Customer Reviews

Canon Powershot SX240 HS Digital Camera - Black (12.1 MP, 20x Optical Zoom) 3.2 Inch LCD

5 star:		(92)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This compact is fairly heavy (for a compact) which feels good and is an indication of its good build quality.
There are lots of features which I'm still getting to grips with; I do suspect that many of these features will never be used by me but might appeal to others.
I've not had a chance to get out and about with it yet but the few shots I've taken in my garden are really good (as you'd expect from Canon). The 20x zoom is extremely handy and I will explore it more.
In summary, with limited experience, it seems an excellent camera. I've had dozens of Canons over the years and this one doesn't disappoint.
The only minor niggle is the Instruction book...well, there isn't one! There's a thick booklet to tell you how to get started in 3 pages of English and the rest in about a hundred other languages. Downloading instructions form the Internet is easy enough but at well over two hundred pages, I didn't want to print it out. So, I have to sit in front of my computer, with the camera, studying all the various features. I know this saves a bit of money for the manufacturers but I find it really annoying. I feel that people not too familiar with cameras might just read the basics, not get on very well, and think the camera is rubbish. All because they didn't read a proper manual. Perhaps I'm just an old fogie.

It is now a couple of months later and I feel I have to add that I'm still extremely pleased with it. In particular, the zoom with IS is great. I took some shots of the same scenes with this compact and with my EOS 7D. To be honest, looking at both sets on the computer, it's almost impossible to tell which were taken with the compact and which with the DSLR.

I upgraded to this camera from a Casio Z2000, the difference has been massive except for one thing which I will touch on later.

I was originally was going to get the new 2012 Panasonic TZ25 or 30, but reviews showed that Canons smaller pixel sensor and processor is much better than Panasonics which seems to have a yellow tinge to photos.

While I was originally worried about complaints that the 240sx has slow focus in dark conditions compared to the Panasonics, this turned out to be much of a non problem at all after using my camera to take full length 20x shots of the Jay-Z and Kanye West concert at the O2 arena, as images came out very sharp in which my other camera would fail at.

I would recommend anyone that buys this camera should use it only in P mode. Auto has a habit of choosing the wrong settings, if you are not that technical, the little bit of learning will greatly help you in the long term.

In Peru, the 20x was exactly what I needed, so I'm glad I didn't go for the TZ25, because there was some sights that needs a 20x to be served justice.

The only bad thing about this camera is battery life if you use a lot of Flash or video.

In Peru, I took 1700 photos in 13 days and even though I charged my battery everyday, I never ran out of battery during my day of photo shots, since i didnt have to use flash and I took videos once a few days.

I sadly managed to drop my camera 10ft in the ruins of Piquillacta, near Cusco, and my camera amazingly survived with a tiny scratch to the bottom of it! it was only then I noticed the new Canon compacts are made in Japan! it shows!

But I still highly recommend you buy a second battery it is a must for dark shooting where flash is necessary!

WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND!:)

November 2012 update:

I recently went to Iceland in October, where I put the camera through some cold temperatures, including being used on top of a glacier on a snowmobile!(I added a photo in the user pic gallery).

I was pretty happy with the photo's that came out, especially in the strong sunlight I experienced which surprisingly did not effect the photos or make the camera malfunction!

It's definitely proving to be a travel camera that Canon says it is.

Bought this just before a 2 week holiday in the sun and took about 500 photos plus videos to fully test it out. I must say I'm delighted with it. The lens delivers sharp results throughout the range and what a range! The 24mm end is surprisingly usable while the 480mm telephoto end introduces a new dimension into your photography. I'm frankly astonished at the image stabilisation. Given reasonably bright conditions it allows me to successfully handhold even at the extreme end of the range on quite a high percentage of occasions. Now that is amazing considering my hands are a bit defective and not steady at all. I haven't found any great problem with the screen outdoors even in very bright conditions, while wearing sunglasses and there was still a bit of brightness adjustment available for the screen. Focussing works well and is fast enough for my purposes. There are lots of adjustments available through the various menus and it's great fun trying them all out.
Overall a nice piece of kit which will keep me very happy for a couple of years until the buying urge returns.

This must be my third or fourth pocket Canon, used as a 'walkabout' camera for when I don't want the bulk, weight and inconvenience of an SLR: and it's easily my best Canon yet (well, ignoring an old, film, F1 SLR!).

All the positive comments made by other reviewers are true. The lens is quite sharp, images have good colour (better than that from my previous Canon pocket cameras), the image stabilisation is excellent and the flash, though it has a very limited range, delivers surprisingly good results and the zoom range is luxurious. Moreover, the video function is remarkably good and for those who know how to exploit manual or semi-automatic settings, everything you need to adjust can easily be adjusted.

Sadly, some of the negative comments are true, too. The battery life is miserable, though this can easily be remedied by buying a non-Canon spare via Amazon (I say 'non-Canon' as Canon's battery prices are insultingly high), the lens isn't fast enough, which makes for slow shutter speeds in low light and increases the chance of shake (stabilisation notwithstanding) while the rear screen is horrible in bright light. Sadly, this is a flaw common to almost all current pocket cameras. The decision of manufacturers to abandon optical viewfinders in favour of inadequate rear screens is to be deplored. In bright sunlight this isn't a point and shoot camera, it's a point and pray device. They are all as bad as each other - Panasonic, Nikon, Canon, Olympus - all of them are of limited use in bright light. How can you frame a picture you cannot see?

