PHOTO QUALITY. This 16-megapixel point-and-shoot camera captured images with very good quality. We judged this model excellent for outdoor performance, such as shooting landscapes in the daytime; very good for indoor performance, such as photographing a well-lit basketball game in a gym; very good for performance under natural light without a flash, such as shooting under an overcast sky.
FLASH. The PowerShot N2 captured flash shots that were fair. In our distance test, we found the camera's flash could illuminate most subjects that are closer to the camera, but had some problems with distant subjects. The flash also has poor, uneven coverage.
LENS. This camera includes an 8x zoom lens, a bit more zoom than a standard 3x. The lens also has wide-angle (28mm) capability that's useful for landscapes and group portraits, although you may notice a bit of distortion when you're shooting faces up close, for instance.
IMAGE STABILIZER. This is an important feature; taking hand-held shots at the telephoto end of the zoom range can generally blur or soften images due to the slight movement of your hands. Shooting telephoto in well-lit scenes, this model did an excellent job of minimizing the effects of camera shake. In low-light settings, it performed excellently and almost never produced blurry photos.
SPEED. In terms of performance, the Canon PowerShot N2 powers up very quickly. It has a short interval between shots, which can be important when shooting fast-moving or unpredictable subjects.
VIDEO. The Canon PowerShot N2 takes very good video, at a quality like many in its class. It captures full HD video at 1920 x 1080 30p. As for sound, it captures very good audio in stereo.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS. Like most point-and-shoot models, this camera does not include a viewfinder, which means you'll need to rely on the LCD to compose your photo or video. It has a small 2.8-inch touchscreen LCD, which has very good quality that lets you easily compose your shots and has fine playback of photos and video. The display also swivels; this can be helpful when shooting self-portraits or hard-to-reach shots.
