Canon PowerShot SX40 HS Review: A Formidable Ultrazoom

The big news with the introduction of the SX40 is the addition of Canon's new DIGIC 5 chip - the same one used in the just announced $6800 Canon EOS 1D X - under the hood, adding state of the art speed and image performance to the SX camera line. The DIGIC 5 chip allows for a high speed shooting mode where the SX40 can capture 8 frames per second.

Canon is to be commended for using this additional performance for speed and image quality instead of a race for higher resolution, by including a 12.1 megapixel sensor - just about the highest resolution that is reasonable for a 1/2.3-inch sensor before image quality starts to go downhill. A 1/2.3-inch sensor is about 1/5 of a 35mm film frame in each dimension - providing only 1/25th of the total sensor area of a full frame camera, so to keep image quality high the resolution can't increase much beyond the 12 megapixels of the SX40.

Canon has also included an improved 2.7-inch adjustable LCD, and full 1080p HD video with stereo audio capture - easily triggered by using a dedicated Movie button - along with an upgraded Image Stabilization system. A variety of manual modes allow for impressive control for advanced photographers, although the lack of a RAW image capture option will definitely disappoint avid hobbyists.