There are also issues with 'blown' highlights - but dynamic range is a problem with every digital camera I've used. My advice is to set this to a permanent -1/3 stop and only change that when circumstances dictate.

I've concentrated on the negatives but don't let them put you off. This Canon is possibly the best of its kind. The limitations are shared among this entire breed of camera and as long as you understand them and accept that this isn't an SLR, it will deliver sharp, colourful, detailed pictures even in the hands of an unskilled photographer and it will do so in a small, highly portable package.

For this camera to be bettered (battery life excepted - Canon should be ashamed of itself for that) it is going to take technology that doesn't exist yet. Better lenses, better sensors, better processors and better screens.

Until they come about this is one of the very best of its kind.

I bought this camera as a replacement for my older compact camera, to be able to take with me when I don't want the bulk of my DSLR. I prioritise image quality over 'gimmicks' and so chose this camera over equivalent models from other manufacturers based on reviews that this camera had the best image quality, at the expense of a smaller feature set than some, and I must say I was initially incredibly impressed with this camera - the picture quality in a wide range of situations was very good, and the ability to take hand-hold pictures at such a long focal length thanks to the image stabilisation is amazing.

BUT, one other reason for updating my compact camera was for the ability to take videos without needing to take a dedicated camcorder with me. Unfortunately, I noticed some time after buying the camera that every video taken on it, in a range of situations, had an annoying high-pitch whistle on it. I returned to Amazon for a replacement...but the replacement camera had exactly the same fault, so I returned that for a refund (excellent customer service from Amazon). I have been in touch with Canon, who have acknowledged there is a problem with this camera, but can not tell me if it affects all models or just some (if it was only some, I would be tempted to attempt to buy another one as if it didn't have this fault it would meet my needs perfectly and this review would be 5 stars) - if you do buy this, the first thing you should do is play back a video with the volume turned up a bit and see if it has this issue and, if it does, decide whether or not you can live with it!

I bought this as an alternative to my 500D when going away on Holiday to Egypt. I was initially looking at the SX270/SX280 (2013 Release) but found that the SX240 was effectively the same camera but without the battery draining WIFI nad GPS functions (save for the new Digic processor in the 270/280).

In addition to the above, the fact that it had full manual mode, aperature and shutter priority modes really gave me a sense of knowing the camera could keep up with my demands.

The camera never really left my hand. In a week i took over 1500 Photos (including Cairo and the pyramids, etc) and it never missed a beat. I paired it with a Sandisk Ultra SDHC 16GB card (16 is probably a bit too big but gave me flexibility to swap the same card in to my 500D).

The image quality is good for A3 size prints and stays clear and crisp right up to 20x optical zoom. The effective range on the camera is a strong selling point, leaving the SLR in the Hotel Room most of the time.
The visual effects option may not be the most used function on my camera but its nice to have.

Can't recommend the camera enough.

This camera is pretty much a standard slip in the pocket compact camera from Canon, easy to use, fully automatic unless you want to take the controls. The main difference between this & most other compacts is the amazingly long zoom, in 35mm terms its 25 - 500 mm (20x). In practical Terms it can make things appear 1/10th the distance that they really are on full zoom, to twice the distance they really are at wide angle. Its great for shots of friends / familly indoors, and its great for landscape shots all at wide angle. Also its great for taking sneaky shots of people in the distance, or shots of maybe squirrels in the park. It is versatile & easy to use, pretty much always getting a good photo. Least good shot is at full zoom in really poor light (like a heavily cloudy day late on).

This is a nice camera, it does everything it says it does, and the Auto mode is very good, especially for dark situations. Using it in aperture or shutter priority or full manual is useful if a little awkward - there just aren't enough buttons/ switches to change all settings quickly enough if compared to an slr, but its not an slr and doesn't claim to be one so... it does what it says. If you're looking for a compact camera with no bells and whistles that you wouldn't notice in your pocket go for something else, but if you're looking for a high zoom great picture taker that is on the bulkier side of compact go for this. You won't be disappointed. Nicer in black (even feels a bit sturdier casing than the silver), and cheaper too, but amazon let me down on the delivery of the black so I had to settle for silver (which worked out well in the end as I fell into the cashback offer dates then). Got a DCC-1500 case which is listed as an official accessory on the canon website but was a bit tight to begin with but after only a few uses it loosened up and is a nice fit.

When I bought this a few months ago it was �240 so the current price is obviously a bargain. The photo taking is of very good quality, but BE WARNED - do NOT buy this camera for video. It purports to be full HD, but the sound quality is terrible. My Ixus 75 sound is excellent, so quite reasonably I thought this would be as good if not better. Not so! It distorts terribly on any music louder than an acoustic guitar and is actually worse than the average mobile phone! Since I bought the camera expressly to take video footage at concerts, I took this up with Canon. I was told quite blatantly that "HD video is entirely different to sound quality" and that I shouldn't expect it to record good sound. I respnded by saying they could not be serious. "Whatever you may think madam, that is the case" was the reply! Hello, surely you don't usually take video without sound! I am about to buy a Panasonic, which does record high quality sound with it's video - never again a Canon for me...

This is certainly an impressive camera. Having owned Canon camera before which I really liked the quality of. I have owned this for a few months now and although still lots to learn about it I have already been able to take some superb photos and videos. It has a wonderful optical zoom which can be a little difficult as with all zooms to hold steady at it's longest range. Another asset I really like about the camera is the photo digest which takes a short video with every photo - you just have to remember to keep the camera steady briefly after taking the photo. This gives a video of that days photos which is great. It is easy to use. I have already recommended this to a friend who has purchased it.