Though the SX110 IS gets decent marks overall for speed, it does have some borderline performance issues that earned it some ratings demerits. It wakes and shoots in 2.3 seconds, which is typical of megazooms. Its shutter lag for high- and low-contrast scenes--0.5 second and 0.7 second, respectively--are typical for this class, too. However, shot-to-shot times are noticeably slow at 2.1 seconds without flash and jump to 5.1 seconds once you enable the flash. Burst shooting is better, running at 1.3 frames per second. Finally, the LCD is good, but not terrific, and not always easy to see in bright sunlight.
What the camera sacrifices in speed, however, it makes up for in photo quality, even at higher ISOs. Noise starts to show at ISO 400, and at ISO 800 photos have a mottled look, but loss of detail is relatively minimal. Characteristic of megazooms, the lens has some barrel distortion--a surprising amount, given the relatively narrow-angle lens--as well as minor pincushioning, but photos look sharp without looking oversharpened. There's a bit of magenta and purple fringing, but it's only really noticeable in outdoor shots with extreme contrast. Overall it renders excellent exposure and color.
Despite its arguably best-in-class photo quality, the Canon PowerShot SX110 IS's spotty performance, disappointing movie capture, and occasionally frustrating design keep us from giving it an unqualified recommendation.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
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Time to first shot | |
Typical shot-to-shot time | |
Shutter lag (dim) | |
Shutter lag (typical) |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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