Canon PowerShot SX260 HS user reviews (Black)

Pros Excellent picture quality, great performance, (fast, fast, fast), lots of useful features, Best zoom I have seen, great image stabilization when using the zoom or indoors with flash.

Cons Battery life, with all this camera does the trade off is more than worth it. The camera is a little heavier than most points and shoots in its class. Still very comfortable though.

Summary Amazing camera with very useful feature set. Lots of Point and Shoot cameras in this class have features. This one has features you will use to enhance the experience and results. While there is a learning curve on the features, you will get great pictures out of the box. I have owned dozens of Point and Shoot digital cameras in all classes from the original Kodak's, Sony's, Panasonic's, Nikon's and Cannons to latest one being the Cannon S95, (also a great camera). I am in the events business so it is important to be able to shoot in low light as well as have a camera that can perform well. The zoom shots from the Baseball games are amazing. The size, although larger than the Cannon Digital Elph line and the Cannon S line is still a good size and can fit in your pants pocket if need be. I would recommend getting an additional battery from the start and keeping it charged. Especially if you plan on taking a lot or indoor shots or using the GPS. Amazon has great prices on spare batteries. I would be amazed if this camera is not the Point and Shoot Camera of the Year. Cannon has always led the way in this market. This camera leaves all of the others in the dust. I am sure when JG and cnet got a hold of this one they were amazed as well.

Pros Comfortable body to grip.

Cons Unfortunately, I think this camera is going back. The "shutter lag" is pronounced. I missed too many great shots by a second. I'm a confident photographer, and tried different settings, but I couldn't get that immediate shot I'm used to.

Pros Very versatile lens, Decent flash, large screen, lots of options, manual modes,, EXCELLENT video quality, fast response

Cons Fairly heavy, average battery life, Flash design and placement, slow response with flash, no raw, somewhat difficult to one hand with large hands.

Summary I am not a brand snob. I own this camera as well as a Nikon D5000 SLR. I just like the layout and design of Nikon SLRs better. Likewise, this camera was better for the money than anything I saw from Nikon at the time. I hadn't used a point and shoot in a while. I just replaced an old Sony with this one. I had been using my SLR. There is a noticeable hit in quality when you drop from SLR to any point and shoot. That said, this camera does produce great, printable photos. It captures colors very well. This camera has a very amazing array of automatic to manual variety. I rarely use the auto modes. I find I mostly use Program, or one of the other manual modes. As far as overall design. I like the size for what it does. The profile is thick at the lens, which is to be expected. You need glass to do what this thing does. The screen is big and vivid. With very large hands, I cannot easily manage the buttons and its control pad with one hand. I always keep the lanyard on me when I use this. One other problem is the design of the flash. It is motorized and come up out of the top left corner. Being someone who is accustomed to holding a point and shoot camera with two hands, this can be a problem, as my fingers get in the way of the flash. So I had to work my way around that. It uses a green focus assist light, which is kind of strange, but it works fine. The menu system takes a little getting used to. I've had the camera for two months and I still find myself poking around to figure stuff out. Overall though, this is a great point and shoot. Definitely beats a smart phone camera, but will not beat a current SLR of even the entry level. The differences in sensor size and quality as well as the lens technology make this not even close to an SLR, but a great companion. It does fit well in most normal pockets. It IS fairly hefty, but if you want a camera with these capabilities, you can't do much better.

Pros Large, colorful screen. good video, lots of control.

Cons Battery life very disappointing. A bit bulky.

Summary I own Canon DSLR's, so the controls are relatively familiar. I ended up buying this camera based on reviews, and for the most part they are spot on. I don't usually purchase point and shoots but I forgot my SLR on a vacation trip and didn't want to rely on a phone camera.

I woud have given 5 stars except the battery life is quite mediocre, but you learn to maximize it.

Overall, I am pretty happy with the purchase and is a good compact alternative to my primary cameras.