Canon PowerShot SX40 HS

11th December 2011

Written by Gordon Laing

Quality

Canon PowerShot SX40 HS vs Panasonic Lumix FZ150 vs Sony Cyber-shot HX100V image quality

To compare real-life performance when zoomed-out, we shot this scene with the Canon PowerShot SX40 HS, Panasonic Lumix FZ150 and Sony Cyber-shot HX100V within a few moments of each other using their best quality JPEG settings.

The lenses on each camera were adjusted to deliver the same field of view and all three cameras were set to f4 in Aperture priority mode for a level playing field. f4 was chosen to maximise sharpness and minimise diffraction.

The sensitivity was manually set to the lowest available setting on each camera: 100 ISO on all three models. Note the firmware for the FZ150 tested here was v1.0.

	Canon SX40 HS results
1	Canon SX40 HS Quality
2	Canon SX40 HS Noise
3	Canon SX40 HS Handheld Night Scene
4	Canon SX40 HS Sample images

The image above was taken with the Canon PowerShot SX40 HS with the lens set to 6.7mm (37mm equivalent) and the aperture set to f4 in Aperture Priority mode; f4 was chosen to maximise sharpness while avoiding diffraction, and selected on all three cameras below for a level playing field.

At f4 and 100 ISO, the SX40 HS metered an exposure of 1/800 for the scene here, whereas the FZ150 and HX100V opted for 1/1000 and 1/1250 respectively. The quicker exposures of these two models were more appropriate for recording the brighter portions of the scene, but again for a level playing field I matched their exposures to the SX40 HS, as that’s the model on test here. So I applied +0.3 and +0.6EV of compensation to the FZ150 and HX100V respectively, forcing them to expose this scene at 1/800. So below you’re seeing and comparing exactly the same exposure from each camera.

The first row of crops clearly reveals the problem with the exposure metered by the SX40 HS here: it’s very saturated and much of the detail on the snowy mountain ridge has been lost forever. To be fair to the SX40 HS, the exposure isn’t bad for the entire scene as a whole (as seen in the reduced version above left), but it could arguably be better still with -0.3 EV compensation applied. Indeed the 1/1000 exposure originally metered by the FZ150 looked best of all to my eyes, while the 1/1250 originally metered by the HX100V was perhaps a tad too dark. Perhaps the Sony deliberately underexposes a little to protect highlights on a sensor with a more limited dynamic range due to its high resolution. Conversely maybe the Canon slightly over-exposes to reduce the amount of visible noise in shadow areas. The bottom line is you may need to apply a little negative compensation to the SX40 HS to protect highlight areas.

On a positive note though, none of the crops of the first row exhibit any coloured fringing, which is unusual given the high contrast of the subject and big zoom ranges of the lenses. As such, we can assume all three are applying some degree of digital correction in this regard, which is very welcome on this kind of camera.

Moving onto the remaining crops, you can more easily see the difference between the resolutions of each camera: the Canon and Panasonic share the same 12 Megapixel resolution, whereas the Sony wins the numbers game with 16 Megapixels. This is why the Sony crops show a tighter area in their 100% crops, but is there actually any greater detail within them?

Looking very closely, I’d say the Sony HX100V is indeed resolving a little more detail than the Canon and Panasonic models in this scene. It’s just about visible in the very fine details around the buildings and foliage, but it’s a lot more subtle than you might expect given its four extra Megapixels. Certainly judging from these crops I wouldn’t choose the Sony based solely on it having a higher resolution sensor.

Meanwhile, there’s unsurprisingly even less to note between the Canon and Panasonic crops. The degree of detail is essentially the same, and the only real difference is a very minor alternative approach to image processing.

So in terms of in-camera JPEGs at the base sensitivity under bright light conditions, the Canon SX40 HS and Panasonic FZ150 are essentially neck-in-neck, while the Sony HX100V enjoys a tiny edge in resolving power – but not enough to be a deal-breaker against the others.

What really does make a bigger difference though is the Panasonic FZ150’s ability to record RAW files – something that’s not possible on its two rivals here. In my Panasonic FZ150 RAW quality I illustrated the degree of highlight detail that can be retrieved from its RAW files, which was forever lost on JPEGs. This is a key advantage the FZ150 has over the competition, especially when one of its rivals here (the Canon) has a tendency to over-expose a little and suffer from more blown highlights as a result. If you’re willing to process RAW files on your computer, you’ll simply be able to retrieve much more highlight detail from an FZ150 RAW file than you can from any of the JPEGs here.

