Canon has announced a new travel-friendly superzoom called the PowerShot SX740 HS, which it claims is one of the smallest compacts to offer 40x optical zoom.
Given that the SX740 HS is less than 40mm thick and weighs only 299g, that’s a reasonable claim and makes it a potentially strong contender for anyone looking for an affordable, versatile holiday compact.
That zoom gives you an equivalent reach of 24-960mm, with a maximum aperture of f/3.3–f/6.9 through that zoom range. This lens and the SX740 HS’s comparatively small 1/2.3-inch, 20.3-megapixel CMOS sensor means it’s unlikely to give you the low light performance of a more premium compact like the Panasonic TZ200, though that’s an understandable trade-off for the extra zoom.
The SX740 HS’s holiday credentials are otherwise strong, with 5-axis stabilisation, Canon’s latest Digic 8 processor, and the ability to fire off a decent 10fps in continuous shooting, although this drops to 7.4fps if you use the continuous autofocus to lock onto a moving object.
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It also has promising video powers, letting you shoot 4K video at 30fps and take 8MP still frames from the footage if you need to simultaneously get video and stills from your whale-watching trip.
For those who want to quickly upload their holiday snaps to Instagram via an iOS or Android smartphone, the SX740 HS has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for a steady connection to Canon’s Camera Connect app. For extra flexibility when shooting from low down (or for selfies), the 3-inch screen handily flips up 180-degrees.
You’ll be able to buy the PowerShot SX740 HS in black or silver for £349.99 from August 2018. We’ll bring you a full review and our verdict on whether it’s worth a place in our best travel cameras list before then.
What do you think, does the PowerShot SX740 HS sound worthy of a place in your holiday suitcase? Let us know over on Facebook or Twitter @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
