US$ 250 US$ 226.00

Want a big zoom camera at a reasonable price? The 9MP SX110 IS maybe the one you have been looking for! It may not have the biggest lens or the highest pixel count but it is capable of taking very nice pictures. Like the Fujifilm S2000HD reviewed before, the SX110 IS also accepts AA batteries. Let’s find out how it performs!

The package contains the camera, two AA Alkaline batteries, a wrist strap, a USB cable, an AV cable and a CD-Rom. Since it is a budget model Canon may be forgiven for not including a charger. You will need to spend some money for rechargeable AA batteries and a charger, don’t forget to pick the ones with a higher capacity.

The camera has a plastic feeling but it feels sturdy in my hand. The small handgrip allows for a comfortable grip. Unlike other big zoom cameras the SX110 IS is more curved and does not have a SLR-like design.

The 36-360mm equivalent lens has optical image stabilization. The camera can engage in full manual, aperture priority, shutter priority and program mode.  Common scenes can be selected via the dial and if you are unsure of the proper mode to use simply turn to the green AUTO position. 

The 3" LCD is bright, colorful and sharp. Canon completely removed optical viewfinder so you have to be extra careful with battery life as you cannot turn off the screen to save battery. There is a button for enabling Canon’s Face Detection. The dial remotely resembles the ones used in the Canon dSLR cameras. The dial can also be used as a 4-way D-pad for changing ISO, flash, drive, and manual focus.

There is no pop-up mechanism for the flash so you have to manually “pull” it out.

I like the large zoom rocker and shutter button a lot as I do not have to look for them while I am concentrating on the LCD screen.

AA batteries may be heavy, but they are cheap and easy to find. They are especially useful when you are travelling and don’t want to take the charger with you (in some countries you may also need an adapter, ouch!). The SX110 IS accepts SDHC cards (optional) which can have up to 8GB capacity (about 2000 images).

In the manual mode, the exposure compensation button can be used to select aperture or shutter for changing the value with the dial. The camera also gives you a real-time estimate of the exposure on the right.

The camera enlarges a portion of the image in manual focus mode to help you get a better focus. With the huge 3” LCD, manual focusing is easier on the SX110 IS than on budget dSLR’s which have a small optical viewfinder.

The camera has a resize feature for you to reduce the image size down to 640 x 480. I don’t think you will need this feature very often but it could be handy for squeezing a few more pictures on an almost full card.

View and share your creation in the 3” LCD screen! The camera can create a slideshow of your pictures for easier browsing.

In close-up shots you really want to trust yourself over the machine – luckily the SX110 IS has an easy-to-use manual focus mode!

The shot below can give you some idea of the blurring effect produced by SX110 IS in marco shots.

The SX110 IS has a lot of convenient features to help with focusing and exposure settings. The full-feature manual mode allows you to express your creativity with the most flexibility. The only downside of this model is the slightly slow focus time and the plastic-like body construction. However at this price I can’t really expect it to perform like the prosumer cameras.

Video Review