The Canon Powershot SX1 is one of two high-end ultra-zooms that Canon released last year. Both feature a 20X optical zoom lens with image stabilization and a sensor with 10 megapixels of resolution. While there are several subtle differences between the SX1 and the SX10, the main difference is the use of a CMOS sensor on the SX1. This gives it the ability to capture full 1080p HDTV videos at 30 FPS, compared to VGA videos also at 30 FPS. The CMOS sensor also allows for a 4 FPS continuous drive mode at full-resolution. Curiously, the lower-cost SX10 IS was given a superior viewfinder with 235K pixels instead of 115K.

 

The 20X optical zoom range is rather impressive with relatively low distortion except at wide-angle and a good amount of details retention across the zoom range. The weakness of the SX1 is its image quality with suffers as ISO is increased based the base setting. Detail loss occurs as early as ISO 100 unfortunately, although even ISO 400 is usable. Still, it is decent but is below average compared to modern fixed-lens cameras. This problem nearly caused the Canon Powershot SX1 IS to miss the Good rating but other performance aspects helped.

 

When compared to its SX10 sibling it is clear that the SX1's appeal is almost limited its HD movie-recoding capability. Those not interested in it, would be better serves by the cheaper SX10 which - we've been told - has better image quality as well. The remaining thing to consider is the need for 20X optical zoom. The excellent Fuji Finepix S100FS with its stabilized 14.3X mechanical wide-angle optical zoom performs much better in terms of image quality and responsiveness, plus has a more complete feature set, excluding HD movie-recording.