Canon PowerShot ZOOM Essential Kit Canon - Review 🏆

The Canon PowerShot ZOOM is a pocket-sized superzoom monocular camera designed for amateur photographers and families. Despite its incredibly compact size, it packs a powerful 12.1-megapixel 1/3.06-inch CMOS sensor and integrated 12x optical zoom, with an equivalent focal length range of 100-1200mm. This provides an astonishing amount of reach and versatility for such a tiny camera.

Some of the key features of the PowerShot ZOOM include:

• 12x optical zoom with Intelligent IS image stabilization
• 12.1MP 1/3.06-inch CMOS sensor
• Records 1080p Full HD video
• Built-in microphone
• 10fps continuous shooting
• Digic 8 image processor
• ISO 100-3200
• Electronic viewfinder
• USB charging and power bank support
• Built-in Bluetooth and WiFi
• Compatible with Canon Camera Connect app

The ultra-portable size and powerful zoom make the PowerShot ZOOM well suited for hobbies like birdwatching, wildlife photography, sports, and travel. It's an affordable and user-friendly option for those seeking long zoom range in a compact form factor.

Design & Build Quality

The Canon PowerShot ZOOM is a compact and lightweight superzoom monocular camera that fits easily in your pocket. It measures just 4.1 x 4.9 x 12.8 cm and weighs only 145g, making it extremely portable.

Despite its small size, the PowerShot ZOOM feels very solid and durable thanks to its metal exterior housing. The body is made of a magnesium alloy frame with polycarbonate resin panels. This provides a premium feel while still keeping the weight down. Buttons and dials also have a sturdy tactile feedback.

The monocular design allows you to hold and use the camera like a telescope. It's easy to grip with one hand, and the eyepiece has a soft rubber eyecup for comfort during prolonged viewing. Overall, the build quality is excellent for a pocketable camera at this price point. Portability is a key advantage that makes the PowerShot ZOOM well-suited to travel and outdoor activities like birdwatching or nature walks.

Another noteworthy product is the Canon SX540 HS PowerShot. This camera is known for its impressive 50x optical zoom range and 20.3 megapixels CMOS sensor, offering great versatility and image quality. With built-in Wi-Fi and NFC capabilities, it provides an enhanced sharing experience. The ergonomic design ensures comfortable handling, making it an excellent choice for both casual photographers and serious enthusiasts.

Optics & Image Quality

The Canon PowerShot ZOOM has a modest 12MP 1/3.1" CMOS sensor, which is quite small compared to most digital cameras. However, it's paired with an optically stabilized 100-400mm equivalent f/5.6-8 lens, providing a 12x optical zoom range in a tiny body.

The lens construction utilizes 14 elements in 10 groups, with 1 double-sided aspherical lens and 1 single-sided aspherical UA lens, helping control chromatic aberrations. Image quality is decent but limited by the small sensor size. The lens has a minimum focus distance of 10m at wide-angle and 50m at telephoto.

Overall the lens performs well for its size, providing good image quality and impressive reach. The built-in optical image stabilization helps reduce camera shake when zoomed in. But the small sensor means noise can be an issue, especially in low light. Still, it's a versatile setup for casual use.

The Canon PowerShot G1X Mark III features a larger 24.2MP APS-C sensor, significantly improving image quality over smaller sensor cameras. Its 24-72mm equivalent f/2.8-5.6 lens provides a versatile zoom range with excellent sharpness and clarity. The camera includes Dual Pixel CMOS AF for fast, accurate autofocus, and an integrated electronic viewfinder for precise framing. It offers a blend of advanced features and portability, making it an attractive choice for enthusiast photographers.

Features & Controls

The Canon PowerShot ZOOM has a unique 12x optical zoom capability packed into a super compact and lightweight body. This allows you to get surprisingly close to distant subjects like birds and wildlife.

It utilizes an auto focus system to keep subjects sharp and in focus. There's also a manual focus option available, which can be useful when tracking moving subjects.

In terms of controls, there is a zoom toggle that lets you smoothly zoom in and out. A mode dial provides access to auto, manual, and scene modes. The Power and Shutter buttons allow you to turn the device on/off and capture photos or videos.

The ZOOM has built-in optical image stabilization to minimize shake and blur, even when zoomed all the way in. This results in sharper images when handholding the device.

Overall, the controls and zoom capabilities allow for a lot of creative flexibility in a remarkably small form factor. The 12x zoom range gives you great reach while maintaining portability.

Connectivity & Battery

The Canon PowerShot ZOOM has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for wirelessly transferring images and videos to smartphones and tablets using the Canon Camera Connect app. It can also be connected directly to devices via its micro USB port.

For power, the ZOOM uses a rechargeable NB-13L lithium-ion battery pack. Canon claims the battery can last for up to 200 still images or approximately 1.5 hours of movie recording on a full charge. Real world battery life will vary depending on usage. The ZOOM comes with the battery pack and a charger.

Overall, the wireless connectivity options are decent but limited compared to a smartphone. The battery life is relatively short, so carrying spare batteries is recommended for longer shooting sessions. The ZOOM does not have a headphone jack or external mic input.

