Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 12 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 4.5Mb.

The Canon PowerShot SX240 HS produces images of very good quality. It recorded noise-free images at ISO 100, 200 and 400, with some noise and slight colour desaturation at ISO 800. ISO 1600 shows more obvious noise and loss of colour but still remains perfectly usable, and even the fastest setting of ISO 3200 doesn't suffer too badly.

The Canon PowerShot SX240 HS handled chromatic aberrations well, with limited purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations and generally at the edges of the frame. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and good overall exposure.

Anti-shake works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. Macro performance is good, allowing you to focus as close as 5cms away from the subject. The images were a little soft straight out of the Canon PowerShot SX240 HS at the default sharpening setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting.

Noise

There are 6 ISO settings available on the Canon Powershot SX240 HS. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft at the default setting ideally and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level to suit your tastes via the My Colors menu option.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Canon Powershot SX240 HS' 20x zoom lens provides a versatile focal length of 25-500mm in 35mm terms, as demonstrated below.

25mm	500mm

File Quality

The Canon Powershot SX240 HS has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

12M Fine (4.13Mb) (100% Crop)	12M Normal (2.65Mb) (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

The Canon Powershot SX240 HS handled chromatic aberrations excellently during the review, with limited purple fringing present around the edges of objects in certain high-contrast situations, as shown in the example below.

Example 1 (100% Crop)

Macro

The Canon Powershot SX240 HS offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 5cms away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro Shot	100% Crop

Flash

The flash settings on the Canon Powershot SX240 HS are Auto, Flash On, Slow Synchro, and Flash Off, with Red-eye Correction and Red-Eye Lamp settings available via the Flash Settings main menu option. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (25mm)	Auto Flash - Wide Angle (25mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (500mm)	Auto Flash - Telephoto (500mm)

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting or the Red-Eye Correction option caused any red-eye.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red-eye Correction	Red-eye Correction (100% Crop)

Anti Shake

The Canon Powershot SX240 HS has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here are some 100% crops of the images to show the results. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length	Anti Shake Off (100% Crop)	Anti Shake On (100% Crop)
1/6th sec / 25mm
1/3rd sec / 500mm

My Colors

The My Colors function menu option contains the now familiar range of colour options for tweaking the look of your images before shooting.

Off	Vivid
Neutral	Sepia
B/W	Positive Film
Lighter Skin Tone	Darker Skin Tone
Vivid Blue	Vivid Green
Vivid Red

Creative Filters

The Canon Powershot SX240 HS has 9 different creative filter options to help spice up your images.

Fish-eye Effect	Miniature Effect
Toy Camera Effect	Soft Focus
Monochrome	Super Vivid
Poster Effect	Color Accent
Color Swap

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Canon PowerShot SX240 HS camera, which were all taken using the 12 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

As of February 2025, we are no longer providing full size sample images or videos for download.

Please contact us if you have any feedback on our new policy.

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera / Turned On

Isometric View

Isometric View

Isometric View

Isometric View

Front of the Camera / Pop-up Flash

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

Rear of the Camera / Function Menu

Top of the Camera

Bottom of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The new Canon PowerShot SX240 HS travel-zoom narrows the gap to the market-leading Panasonic TZ series by offering a much longer zoom, more features and fixing some of the issues that afflicted its predecessor. Full 1080p HD movies make the SX240 HS a more than competent all-in-one camera for both photos and video, although the built-in GPS system of the otherwise identical and slightly more expensive SX260 HS model is worth the extra cost.

 

The new 25-500mm, 20x zoom lens offers a broad focal range that makes it possible to frame up subjects near or far in pretty much an instant, pretty amazing given the size of the SX240 HS which is only a little larger than most compacts. We're glad to see the back of the flash unit that always popped up whenever the camera SX230 was turned on, and also the inexplicable 6-step delete image process which slowed down operation. Fast 10.3fps burst shooting at full 12 megapixel resolution is another big improvement offered by the SX240 HS.

 

Image quality is on a par with the previous SX230, that is to say very good. The employment of a back-illuminated sensor helps the SX240 to perform well in low light, with a usable ISO range of 100-800 and even the higher settings proving adequate for web use and smaller prints. The inclusion of full manual controls makes the SX240 HS as well suited to more experienced users looking for a compact alternative to their DSLR as it is the beginner, although as you'd perhaps expect there is no raw format support to sweeten the deal further.

 

Despite looking outwardly similar to its predecessor, the PowerShot SX240 HS represents a big step forward for Canon's travel-zoom cameras and is a real challenger to Panasonic's TZ30 and TZ25 models. Anyone looking for a pocket camera that can shoot high quality stills and video both near and far should seriously consider the exciting new Canon PowerShot SX240 HS.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4.5
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	4
Value for money	4

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Canon PowerShot SX240 HS from around the web.

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