We’re always on the lookout for light weight digital cameras that can deliver great results and we put the Canon PowerShot SX510 HS to the test on a recent trip to the NSW South Coast to see how it performs and what it can do.

We are Canon fans already, so bear that in mind, and it’s obvious that like the PowerShot SX280, the SX510 is aimed at the consumer market (its retail price is around AU$329) although professional photographers will find the camera extremely useful as it’s light weight, can be carried in a large pocket and produces good images.

(We have a great travel competition where you could win a PowerShot SX510 HS.)

This makes it a great little unit as a travel accessory and with a good quality movie mode included, the SX510 is versatile enough to become the primary camera/video recorder for most people.

Apart from the light weight (about 350 grams), the main features include a powerful 30X optical zoom, which has been improved since the SX280, and the equivalent is a zoom of 24-720mm in a 35mm format. It’s this feature that really sets the SX510 apart and where it knocks the socks off the new generation of smart phone cameras which simply can’t do anything like this. If you want to use the full extent of the zoom, it will help to have a tripod as naturally there will be camera shake at this extension. This photo below was taken on a good light day at an extension of 117mm.

It also has a high sensitivity 12.1MP sensor along with advanced framing assist which has also been improved to deliver better results.

The ISO sensitivity range is from 100 to 3200 and the shutter speed is 1 - 1/1600 seconds (which varies by shooting mode) which allows for creative photography outside of the auto mode which pretty much gets it right every shot.

Another key upgrade with this model is an improved sensor which produces better photos in low light than the SX280 and and this was evident with the indoor shots we took. On auto mode the images looked brighter and more vibrant than in real life and was similar to the exposure-adjusted photos we took.

The main functions of the SX510 are on the top dial and are pretty straight forward: there’s auto mode, manual controls including shutter, aperture, program and full manual and movie mode.

The movie mode was impressive and produces MOV files and we did a walk through of Bannisters at Mollymook with this. As you’ll see the image quality is impressive for a little camera and the auto focus is a little slow with brightness changes, but then this is a compact camera and not a dedicated camcorder. The quality is good enough for the web and will still look okay on a television monitor if you want to play back your holiday video.

The only down side is the LCD view finder, which although it’s a generous 3 inch screen, can be hard to see and focus with when outside in bright light, but again this is one of the sacrifices that’s made for the sake of size.