Customer Ratings & Reviews

I was nervous when I first made my purchase, but it was worth the investment.

This camera had completely exceeded my expectations. So easy to use and the quality is amazing. I'm in love. Excited to have a quicker option then my dslr.

The camera arrived fully charged and included a cable and a 20W charger. The included micro SD card is 16GB but that storage could go fast. Installation was difficult. You need to download the Canon Connect app and they give you a QR code to do so. I had to update the software as well. The Canon Connect app is very poor. You need to register the Pick to continue the process but the Pick isn’t in the device list. I tried several other models and still received the same error message, “Pairing is not supported.” I tried connecting via Bluetooth (recommended) or Wi-Fi. No luck. I uninstalled and reinstalled software – no luck. So I called Kevin at Canon support. BINGO – the QR code in my package had me download the wrong app. You need to download the Connect app for Mini PTZ. It immediately recognized my device but wouldn’t pair to my Google Pixel 6 phone. Kevin has the Google Pixel 5 so he uninstalled and went with the process with me. We both had trouble connecting. It was a lot of back and forth. Turning phone off/ on, removing Pick from Bluetooth and starting the pairing process again … and again … and again. It finally connected but just because I think I wore the device down and it gave up trying to keep me from connecting. My goal for the Pick was to have it take pictures and videos of my brother who has Alzheimer’s. I wanted natural shots and the pick is great for this. It even warns you of the lighting is too dark for optimal shots. BUT every time I opened the app and turned on the camera, I had to start the pairing process again. EVERY TIME. I also tried this with my husband’s Samsung phone and had the same issue. Then the lightbulb came on. I looked in the online manual and the transmission frequency is 2.4GHz. We have a 5GHz mesh system. While I can make it work, it does require 5-15 minutes every time I turn it on just to connect it. The camera does a nice job. Pictures are pretty clear close up and a little blurry at 15 feet. The battery has only been lasting about 2 ½ hours but some of that is used up because I have to keep reconnecting. The concept behind the Pick is good but they need more retooling. Even after updating the firmware, the Pick has issues. Make sure you save your box as you may need the SSID or PASS (on the inside flap) in the future.

