Cameras that fit in a pocket or purse are often considered only for novices, not so this offering from Canon. The SX270HS is a member of the PowerShot range which used to be larger until they swapped to using solid batteries. Now its only the size that's small.
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The Canon PowerShot SX270HS measures 10x6x3cm the last figure can increase to 8.5cm when fully zoomed, it weights 225grams. It feels solid without feeling heavy in the hand.
Looking from the rear the right side has a wrist strap anchor point and a rubberised bung behind which is a multi out port for HDMI, Digital and A/V. The left side is clear. The base has a tripod screw and a door behind which is the solid battery and any SD card you may use.
The front is dominated by the 20x zoom lens, the image sensor is towards the top at around 11 on the clock face. While the flash is on the front it sits on the top at the left edge and can never be closer than 4cm to the lens.
Even the top is very economical with buttons and controls with the first 7cm having only the small pop up flash next is the silvered shutter release with the wide angle / zoom control around it and on the right edge the on/off button.
This leaves the back that is dominated by the 6.5x4.7cm TFT screen to its right are the 12 position wheel and below this two rows of two well marked buttons with the ubiquitous five position joystick control between them.
I always I try to take a range of subjects in various conditions. One use that often gets little coverage is the macro setting that in this case comes in automatically when you are very close to a subject. I was especially pleased with this as I had to send someone the lettering on a very small label and not only did the lettering show up well as did the security items behind it. The image produced was far more readable than the original even with a magnifying glass.
Flash images tended to look a little washed out and over exposed on the TFT but a lot of units suffer from that and while it may be a little off putting to a novice I was quite certain that when viewed on a PC they would be fine. I did find that the flash wanted to fire on occasions that I did not think I needed it and you can set the flash to off but this is remembered after shutdown so it will start off next time you turn it on.
Images can be captured in 4:3, 16:9, 3:2 or 1:1. As with most Canon cameras that means L, M1, M2 or S these vary from 12MP to VGA.
It can of course take movies these are all at 30FPS and are 1920x1080, 1280x720 and 640x480.
This is a nice easy to use unit that once you master the basics allows you to go far further by changing the wheel from Auto, there are numerous Scene modes and I select the Night Scene for a mention and this is perfect even with zoom if you use a tripod.
The Canon PowerShot SX270HS is available from the link below for £175 with free delivery from the link below. Mine was a metallic blue and black which is the model in the link, however they also do a grey version for £24 extra.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BYOYADE?ie=UTF8&tag=gadge0a-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634
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