Canon PowerShot SX40 HS Black 12.1 MP 35X Optical Zoom 24mm Wide Angle Digital Camera Canon PowerShot SX40 HS Black 12.1 MP 35X Optical Zoom 24mm Wide Angle Digital Camera

Pros: Camera is great! 32GB memory card holds thousands of high res photo's and hours of HD video. Best pictures I've ever taken and even the best video's! Battery life is very good also.

Cons: Can take some time getting used to it as it can do so many things. Doesn't come with a printed manual.

Other Thoughts: I would definitely print out the manual on the CD for quick reference. And get a good high quality camera case.

Pros: I got mine from a friend who needed money fast. It was brand new except no box and no charger. I did some research and found that this camera has some hidden capabilities if you employ CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit).
CHDK makes this camera a super camera capable of higher end DSLR camera features. With CHDK, you can run scripts and change exposures that the factory settings will not do.

CHDK allows for shooting in RAW which is the only way I shoot. Far better image info and better image manipulation with all that info.

The camera is a bridge camera to me. What I mean is that it is not a pocket camera and not a full size DSLR. It is a little of both with features that make it better than either.

The Zoom feature is great. There are lenses available for macro and even a 2x zoom extension lens. There is a hot shoe for external flashes and all kinds of other accessories that make this camera even better.

Cons: CHDK should be standard. CHDK has to be installed on the SD card and the camera booted from the SD card. Kind of a pain but it does work well once going.

Lots of info on CHDK on the net. Worth looking into.

You will need a good USB card reader / writer...I use USB3 and have a 64GB SDXC card and a 32 GB card.

This camera does have some faults. The screen is sort of small. The viewfinder is kind of small and your nose will hit the screen if using the viewfinder.

Other Thoughts: Higher capacity batteries are available for this camera. Lots of other aftermarket stuff available too.

The video on this camera is really pretty good for a still camera. Image quality is good with the image stabilization feature. Sound is adequate but I wish it had an external mic jack.

The Canon SX40 HS looks like a higher end camera and with CHDK, has pretty much the same abilities.

RAW capabilities makes this camera really shine. Not available on the camera from the factory, RAW is part of the CHDK hack.

CHDK also allows for exotic exposure settings and even motion detection to shoot lightning if you wish. CHDK extends ISO and other features that high end cameras have.

This camera also has a YouTube following and several web sites that cater to SX 40 fans. Lots of info out there on this camera and what it can do.

BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK. I highly recommend this camera for its capabilities and the price.

Pros: Ultimate Zoom, and it's fast! Sweet macro, also. Dedicated video button records in whatever creative mode you have photos set to. It takes outstanding photos while recording video! Excellent creative effects such as miniature, super vivid, and slow motion. EZ Color accent or swapped video. Cinematic quality 24fps. Rapid fire 8 photos in less then a second, with 2 second refresh time. Great battery life and charger.. this style battery is affordable too! Buy an extra for like 12 bucks! Cool strap. Wonderful price (NewEggs got it for $379 right now with free 8gig SD card).

Cons: The auto focus can be a little slow.. I've missed a few more shots then I did with SX150IS. There is some funky ISO limitation so that you can't get awesome night shots.. I think it was implemented to keep this camera from becoming TO POWERFUL. It would take away from their EOS market if this cam was that amazing out of the box. However, you CAN get around the ISO lock with CHDK and make this camera do the stuff of dreams. The only other con I can consider is there is a tiny bit of rolling shutter if your moving quickly like all other CMOS sensors. No big deal if you are in control of your composition.

Other Thoughts: I've made killer Macro videos in super vivid mode. You'll need more then 4gb. I recently when out shooting rapid fire stills, mini (faux tilt shift) videos and normal videos, and you can fill up 4 gigs in about an hour of fairly active shooting. It's a GREAT "Bridge" camera. You don't need a huge bag of lenses. There is a fantastic YouTube community supporting learning about this camera! But it!

Pros: Powerful zoom, image stabilization, plenty of MP's, easy to use, can use (w/adapter) filters and/or macro, wide angle, telephoto, or fisheye lenses... and did I mention it had a powerful zoom? IS zoom in stills or video.

