Here are some photos taken with my new Canon PoweShot SX240! Like said, the 20X optical zoom is enormous! It gives excellent images almost in every circumstances and the image stabilizer works pretty well. If I’m still unsure about the image stability, I just take repeatedly multiple photos from the same target by pressing the shutter button and then I compare the images by zooming them in the LCD. Some defects of the camera appeared while I imaged under bright sun. Without the actual viewfinder, it is hard to see the target through the LCD, but this was not a surprise. One nastier problem is the different refraction of light of different wavelengths if high zoom is used under bright light. For example, bright spots under bright light were surrounded by small red and blue rims. The zoom doesn’t treat the different wavelengths same way. In moderate light and low contrast circumstances the rims didn’t appear.

Colors are really vivid under bright and moderate light conditions. Though, I’m not sure yet are the colors a little bit dull in lower light. Otherwise the low light performance of the camera’s hardware is excellent, but the firmware side is different! It is really important for me to get the full manual control from the camera, while I take many second shots with high ISO values in a dark forest for example. But the camera’s firmware doesn’t let the user to use a higher ISO value than 100, if the shutter speed is over one second! This is an incredible failure from Canon if you ask me. Luckily, it seems that it is possible to hack the camera, so that one can manipulate the firmware as he or she likes. It is done by Canon Hack Development Kit (CHDK), which I’m going to study carefully when I have the time. If I remember right, they even promised that it is possible to use a movement trigger, which is fast enough for imaging lighting bolts 😀 Also, shutter speed could be extended over the conventional 15 seconds etc.

If you got the feeling that I’m only complaining about the camera, it is not true, I like it! I haven’t seen a perfect device a while 😀 Oh, the camera may also have too much of “rubbish” options for my taste, like My Colors, dia shows, transition animations between images etc. but I found it handy that I can scale the images straightly in the camera. This means that if I manage to build a connection between my Lumia and the camera, I can upload my coming hiking photos straightly here, even though I’m still in a forest or otherwise doesn’t reach my laptop 🙂 Okay, I already did it by changing the memory cards between the devices, but the images were large and now the page downloads slowly. I will try an SD memory card, equipped with Wi-Fi transceiver, for moving the images to my phone. During the winters, I don’t want to start to hassle with the small SD cards on snow blankets! Let see that does the CHDK, Wi-Fi SD card, PowerShot and the Lumia fit together.

Here are the latest photos! I may have adjusted the contrast, luminosity, color temperature and saturation in the images, so don’t judge the camera’s performance only by these images 🙂

Iceland scallops from Norway! I just marinated the scallops by sea salt and honey over night and then fried them with butter. Yum! I didn’t have a lemon today, but it would have been also a good ingredient. 🙂

Today I again had a fancy dinner 😀