Canon PowerShot SX20 IS

UPDATE 19 October 2010: the overall score of the Canon SX20 has been brought down to four stars. In line with our newly tightened test criteria, the 230,000-dot screen, limited battery life and photo-to-photo turnaround time cost the SX20 its fifth star.

The PowerShot SX20 IS from a Canon is an almost perfect copy of the SX10 IS with two big changes: two million more pixels take its sensor up to 12 Megapixels, and there's now a 720 HD video mode.

Handling

At first sight, the aesthetic differences between the SX10 IS and the SX20 IS are virtually invisible.  The two cameras are the same size, have a 20x zoom, a large handle and buttons that give direct access to exposure correction, autofocus zone selection and recording video.  The fold-out 2.5'' screen is the same, and it still has a resolution of 230 000 pixels.  We would have preferred an upgrade here, because although the rotating screen is useful, a larger 2.7'' display with more pixels would have been great. 

You use the camera in exactly the same way, and the menus are just as simple and intuitive as ever with the handy scroll wheel to select the option you need.  There's also a dial to select the mode you require.  The camera has a visual viewfinder with dioptic correction.

So far then, nothing new--but why change a winning formula?  There is, though, some bad news.  The flash is controlled manually, rather than automatically opening when you activate flash, which would have been better.  The two extra Megapixels haven't made the sensor any physically bigger, and it's still a 1/2.3'' model.  The camera still has its wide-angle mode


If you look very hard, you'll notice that there are one or two new features, including a HDMI port to make the most of 720 HD photos and videos on a compatible TV.

The SX10 IS was a very fast camera, except in burst mode, and the SX20 IS contains the same electronics, meaning there aren't many differences between the two cameras.  Focusing is very quick at 0.63 seconds and 0.55 seconds when at 3x zoom.  Switching it on takes 1.15 seconds.  The burst mode is as disappointing as ever with a rate of just 1.2 frames per second, while the time it takes to save two photos is 2.30 seconds.

Image Quality

The SX20 IS has the same DIGIC 4 electronics as the SX10 IS.  What about the photos it takes then?  Well, they're almost identical to those taken by the SX10 IS.  Noise handling is exactly as we would expect.  Graininess and blurriness are both kept at bay up to 400 ISO.  Comparing the photos taken by the two cameras, we would even say that the SX10 IS is more at home at higher sensitivities.  The difference between the two is, however, minimal.