Canon SX30IS Powershot Digital Camera

The Canon SX30IS Powershot is a popular superzoom digital camera that covers wide-angle, macro, and super telephoto all in a single package.

The lens covers a 35mm equivalent focal length of 24mm-840mm, a 35x zoom range. The camera can focus 1cm away from an object, making it great for macros of small insects, plants, and small household objects.

With the zoom set to wide angle, the camera copes well with capturing busy streets and buildings where there is not much room to back away from the subject. The wide angle setting also makes a pleasing perspective for landscape photography.

The long zoom of the camera is perfect for getting shots of things you can’t get physically close to, such as wildlife, or players at sports games. The Canon Powershot SX30IS camera also includes image stabilization, which helps steady the picture and avoid camera shake blurring your photos when shooting handheld.

A flip-out LCD screen can be found on the back of the SX30IS, very useful when taking photos at unusual angles. You can tilt the screen up when holding the camera down low, or tilt the screen down when holding the camera up high, allowing you to see what the camera sees.

Varying the angle that you photograph at instead of taking everything at eye level is a tip used by many pros. However, with the Powershot SX30IS you don’t need to lie down on the floor or use a step ladder to compose your shot.

The camera is a bit big to fit in a normal sized pocket, but that can only be expected in a camera that covers such a massive zoom range. If you were to try and cover such a zoom range with a DSLR camera, then you’d need several large lenses and have to spend several thousand dollars!

Manual mode, semi automatic (Aperture priority and Shutter Priority), fully automatic, and scene modes are available on the Canon SX30IS. The camera also features two custom modes that you can set up with your own shooting settings.

Image quality of the photos produced by the Canon SX30IS Powershot are rated highly by the large majority of its users. In low light at higher ISOs the camera doesn’t perform quite as well. If you are planning to shoot mostly at night or in dimly lit areas you would probably be better off spending a bit more and going for a DSLR, though of course you would lose the benefit of the SX30IS’s massive zoom range.

Unfortunately the camera doesn’t have filter threads for attaching filters – these are particularly useful for landscape photography. You can purchase a filter adapter to allow use of filters on the Powershot SX30IS, but this is an extra cost.

Video is also possible with the SX30IS, which shoots at the HD resolution of 720p and 30 frames a second. With the camera’s large zoom range and macro focusing, you may also find it useful as a video camera as well as a stills camera.

The Canon Powershot SX30IS has received over 130 five star reviews on Amazon.com. If you would like to read some of the customer reviews or purchase the camera, just click on the image of the camera above, or click here.