Forced Flash on the Canon Powershot SX10IS

The Canon Powershot SX10IS will always tell you, when set on auto, when you should use the flash. You can choose to do so or not, by whether you raise the flash cover or not. But what if the camera doesn't think you need it, but you would like to use the flash to eliminate shadows?

The way to accomplish this is by using the same button with which one can turn off the camera sounds. Note that in addition to the little microphone there is a small lightning symbol there too. That symbol usually means something to do with the flash on modern cameras.

First you need to take the camera off of the auto setting. I don't understand what all of those options are yet, but moving the dial clockwise to the face icon for closer shots, and to the mountain icon for long shots will work well enough. Then lift the flash cover and press that button on the top left with the flash and microphone icons. You will see the words "flash auto" appear in the view finder or on the screen. Press the button one more time and it will say "flash on."

You can now take your picture and the flash will be forced to fire. This setting will be overridden when you go back to auto mode.

To see other posts about this camera, enter Canon SX10IS in the search box at the upper left or click on the word camera in the labels below this post.

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Erasing Images on the Powershot Canon SX10IS

So your card is full and you'd like to ditch just a few pictures on the Canon Powershot SX10IS so you can take one more. You know it should be easy.... It is.

Turn the camera on. Use the top right button on the back of the camera to switch to image review. It has a little blue arrowhead beside it (and is shown with a yellow arrow in the picture). Use the rocker bar (indicated below with a green arrow, right and left) to find the image you want to delete.

Press the bottom button of those three on the top right. It has a blue picture of a trash can beside it and is indicated in the picture here with a pink arrow.



At the bottom of the screen you will now see three words: Erase? Erase Cancel. Erase will be highlighted. If you do want to erase this image press Function Set in the middle of the rocker bar. If you don't want to erase it, use the rocker bar to highlight Cancel and then press Function Set.

The screen will switch to the single word "busy" while the image is erased. Then you can use the rocker bar to select other images or turn the camera off.

To see other posts about this camera, enter Canon SX10IS in the search box at the upper left or click on the word camera in the labels below this post.

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Sound Settings on Canon Powershot SX10IS

The sounds on the Canon Powershot SX10IS are pretty nice. When you take a picture the sound is that of a shutter releasing on a film camera. For those of us making the switch from a SLR to digital, it's a reassuring sound, even if it is totally fake.

One can choose to turn the sound off or on through the menu. Turn the camera on. Press the Menu button on the back, lower right, and then use the rocker bar to select the second tab. It has a picture of two little tools on it. The first selection is Mute. Again use the rocker bar to move down to it, and then select Off or On. Keep in mind that this is sort of backwards thinking. Mute On = no sound. Then press Menu again to return to the viewer screen, or simply turn the camera off.

However, the sounds were mysteriously turning themselves off, and I couldn't figure out why.

There is a button on the top of the camera, to the left of the flash, with a little blue picture of a microphone beside it. If you hold that button down while turning the camera on it will mute the sound. This is handy if you want to take a picture of something like wildlife, or maybe in church, where the camera sounds may be distracting.

To turn the sounds back on, you need to do so through the Menu settings as explained above.

As I noted when I first began using the Canon Powershot SX10IS, it is very easy to accidentally press one or more of the buttons accidentally.

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Measuring the Size for a Camera Lens Cap

Ever since I posted about the need to replace the lens cap on the Canon Powershot SX10IS I've been getting a lot of hits from searches about how to measure for a lens cap. So I decided that I need to try to figure that out.

Lens caps are sized by millimeters, mm. So first you need to find a ruler that has metric measurements. This isn't too hard, even in the US, most rulers have metric on one side.

For a snap on cap, the best fitting kind, you need to measure the inside of the raised ring around the lens. Since the markings at the very end of a ruler are less accurate, its easiest to place the 1 just inside the edge of the ring. Then measure the diameter to the inside of the other side of the ring. Don't forget to subtract the 1!

That said, I'm not sure how accurate this process is. The cap that fits this camera is clearly marked 52mm. Yet the inside of the ring seems to measure 51mm. However, standard cap sizes are 27mm, 28mm, 30mm, 34mm, 37mm, 39mm, 40.5mm, 43mm, 46mm, 49mm, 52mm, 55mm, 58mm, 62mm, 67mm, 72mm, 77mm, 82mm and 86mm. So unless you think that your camera has some special proprietary size you should be safe to order the one that is closest to your measurement.

