Canon 12.1 Megapixels PowerShot SX40 HS 35x SuperZoom Review by StevesDigicam

On September 15 2011, Canon announced the PowerShot SX40 HS camrea. It features a 12.1 Megapixels CMOS sensor, and the new DIGIC 5 chip promises a wide variety of updates to camera performance. DIGIC 5 comes with decent ISO response, natural colors and a new multi-target Auto White Balance system as well as all the other usual treats found in Canon's DSLR models. 

The flagship PowerShot SuperZoom camera also features a 35x optical zoom lens. You are essentially going from 24mm all the way to 840mm on a single lens. The lens aperture will be starting at F2.7 and going up to 5.8 at the long range of the zoom. On the back panel, there's a 2.7-inch flip-out LCD, a similar feature in the SX30. The SX40 will use Intelligent image stabilization and will be capable of recording 1080 Full HD video via a dedicated movie button. The estimated selling price of the PowerShot SX40 HS Digital camera is $429.99 and is currently selling at around $387. Here's the summary of review by Steve's Digicam:

"Image quality is pleasing for a camera with a 1/2.3-inch image sensor. For those of you who follow Canon's SX-series, you may wonder why Canon dropped the megapixel rating on the SX40 compared to the SX30 (12-megaixels vs 14). The reason for this is they wanted to incorporate their new HS system, which uses a faster, more sensitive CMOS image sensor; compared to the CCD unit found in the SX30. This sensor was also added to help boost the camera's high-speed burst capabilities from a max. of 1.3fps on the SX30 to a whopping 10.3fps on the SX40. 12-megapixels is still way more resolution that the average user needs, and even those who like large prints will be covered by the SX40's output. The majority of our photos captured with the SX40 HS were of high quality, showing excellent exposure with rich color saturation. Images are nice and sharp with a hig degree of fine detail, and contrast is also pleasing. Luminous image noise was a bit higher than I had hoped to see when looking in shadow areas, even at the lower ISO settings. Of course, this can only really be seen when critically inspecting photos at the pixel level (100% viewing, aka pixel peeping). Otherwise, the SX40 HS handles image noise rather well all the way up to its maximum ISO setting of 3200. Even at this high of a setting, the SX40 HS is able to retain a good amount of fine detail, thus producing an image that looks pretty good at full screen viewing. Of course, the lower the lighting on the subject, the more likely it is that the noise will become more noticeable. If you look at our M&M man photos, you can see that the SX40 HS does better than the a large percentage of point-n-shoots when when shooting at ISO 1600 and 3200. This makes the SX40 HS yet another "HS" labeled PowerShot that produces above average results at higher sensitivity levels, meaning that Canon's HS system is working.  

Moving indoors we saw the SX40 continued to produce nice photos. Thanks to a powerful built in flash, you'll have plenty of illumination in marginal lighting conditions. With an effective range of up to 23 feet at wide angle (or 9.8 feet at full telephoto), the SX40's manual pop-up flash unit is one of the more powerful units out there. Looking over our indoor close-up portraits, we can see that even when using the mid telephoto end of the zoom to tightly frame our subjects face we have plenty of illumination to light up both our subject and the background. Our flash images show pleasing facial features and natural looking skin tones. The camera performed well in Smart Auto, thanks in part to the fact that the camera uses Face Detection as the default Focus mode. When Face Detection is being used, the camera is able to quickly find and lock onto faces within the frame; even in marginal lighting. Overall, the SX40 HS did very well indoors, especially for the posted portraits we captures of my daughter. If you need even more lighting versatility, the SX40 HS does offer a hot shoe for attaching external speedlites, like the affordable 270 EX ($159.99 USD), all the way up to the professional level 580EX II ($499.99 USD).

Like we mentioned earlier, Canon has beefed up the SX40's video capabilities over its predecessor. You now have the ability to capture full HD video at 1080p (1920x1080) resolution, with a frame rate of 30fps (29.97fps to be exact). You also have access to some lower resolution settings, like 720p (1280x720) and VGA (640x480). For Apple users, you'll be happy to see that the SX40 HS offers an iFrame shooting option, which records video in the Apple iFrame format for easier integration and editing on Macs and other Apple devices. Another cool feature on the SX40 is Super Slow Motion Movie. Here the camera records video at super fast rates, which when played back look like slow motion clips. You can shoot at either 240fps (320x240) or 120fps (640x480). Lastly, unlike most super or mega-zoom cameras, the SX40 does allow you to have full use of the 35x optical zoom lens while you are recording video. This adds greatly to flexibility of this camera in movie mode, giving you freedom to be more creative with your videos; and it ensures you won't miss the action if it moves further away. Overall, the SX40 can capture so good quality video using current point-n-shoot standards. Will the SX40 beat out even an inexpensive HD camcorder; No. However, if you need or want to capture some video to share with friends and family, the SX40 should have no problem stepping up to the plate. 

Bottom Line - Canon continues to create powerful mega-zoom cameras in their SX-series, and the SX40 HS is no exception. This camera oozes with versatility, thanks to the inclusion of their HS system, a massive 35x optical zoom with optical image stabilization, and a host of exposure options to fit the needs and experience of most any user. The SX40 HS is a robust camera with excellent shooting performance, and very good image quality. Like every camera, it does have some downfalls, but overall this is a solid camera. With a MSRP or $429.99 USD, the SX40 will set you back a good amount. However, with the quality, versatility and performance you are receiving, we feel it offers excellent "bang for your buck" and we highly recommend this camera to those looking for a more capable camera system, but are not quite ready to jump into the EVIL or dSLR worlds."

Works prettry well, L. Wilson - May 20 2013
I carefully studied about 40 cameras over several months and this one seemed to be the best value overall. I considered DSLR's but in the end did not want the learning curve or expense or dealing with multiple lenses. The zoom on this camera is amazing and that was an important consideration for me. The camera does a pretty good job of focusing the picture even with my j...

nice camera, Julie - May 15 2013
We went with this camera since it was less expensive than others, but still nice. We've been pretty happy with it....

Great camera for its buck., LUIS D. LAZALA - May 13 2013
Beat camera ever had, it has more functionality than I need, very surprise of all it can do with this camera....

Awesome, Praneet - May 09 2013
I think this is one of the best models when it comes to a handy, zoom/normal, high quality picture camera. The issue I had with DSLRs was their size/weight, and also the need to keep changing the lenses (zoom versus close ups)- as a result I realised that I was going back to my small point and shoot cameras all the time, and never bothering to put the SLRs in my travel b...