The Canon PowerShot Pick PTZ camera is an interesting idea. The Pick offers the ability to photograph your gatherings/events/social interactions without breaking out your phone or camera. The idea is the Pick becomes your own personal photographer that can capture candid moments. Some basic specs on the Pick. It has an effective pixel count of 11.7MP, 2-5 hours of battery life depending on shooting frequency, 1080p 60fps recording, and 3X optical zoom. The PTZ aspect of the camera allows it to rotate ±170° horizontally, and -20 to +90° vertically. This gives the Pick plenty of flexibility to shoot all around the room from any given location. The Pick comes bundled with a USB C charge cable, an Anker PowerPort PD Nano charger, and a SanDisk Ultra 16GB UHS-1 microSD card. It also has a threaded mount hole to pair with a tripod. Setup of the Pick is pretty straightforward and follows a familiar routine of downloading the app (MiniPTZ) – I already had the Canon Camera Connect app, so I was sad it was going to be a separate utility. Once you power on the Pick you should be able to find it with the app – it uses a local Wi-Fi connection. From there you can setup camera shot frequency, auto tracking, photo/video mode, manual mode, etc. You can also configure it to use as a wireless webcam for your PC. I took the Pick around to try out in a couple of different settings – family game night, dinner party, the gym, and driving range. Family game night was in a well-lit room with 5 kids and 2 adults sitting around. Dinner Party was lower light with 5 couples at a friend’s house. Last was at the gym with bright overhead lights that I recorded some video at. For all events I set the camera to auto-track, and to shoot registered persons more. In messing around with it prior to the events I was able to get myself and my partner to be registered subjects. At family game night the Pick took a couple dozen shots of our group over 2 hours. The shots were pretty good and the images looked nice. Every shot was a candid shot, so it worked out great. I also did some manual shots and video. The video was pretty good and it was interesting to see it track different faces. At the dinner party things didn’t go as planned. After 45 minutes I think it had taken 1 picture of my partner and I, and that was it. I asked pick (via the voice command) to scan around for other subjects to shoot. It took pictures of the wall behind it – opposite from where we were all sitting. In 2 hours I got 3 pictures of people and 7 of the wall and other nearby objects that were not people. If not for the manual control being available, I wouldn’t have gotten hardly any pics. It made me wonder if Pick has a difficult time with lower light conditions and finding subjects to shoot. I tested this out in my living room at home (lower light conditions like the dinner party) with my partner while we watched a movie. It didn’t take any pictures of us (10 ft. away and near the light), but it did take pictures of objects near to Pick like a headset and a movie case over the course of 20 minutes. I figured I would give Pick another try at the gym, which is very well lit. I shot video and some images. While I did deadlifts I had a video record with tracking on. It worked great and followed me up and down through my reps. I stayed centered and it kept my whole body in frame. I switched it over to picture mode and it took 2 pics during the next 2 sets. When I switched to a circuit workout with a lot of movement I managed to get more engagement with Pick. I got a few more pictures out of it there, and it also snapped a pic of a random gym goer nearby (deleted it once I saw it). Video tracking was again great, and I had it in a side profile. The driving range was well lit (daytime), but some shadows were starting to creep. I setup Pick to use as sort of a swing monitor for footage I could review later. I turned off auto-tracking so the image frame wouldn’t move around. The movie footage looked great and was pretty clear. The 60FPS comes in handy when looking at a golf swing. I had Pick on the ground and on my little travel tripod – both worked for what I wanted to see. I didn’t have it take any pics in this setting since I was mostly focused on video performance. Image quality across all of these events varied. The well lit events look pretty good, but low light really turns the photos grainy. Across all images though I felt my phone camera (3.5 year old LG V40) produces as good, if not better images. This was somewhat disappointing as I figured the image processing would be a lot better coming from Canon even with the reduced pixel count. The images are still good though, and the optical zoom brings in another layer of usefulness. I do have some things that should be better. The registered subjects were very difficult to get setup. There is no rhyme or reason why a person gets registered. I wish there was a manual way to take a headshot for the person you want to register. The most frustrating thing about the Pick is the app connection. I honestly have never been so confused by a connection link before. Your phone connects to the Pick via a local wireless link. However, the link dies the moment your screen shuts off, or if you toggle to one of your other apps. It will then have to re-establish the connection. So if you want to use it in manual mode then you need to configure your phone screen to never turn off, and also not use any other apps. I can’t fathom why it doesn’t maintain a persistent connection other than preserving battery life. I would rather accidently drain the battery by not disconnecting than have to repeatedly reconnect. Also, the manual controls are both too sensitive and not sensitive enough. If you use the arrows to move around it takes forever to pan and the movement is choppy – bigger movements are easy but fine adjustments are an exercise in frustration. You can also drag around on the screen to move, but doing so sends the camera flying past whatever you were trying to frame in. The last thing I would like is for the voice commands to be simpler. The “Hello Pick, snap a picture” breaks the flow of things, and it would be great if a picture could be taken with a simpler phrase like “Cheese.” My thoughts on the Pick are still that I think it’s a really cool idea. The personal event photographer that you can just plop down in a corner or on a table is a great idea. However, it seems as though my expectations exceed its abilities as of right now. I thought Pick would be snapping pictures fairly often and constantly scanning the room to capture the event. It’s just not there yet unfortunately. I will say that it can likely be improved by firmware to an extent. I found that light conditions really affect how well Pick determines a subject is photo-worthy. Lower light conditions resulted in Pick just spinning around looking for a subject. The video mode is honestly pretty good and the auto-tracking is fun for keeping a subject in frame. For me I think its most useful for candid videography – the tracking is well done, and the video stream looks good.

For being a point n shoot camera, it packs a bunch!! We have used this camera for travel and it takes clear, crisp photos that are definitely comparable to more expensive, professional cameras!! I love that it has the Bluetooth and WiFi option so that you can get the canon app and use your phone to remotely take pictures!!! I also LOVE that it has the screen that flips so if you take a selfie you can see what you look like!! Would recommend this camera over and over again!!! Also love the zoom capability! We went to aftershock in California and we were atleast a football field and more away from the stage and took a zoomed picture of the drummer and you would have thought we were right next to the stage!!! The photos I attached were photos we took with this camera on a tripod!!! Love it! Who needs a photographer now :))

I was looking for a small handheld camera to take on adventures, with out having to lug around my canon 5D mark iii, as it’s way to heavy. This camera reminded me of a mini 5D with WiFi, the quality is by far better than I imagined. See my test shot of the moon standing in my living room last night, taken on auto mod. then I zoomed in & wow the photo speaks for itself. The WiFi set up with my iPhone 11 pro was very easy to set up & I love the easy access to transfer photos from the camera to the phone. I highly recommend regardless if you have any experience or not this camera will have you shooting photos like a pro.

I absolutely ADORE this camera and it's family of cameras. I have previously owned the SX700HS powershot and ran that into the ground. 40x Optical zoom in a tiny point-and-shoot is a big deal. A compact camera that packs a punch. The moveable Screen is great for firing from the hip, discreet shooting to capture candids, ease of shooting when you don't want to crane your neck, and even selfies if you're into that. I hope that Canon produces more cameras of this caliber.

