Canon PowerShot SX150 IS Review

The Canon PowerShot SX series of cameras have been around for a long time now and one of the key features of the product has been a large zoom lens. There have been several updates to these models over the years and the latest update to the line is the SX150, a point and shoot equipped with a 12x optical zoom lens. An affordable price and a large zoom lens should make it an interesting camera to look out for.

Standard looks

Design and Build Quality

The Canon PowerShot SX150 IS comes in a dual tone silver and matte black finish. It’s got the standard jog dials for switching between settings, which also works as the standard directional keys. As in almost all cameras, the mode selection dial is positioned at the top of camera. The jog dial offers the right amount of resistance, but there’s a chance it might get loose after extended use over a period of time. There are some interesting tweaks made to the body itself. For example, there’s a bump next to the playback button on the rear of the camera, which helps your stabilize the finger by placing a finger on it. The delete and record buttons are also positioned close to the thumb for quick access. The dedicated record button lets you quickly record a video without having to manually switch to the video recording mode using the mode selection dial.

The buttons are made of plastic, so the texture and feel is cheap. Feedback however, is pretty good. The zoom trigger at the top of the camera is easily accessible using the first finger. There’s no button for the flash, so you’ll have to manually flip it up for when you need it. There’s a mini-USB port on the side underneath a rubber flap along with a 3.5 mm jack and the bottom houses the two AA sized batteries and memory card. It’s a slightly bigger point and shoot camera and weighs 306 grams with the battery and the memory card. The design is pretty standard and the build feels quite sturdy, inspite of all the plastic they’ve put in this shooter.

12x Optical zoom

Features

The PowerShot SX150 IS has a 14.1 megapixel sensor, with a 12x optical zoom lens. Image stabilization is part of the camera’s feature. There are assisted shooting options with the aperture priority and shutter speed priority modes along with the manual mode. Manual focus is one of the unique features of the camera. The jog dial is used to focus on objects - this is something most point and shoot cameras can’t do. ISO settings can be varied from 80 upto 1600 and the aperture range for the lens is F3.4 – F8. Canon has also included a range of creative filters for shooting, including the colour swap, colour accent and fish eye options that are getting increasingly popular. The colour accent option retains one colour and changes all others to monochrome, whilst the colour swap selects one colour and swaps it with another.

Interface requires a minute learning curve

The interface of the SX150 IS is a tad confusing, initially, but it’s just four or five buttons for manoeuvring that you’ll have to get used to. Navigation through the various menus and sub-sections is easy once you get a hang of the device and the learning curve is pretty small.