Canon SX160 IS: 16x Zoom, AA Power, No Charger Needed

Canon announced the PowerShot SX160 IS in August 2012 at 229 dollars, and its most useful feature was the least glamorous one. It runs on two AA batteries. For a 16x superzoom, that makes it one of the few cameras of its kind you can keep shooting with anywhere, for as long as you like, without ever finding a socket.

Buy the SX160 IS if you want serious zoom range for long trips, camping or anywhere power is unreliable, and you mostly shoot outdoors. Skip it if you want good indoor photos without flash, or a camera that slips into a shirt pocket.

Range and Stabilisation

The lens covers 28mm to 448mm equivalent. 28mm is properly wide for landscapes, buildings and groups, and 448mm reaches well across a valley or a stadium. Canon's optical image stabiliser keeps the long end usable handheld. The camera also offers ZoomPlus, which extends the reach digitally to around 32x — useful in a pinch, but it is digital enlargement, not optical zoom.

The Sensor and What It Means

The SX160 IS uses a 16-megapixel 1/2.3-inch CCD sensor with Canon's DIGIC 4 processor. Reviewers at the time called it a case of the CCD tortoise against the CMOS hare: CCD compacts of this period were generally slower to focus and noisier than their CMOS rivals, though Canon said it had worked on the autofocus in this model.

The practical rule is simple. Noise becomes noticeable from around ISO 200 upwards, so this is a camera for daylight, or for flash indoors. In good light, 16 megapixels of CCD colour looks the part.

Video and Screen

Video is 720p at 30 frames per second with stereo sound, and the optical zoom works while recording, so you can follow a subject in and out during a clip.

The screen is 3 inches with about 230,000 dots. That is large enough to frame comfortably but not detailed enough to judge sharpness, so zoom in on playback before you trust a shot.

The AA Advantage, in Numbers

The SX160 IS is rated at about 380 shots per pair of AA batteries — better than many lithium-powered compacts of its generation. Two sets of rechargeable NiMH cells cover a long day. And if you run out halfway up a mountain or in a village with no electricity, any shop selling batteries puts you back in business in a minute.

Those batteries make it thicker than lithium-powered travel zooms. That is the trade, and for the right trip it is an easy one.

What to Check Before Buying

Open the battery door and inspect both contacts for white or green corrosion. Leaked AA cells are the single most common cause of death for cameras like this.

Extend the zoom to 448mm and back several times, listening for grinding and watching for a lens error message.

At full zoom, frame something distant and half-press the shutter to confirm the stabiliser settles the image.

Record a short clip while zooming in and out, then play it back to confirm the zoom works during video and the sound is clean.

Check the screen for scratches and pressure marks, fire the flash several times in a row, and bring a memory card to confirm the camera writes to it.

Stock changes often at Silver Cam, so check the shop for whether an SX160 IS is available right now. Every AA-powered camera we list has its contacts, zoom, stabiliser and flash checked before it goes on the site, and we clean corroded contacts and repair stuck zoom lenses on cameras like this one. We also buy old PowerShots you no longer use.