Canon SX210IS: Low Light, Point & Shoot, Voilà!

Alternately titled: Canon PowerShot SX210IS 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 14x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black)

A mouthful? Yes.  I mean why can’t camera people name them like cars?  This one could be the Canon Voilà, or the Enchantment. I don’t know, but just not the eleven seventy numbers I am likely never to remember unless I look it up.

Anyway, onto the point at hand. You know when I talk about the camera. First let me give you the low down on it.

Canon SX210IS Product Features

• Powerful 14x optical zoom (WOW!) with Optical Image Stabilizer; improved Dynamic mode for enhanced image stabilization
• 14.1-megapixel resolution for high-quality prints up to 16.5 x 23.4 inches
• 28mm wide-angle lens; 3.0-inch wide PureColor System LCD
• HD shooting capability at 720p with stereo sound plus HDMI output
• DIGIC 4 Image Processor with evolved Face Detection Technology; new scene modes
• Technical Details
• Brand Name: Canon
• Model: SX210IS Black
• Optical Sensor Resolution: 14.1 MP
• Optical Sensor Technology: CCD
• Optical zoom: 14 x
• Maximum Aperture Range: F/3.1-5.9
• Minimum focal length: 5 millimeters
• Maximum focal length: 70 millimeters
• Lens Type: Zoom lens
• Optical Sensor Size: 1/2.3″
• Included Flash Type: Pop-up flash
• Display Size: 3.000 inches
• Light Sensitivity: ISO 100, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 80, ISO auto, ISO 1600
• Image types: JPEG
• Shooting Modes: Frame movie mode
• Exposure Control Type: Beach, Kids & pets, Night snapshot, Snow, Landscape, Portrait mode, Stitch assist, Fireworks, Low light, Indoor, Foliage
• Viewfinder Type: None
• Width: 4.2 inches
• Height: 2.3 inches

So, I got this camera as an early Christmas gift for myself, though my daddy is giving me money for it as my gift. So, win win. I ordered it when it was on special at Amazon for $189 but I think that was an accident on their part, as it is really $249 everywhere, and was only $189 for like a few hours one day. Lucky I guess? No complaints here. I am loving it and would have gladly paid $249. I really needed a new small point and shoot. I also wanted something that just might give me an advantage with my kids. My girl is a gymnast and my boy plays basketball. These are the WORST locations for photographing because of the gymnasiums!  Back in the olden days, when I worked for the Daily O’Collegian at Oklahoma State and was a staff photographer, I got a close seat courtside, a huge flash and did not look like a dork, since I was sitting with about 25 other MEN with bigger camera’s than mine. However, if I sat on the courts edge with my ginormous camera out at my son’s game, that might be a little over the top. And he would SO not be on board with that.  Therefore, that is why I chose this little number. Well, that, and the 14x ZOOM. ZOMG. It is way cool, just wait.

And now, because a camera review really needs pictures, I am going to show you some SOC shots I have been taking in various light levels so you can see it’s work. I apologize in advance for the photographic subjects. There is a shortage of high fashion models in my area.

My very favorite features about this camera are the image stabilization in the low light. No flash needed most of the time, and no tripod! I am a big fan of the clear shots I got with natural light and no flash.  And, the zoom! The zoom is great.  The only thing I don’t have to experiment with and show you right now are pictures of my kids in the gym! We’re on break! I may have to do a follow-up post on it’s sports photo capabilities.

Do you happen to have and love this camera? What’s your favorite part about it?

My SD card has magical powers.

Let me begin by telling you that, despite begging and pleading with a PR person, I had to buy this product myself.  It’s like I’m just a normal consumer or something, which is ridiculous.  Seriously.

ANYway, after BlogHer, I heard a few people talking about Eye-Fi cards. Apparently, some people got some SD cards for their digital cameras that automatically uploaded your pictures to your computer. Or the Internet. Or something.

I take way more pictures than I share and am perfectly adept at getting them off my camera and on to my computer and up on the Internet if I want, so I thought nothing of it at the time.

And then Nikon invited me to join their “COOLPIX Circle” – which meant they were going to loan me a camera and I had to upload pictures to their COOLPIX circle Flickr group from time to time.  And I, um, forgot.  A lot.  Like, for weeks and weeks and weeks I would get a new email with the weekly “prompt” and think “crap!  I didn’t add anything to the group for last week’s prompt!”  I was kind of starting to feel bad, what with the $200+ camera I was getting to use for free and all.

And then (longest product review intro ever) I saw one of CityMama‘s pictures in the group, and saw that she’d tagged it as being “effortless uploaded by Eye-Fi.”

I decided I had to have one.

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Point and Shoot Camera – Casio Exilim EX-FC100

Full disclosure:

I did not buy a new point and shoot camera recently.

I have a Nikon Coolpix digital point and shoot that I carry in my purse and a Nikon D50 that I haul out when I actually care how the pictures turn out.  I love both of them and am extremely happy with the way they do their respective jobs.

However, a friend of mine recently was searching for a digital camera that was more compact than his existing point and shoot.  A friend of his recommended the Casio Exilim.

He bought it.  I played with it.

That’s the best kind of shopping (or at least it will be when I convince him to give it to me).

The specific camera we’re looking at is a Casio Exilim EX-FC100.

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