Canon PowerShot N Review | 108 Data compared

The Canon PowerShot N is a highly compact, square-shaped camera designed as a smartphone companion, featuring a 12MP 1/2.3-inch sensor and an 8x optical zoom lens that offer superior image quality over typical phones. Its unique design includes a 90-degree tilting touchscreen and dual-direction zoom/shutter rings around the lens for creative, high-angle shooting, along with built-in Wi-Fi for easy sharing. However, the unconventional control scheme—replacing traditional buttons with lens rings—requires an awkward, non-standard grip and makes the device unintuitive for new users. Furthermore, the screen cannot fully flip for selfies, and the camera relies heavily on an automatic "Creative Shot" mode, limiting manual control.

The Canon PowerShot N is an unconventional $299.99, square-shaped compact camera featuring a very sharp lens, excellent high ISO performance, and a responsive tilting capacitive touchscreen with built-in Wi-Fi. It includes a unique Creative Shot mode that automatically generates artistic, filtered variations of images, making it well-suited for social media sharing. However, the camera suffers from an awkward, minimal-control design that makes it difficult to operate comfortably, coupled with a weak flash and mandatory in-camera charging. PCMag concludes that due to these ergonomic frustrations, users seeking a traditional, more functional camera should consider options like the Canon PowerShot Elph 330 HS instead.

The Canon PowerShot N is a highly compact, 12-megapixel point-and-shoot designed to complement smartphone photography by offering superior image quality in a pocket-sized frame. Its standout features include an 8x optical zoom (28-224mm equivalent) with excellent stabilization and a 2.8-inch tilting touchscreen that doubles as a stand for self-portraits. The review highlights innovative shooting modes like Creative Shot, which automatically generates five stylized versions of a single photo, and Hybrid Auto, which records short video clips before each still to create a daily highlight reel. Despite its portability, the camera's unconventional design presents several challenges. The unique lens-ring controls for zooming and shutter release are described as clunky and difficult to use, and the battery life is notably short, worsened by the power-draining built-in Wi-Fi. Additionally, the camera lacks a traditional flash, relying instead on a weak autofocus assist lamp that only reaches a few feet. Performance-wise, it suffers from significant shot-to-shot lag and struggles to capture fast-moving subjects, making it better suited for static snapshots than action photography. Is there a specific feature or competitor you'd like me to...

The Canon PowerShot N is a uniquely designed, square-framed compact camera featuring a 12.1-megapixel sensor, 8x optical zoom, and Wi-Fi, noted for good image quality and an innovative "Creative Shot" mode. While praised for its stylish design, the camera suffers from limited battery life, a weak flash, and challenging ergonomics due to its unconventional touch-screen-heavy, ring-controlled interface. Priced high relative to its performance, it offers less value than similar alternatives, making it better suited for those prioritizing unique styling over functionality.

The Canon PowerShot N is an ultra-compact, square-shaped point-and-shoot camera housed in a durable metal body, specifically marketed as a stylish and pocketable social camera for quick snapshots. Its primary hardware advantage over a smartphone is its image-stabilised 8x optical zoom lens (28-224mm equivalent), which allows for flexible landscape and telephoto framing. Internally, it features a 12.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, a DIGIC 5 processor, and a 2.8-inch tilting touchscreen LCD that flips up to 90 degrees for effortless low-angle or high-angle shooting. In good lighting conditions, the camera captures sharp, detailed images and shoots pleasing Full HD 1080p video at 24fps. It also features built-in Wi-Fi connectivity via the Canon CameraWindow app for seamless sharing to mobile devices, alongside a creative "Creative Shot" mode that captures six exposures with randomized, cropped effects. Despite its premium build and unique aesthetic, the camera suffers from highly unintuitive physical controls that require a significant learning curve. Instead of traditional dials, users must rely on a dual-ring lens barrel configuration where the outer ring controls the zoom and the inner ring acts as a non-rotating,...

The Canon PowerShot N is a highly unconventional, pocket-sized 12.1MP compact digital camera featuring a distinct symmetrical square design meant for both left- and right-handed use. Standout positive features highlighted in the review include its slick, modern, and highly portable aesthetic, alongside decent picture quality that delivers punchy colours and strong contrast. The camera also features an innovative "Creative Mode" that shoots six images simultaneously—automatically applying unique crops and retro filters to five of them while keeping the original intact—which makes generating Instagram-style imagery effortless. Additionally, its 2.8-inch touchscreen tilts 90 degrees, functioning effectively even when the camera is held upside down to effortlessly capture overhead shots. However, the reviewer noted several significant drawbacks, most notably the camera's highly counterintuitive, ring-based shutter control surrounding the lens, which replaces a standard shutter button and proves confusing to new users. The surrounding zoom ring is also criticized for being overly fast and surprisingly noisy. On the technical side, image focus can turn soft towards the edges of the frame, and the built-in Wi-Fi functionality is convoluted, requiring a multi-step transfer process to...

