What I Love About My New Camera: Canon PowerShot SX520 HS
I don’t think even people who have bought High-end DSLRs will create so much publicity for their camera, but I have been blowing my own trumpet in Facebook, and now in my blog! 😛 Here’s my new Advanced Point & Shoot Camera: The Canon PowerShot SX520 HS –
- 42x Optical Zoom:Â The Canon 520’s 42x Optical Zoom is simply monstrous. It takes close-up pics of objects that are far. Really far.
- Image stabilization is very very good. Even at 42x and handshake, this camera takes amazingly clear pics.
- Photo+Video Mode: I don’t know what this is officially called, but if we shoot photos in this mode, the camera will automatically record 4-second videos (2-seconds prior to photo shoot, and two seconds afterwards) which we can later group and upload to Youtube as a complete video!! The lazy bones in me just loves this feature – no need to take separate videos during a trip 🙂 And yes, Full HD videos can be recorded.
- Adjust ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture:Â I am as clueless on these features as some of you! There is a separate hard-button and a manual wheel for easy adjustment of these advanced (supposedly DSLR) features.
- Continuous Shooting Mode: It is possible to 1). Press the shutter continuously and keep taking photos at 1.6 shots/second (or) 2). Set the wheel to continuous shooting mode and take 6 shots at 10 shots/second (with just one press) and six different filters/effects are applied to photos. We can select the best one among them to showoff. Another lazy bone feature for people averse to editing pics later on 😛
- Edit Photos and Videos from within the camera, no need to transfer them to a computer to do this. We can set various image filters, and even crop the images. Surprisingly, it can even crop videos.
- View the Area prior to Zoom:Â After we zoom in a great deal, we might sometimes lose the subject. During such times, we can press a button on the front which will show us the entire frame that was before zooming (in transparent grey) with the zoomed in portion in normal, to enable us to see the full picture without having to zoom out and zoom in again.
- Auto Zooming to keep Faces at a constant size:Â While shooting a movie, kids or pets might keep moving. In this mode, we can lock the face and camera will auto adjust the zoom to try and keep the size of the face constant. Didn’t work well when I tried – should give it another shot!
- Low Light:Â This camera can shoot decent pictures in low light (something my older cameras can’t). I think that’s because of the CMOS sensor and larger aperture. There is even an editing mode within that can improve images shot in low light.
- Selective Focus: One setting allows us to focus on a small area and blur/defocus on everything else, while shooting. Creates a good effect!
Limitations:Â The camera is huge and cannot be carried in a pocket or attached to a belt; Average battery life; Limited options to select image size (in MP); Manually operated Flash and limited brightness adjustment; No WiFi; USB Connect to transfer images to computer but separate electrical adapter for charging (doesn’t charge via USB!); No HDMI/A-V cables out of the box.
As you can see in the above pic, I also bought a Monopod. Actually this is for manual image stabilization (to avoid the blur caused due to handshake). But since the camera has good built-in image stabilization, I may not use it much. Maybe useful for scene putting 😛 🙂
Destination Infinity
PS: Camera – Rs. 13,000/-. Sample pics taken by me (External, Internal)Â using this camera.
A good performer and all-round flexible camera. But no Wi-Fi. No Touchscreen. No raw format shooting. I would buy this.
I would have liked to have WiFi for instant sharing of photos via mobile to Facebook, but that feature is *unfortunately* not there. Otherwise I think it’s OK.
Destination Infinity
I think good specification on price range. Anyway thanks for sharing the details. This will helpful to others
Yes, for the price this Camera seems to be good. Anyway it’s made by Canon, so I think there will be decent quality.
Destination Infinity
Cool specifications!!! especially the image stabilization part and selective focus 🙂
Have fun clicking in the moment! 🙂
Image stabilization is surprisingly good in this camera 🙂
Destination Infinity
Some specifics like P+V Mode, Auto zooming, edit P+V and area prior to zoom seems cool! My camera SX220 HS misses these options. That’s great fair price… I bought mine for 15,000 in 2012, and it’s a 12MP 14x optical zoom cam
I don’t think we can compare the specs/price of models that are more than a couple of years old, now. These things keep changing drastically. Two years from now, I am sure we’ll get much better cameras for this price.
Destination Infinity
42x zoom? Wow! that’s amazing. Though I have a DSLR I prefer point and shoot as I’m the kind who would keep looking for many views than focussing on a single view for hours together to get the perfect shot. I was able to understand how aperture and shutter speed works , though I play around with aperture only. It’s also nice that you get the record videos. Have fun with your new toy 🙂
Good. I am yet to figure out aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc. I hope to read a book for photography beginners. I am yet to try that auto-recording of video feature, but I guess it should be useful.
Destination Infinity
Nice review, hope to see some photos taken by this camera in future.
Yes, all photos published here in the near future will (most probably) be taken in this camera!
Destination Infinity
Best buy for 13k… as u said huge… But good features..
Thanks for sharing!
Yes, I too think the features are excellent for this price. The camera is out of stock now and next model maybe available, but at higher price!
Destination Infinity
Yes, SG’s point is a very valid point. Proper maintenance is required for this to function.
Destination Infinity
Please instruct on how to use the selective focus feature on the Canon Powershot SX520. I’ve tried everything without success.
Thanks in advance!