Review on 📷 Canon SX40 HS 12.1MP Digital Camera - 35x Optical Zoom, Wide Angle Stabilization, 2.7" Vari-Angle LCD by Katy Costa

This is a great little camera (small given the lens range) and I used it as my only camera on a trip to San Diego recently. I deliberately left my professional gear at home because I wasn't into photography and really wanted to compete for my money with this camera. The zoom, which is around 800mm, is a great feature. The wide-angle end of the scale isn't bad either. The optical stabilizer works well. I have a steady hand, but every time you use that long optical telephoto stabilization, it's not an option, it's a MUST. The most important thing to remember is that this is NOT an SLR camera. It doesn't focus or respond as quickly as a DSLR, and it doesn't have the low-light performance of a DSLR. If you keep this in mind, plan your shots, and focus on action scenes ahead of time, you can get great results. I found it quite acceptable for candid shots of events, flowers, animals in slow motion, buildings, landscapes (up to 12x24) and those typical subjects you might want to capture while traveling. The SX40 was too slow to catch kids diving into the water, even with pre-focusing. In any case, this is a difficult task. It took a long time to wait to get good shots. However, when the time came, I got great, very clear images in flight. I would not recommend this camera or ANY camera other than a DSLR for sports or fast action. Nice that the SX40 has an external flash. The lack of this option is a serious drawback of most consumer cameras. This camera is now in my bag wherever I travel. I carry it in a black tote bag that contains other essentials for a traveler: my wife's cosmetics, various medicines useful for travelers, sunscreen, insect pads, tissues, spare batteries, and a snake bite kit. (Okay, I don't have a Snakebite kit.) I won't hesitate to post footage of it on my website. In fact, the example slideshow on <.> contains a series of images of the SX40. The flower images were captured with the SX40.Gnarly Image Stave.