The Canon PowerShot SX170 IS is a compact digital camera made for the amateur photographer. Its 16-megapixel sensor and highly powerful 16x optical zoom lens provide for many different uses- landscapes and portraits, action and travel shots. In this review, let us further inspect the features, performance, and pros of the Canon PowerShot SX170 IS.
The SX170 IS has shooting modes built for specific situations – portrait, landscape, sports, night – plus a manual mode if you’d rather set things yourself. There are also a handful of creative filters (fisheye, miniature, toy camera) if you want to mess with the look of a shot.
Video maxes out at 1280×720, with a dedicated button so you can start recording in one press. There’s no mic input, but the built-in mic does fine on its own, and you can zoom mid-recording not something every camera in this range lets you do.
Low light is the weak spot. It uses contrast-detection autofocus, slower than the phase-detection systems you’d find in pricier cameras, and once the light drops, keeping a moving subject in focus gets genuinely hard.
The bigger issue is manual mode doesn’t actually hand you aperture or shutter speed control. Call it manual mode, but there’s not much manual about it – which cuts out a lot of what a more experienced shooter would want to do.
For video recording, this camera can shoot 720p HD video at 25FPS and has a dedicated movie button that helps you initiate and terminate the video recording quickly and easily. During video recording, the zoom on the camera can also be utilized to zoom in and out smoothly without jerky movements.
The SX170 IS covers the usual shooting modes – Auto, Program, plus scene presets like Portrait, Landscape, and Night. There are creative filters too, including Fish-eye, Miniature, and Toy Camera, for when you want to give a shot a different look.
One of the features of Canon PowerShot SX170 IS is the ease of use. It speaks simple and the features are intuitive. Automatic ways are plenty in this camera for pictures that are just great without worrying about adjustments. There is even that Help button where on-screen descriptions regarding functions and settings can be used to make learning of the camera incredibly easy.
Another thing is that the Canon PowerShot SX170 IS is very compact and light. The camera is pocketable for both a purse or in your pocket. And this camera has a comfortable grip so that it is held in a firm way that allows you to shoot steady even at full zoom.
With battery power, two AA batteries power the Canon PowerShot SX170 IS and give a respectable run-time. However, one thing to point out is that it does not come with its rechargeable battery or charger and these will be purchased on a separate interval if you plan to purchase rechargeable batteries.
The SX170 IS is a decent all-rounder good image quality, solid feature set for both stills and video, and light enough that you’ll actually bring it with you instead of leaving it at home. This camera, very reliable and surprisingly affordable, is an amazing choice between both enthusiasts and new photographers looking for this point-and-shoot.
CANON PowerShot SX170 IS 3-Inch LCD 16 Megapixel Compact Camera, Black: Buy it now
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Tech Reviewer & Product Analyst
Định Bia has spent over 10 years testing consumer electronics with a focus on smart technology. He work as a product advisor at Biareview where he helped customers find the right devices for their needs. He personally tests every product featured on this site using a consistent evaluation framework covering quality, durability, and value. All reviews are based on experience, not influenced by the manufacturer.