Canon PowerShot SX20 IS

The PowerShot SX20 IS is Canon's latest super-zoom. It retains the 20x optical zoom, flash hotshoe, stereo sound, AA battery power and fully articulated 2.5in monitor of the best-selling PowerShot SX10 IS, but boosts the resolution to 12.1 Megapixels, adds 720p HD movie recording and tops it off with an HDMI port. As before, the DIGIC 4 processor offers AF tracking, efficient video compression, and a neat self-timer mode which exploits face detection to wait for a new person to appear before starting the countdown. It’s an impressive spec, but there’s still no RAW, and the continuous shooting is even slower than before (perhaps to greater differentiate the SX1 IS, below). It’s still Highly Recommended, but compare closely with Panasonic’s FZ38 / FZ35.

Pros: 20x zoom, flip-out screen, flash hotshoe, HD video.
Cons: No RAW recording; slow burst mode.
Overall: One of the best super-zooms, but compare with FZ38 / 35.