Canon PowerShot SX430 Review – Best Point and Shoot Camera for Beginners

If you are new to photography and looking for a professional basic level camera, Canon PowerShot SX430 is certainly for you. In fact, if you’re a beginner to digital cameras, this may very well turn out to be one of the best point and shoot cameras for you.

Canon PowerShot SX430 is an optical superzoom camera that turns out to be a perfect travel companion. This 20 mega-pixel camera allows you to capture amazing pictures and close-ups with its 45x optical zoom.

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The ergonomic design of the PowerShot SX430 allows better handling, which paves the way for clear and stable pictures and videos. Other than the design, the camera has various features that will leave you amazed. Let’s dive deeper into some of its main highlights.

Incredible Zoom

We are really surprised at the quality of zoom offered by the PowerShot SX430. Despite being a budget point and shoot camera, the zoom is probably as good as it can be at this price point.

Pretty much everyone who bought this camera is all praise for the excellent zoom quality. And that’s not only for the images, but the videos as well.

You can actually zoom in on building structures and objects far away from your location, and still capture little details perfectly.

Amazing Close-Ups

Another feature that sets it apart from the other best point and shoot cameras under 20,000 is the quality of its close-up shots. It manages to take extremely detailed close-up pictures with great colour retention.

The great zoom capability does come in handy too, especially when you want to capture every little detail of the object you’re shooting.

And this is all without having to use any complex, advanced settings, which brings us to our next feature of discussion.

Very Beginner-Friendly

Generally, capturing great details and beginner-friendly operation doesn’t go hand in hand. Professional photographers using even some of the best DSLR cameras in India have to play around with the settings quite a bit to get the quality of pictures you want.

Now, you’re not going to get DSLR quality pictures or videos with the Canon PowerShot SX430, but you’re likely going to get the best you can as a beginner.

No need to mess around with the settings. There’s manual ISO which can be very helpful for beginners.

Useful and easy to understand light settings, different mode (P) and overall very simple operation. Not to mention it’s also very lightweight and comes with high-quality strap and bag which makes it very easy to carry around.

Let us quickly wrap up some of the other important features of the PowerShot SX430.

Quick Glance at Important Features

1. Wi-Fi/NFC Compatibility- Apart from the aesthetics, another major highlight of this camera is the built-in Wi-Fi/NFC feature which allows you to access the images even when you don’t have the camera with you. This feature has simplified the process of sharing the images from the camera directly to social media due to which it is popular among youngsters. The Canon Connect App further allows users to send their location to the camera to enable geo tagging in their photos.
2. Battery life- The camera has a battery life of 195 shots, therefore it’s advisable to keep a spare battery during travelling.
3. Shooting Speed– The camera boasts a speed of 0.5 shots per second. However, this shooting speed gets extended to 2.2 fps in dim light mode.
4. Strong performance- This camera by Canon performs surprisingly well with impressive image quality thereby keeping the colours intact. However, there might be an issue of purple fringing in high contrast images.
5. Video- The device allows users to record sharp and stable 720p videos. Thanks to the 45X optical zoom feature that helps in taking closeups thereby maintaining the quality.
6. Easy Portability- Despite its amazing performance and ergonomic design, you will be delighted to know that the light weight of the camera makes it portable and easy to carry. And did we tell you that it comes with a neck strap? The neck strap helps you to get a firm grip over it.

Pros:

• Thanks to the 45X optical zoom feature allows users to click crystal clear photos. However, the image quality may get distorted if the optical zoom reaches 180X.
• Ease of use
• Good colour saturation
• Inbuilt Wi-Fi/NFC that allows sharing of photos on social media directly from the camera
• This point and shoot camera comes with multiple creative filters
• The product comes with a 2-year warranty by the manufacturer

Cons:

• Low battery backup
• Lacks Panoramic mode
• The camera doesn’t offer effective shooting in dim light
• It doesn’t allow users to shoot full HD videos and with the best video quality offered being 720p HD
• Continuous shooting is fairly slow as compared to other models by Canon in this price range

Verdict

Finally, we would conclude that the PowerShot SX430 is a perfect companion for beginners. The optical zoom feature along with amazing colour saturation suits well to the needs of the photographer.

There are some minor downsides as well, but unless you’re a professional with high expectations they shouldn’t worry you much.

The great zoom functionality, amazing close-up shots, beginner-friendly operation and impressive detailing all make it a solid option for beginners.