Canon SX40 HS 12.1MP Digital Camera with 35x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch Vari-Angle Wide LCD

I decided to upgrade finally from my Sony H2. I looked around to see what was out there available. I knew what I wanted on the next camara. High zoom, at least double more pixels, viewfinder, great macro, HD video, better than a point and shoot but not quite a DSLR. I don't want to mess with a bunch of to expensive to afford lenses.Started doing some research. Got very overwhelmed at first. It had been awhile since I really took a look at camaras. I wanted to make the right choice in one because this is a purchase that had to last for a time. I read alot of reviews and then got more overwhelmed because once I made a decision I would read a contradictory review on it. So then I became frustrated and wondered if there was a camara made that professionals could agree on and that consumers loved.After a couple of weeks I narrowed down to three. And after reading the feedbacks here and researching the web for those "professional" reviews I decided on the SX40 HS. So off to Sears to handle the item. Came home and ordered. Had it in a week.I have not been let down or dissapointed in this thing. It does as everyone says. One thing that I did have to let go in my "wants in a camara" was the AA's. I just ordered a two battery, charger kit here. It can charge them in the car so I can always have batteries ready. If it used the AA's the camara would be to heavy. As it is now it is about the same weight as my sisters DSLR was. Feels like it when handling it too.Zoom is awesome. Digital zoom is a bit grainy/fuzzy at times. But that's digital for you. When taking picture of the moon it doesn't do it. Why? Don't know. But I zoom in and the full moon can't all fit in the photo and I expect someone to wave back at me. Macro hasn't let me down. I do need to add here though that focus is a bit to get use to. But be patient and let it do it's thing. Hold shutter half down to focus. Let it focus then snap and you'll get a great photo everytime.The special effects are cool to have. The fisheye was a surprise to see. I love the black and white with your chosen color. And the toy camara I use often. This is loaded with a ton of features that you can't get bored with. Also this can splice photos together! Many people I see are looking for that feature. Along with bridging. Way to many things to get into here. But alot of camara for your money.The flip LCD was another surprise and I had only seen it come out on the higher end camaras. I usually use my viewfinder so it's turned in to protect the screen (I am getting screen protectors). But I find myself taking advantage of it's capability to turn out and twist up or down. I have been using that feature to get our baby robins pictures. There is a nest over our porch light. I simply open it, turn it down towards me as I am holding camara up. Zoom a little hold shutter to focus and snap away.You get a CD for you computer. Load it on it as you can't views photos without it. There is a small starter manual to get you going. But hey Canon, get real. It would be nice to get a whole book featuring all the functions of the camara. It least make one available to buy! Even though I found this SX easy to use right out of the box (easier than my Sony but still think it's an awesome camara). But to get to know all the functions it would be nice. Who wants to carry their computer around to look something up?All in all. You can't go wrong. You are getting a heck of a camara! BUT, learn to use it. Once you do that you'll not want anything but this fella. And for those that have DSLR's this would make a great back up to carry around. It doesn't dissapoint.

I bought this camera exactly 1 year ago. I do a lot of amateur photography. I shoot everything from landscapes, astrophotos, to extreme macro. You'll be amazed at how this camera performs.The only things I would change about this camera:1. The on button location is such that you could mistakenly turn the camera off when trying to take a picture. The new Canon SX50 corrects this.2. The camera does not record in RAW mode. The new Canon SX50 corrects this.3. My biggest pet peeve: When the camera is in manual mode, sometimes the camera will override my ISO setting. This is NOT corrected by the SX50.I briefly thought of upgrading to the SX50, however when the camera is used at 35x, holding the camera still enough without a tripod can be daunting, even with Canon's excellent image stabilization. 50X would surely require a tripod, which I'm not willing to schlep through the woods.My solution to the automatic ISO problem and RAW mode was to download and use the non-modifying firmware CHDK, a software hack that makes no changes to the built-in Canon programming. This is obtained online, free for the downloading.The camera is rather bulky since it houses the magnificent Canon telephoto lens. The lens uses fluorite glass, an exotic glass that has wonderful chromatic correction. As a rule, I don't use flash when photographing, preferring natural lighting, even at night. The CMOS chip is very sensitive, capturing great detail, and natural color, even with night scenes. I've never used the camera's preset scene modes, preferring to photograph in manual mode. I've found that the CMOS is so sensitive, that I generally set the white balance to the negative.Given the enormous telephoto lens, the camera is well balanced and light weight, but well built. The lens moves smoothly when adjusting for telephoto. The lens can be used in conjunction with 2.5x digital zoom, bring the total telephoto capability to 140x. As a purist, I keep the digital zoom off.As you increase the ISO values, there is increased noise at you approach ISO 3200; the CMOS sensitivity is such that I've never had to set the ISO this high, even in dark photography. The colors produced by the camera are very true to life; as a rule, I only adjust my photographs for light, never color.The camera's macro capability is from 0 cm; if you're doing very close macro photography with the camera, make sure the lens does not touch your subject! The lens will focus at 0 cmWhen taking action shots, (sports mode), it will record at ~2.5 frames per second, which is fast enough to catch most action.As they say, pictures are worth a 1000 words, so I've added pictures taken with the SX40. There is no magic here (other than the camera). I use Photoshop Elements to process the pictures, but other than cropping and correcting the lighting for highlights and shadows, these photographs are as taken. The colors are as photographed, NEVER adjusted.In the year I've owned the camera, I've taken almost 3000 photographs.Make sure you buy a class 10, high speed card for this camera to use it to it's maximum. The camera supports Eye Fi cards, but I haven't tried this feature.My recommendation: if you want to do photography that looks professional and comparable to a really good DSLR, don't hesitate to buy this camera, or the new SX50!To see some of what this camera is capable of please visit my photos on flicker: [...]