Goondu Review: Canon SX700 HS

Compact cameras are having a tough time these days with a slew of digital SLRs, mirrorless shooters and even smartphone cameras hogging the limelight.

So when the Canon SX700 HS came through the door for a review, I didn’t have high expectations. It is certainly very pocketable, measuring only 112.7 x 65.8 x 34.8mm. It comes armed with a 1/2.3-inch, 16-megapixel back side illuminated CMOS sensor.

The main feature, however, is the 30x zoom lens hogging the front of the camera, an equivalent of a 24-750mm lens on a full-frame camera. To squeeze so much zoom in such a small body is in itself a great feat. What’s even more impressive is the image quality that comes out of this small shooter.

Sure, the image quality will not trouble DSLRs or mirrorless cameras. But for the S$449.00 that Canon is asking for the SX700 HS, this is one camera punching way above its weight. Good colour retention and very minimal noise are surprising finds on such a small sensor.

Shot at the widest angle, the image is very clear and even has a good rendition of the whole scene.

You might think that, for such a small camera, the image at telephoto range would degrade. One look at the image above blows that assumption out of the water. Skin tones under shade and sharpness are very good for such a small sensor and with such a long zoom. The picture above is the same little girl that is playing in the center of the previous photo. That’s how far I have zoomed in.

The value of having a telephoto/super zoom is the ability to compress the objects in the frame and produce a more dynamic photo such as the lotus above with the city skyline reflected in the pool of water.

The 750mm equivalent zoom is certainly very useful especially when one is shooting birds. The quality won’t match top-of-the-range zoom lenses but is adequate for most uses.

Shot inside a dark room with the skeletal model of the T-Rex being illuminated by a halogen spot light. The ISO setting of 1,600 is used and there is sensor noise but it is so well controlled that I have no qualms using this image.  

What strikes me was how natural the whole image looked in terms of colour even when illuminated by artificial lighting. Superb performance.

Very rich and intense red-orange sunset and yet the exposure is so well balanced that the rim of the sum and the sea can still be seen. 

For those who like to shoot food, the Canon SX700 HS won’t disappoint with contrast and rich colours. The green and red of the bowl of beef noodle and vegetables “popped” without much effort.

For those who like Instagram effects, the camera has creative filters. There’s even a mode called Canon Creative Shot that automatically churns out six pictures of different colour effects and crops from the same scene to form a collage. 

The Canon SX700 HS is certainly impressive when it comes to image quality. However, getting used to it is another matter altogether. Like most compact cameras with limited space, changing settings requires a bit of button pushing.

But what gets me most is the mode dial. Unlike other compacts, the SX700 HS’ mode dial is placed in such a way that it requires a user to move the dial using the up-down motion instead of laterally from side to side. The placement is so bad that your thumb cannot leverage on the dial – it just requires extra effort to change a setting.

This is not helped by the long zoom, where focusing speed takes a beating. It is most evident in light deprived scenes such as inside buildings or outside in a moon-less night.

My other gripe is the buggy Wi-Fi sharing system. Even when my Android smartphone and the camera have successfully connected to each other, Canon’s CameraWindow app just couldn’t access the photos in the camera or allow remote shooting.

The solution was to review or play back the photos before initiating a share from the camera. Only then, did the other functions to work.

Canon has also missed out on some shooting modes, such as High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Panoramic. These are common on most compact cameras and even smartphones nowadays, so it’s odd that they are not on the SX700 HS.

These caveats are what you have to be aware of before you buy the camera. To be fair, for what it can do, the SX700 HS provides excellent value for money. It can certainly be considered as a backup or “walk-around” camera, even for serious amateurs.