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Though a 20x zoom lens may be yawn-inspiring in these days of 24x and 26x lenses, I think 20x is plenty, and perhaps even a bit too long given the difficulty of making a good lens that can cover so broad a focal range as the Canon SX10 IS' 28-560mm equivalentThe SX10 offers some significant upgrades over its predecessor, the S5: in addition to a huge jump in lens range, from 12x to 20x, it also bumps up a couple megapixels to 10 from 8The latest generation of Canon imaging processors, Digic 4, adds tweaks to face detection, Servo AF, Face Detection Self-Timer, and Intelligent Contrast Correction

Keeping a mostly similar design to the S5, the SX10 follows in its footsteps as a very comfortable to hold and shoot camera, retaining perks like the articulated LCD and four AA-powered operationIt's a little heavier, 1.5 pounds, which makes it feel like a dSLR, but the big grip gives you plenty of holding roomWhile it offers the same set of manual, semimanual, and automatic controls, they're differently designed and laid outGone is the multifunction power switch, leaving a plain old button in its wakeNow you have a more traditional button to jump into review mode; it sits near the indented thumb rest on the back, joined by the exposure compensation and focus area selection buttonsUnfortunately, the labels, light blue on gray, are pretty difficult to see in dim light and can be obscured by the glare off the iridescent plastic in bright

On the right side of the back is a dial concentric to a four-way navigation switch with the function button in the middleCanon uses this control layout for some of its recent compact point-and-shoots, and in many ways it's a vast improvement over the S5's configurationBut while I generally like the controls, the dial feels too mushyIt doesn't respond appropriately, and it feels like it needs to spin too far or not as far for any given operationAs a result, for example, I frequently overshot desired shutter speedsPerhaps it just takes more getting used to than I had time for, but it really feels like it needs better tactile feedbackThe zoom switch didn't feel terribly exact eitherWhile that's a typical problem with stepped zooms (these lenses don't really cover a continuous zoom range, instead stopping at a series of preset distances), the SX10's felt even less accurate than usual, likely because of the wide range it has to coverI expect to see this problem even more as we test this year's 24x and 26x lenses

Of course, the flip-and-twistable LCD remains a user favorite, but in tradeoff it's quite small--only 2.5 inches compared with the new trend of 3-inchersUnfortunately, the electronic viewfinder isn't particularly greatIt updates slowly and looks pretty coarseMore annoyingly, the camera lacks a dedicated toggle between the LCD and EVFInstead, you have to cycle through the four different display settings: low-info LCD, detailed LCD, low-info EVF, detailed EVFThat makes it nearly impossible to quickly jump back and forth; I frequently ended up cycling past my targetIn contrast, the dedicated movie record button hits the right note of efficiencyAs does the mode dial, which, unlike most cameras, rotates a full 360 degrees instead of forcing you to reverse direction to get to the modes at the other endA small but welcome change