Comments on: Canon PowerShot SX10 IS

By: Vibha Bhagwat

Vibha Bhagwat — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:29:06 +0000

I used the SX10 without fault for 2 solid years. My father has been using a Canon A540 for years & keeps getting that message, but his camera keeps working nevertheless. Mine wouldn’t even turn on except briefly. The first time it ever gave the “change batteries” message was I was traveling in India, & purchased batteries made with a ridge at the bottom instead of a flat base. The contact was not being made completely. So we changed the batteries to Sony which have a flat base. In the US, I used the Kirkland brand, & they had worked fine.

After visiting several websites posting similar problems, it did seem like it was the batteries, nay the way the battery compartment lid fits on.

For the A540, someone suggested that the points be slightly raised (the clips get pressed down & PUSHED while the lid is closed). One little adjustment of raising the contact clips located on the lid made the message disappear.

In mine (SX10) the battery compartment lid has to be pressed down & SLID forward, causing misalignment with the points. I have tried lifting the points, but am afraid of snapping them. I will try what one of the “CANON EXPERTS” answered on Fixya.com, to raise the contacts on the floor of the compartment.

Good luck to all, and while I LOVE my camera, have already missed a couple of concerts because its battery contacts are becoming unreliable with even brand new batteries.

Please try the simple measure of cleaning the contacts & slightly raising them with a sharp knife point, & let us know.

By: J. Atkinson

J. Atkinson — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:39:23 +0000

My Canon SX10 was instantly displaying a message to “replace the batteries” the first time I tried to take a picture, even after replacing the AA’s with new and verified strong AAs. I was almost ready to give up when I read somewhere (sorry can’t find that link now) that it might have to do with the coin back-up battery and not because of the AA’s.

I replaced with new CR1220 back-up battery and now my camera works fine, and I no longer get the notification to change the batteries which is great because I was ready to throw it away even though I loved the camera.

Hope that helps.

By: Behrang

Behrang — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 06:11:40 +0000

Maybe you should change the Data battery, you can find how at page 265 of the manual

By: Richard Chung

Richard Chung — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:44:13 +0000

I’m having problems with the video that I am shooting… Every 15 seconds or so, it will fade out of focus and then back to focus all by itself… Anyone else seen this problem? Thanks!

By: Rich Barger

Rich Barger — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 16:39:39 +0000

Some curved lines at wide angle are normal….try shooting with camera exactly level to minimize this.

My Canon 5D with “L” series lenses will do the same thing when not level.

The SX10IS is a amazing camera…. I own (2)

Check out my Flickr site…. about 1/3 of all these photos were shot hand-held with the SX10: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richbarger/

I’ve hand-held this camera at 1/13 second, 560mm with excellent sharpness…incredible…

By: patricia basson

patricia basson — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 16:52:05 +0000

Why do I get a fishbowl effect on my photos,espesially on straight lines?

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:12:30 +0000

Here is a question. Looking at the photos of the camera, I cannot tell for sure if it has a traditional camera viewfinder. As someone who spent 15 years with a 35-mm film camera before going digital,I cannot imaging trying to take photos looking at an LCD screen. Does it have a regular “visual” viewfinder to see through?

By: Richard Broadbelt

Richard Broadbelt — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 02:13:43 +0000

I found your review to be direct and to the point as far as it went. I would like to add as a working pro 25+ years some of its best features were over looked. 1st Lens quality; I did a pano from a bridge entering Reading PA. We have a land mark Pagoda atop a Mt easily 2 miles away. on a 11×17 print you can count its windows, WOW! At weddings I use flash 100% the S10 not only controls its own flash it also could bounce an external flash off a 10ft cieling and render faces at the far side of the hall approx 50ft within correctable range of Photo Shop. Now that’s quality. Also it has a built in focus assist lamp.Focus is spot on!

By: cris

cris — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:55:15 +0000

I have had my sx10is for about 2 years now and it just started having the change battery issue. This is so horrible to be out camping and buy new batteries just to have them take one picture and then fail. The strange thing is that while I can’t take a picture without it going black on me, I can review pictures in the viewfinder till the cows come home on the same “bad batteries” that won’t let me take a single picture!

By: Norm

Norm — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:18:49 +0000

Our camera club includes many members with Canona; Sx21i, SX10is, and even an SX20is. ALL of them have experienced an electronic problem with batteries. Even with new batteries, a message appears on the screen, “change the batteries” after only a few shots, or even when the cameras have not been used. Members have sent cameras in to be repaired while in warranty only to have the same problem after warranty expiration, and then Canon wants over $100 to repair it. When checked, the batteries are still “good”. This is obviously a Canon design problem that they refuse to acknowledge. If these cameras were cars, they would be recalled.
It is a pity, because the cameras are otherwise great.