Now let’s see how each camera performs at higher sensitivities in my Canon SX40 HS noise results.

Canon PowerShot SX40 HS	Panasonic Lumix FZ150	Sony Cyber-shot HX100V

f4, 100 ISO	f4, 100 ISO	f4, 100 ISO


f4, 100 ISO	f4, 100 ISO	f4, 100 ISO


f4, 100 ISO	f4, 100 ISO	f4, 100 ISO


f4, 100 ISO	f4, 100 ISO	f4, 100 ISO

Canon PowerShot SX40 HS results : Real-life resolution / High ISO Noise / Handheld Night Scene

Canon PowerShot SX40 HS vs Panasonic Lumix FZ150 vs Sony Cyber-shot HX100V Noise

	Canon SX40 HS results
1	Canon SX40 HS Quality
2	Canon SX40 HS Noise
3	Canon SX40 HS Handheld Night Scene
4	Canon SX40 HS Sample images

To compare noise levels under real-life conditions we shot this scene with the Canon PowerShot SX40 HS, Panasonic Lumix FZ150 and the Sony Cyber-shot HX100V within a few moments of each other using their best quality JPEG settings at each of their ISO sensitivity settings.

All three cameras were set to f4 in Aperture Priority and the lenses adjusted to deliver the same field of view. The ISO sensitivity was set manually, apart from in the final two rows of crops where each camera was set to their respective low-light / high sensitivity scene presets.

Note the firmware for the FZ150 tested here was v1.0.

The image above was taken with the Canon PowerShot SX40 HS with the lens set to 7.1mm (39mm equivalent) and the aperture set to f4 in Aperture Priority mode. At its base sensitivity of 100 ISO, the SX40 HS metered an exposure of 0.3 seconds for this composition. On the previous page we saw how the Canon slightly over-exposed compared to the Panasonic and Sony. This time, the Panasonic FZ150 metered exactly the same exposure of 0.3 seconds, although the Sony HX100V again under-exposed a little, so to match the exposures I applied +0.3EV compensation. As such, the exposures you see in the crops below are all identical, allowing us to directly compare the quality – not to mention the actual sensitivity – at each ISO setting.

The crops below are taken from the area marked with the red rectangle and reproduced at 100%. To remind ourselves, the Canon SX40 HS and Panasonic FZ150 share the same 12 Megapixel resolution, while the Sony features 16 Megapixels; this higher resolution is responsible for the smaller area in its crops when viewed at 100% below.

At 100 ISO, all three cameras deliver detailed images. As seen on the previous page, the Panasonic FZ150’s default processing is a fraction punchier than the Canon SX40 HS, and maybe that’s responsible for its fractionally more apparent noise textures here. Either way, it’s nothing to be worried at this point.

Interestingly at 200 ISO the Panasonic and Canon crops have become closer, although there’s still a subtle texture on the former. Meanwhile the Sony crop still looks clean, although there’s some evidence of processing around some edges.

At 400 ISO, there’s a minor loss of saturation and edge definition across all three cameras, and a slight increase in noise textures on the FZ150 and HX100V. The SX40 HS enjoys a very minor edge at this point.

At 800 ISO, the noise textures increase again on the Panasonic and Sony, most evidently on the latter, although Canon’s noise reduction is keeping the speckles under control without much compromise.

With the sensitivity doubled to 1600 ISO, the textures on the FZ150 and HX100V have become more apparent still, while the impact of noise reduction on the SX40 HS is beginning to take its toll. So while the Canon crop remains the cleanest, it is at a cost of definition.

It’s the same story at 3200 ISO, where the FZ150 and HX100V are exhibiting the most noise whereas the Canon is smearing it out to a greater degree. None of them are looking great at this point and 1600 ISO is probably as far as you’d like to use them at a push.

While I’d give the SX40 HS a slight edge over the others in this comparison, a lot of it boils down to personal preferences in default processing style. Clearly the Canon is applying greater noise reduction with a softer image as a result, albeit getting away with it fairly nicely until the higher ISOs. Meanwhile Panasonic seems happy to let the noise textures appear, to save detail, albeit with artefacts. As for the Sony, it does well considering its finer pixel pitch, but there’s no advantage in recorded detail in these crops.

You can adjust a lot of processing settings on all three cameras, but the Canon SX40 HS is the only one which doesn’t offer any control over noise reduction. So if you don’t like the processing style here, there’s less you can do to change it than the others. Meanwhile once again the Panasonic FZ150 enjoys the advantage of being able to shoot in RAW, giving you the greatest scope for adjustments and tweaking later.