The Canon PowerShot N is an ultra-compact camera featuring an innovative, symmetrical design with an 8x zoom lens and a 2.8-inch tilting touchscreen, priced at £270 including VAT at launch. It eliminates conventional shutter buttons and zoom levers, integrating these controls directly into the metal rings around the lens to allow effortless shooting from any orientation. The camera delivers excellent overall image quality with remarkably low noise, smooth details in bright environments, crisp video performance, and an articulated screen ideal for waist-height shooting. However, the camera's unique design and wireless functionality come with notable drawbacks. The Wi-Fi implementation is limiting, lacking automatic image transfers or remote shooting capabilities, and the 200-shot battery life is vulnerable to heavy wireless usage. Performance is slow with a 2-second delay between shots and a 10-minute video clip limit. Furthermore, it lacks a manual white balance, an HDMI output, and a proper flash—relying instead on a feeble LED light with a short 90cm range. Ultimately, the review concludes that the more conventional and sharper Canon Ixus 255 HS offers better value and features for £70...

The Canon PowerShot N is reviewed as a highly compact, "pint-size powerhouse" designed to carve out a niche in mobile photography by outperforming smartphones in specific areas. Its major pros include a sharp 8X optical zoom lens (28mm to 224mm equivalent) with lens-shift image stabilisation, a snappy DIGIC 5 processor, and excellent image noise control up to ISO 1600. It also stands out due to its creative design choices, featuring a highly responsive 2.8-inch tilting touchscreen LCD that encourages shooting from unique angles, dual metal lens rings for zoom and shutter control, and a "Creative Shot" mode that automatically generates five distinct, stylized variations of a photo. Furthermore, it features built-in Wi-Fi that pairs with a free mobile app for quick image transfers, along with a creative "Hybrid Auto" movie mode that stitches daily video clips into a short digest. However, the review points out several significant cons that prevent it from being a mainstream choice. Its $299 price tag makes it a substantial investment rather than a casual impulse buy, and its ultra-small size can make it difficult and...

The What Digital Camera review highlights the Canon PowerShot N as a 12.1-megapixel, 8x optical zoom, ultra-compact camera designed for the smartphone generation, featuring a unique "any way up" design. Its primary strengths include an innovative Creative Shot mode that generates stylized images, a tilting touchscreen, and quick Wi-Fi sharing capabilities. Conversely, the review identifies drawbacks such as an awkward ring-based zoom system that complicates handling and a lack of direct-to-social-media uploading, relying instead on a paired device. Ultimately, the camera was deemed too expensive for its performance level, with traditional alternatives offering better value.

The PCMag review of the Canon PowerShot N highlights a highly unconventional, square-shaped compact camera that tries to bring an Instagram-like filtering experience directly into dedicated hardware. On the positive side, the camera boasts built-in Wi-Fi that supports convenient, peer-to-peer image transfers to iOS and Android devices, as well as an 8x zoom lens and a responsive 2.8-inch tilting touchscreen display. Its core feature, Creative Shot mode, automatically generates six distinct cropped and filtered versions of a single capture. Additionally, laboratory testing confirmed that the camera delivers a sharp lens and excellent high ISO low-light noise control for its class. However, the camera's unique design creates major usability drawbacks, making it awkward to hold and difficult to operate. Because the touch screen covers the entire back of the device, users are prone to accidental menu triggers unless they uncomfortably tilt the screen out. The physical controls are equally problematic; the traditional shutter button and zoom rocker are replaced by two narrow, clunky rings situated around the lens barrel. Furthermore, the camera suffers from limited manual filter capabilities outside of Creative...

The Canon PowerShot N is a highly innovative, pocket-sized compact camera that stands out for its unique, square-shaped body and clever control re-engineering. Shifting away from standard layouts, it features a dual-ring system around the lens where twisting the outer ring controls the 8x optical zoom (28-224mm equivalent) and pressing the inner ring activates the shutter. Its 2.8-inch touchscreen flips up 90 degrees, and thanks to a bidirectional shutter control, users can flip the camera upside down to shoot over crowds while the UI automatically rights itself. Additional pros include built-in Wi-Fi for remote image management and GPS tagging via smart devices, a removable battery, microSD storage, and strong macro performance with a 1cm minimum focusing distance. It also features full HD 1080p video recording and a clever "miniature photo style" that allows tilt-shift emulated videos to play back at accelerated speeds. However, the camera's unconventional design is a "mixed bag" that may not suit every photographer. While the main lens rings are easy to use even with gloves, the secondary buttons for power, playback, and Wi-Fi are small and...