Canon Point And Shoot Digital Camera 2956C001

I am beginning birder, and chose this camera for its long zoom (960 mm 35 mm equivalent) and its compact size. I did not want the expense, weight, and bulk of an interchangeable lens camera, or of a “bridge” camera. Because the SX740’s small size and light weight, it’s been easy to switch from binoculars to the camera to take pictures. (I “wear” it on my wrist with a strap.) I have had the SX 740 for about two months, and have taken about 30,000 pictures with it. I am very satisfied with the camera, and would buy it again.

At long distances in reasonable light, the camera at highest zoom can take images of small birds that are acceptable enough to help me identify them. Images of larger birds at closer distances are great (see photos). I use Program mode, with spot focusing, auto ISO, and servo AF (continuous focus). The SX740 uses the same battery (NB-13L) as my Canon G7X. As a bonus, the battery lasts significantly longer in the SX740 – most times I can go two hours taking lots of pictures without battery change.

Having said the above, potential purchasers should understand that this kind of camera has inherent limitations. Overall, pictures taken at high zoom will not be as sharp as those taken with a quality interchangeable lens camera. By strict eBird picture quality criteria, photos I take (usually at high zoom) are in the 1-4/5 star range, average high two’s – still generally acceptable for upload to eBird. People should not expect that every high zoom picture will be good. I take multiple continuous pictures by holding the shutter down, and I can usually get at least one good picture that way. The SX740 does not have a viewfinder – the LCD screen, even at the highest brightness setting, can be hard to see in bright daylight. Finding a small bird in the bushes on the screen can also be difficult – the Framing Assist (zoom out) button can be helpful in this situation, but not always.

Posso dizer que foi realmente uma excelente aquisição.

I bought this specifically for the 40x zoom since my iPhone digital zoom is trash.

This is great for wildlife encounters in daily life, and that’s it. The image quality is abysmal for selfies although there’s a flip up screen so if you are looking for a selfie cam this is not the one. If you want a selfie camera, get the NX mini from Samsung, or an RX100 series from Sony-which both sport a 1” sensor. Or get the Panasonic LX10 since that has a f1.4 which is great for portraits.

I took this out just now to take photos of squirrels and it has served it’s purpose well. The weather condition was cloudy with a bit rain, but it still served well in taking photos in mediocre lighting. Note that it’s not weatherproof so always listen to the weather forecast before taking it out.

Overall. This is the best compact zoom that servers the longest zoom range with a decent price point and purpose if you know what you are using it for.

Great camera for general use, both pix and video, though I think video may be limited to 20 minutes by the nature of the save format. The only problem I’ve found is auto-focusing on very high contrast objects, e.g., a star or planet against a black sky. Moon pics work pretty well. Focusing is more reliable if you can get moon pics while the sky is not totally dark. If you take too many of sunsets where the sun blazes into the camera, eventually you may get residual marks on the receiving digital surface, but sometimes these will, over time, diminish and disappear.
Great camera. Would I buy another? You bet your tush I would!

I was waiting in the G7 but this was available and a bit cheaper. So I went ahead and ordered. The quality is absolutely amazing! The pictures are gorgeous. It’s so easy to use and change the settings and you can flip the screen for selfie mode. Its absolutely a must have for on the go or content creators!