Finally, all three cameras offer low light and composite shooting modes, albeit with auto sensitivity so it’s impossible to match their settings. In the second last row of crops you’ll see their respective composite modes, and each is an improvement over their respective single exposures at the same sensitivity. They don’t perform miracles, but they are all reducing noise without compromising detail. Certainly if you’re shooting at high ISOs, they’re well worth checking out. Note Canon does somewhat hideaway its composite high ISO mode though as an sub-option on its Night Portrait Scene preset.

To see more examples of this in action, check out my Canon SX40 HS Handheld Night Scene page, or check out more single shots in the Canon SX40 HS sample images gallery. Alternatively skip to the chase and head over to my verdict!

Canon PowerShot SX40 HS	Panasonic Lumix FZ150 (v1.0)	Sony Cyber-shot HX100V

f4, 100 ISO, 1 sec	f4, 100 ISO, 1 sec	f4, 100 ISO, 1 sec


f4, 200 ISO, 1/3 sec	f4, 200 ISO, 1/3 sec	f4, 200 ISO, 1/3 sec


f4, 400 ISO, 1/6 sec	f4, 400 ISO, 1/6 sec	f4, 400 ISO, 1/6 sec


f4, 800 ISO, 1/13 sec	f4, 800 ISO, 1/13 sec	f4, 800 ISO, 1/13 sec


f4, 1600 ISO, 1/25 sec	f4, 1600 ISO, 1/25 sec	f4, 1600 ISO, 1/25 sec


f4, 3200 ISO, 1/50 sec	f4, 3200 ISO, 1/50 sec	f4, 3200 ISO, 1/50 sec


Handheld Night Scene at 1600 ISO	Handheld Night Shot at 400 ISO	Handheld Twilight mode at 800 ISO


Low Light mode at 1600 ISO	High Sensitivity mode at 1600 ISO	Low Light mode at 1600 ISO

Canon PowerShot SX40 HS results : Real-life resolution / High ISO Noise / Handheld Night Scene

Canon PowerShot SX40 HS Handheld Night Scene

	Canon SX40 HS results
1	Canon SX40 HS Quality
2	Canon SX40 HS Noise
3	Canon SX40 HS Handheld Night Scene
4	Canon SX40 HS Sample images

The Canon PowerShot SX40 HS, like many cameras these days, offers a composite shooting mode which captures a quick burst of images before combining them into one to reduce noise. Canon calls this Handheld Night Scene and you can find it in the Scene presets.

Like other models, the sensitivity and exposure are fully automatic, so to make a comparison with a single shot exposure here, I first took the scene in the Handheld Night Scene mode, before matching the settings in Program.

In this first example, the SX40 HS’s Handheld Night Scene mode automatically selected 1600 ISO. It’s immediately clear from the crops below that the single-frame version in Program at the same sensitivity exhibits much greater visible noise than the composite Handheld Night Scene version. Meanwhile, the degree of detail is roughly similar.

So Handheld Night Scene mode is acting like perfect noise reduction, greatly reducing the amount of visible noise without smearing-out fine details. A very successful result here for the SX40 HS. Scroll down for another comparison, or check out a selection of single-exposure shots in my Canon SX40 HS sample images gallery. Alternatively skip to the chase and head over to my verdict!

Canon PowerShot SX40 HS: Handheld Night Scene at 1600 ISO

1600 ISO	1600 ISO	1600 ISO

Canon PowerShot SX40 HS: Program at 1600 ISO

1600 ISO	1600 ISO	1600 ISO

Canon PowerShot SX40 HS: Handheld Night Scene versus Program mode (at 1600 ISO)

For this second example, the PowerShot SX40 HS once again selected 1600 ISO in Handheld Night Scene, making it easy to make a comparison in Program mode.

As above, the degree of fine detail on both samples is roughly similar, but the Program version shows far more visible noise textures. In contrast the version taken with Handheld Night Scene is much smoother and cleaner, with virtually no visible noise speckles. Again it’s as if noise reduction has been applied, but without the compromise of smearing-out fine details.

So in conclusion, Handheld Night Scene can prove to be a valuable ally when shooting under dim conditions at high ISOs. It really lives-up to its description too, as while this second example was shot from a tripod, the first really was handheld.

Now head on over to my Canon SX40 HS sample images for more real-life examples, or skip to the chase and check out my verdict!