PHOTO QUALITY. This 20-megapixel Point-and-shoot camera captured images with very good quality. We judged this model very good for outdoor performance, such as shooting landscapes in the daytime; good for indoor performance, such as photographing a well-lit basketball game in a gym.
FLASH. The PowerShot SX610 HS captured flash shots that were good. 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 good, relatively even coverage.
LENS. It has a moderately long 18x zoom lens that can be helpful when you need to zoom in to capture your subjects. The lens also has very wide-angle (25mm) capability that's very useful for landscapes and group portraits, although you may notice a bit of distortion when you're shooting faces up close, for instance.
IMAGE STABILIZATION. This is an important feature with a long zoom lens; 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 zoom set at 4x in well-lit scenes, this model did an excellent job of minimizing the effects of camera shake. 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. Overall, the shake reduction results from our tests were excellent.
SPEED. In terms of performance, the Canon PowerShot SX610 HS powers up very quickly.
VIDEO. The Canon PowerShot SX610 HS takes good video. It captures full HD video at 1920 x 1080 30p. As for sound, it captures very good audio in mono.
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. This Point-and-shoot is bigger and a bit heavier than most in its class. Although this model has many features and controls, this Point-and-shoot is bulky and heavy, which may not make it the best model if you travel a lot.