Diopter Adjustment for Canon SX10IS

I like to use the viewfinder rather than the screen for picture taking on hikes. Using the screen uses up battery power, and I sure don't want to carry too many extra batteries while backpacking. But everyone has complained about how poor and fuzzy the view through the viewfinder on the Canon Powershot SX10IS looks.

Well, that is easy to fix! There is a little thumb wheel to the left of the viewfinder. Just rotate it until the picture comes into focus for you.

Lens Cap Size for Canon SX10IS

I have previously written about the poor quality lens cap that comes with the Canon Powershot SX10IS Camera. I promptly lost that one, and then another one that we had around that fit.

There is nowhere in the specifications that it tells what size lens cap fits that camera! Measuring was inconclusive... where exactly does one measure? Outside the lens rim? Inside the lens rim? Pretty hard to order a cap without knowing the size, and we have no camera shop in our town any more...

My husband ransacked his camera bag and we found a cap that fits. It also stays on well. And, it is labeled! The size lens cap that fits the Canon Powershot SX10IS is a 52mm cap.

Canon Power Shot SX10IS - Picture Review Detail Level

When you take a picture with the Canon Powershot SX10IS you will see the image in review for a few seconds after clicking the shutter. You can set the length of time this is displayed, and you can choose to simply see the picture, or additional details about the shot.

Press the Menu button on the lower right back of the camera. It's easiest to see this if you toggle the display button to show it on the screen rather than through the viewfinder. You will be shown 4 tabs of menu options, and you want the one that comes up first anyway, the pink camera icon. Use the rocker control button to scroll down the menu till you find the item "Review." Then you can use the rocker (L,R) to toggle the review to off, hold, or 2-10 seconds. If you choose hold the picture will remain in review mode after shooting until you depress the shutter halfway. Press menu again to return to camera mode.

To chose more or less detail on the review display, select the menu as above, and the next item down is "Review Info." Your choices here are Off, Detailed, and Focus Check. "Off" means that you will just see the picture you took in the full frame. "Detailed" presents the picture in about 1/4 of the screen. Shown with that are the histogram, date and time, image number, file size, compression, print list, protection status, and several other pieces of complicated information that I haven't figured out yet.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is very easy to accidentally press buttons on the Canon Powershot SX10IS when you pick it up. I learned about changing the review settings after changing them by accident and then needing to learn how to change them back to what I wanted.

Canon Powershot SX10IS - Changing ISO

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Two Annoyances with the Canon Power Shot SX10IS

Although I'm getting used to the new Canon Powershot SX10IS, and am generally pleased with the results, there are two things that annoy me about the camera.

The lens cap will hardly stay on any more. I can click it into place, but within a couple of minutes it is hanging on the end of it's tether.

The battery compartment cover is very difficult to open and close. By fussing with it I can eventually get it closed and locked or open, but I'm afraid of damaging it.

See Canon Power Shot SX10IS - Macro or click on camera in the labels below to find all articles about cameras.

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Canon Power Shot SX10IS - Macro

The Canon Power Shot SX10IS has both Macro and Super Macro functions.

The Macro function can be used in AUTO mode and is for distances of 12-20 inches (30-50 cm) from the subject. This is easy to use. On the rocker control button press the little flower on the left side. You will see the little flower in the display area. (To cancel macro and return to normal, just press it again.) Macro works in any mode except Landscape (the picture of a mountain)

You can use the zoom in Macro. When you do a bar will extend from the left of the display and will show the zoom range. If you extend the zoom bar into the yellow the camera will not be able to focus and will revert to focusing at a normal distance.

To use Super Macro, you must be in Full Manual (M), Manually set aperture (Av), manually set shutter speed (Tv), or Program (P). Press and hold the Macro button for more than one second. The flower will appear on the display with an S in the middle of it. The zoom function will not work in Super Macro. In Super Macro you can hold the camera 1 inch from the subject to actually touching the subject.

I've had good luck with using the Macro function, but Super Macro is more tricky. I'll add a couple of photos here to compare when I get a set that makes sense. The picture below was taken with Macro.



See Canon Power Shot SX10IS - Changing ISO or click on camera in the labels below to find all articles about cameras.

