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The good: The
Canon PowerShot SX40 HS has a flexible lens range, very good image stabilization, excellent photo quality for its class, and shooting modes for every kind of user.
The bad: The SX40 HS's shooting performance lags behind that of the competition and has a couple potentially irritating design points.
The bottom line: If you're after a wide and long lens and excellent photo quality, the Canon PowerShot SX40 HS is a standout. In features, design, and performance, though, it's a bit lacking.
Editors' note: Several of the design and features are identical between the Canon PowerShot SX40 HS and the Canon PowerShot SX30 IS we reviewed earlier, so readers of the earlier review may experience some déjà vu when reading the same sections below.
The Canon PowerShot SX40 HS is a nice improvement over its predecessor, the SX30 IS. Sure, they look the same, have the same ultrawide-angle 35x zoom lens, and, for the most part, have the same shooting modes. But a switch to a new sensor and new image processor seemed to have improved both photo quality and shooting performance, though its performance is still sucking wind a bit behind competing models from Nikon, Sony, and Panasonic.
For that matter, so is its feature set and its design, particularly if you want to take advantage of its electronic viewfinder and manual controls. On the other hand, it has some of the best JPEG photo quality you're going to find from a high-end megazoom.
Weight (with battery and media)Megapixels, image sensor size, type12 megapixels, 1/2.3-inch backside-illuminated CMOSLCD size, resolution/viewfinder2.7-inch vari-angle LCD, 230K dots/NoneLens (zoom, aperture, focal length)35x, f2.7-5.8, 24-840mm (35mm equivalent)Highest resolution size (still/video)4,000x3,000 pixels/ 1,920x1,080 at 24fpsLi-ion rechargeable, 370 shots (400, EVF only)SD/SDHC/SDXC, Eye-Fi SD/SDHC cardsZoomBrowser EX 6.8/PhotoStitch 3.1 (Windows); ImageBrowser 6.8/PhotoStitch 3.2 (Mac)
Overall, photo quality is excellent for this class of camera. Images do get softer and noisier above ISO 200--typical for point-and-shoots--but ISO 400 and 800 are still very usable. Like other "HS" models I've tested this year, the noise and noise reduction are well-balanced so you still get good color and detail up to ISO 800.
Colors desaturate some at ISO 1600 and 3200, subjects look very soft, and detail is greatly diminished. While you might not want to view them at larger sizes or heavily crop them, the high-ISO results should be satisfactory for the Web or prints at small sizes, though, again, colors will look a little off. Keep in mind, too, that if you're shooting indoors with lens extended, you'll need the higher ISOs to keep shutter speeds fast enough to prevent blur. Also, the auto white balance is warm indoors, which doesn't help color when combined with higher ISOs; use the presets or use the custom option when possible. Unfortunately, there is no option to shoot raw files with this camera so if you're a pixel peeper and not happy with Canon's JPEG processing, you're stuck.
Color accuracy is excellent, producing bright and vivid results. Exposure is generally very good, but highlights tend to blow out. Other manufacturers have been solving this to some degree with high-dynamic range modes that will take two or three shots at different exposures and overlay them for a more-balanced shot. Canon doesn't offer a mode like that and its i-Contrast feature is more for rescuing shadow detail than highlights. However, the SX40 does have exposure bracketing, though it shoots slowly, so your subjects need to be still.
Video quality is on par with a very good HD pocket video camera: good enough for Web use and nondiscriminating TV viewing. The full HD video records at 24fps, and though panning the camera will create judder and there is visible trailing on moving subjects, the video is watchable. Those things are typical of the video from most compact cameras, too. You can drop the resolution to 1,280x720 at 30fps, but the judder actually seems to get worse. The low-light video is predictably grainy, but it's at least as good as this camera's high ISO photo performance. The zoom lens does work while recording; it moves very slowly, though, likely to prevent the movement from being picked up by the stereo mics on front. It can only really be heard in very quiet scenes.
ISO sensitivity (full resolution)Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash, CustomAuto, Program, Shutter-speed priority, Aperture priority, Manual, Creative Filters, Sports, Scene, Movie, Custom 1 and 2Face AF, Center AF, User-selectable AF (FlexiZone), Macro, Normal, Infinity, ManualEvaluative, Center-weighted average, SpotVivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin, Darker Skin, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Color (adjustment of contrast, sharpness, saturation, red, green, blue and skin tone are available)Burst mode shot limit (full resolution)
While it doesn't have a lot of trick shooting modes like the Sony HX100V or the plentiful controls over photo quality that you'll find on the Panasonic FZ150, the SX40 HS has all of the important things for the category. You'll find full manual and semimanual shooting modes. Available apertures at the wide end include: f2.7, f3.2, f3.5, f4.0, f4.5, f5.0, f5.6, f6.3, f7.1, and f8.0; available in telephoto are: f5.8, f6.3, f7.1, f8.0. Shutter speeds go from 15 seconds down to 1/3,200 second. If you come up with a set of values you'd like to use regularly, there are two Custom spots on the mode dial. For those times when you want the camera to do the thinking there is a very reliable full-auto mode as well as stock scene modes like Portrait, Landscape, and Fireworks.
