Friday, March 29, 2024

Review | Canon PowerShot N

By Charlemagne Losaria

Canon?s latest smart camera offerings includes the compact Canon PowerShot N. Don?t let the size fool you though, as this small point-and-shoot camera packs quite a punch.

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What?s in the box

? Unit
? Battery Pack (870 mAh)
? Mini USB cable
? Wall charger
? Hand wrist strap lanyard
? Installer disk
? Warranty card
? Manuals and leaflets

This solidly built device features a 12.1-megapixels backside illuminated CMOS image sensor. The PowerShot N also has a 28mm wide angle lens coupled with 8x mechanical zoom and upto 32x digital zoom.

Flip it over and you?ll find a high definition 2.8 inch capacitive touch-screen display which can be tilted up to 90 degrees. This allows you to pursue different shooting angles for more flexibility. However, ?selfie addicts? would be left disappointed as you can?t fully tilt the screen for taking that routine selfie.

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Design wise, the camera is so compact there is no space left where you can rest your fingers. There is also no physical button to serve as focus and capture buttons.

Using the camera felt like using a smartphone as I was holding the camera using my left index finger and thumb, then touch the display using my right index finger to capture photos.

Oftentimes, I would inadvertently touch the screen prompting the device to focus and capture the photo. This can easily be mitigated by deactivating the touch shutter option in the camera settings and using the thicker, outermost ring in the camera lens to focus and capture the photos.

You just have to gently press the outer most lens ring down to focus and press slightly harder (just as you would on other cameras) to capture the photo or video. The thinner, inner most ring in the camera lens serves as the zoom control.

The outer lense serve as physical shutter release, while the inner lense serves as zoom control
The outer lense serve as physical shutter release, while the inner lense serves as zoom control

Unlike other cameras where you have to take out the battery to charge it via the proprietary desktop charger, or remove the memory card to transfer your files, the Canon PowerShot N is charged by USB via a mini-USB port.

This allows you to use the device like transferring photos and videos off the camera while charging the device, much like how a smartphone works.

To maintain the compactness, Canon had to trim down the battery physically, reducing its holding capacity to 870mah. This would last you a day on moderate usage, but for heavy users, be sure to bring a power bank with you.

A MicroSD slot and a Wi-Fi capability are supported so sharing pictures and videos should be easy. For wireless transfer of photos and videos, just download Canon?s Camera Window app (free) which is readily available on Itunes and Google playstore.

Once downloaded, pairing the device with your smartphones via the app is a breeze and you will be able to view, download, and share your pictures and videos in your smartphones or tablets. Once done, you can now upload them to your favorite social media sites.

Performance wise, pictures come out natural yet vivid in the touch-screen display and certainly does not disappoint once viewed in smartphones, tablets, and computers. It can capture upto 1080p HD videos. The PowerShot N also performs well under low-light conditions and is perfectly suited for parties and clubs.

No filters needed
No filters needed
Low-light condition (sunrise)
Low-light condition (sunrise)

Different shooting modes and effects are available such as Auto mode, which allows the device to determine the scenes and choose the optimum setting for you. The Hybrid Auto mode allows you to create a digest movie when shooting still images. This mode captures a few seconds of video before each picture you take.

After shooting, the camera automatically gathers up all the little clips and puts them into one movie.

The Program mode (aka Manual mode), on the other hand, allows you to set various camera settings like ISO, White Balance, Scenes, etc. The Fish Eye effect does what it?s supposed to do. The Miniature effect mode blurs the top and bottom for a miniaturized effect.

The Toy Camera effect darkens image edges to create a distinctive feel. The Soft Focus effect blurs images to create out of focus shots while the Monochrome effect captures images in single color tones.

Finally the Super Slow Motion Movie effect allows you to capture moving objects in a detailed slow motion clip.

Another shooting mode distinguishes the PowerShot N from the rest of the point-and-shoot cameras out in the market — it?s called the Creative Shot mode. It?s a core feature of the PowerShot N and Canon opted to add a mechanical switch for this mode specifically for easy access.

The Creative shot mode creates 6 artistic images applied with random effects/filters on a single snap. We see it being used mostly for parties and outdoor activities. Below are sample shots using the Creative Shot mode:

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Conclusion

The Canon PowerShot N is one attention-grabbing device and is ideal for most people. It performed very well on our test and captures great photos which can be easily posted online. The built-in modes and effects are a big help for those who want to express their artistic side. Power users should invest on a spare battery or power banks.

On the next iteration of the PowerShot N, we hope Canon beefs up the battery and also improve the tilting angle to appease the selfie generation.

At the time of this writing, The Canon Powershot N retails in between P13,500 to P14,500.

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