Photos of the Canon PowerShot SX100 IS and sample images taken with the camera.
And the wheel goes round
The SX100's scroll dial seems nicer in theory than in practice; frequently, when trying to change the shutter speed, we would accidentally click and end up changing the focus or ISO settings. It takes a while to get accustomed to the feel to prevent that from happening.
Photo Credit: CNET Networks
Slim profile
The top-mounted zoom switch and a relatively large mode dial keep the SX100's body from shrinking too much, but the camera is slim enough to fit comfortably in a jacket pocket.
Photo Credit: CNET Networks
Let there be bright
Although the SX100 has some colour reproduction issues with reds -- these flowers are a completely different shade -- it nevertheless produces vivid, saturated colours without going overboard. In general, photos looked evenly and correctly exposed.
Photo Credit: Lori Grunin
Symmetrical distortion
At its widest angle, the SX100 displays some -- but not a lot -- of barrel distortion. Because the distortion is reasonably symmetrical, it's less disturbing as a lens artifact. (Lines overlaid in Photoshop.)
Photo Credit: Lori Grunin
On the fringes
Fringing doesn't seem to pose a significant problem for the SX100, but there is some and what's there is colourful: in addition to purple and yellow, our photos also display magenta halos on high-contrast borders.
Photo Credit: Lori Grunin
Sharp
Overall, the SX100's lens renders sharp images, on the edges as well as in the centre.
Photo Credit: Lori Grunin
Not so noisy
For a comparatively inexpensive camera, the SX100 displays a pretty good noise profile. Detail only begins to degrade at ISO 400 and is still usable at ISO 800. At ISO 1600, though there's quite a bit of smeariness, there's still very little colour noise (for the camera's price class).
Photo Credit: Lori Grunin
