I had a chance to play with the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS for half a day, taking some photos at Universal Studios Singapore Canon Event. I don’t actually know how to use a camera properly, or take great shots. So I’m going to talk about my experience with the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS from a normal person’s perspective.
Specifications
As usual, here are some specifications of the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS that I find informative.
| Canon PowerShot SX210 IS | |
| Total MegaPixels | 14.1MP |
| Zoom | 14x Optical / 4x Digital / 56x Combined |
| Colours |  |
| Storage Medium | SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, MMC Plus Card, HC MMC Plus Card |
| Shooting Modes | Smart Shutter (Smile, Wink Self-timer, Face Detection Self-timer), Low Light, Color Accent, Color Swap, Fisheye Effect, Miniature Effect, Beach, Foliage, Snow, Fireworks, Stitch Assist |
I think the most notable are the Smart Shutter, Color Accent / Swap, Fisheye and Miniature effects.
Features
At the event, we were told to try out 3 major features of the camera’s functionalities. I have no idea what effects these were, but what the heck I’ll just try them out for fun.
- Colour Accent and Colour Swap
- FishEye Effect
- Miniature Effect
Colour Accent and Colour Swap
This is my most favourite effect, the Colour Accent. Colour Accents essentially only takes 1 colour, accentuates that colour in your photo, and makes every colour black and white. I’m the kind of person who takes photos just for fun, and I’m not that artistic in any way. But the Colour Accent effect had me wanting to take more of these photos. Just take a look at the following photos.
Girl Walking Alone
A Lonely Street
Sad Boy
The Yellow Line On My Feet
Roger Rabbit...?
What am I waiting for?
I don’t know about you, but I think those photos I took are a few of my best shots ever.
Pink Guy
Colour swap takes 2 colours and swaps them with each other. You can only do a 2 colour swap. Personally, I don’t quite know what to do with the colour swap, but here’s a funny try I did. I turned this guy into a shade of pink. It didn’t turn out very well though. What do you think?
FishEye Effect
A FishEye effect enlarges the center of the photo. There are 3 modes in the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS – Low, Medium, High – which are the strengths of the enlargement. Again, I had no idea why one would use a FishEye effect, but I tried it out anyway. It is probably for some funny shots. Here are some of my attempts. 
Shrek's Lair
This photo had a medium FishEye effect which made Shrek’s house a little more twisted then it originally is, which I thought it gave a better eerie feel.
My Big Spikey Ball
Growl! I enlarged the spikey ball with the heavy FishEye effect. Time to smash everything into bits and pieces. Just kidding. What did you think? No Photoshop at all! Wee!
And this is my personal favourite. I made DK skinny! Weight loss without the exercise. Some of the interesting uses of FishEye effect. 
Miniature Effect
The Miniature effect gives your photos the illusion of a toy-like view, blurring the top and bottom and focusing the center portion to create that miniature effect. I have absolutely no idea how to use this effect, so I have only just a few, which didn’t turn out well at all. However, the best one is this.
My first attempt to ever using the Miniature effect. If I had a chance to play with this effect more, I might be able to create some nice toy effects.
Thoughts
I only had it for a few hours, and spent the entire time using it. However, I think the photos came out better than I expected.
+ Easy to use, producing great clear photos
I’m an amateur photographer, but with the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS, I took photos of such clarity and with interesting effects that I never thought was possible with my amateurish skills.
+ Love colour accent
As you saw above, I took a lot more photos with the colour accent effect. Out of all the effects, I love this the most.
+ Fast shooting speed
Amazing speed at taking photos, especially with the Smart Shutter which I didn’t really write much. It was so quick that it could capture your smile at that precise moment. You’ll never miss a perfect smile again.
- Stiff dial to change camera modes
It took me a while to get used to this, but I had to constantly keep changing camera modes with the dial. The stiffness didn’t help much, but I guess after a while it’ll loosen up.
- Wish colour accent could target objects instead
This is a feedback I gave Canon to their research team. If they can target objects to have colours, and everything else be black and white, I would be able to take more “Roger Rabbit” style photos.
Summary
Canon PowerShot SX210 IS is a camera that allows you to take great professional looking photos, with various effects like the Fisheye, Miniature, Color Accent/Swap without using Adobe Photoshop at all. If you want a good camera with these professional effects, Canon PowerShot SX210 IS is the one for you. It is currently selling in Singapore at the recommended retail price of SGD$649.
Thanks to Canon and Ogilvy for inviting me to test out their new cameras, being a newbie photographer and all.
If I can take great photos with a Canon camera, so can you!
Slideshow
Take a look at all the photos I took with the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS.
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