulated rear screen is great for shooting at angles or on tripods. I was able to buy a filter adapter for a CPL.
Con: The larger sensor may add a bit to SX20, but I don't shoot over 400 ISO. Like most bridge "sunny day zoomers" the lens is slow: wide open at EFL 28mm it's f/2.7, but over 35mm that's f/3.2 - f/4.5, and over 180mm to 432mm it's at f/5.0 and then on to f5/7 - this makes zoomed hand holding on an overcast day impossible. (Later Canon zoomers use the NR to push up the ISO and speed up the shutter, but I'm not wild about the fingerpainted JPEG output.) It does not shoot native RAW, but CHDK remedies that.
I use my SX10 with the CHDK hack exclusive to Powershots, adding good RAW / DNG output and too many other enhancements to list. I do recall some comment at the time that because of SX20's additional resource requirements on the same platform, CHDK had some problems with some of its functions. I don't recall any complaints that the unhacked SX20 had other issues or recalls.
For a higher price, if I had to replace my SX10 for some reason, I'd be looking at the Panasonic FZ200 , for similar telephoto with f/2.8 throughout the zoom range and native RAW. It does give up some on JPEG color output and clumsier settings menu/navigation.