N/A commented about the lack of a "horseshoe" for flash. It DOES have a hotshoe, but it's concealed under the top cover. If you take a very slender screwdriver and CAREFULLY pry up the front of the cover a tiny little bit, the cover will slide back and off, exposing the hotshoe.

Cons: Have to put something here: Uhm... limited lens/filter options. Not really a con, since it's a non-DSLR camera.

Other Thoughts: A great point-and-shoot camera with plenty of adjustable features. Powerful IS zoom that can capture far away shots that would be impossible with a lesser camera. Great video camera, too. While it's not quite DSLR, it's about as close as you can get without spending the "big bucks".

Pros: Can use filters, merely requires the purchase of the FA-DC67A adapter. Can save in RAW format, but requires the installation of CHDK (which adds more features than can be listed here - time lapse photography script, for example)

Cons: The ONLY con I can come up with is the fact that the camera does not come with an SD card.

Other Thoughts: I looked at many cameras before choosing the SX40. The existence of CHDK (from open source programmers) was the final factor in favor of this camera.

Pros: Really nice combo of a superzoom and macro. Detail is pretty incredible, even though it's only 12.1MP. Nice bells and whistles in the various settings. HD video looked great on my 55" 1080P plasma.

Cons: No horseshoe for flash. Can't add lens filters (although you can find them out there, camera isn't manufactured for them). Only 12.1 MP. Even though pics are amazingly crisp, would really love to be able to blow these up more than 9x14". Only had it for a week, will update if any more crop up.

Other Thoughts: Great camera for the price. Looked at this one, the Fujifilm h25exr (h30exr shoots in RAW, only difference), and the Panasonic fz150. Ended up being between the Canon and Panasonic, with the Canon winning for better zoom and $100 cheaper. All the reviews I read through had picture quality as basically the same, even though the others had more MP. CMOS sensor apparently was the right move. I didn't feel like dropping the cash for a DSLR (and lenses), but needed something more than a simple point and shoot. This was a great compromise.

Pros: - Excellent zoom capability- impressive quality photos across the zoom range (surprisingly, even when fully zoomed- a rare find!).
- Overall fantastic image and video quality! When displaying photos on computer screen or large HDTV, the pictures are excellent. Video taken with the camera is extremely impressive when viewed on a large-screen HDTV.
- Very good controls (full manual to automatic).
- Battery life seems satisfactory.

Cons: - On rare ocassions, skin tones when using the flash appear a strange orange/reddish color. It's not horrible, but is un-natural looking. Only skin tones are rendered with this color- nothing else.

Other Thoughts: As a semi-professional photographer, I have high expectations for photo and video quality- this camera will not disappoint! Rather than taking very expensive equipment on a trip to Mexico, we decided to only take this camera. It was a very difficult decision, however I experienced no limitations with it and was ultimately vert glad I did not have to worry about my bulky/expensive equipment. This was an excellent alternative and comparitively very compact.

Pros: This is one of my favorite cameras, It feels good holding it in your hands. It is a worthy upgrade from a SX10 SX30 G11 SX110 And it takes a picture as good as my S100 coming from a point and shoot world never using raw,I am sure a advanced user could get a better picture from S100 but I am getting good quality photos without a lot of hassle using auto & P mode with the SX40.

Very good image quality, good auto white balance, user-friendly design make the SX40 difficult to exceed in a single-lens camera unless you go to the canon G1X. I posted some pictures on this site to see the sharpness and true to life colors. I was also very pleased with its image stabilization The camera isn't perfect, but no camera is. The most improvement is lower noise even at 200iso and up in my test, with all my cameras, that said my canon G1X is the best here but it has that huge sensor in it.

Cons: The camera isn't perfect, but no camera is.

Other Thoughts: I am using a 8gb extreme pro sandisk card, I know it is a little over kill here. Note if taking alot of movies get a spare card just in case... The canon speedlite 270EX works great with this cameras hot shoe, I would highly recommend getting one when you can afford it...

If you want something that is easy to use, has a great zoom lens, takes great photos and is under $400, this is the camera for you. By the way if you need a little shirt pocket camera I think the canon 300HS is a great little camera.