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Canon PowerShot SX20 IS review

I feel like I've spent enough time with our Canon PowerShot SX20 IS camera now to give you a real review.  First of all, the zoom is awesome.  With our Fuji FinePix, most photos I took with the zoom turned out a bit gray and imperfect, but the Canon's larger lens takes good pictures all the way to the maximum of its optical zoom.  For example, I took a photo of our barn and straw pile, then zoomed all the way in (20X) to snap the photo below.

At first, I was disappointed with Canon's macro feature.  In the auto setting, the Canon often doesn't realize that I'm trying to take a closeup, so my image ends up blurry.  However, by changing the top dial to P (Program), and then clicking the picture of a flower on the back of the camera three times, I was able to change over to super macro mode.  The super macro mode actually focuses a little too close some of the time --- you'll notice in the image below that the super macro version (right) focuses so close that the tiny bits of dust on the lens show up.  You can also turn the dial to P and click the picture of a flower just twice to set the camera to macro mode (left below), which will probably be one of my favorite settings.  The image above left is a cropped closeup of the photo on the left below --- clearly, judicious cropping will turn a macro image into a super macro one.

My other issue with the Canon PowerShot SX20 IS is colors.  I'm a big fan of brilliant colors, and I've noticed that when the camera is in Auto mode, outdoor images look a bit dusty and washed out.  Of course, I can dress the images up by changing the contrast in the GIMP, but that's a pain when I've taken dozens of snapshots.

Instead, two settings on the camera give me equally brilliant colors, both indoors and outdoors --- the landscape setting (a picture of a mountain on the top of the dial) and the foliage setting (SCN on the top of the dial, then rotate the dial on the back of the camera until you see a leaf).  I'll need to do a bit more experimentation to determine the subtle differences between the landscape and foliage settings, but in a quick comparison, the foliage setting is ahead by a hair.

At first, I was a bit disappointed in the Canon and felt like it was no better than the Fuji FinePix in some areas and worse in other areas (for twice the price.)  However, after reading the manual (very user friendly, by the way), I've concluded that the Canon PowerShot SX20 IS is much better than it seems if you just snap photos in Auto mode.  The camera is clearly geared toward folks a bit beyond the point and shoot level, and you'll need to play around with the settings to get good photos.  That said, I suspect that the Canon will allow me to exceed the brilliant but simple photos I was taking with the Fuji, and I'll have fun learning all of the settings in the process.

If you're new to cameras and want a point and shoot digital camera that will take inspiring photos, I'd recommend sticking to the Fuji FinePix.  On the other hand, if you've gone as far as you can go with simple snapshots and want to delve deeper into the world of photography, the Canon PowerShot SX20 IS is a great choice.