Canon Powershot SX20 IS Features

The Canon Powershot SX20 IS is a 12 megapixel digital camera with a 20x optical zoom lens. The lens has wide angle capabilities and has a focal length equivalent to 28 - 560mm in 35mm format. Other zoom options include a digital tele-converter 1.5x or 2x and Safety Zoom. 4x digital zoom is a further option.

Other features include a flip out and twist LCD screen, High Definition movies, image stabilisation and manual exposure controls.

Basics

Image Stabilisation
Sensor Size: 1/2.3 inches
Self Timer: 2 or 10 seconds, Custom
Special resolution for widescreen television playback
Red-Eye Correction: During shooting and playback
Colour Effects: Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Color

Focusing

The Powershot SX20 IS has a variety of focusing options. These include manual focusing, focus bracketing and single, continuous and Servo AF/AE modes. Focusing lock is available too. For close up work the Powershot SX20 IS is able to focus from right in front of the lens.

LCD Screen

The LCD monitor is 2.5 inches in size. The screen is made up of around 235,000 dots. The screen can be pulled out from the body of the Powershot SX20 IS and twisted to suit your shooting position. There is also an electronic viewfinder with dioptre correction. This allows you to focus the viewfinder to suit your eyesight.

Flash

The flash modes are: Automatic, On, Off, Slow Sync Speed, Red Eye Reduction. In addition flash exposure compensation, second curtain synchronisation and flash exposure lock are available.

The maximum flash range is 6.8m. This falls to 3.7m when the zoom lens is fully extended. To increase the range of the flash unit you can buy an external flash - the Canon High Power Flash HF-DC1. The Powershot SX20 IS is also compatible with Canon EX series speedlites.

Scene Modes

There are a number of preset scene modes. These are: Portrait, Landscape, Night Snapshot, Sports, SCN (Indoor, Sunset, Night Scene, Fireworks, Beach, Aquarium, Foliage, Snow and ISO 3200. There are also further modes for Color Accent, Color Swap and Stitch Assist.

Movies

You can shoot short, HD quality movies with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The top recording speed is 30 frames per second. Sound can be recorded and zoom can be applied during shooting.

Advanced Features

Among the more advanced features are:

Manual Exposure
Shutter Priority
Aperture Priority
Maximum Aperture: f/2.8 - f/5.7
Macro Focusing: From 1cm
Metering Modes: Multi Point, Centre-weighted average, Spot
AE Lock
Exposure Compensation: +/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments
ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
Bracketing: 1/3 - 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments
Shutter Speeds: 15 - 1/3200 seconds (set automatically)
White Balance: Auto (including Face Detection WB), Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash, Custom
Continuous Shooting: Approx. 1 shots/sec until card full