In addition to the company's standard creative-shooting options--Color Accent and Color Swap--it has other creative options: Toy Camera, Monochrome, Miniature Effect, Fish-eye Effect, a Super Vivid mode that intensifies colors, and a Poster Effect that posterizes photos. These modes aren't necessarily must-haves, but they can be fun to play with, if only to add some interest to what would be an otherwise boring shot. Plus, they're available when shooting movies, too.
Canon kept the shooting-mode dial uncluttered so you can quickly find the option you're after.With its new CMOS sensor and Digic 5 image processor, I had high hopes that the SX40 HS would be significantly faster than its predecessor. It's not. I mean, it's improved, but not by much. It goes from off to first shot fairly quickly at 1.6 seconds and then slows down to 2.5 seconds from shot to shot. Shutter lag--how long it takes from pressing the shutter release to capture--is very good at 0.4 second in bright lighting and 0.6 in dimmer conditions. That was in lab tests, though, and in my testing the camera felt slow to focus. What did show more improvement were continuous shooting speeds. Canon includes a full-resolution, eight-shot-burst scene mode that is capable of up to 10 frames per second. This sets focus and exposure with the first shot, but that's common with these modes. There is also a continuous shooting setting that hits about 2.3fps (again, with focus and exposure set with the first shot) and a continuous with autofocus that is far slower, but at least it's an option.
The SX40 HS uses the same design from 2010's SX30 IS, looking somewhat like a compact version of a Canon EOS Rebel dSLR. At the front of the large, comfortable grip is a shutter release with a lever for operating the extreme 35x zoom lens followed back by a shooting mode dial and power button. Though the motor moves the lens smoothly, it's slow and takes too long to move the lens in and out. A Zoom Frame Assist button on back next to the thumbrest helps a bit by pulling the lens back and sending it forward again when released, but it's still too slow when trying to track a moving subject.
Below the Zoom Frame Assist button to the right of the thumbrest are Play and AF Frame Selector buttons, the latter allowing you to move your AF frame according to where you want the camera to focus and change the size of the frame. Below that is a control dial that sits on top of a four-way directional pad. The dial is used for navigation as well as changing settings. This includes changes to shutter speed and aperture; notably absent is a thumb dial for doing these things. The dial moves too freely with no real stops, too, so it's pretty easy to blow past whatever it is you're trying to set.
The directional pad also sets focus type, exposure compensation, ISO, and the self-timer. The Func/Set button at the center of the dial selects options and brings up shooting-mode-specific settings. A separate Menu button below the dial brings up the rest of the camera options. It's joined by a Display button.
It's great Canon includes a programmable shortcut button, but switching between the EVF and LCD is infuriatingly slow using the Display button.The Display button is what's used to move back and forth from the 2.7-inch rotating LCD to the small and somewhat dim electronic viewfinder (EVF) for framing shots. That would be fine if you didn't have to cycle through different display settings to switch from one to the other: low-info LCD, detailed LCD, low-info EVF, detailed EVF. What's worse is that there are some modes that use the Display button to access secondary functions, so if you're in one of those and want to switch from the LCD or EVF, you have to leave the shooting mode you're in first. Or, you can flip out the LCD, which automatically turns on the LCD if you're using the EVF. Similarly, flipping the LCD to face into its cavity turns on the EVF. It's ultimately a very frustrating design choice and Canon should have used an LCD/EVF button placed next to the EVF like every other manufacturer. There are buttons on either side of the EVF, though. On the left is a programmable shortcut button, and on the right is a one-press record button for capturing movies. If you want additional movie shooting options, though, you can select a full Movie mode on the shooting mode dial.
In the end, the controls are fairly easy to use, but definitely take some practice if you're not familiar with Canon's menus and controls. Even seasoned Canon users will want to examine the full manual, though, included on the software disc bundled with the camera.
If you're looking for AA-size batteries for power, you'll have to look elsewhere; the SX40 uses a large lithium ion rechargeable pack that's rated for up to 400 shots, which was backed up in my testing. The battery is located in a compartment in the base of the grip, which is where you'll also find the memory card slot. The compartment cover doesn't lock--an odd omission for a high-end camera. Out of the box you may think Canon dropped the hot shoe from previous versions, too, but it is there on top; it's just covered up. (There's also a lift-up flash activated by a button on the left side on top.) For connecting to displays and computers there are Mini-HDMI and Mini-USB/AV ports under a door on the right side.
Conclusion
The Canon PowerShot SX40 HS doesn't offer all the bells and whistles of competing full-size megazooms and its shooting performance lags behind them, too. However, it has plenty of positives including some of the best JPEG photo quality you'll find in this class as well as an extraordinarily long lens. If those things matter most to you, the SX40 HS is the way to go.
Shooting speed (in seconds)(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Typical continuous-shooting speed (in frames per second)(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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