Ease of Use

The Canon PowerShot ZOOM is extremely easy and intuitive to use, making it ideal for beginners and casual users. Despite its small size, the ergonomics are well thought out. It fits nicely in one hand with the fingers curling around the grip. All of the controls are within easy reach of the thumb and index finger.

The interface is clean and uncluttered with just a few buttons and a monochrome LCD screen. There are dedicated buttons for power, photo/video toggle, zoom in/out, and menu. The menu system itself is straightforward and simple to navigate. Options are limited to basic settings like resolution, timer, and date stamp. This simplicity allows you to start shooting quickly without getting bogged down in complex menus.

Operation is seamless and foolproof. Turn it on, frame your shot, zoom in, and press the shutter - that's it! The electronic viewfinder makes composition and shooting easy from any angle. The smooth 12x optical zoom covers an impressive 100mm to 1200mm focal length range. Autofocus and exposure are handled automatically, allowing you to concentrate on getting the shot. The ergonomic design paired with simple, intuitive controls makes the PowerShot ZOOM enjoyable and easy for anyone to use right out of the box.

Performance

The Canon PowerShot ZOOM has reasonably quick and accurate autofocus, which is important for a compact camera like this intended for spontaneous shooting. It uses contrast-detection autofocus, which is standard for point-and-shoot cameras in this class.

In good lighting conditions, autofocus acquisition is fairly fast, taking about 0.5 seconds to lock on focus. This is fast enough for grabbing shots of moving subjects like birds in flight or children playing. However, in low light autofocus does slow down and can hunt back and forth, so it helps to have good lighting when shooting fast action.

The ZOOM has minimal shutter lag, taking a shot instantly when you press the shutter button. Shot-to-shot times are also reasonably fast at around 1 second between shots. This allows you to quickly capture a short burst of photos. However, the camera does not have a continuous shooting mode for sustained bursts.

Overall, the performance is on par with other compact point-and-shoot cameras but not as fast as higher-end interchangeable lens cameras. The autofocus and shot speeds are sufficient for casual everyday shooting, just don't expect the blistering performance of professional cameras.

Pros & Cons

The Canon PowerShot ZOOM is a unique and innovative camera that offers some key advantages as well as a few limitations to be aware of.

Pros

• Compact, lightweight, and portable design makes it easy to take anywhere.
• Simple operation with just 2 buttons, ideal for beginners and casual users.
• 12.1MP sensor provides decent image quality for a pocket camera.
• Impressive optical zoom range up to 400mm equivalent for distant subjects.
• Optical image stabilization helps reduce blur from camera shake.
• Built-in WiFi and Bluetooth allow wireless image transfer.
• Useful modes for birding, wildlife, landscapes, and other scenes.

Cons

• Small 1/3.2" image sensor limits low light performance.
• Fixed aperture of f/5.6-f/11 can make it tricky to blur backgrounds.
• No ability to capture video, only still images.
• Low resolution EVF and LCD are subpar for framing and reviewing shots.
• Slow burst shooting speed of just 2.5fps.
• Battery life could be better when using zoom lens extensively.
• No RAW image capture, JPEGs only.

Who is it for?

The Canon PowerShot ZOOM is ideal for amateur birdwatch photographers and families who want a simple, pocketable camera with basic zoom capabilities.

Its compact size and lightweight build make it very portable for travel or everyday outings. The 12x optical zoom allows you to get noticeably closer views of distant subjects like birds, wildlife, scenery, and more. While image quality is just average, it's good enough for casual users who just want snapshots.

The built-in image stabilization helps reduce blur from camera shake, which is useful for handheld shots. This can benefit birding enthusiasts who need to shoot handheld when following active birds. Families will appreciate the point-and-shoot simplicity, with automatic settings and easy sharing capabilities.

Overall, the PowerShot ZOOM hits a nice sweet spot for casual hobbyists who want better zoom reach than a smartphone, without the bulk and complexity of a DSLR and large lenses. It packs some useful features into a compact body at an affordable price point. Just don't expect pro-level image quality and you'll be pleased with the convenience and zoom power.

Conclusion

The Canon PowerShot ZOOM is an innovative and unique pocket-sized monocular camera that packs a surprising amount of features into a compact body. Its superzoom capabilities allow you to get up close to distant subjects like wildlife and sports from afar.

Image quality is decent though limited by the small sensor size. Photos and videos are good enough for sharing online or small prints. It excels at its niche of being an easy-to-use monocular camera hybrid.

The built-in WiFi allows seamless transfer of images and videos to your mobile device. The companion app also enables remote control of the camera which is handy.

For its size and price point, the Canon PowerShot ZOOM offers great versatility as a camera and monocular in one portable package. It's a fun and user-friendly option for amateur nature photographers, birdwatchers, families and anyone looking for an easy way to photograph faraway subjects.

Overall, the Canon PowerShot ZOOM is recommended for those looking for a uniquely compact superzoom camera that can capture distant subjects. Just don't expect top-notch image quality. As a versatile pocket-sized camera and monocular hybrid, it hits the mark.