With its #CreateWithCanon campaign, Canon South Africa wants to encourage the use of its cameras in the urban creative and photography hobbyist markets.
You may recall my first #CreateWithCanon post where I had a gander at the PowerShot SX600 HS, its build quality, connectivity features, and how easily it fit into my pocket. I did gloss over the shooting modes, so let’s take a look at the finer details in this post.
Recall, this handy gif that summarizes the variety of shooting modes available for the PowerShot SX600 HS. While I won’t go over all of them, I’ll show you some of the photos that I shot using a few of my favourite modes. If the photos looks *odd* to you, that’s because they’re #nofilter.
The PowerShot SX600 HS includes a “Miniature Effect” mode that attempts to create the effect of a miniature model by blurring the areas above and below a selected area. Using the directional button and zoom lever, you’re able to move the selected area or resize the frame. With the city of Cape Town as my subject, I walked up a contour path on Table Mountain and decided the give the mode a try. Have a look at some of the results below.
Macro mode is the mainstay of most cameras, and to test it for the PowerShot SX600 HS, I went to visit Claus the Leopard Gecko. A plate of glass separated subject from camera but some of nocturnal gecko’s striking features still came through.
Another mode worth a mention is P. P is for “Program” and it’s meant to give the user more control to fine-tune some of the camera’s imaging features that would ordinarily be locked in other modes like Auto. You’re able to set the image brightness (exposure compensation) levels, adjust how the camera measures brightness (this is called the metering method), change the ISO speeds (AUTO, all the way up to 3200), and adjust the white balance (seven available options) to suit the conditions. A day at the local flea market in Milnerton proved to be a tourist experience with the camera’s “P” mode. Have a look.
Along with the different shooting modes, the camera also supports different (but fewer) aspect ratios – there’s 16:9 (widescreen), 3:2 which good if you want to print postcards, 4:3 which is coincidentally the operating aspect ratio of the camera’s LCD screen. There is also a 1:1 option, presumably if you want square photos to share to Instagram. For shooting movies, HD and full HD are available to choose, with the frame rate locked at 30 fps for both resolutions.
During my first test the battery lasted about three to four hours of *continuous* use before the low battery light flashed on-screen. For the battery to be charged from this point until full took about 2 hours. That’s not bad at all.
All during my time with the PowerShot SX600 HS, there was one bugbear at every turn: the LCD isn’t a touchscreen. You have no idea how many times I’ve touched and swiped across it, hoping for a reaction. Touch navigation would have been perfectly suited to choosing menu options, and it would have been convenient if your commonly used modes were available to select from the screen, as opposed to drudging through the control dial to get to the modes.
Price-wise this super-zoom compact camera is just shy of R2000 at some online retailers, which is fairly affordable for what you get. While there may be some initial setup with the Wi-Fi to get your photos shared across your mobile device and computer, it is convenient for many people. The 18x zoom is fantastic, and is the standout feature here. There’s a good selection of shooting modes for the quick snap or for when a more discerning shot is required. If the question is convenient photography, then the PowerShot SX600 HS is certainly a very good answer.
This completes my time with the PowerShot SX600 HS and #CreateWithCanon. I had a great time and I hope you’ve found the information useful. If you’d like to know more about it and other Canon products, be sure to visit Canon South Africa on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.