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Canon Power Shot SX10IS - Changing ISO

My articles about using the Canon Powershot SX10IS are not likely to proceed in logical order from simplest to most complex, rather they will just show up as I discover and use the features.

I was trying to take pictures of some of my houseplants this week. On the automatic setting the camera insisted on flash, and the shot below shows how the light bounced off the "Desert Rose," creating a hot spot that I don't like.



So I decided to switch the camera to Manual and see how difficult it would be to increase the "film speed." The larger the ISO number, the less light is required to take a good picture. In film developing ISO (formerly ASA) referred to the film's sensitivity to light. So for film with a high ISO you could keep the shutter open a shorter length of time. In digital technology the terminology has been retained and an arbitrary relationship between the exposure and sensor data has been created so people with long familiarity to film to not need to rethink the entire photographic process.

Therefore, since the plants were in rather low light, I wanted to increase the ISO so that I would not need to use the flash. Here is the result of changing the ISO to 1600, the highest regular setting allowed on this camera. Now, I've eliminated the hot spot, but overall the shot is a bit dark. (Supposedly there is a way to get the ISO to 3200 for special situations, but I haven't figured that out yet.)



It was very easy to make this change. With the selection wheel on the top right of the Canon Powershot SX10IS, move the wheel to M rather than AUTO.

Press the ISO button on the rocker control button on the back right of the camera. You will see the display change to the screen shown below. If you do not see this, press the DISP button once, and it should change. You can now push the ISO button several more times to change the ISO through values of 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600. You could alternatively change that number by rotating the wheel that surrounds the control button. I chose 1600 and then took my picture.



Below is the final result after I had lightened the shot a bit with photo software. Overall it is a bit dark and dramatic, but I eliminated the hot spot caused by the flash and I am satisfied.



See Canon Power Shot SX10IS - Out of the Box

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Canon Power Shot SX10IS - Out of the Box

I have been forced to buy a new camera. My beloved Pentax SLR has died, and these days it isn't worth the cost of repairing a film camera. At the same time, two weeks ago Photo Works announced that they were suspending film processing as of TOMORROW. That's crummy in the first place and really, really short notice. My cheapie Kodak Easy Share digital is having issues, so I really knew that I had to get a camera for my hike documentation, writing, etc.



I had hoped to finish hiking the North Country Trail with all slides for pictures. But it is not to be. I'm making the total digital transition now. So I started looking, and it turned out that the camera I decided on was on sale, so I had to make one of those instant purchase decisions I hate, and came home from my trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show with a new camera, the Canon Powershot SX10IS.

The Canon PowerShot SX10IS is something of a hybrid with many great features you would only expect on a dSLR, but not the weight or the price tag that those carry. I think I'm going to like it. But it has a lot of things to learn, so I figured I would review those and share my observations here as I explore how to use it.





Here are a couple of comments right out of the box.
Pros

• The viewing screen folds in or out, swivels and tilts. You can switch between using the traditional viewfinder or the screen. The screen can be folded into a pocket in the back of the camera for protection. It can be turned over so that it is visible but on the back of the camera. It can be folded out and angled so you can actually see what you are taking a picture of for "over the top" shots, self-portraits, etc.
• Although there is a real learning curve for the many features it has full AUTO mode, so you can start taking pictures instantly and learn the fancy stuff as you go
• If you use the viewfinder, it isn't a true viewfinder but a small look-into reiteration of the screen view (but not true SLR where you are looking through the lens). So, you can't see anything if the lens cap is on, and the (thankfully) short freeze after a picture is taken also shows there so you know when you can take another shot

Cons

• It is heavier than I would like for hiking. It weighs 1 lb 9 oz. The Pentax weighs 2 lbs even (with no extra lenses), so I'm still ahead. But I had hoped to shed a bit more weight.
• It is difficult to pick up without accidentally hitting some button that you don't mean to. I have small hands, and I find this a challenge. I think someone with large hands would find it quite difficult. Maybe I just need to get used to it.
• The strap is just the right length for me. Horray! The reason that is a con is that most of the world is larger than I am. Anyone of any bulk will need to replace the strap.
• The strap bracket is really tight. The strap fit ok, but I had a very hard time getting a lens cap tether to fit in there with it.

I'm going to stop for this post. My plan is to write just a few things about the Canon PowerSho SX10IS at a time. Probably only one thing as they begin to get more complicated. Perhaps my learning can help someone else who is considering, or has purchased this camera.

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