This is my second camera in the Canon SX series and I used my last one for about 5.5 years before it was starting to not work as well and I needed an upgrade. I mostly use it for outdoor shots while hiking and traveling. The photo quality is about the same as what you would get with a cell phone camera; however, the real benefit to this camera is the amazing zoom. Being an outdoor enthusiast, this camera takes great shots of wildlife from a distance or even a wildflower you want a picture of but don't want to trample the tundra getting close to it. I really debated upgrading to a mirrorless camera instead of sticking with a point and shoot but in the end, the small size and ease of use of this camera won out. I love that it fits easily in a jacket pocket. I do have one major issue with it. When wearing polarized sunglasses, I can't see the screen at all! Since it has no viewfinder, not being able to see the screen is a major issue. You might say that is the fault of the sunglasses and not the camera but I don't have as much of an issue with seeing the screens on my phone or my old camera in the same glasses. I've also noticed that I've accidentally bumped the buttons a few times and changed the settings. My old camera in this series didn't do that well in low light (like inside a cathedral) but I haven't had a chance to try out this one.

The Canon PowerShot PICK Active Tracking PTZ Digital Camera is the ultimate device for capturing your life on the go. Setup The camera was straightforward to set up and configure. I charged it with the included cable and Anker PowerPort PD Nano charger. The camera is much smaller than I thought it would be. After a full charge, I inserted the included SanDisk MicroSD 16GB memory card and scanned the QR code on the large single-sheet instructions with my iPhone. The Canon Connect App for Mini PTZ is available for Android and iOS devices. Once I installed the app, the steps were presented in the app to power on the camera, pair it with my iPhone, and connect to Wi-Fi. The camera auto-rotated and went into automatic photo-shooting mode. It reminds me of a miniature R2D2, the way it beeps when powering on and rotating to follow your movements. I used the app to download the latest firmware for the camera. Using the Camera The Canon PICK Camera is effortless to use with the app. I placed it on a tabletop camera mount, which I use for recording and streaming videos. The bottom of the camera has a standard screw port for camera stands. Within the app, I can control the camera's zoom, panning, and tracking. It is easy to switch from video to photos in automatic photo taking or manually snapping pictures. I can also control where the camera focuses by dragging my finger around the screen or using pan control. Brightness can be adjusted with a +/- control on the top left of the screen. The camera has a quality microphone for audio recording. It's not a studio mic, but it does do a decent job of recording. A status LED in front of the camera shows when the video recording is active. A remarkable feature of the Canon PICK is the ability to use voice commands for shooting. Under app settings, you can find a list of available voice commands. From the app, tapping on a face will select that person for tracking. In playback mode, I could review my videos and photos, tag them as favorites, delete them, and save them to my phone's photos. The camera uses Wi-Fi to move image files from the microSD memory card to phone storage. My first video was over 29 minutes long and took 29 minutes to transfer to my phone. While the included sheet of instructions is good for getting started, I recommend going to the app settings to see the instructions or going to the Canon website to view the complete manual. It is crucial to use UHS-I compatible microSD memory cards for having fast reading and writing speeds when recording videos. The camera can also be a webcam streaming device by connecting with the USB cable or configuring streaming via Wi-Fi. Summary While small and compact, the Canon PICK PTZ camera is full of power and features. You can place it in the middle of a room and capture all the people and activities as videos and pictures for a special event. You can use it for remote control streaming of live events, vlogging, and building a highlight video from an event and group of people. With all this flexibility and versatility, there's no reason not to own this camera if you are into event photography and vlogging. I highly recommend it. Features - 11.7MP camera for photos and videos - 1/2.3 CMOS Sensor - 19-57mm Focal Length - Zoom: 3x optical, 4x digital - Micro SD Memory card slot - Auto Shooting Mode - Voice commands - Auto tracking of up to 12 registered people - Highlight movie creation from events and people - Smile recognition - 110 tilt - +- 170 pan - Tracking distance: 16ft - Field of view: 360 - Image stabilization - Rechargeable battery, up to 5 hours on a charge - 1 year limited warranty - Bottom screw port for tripods and camera stands - Geotagging toggle - Adjustable aspect ratios - Adjustable recording quality

In many family and social situations, often the hosting members are delegated to take the photos of the gathering, whether it is a holiday festivity, birthday party, or group activity. I recall all the home video tapes that never included me in the footage, for I was the one who toted the camcorder on my shoulder. Decades later, with advances in miniaturization and artificial intelligence, Canon has an almost ready for prime time solution. The PowerShot PTZ (released in Europe and Japan as the Pick camera) will automatically snap stills and short videos of the action, which uses AI face recognition to let you prioritize the subjects you want to get more snaps of. And at your leisure, after the event, you can browse on your mobile and select the pictures that you wish to save and store. The small little R2-D2 near replica will rotate and pan up and down, seemingly at random but truly with a method in its searches. Totally self enclosed, you just turn it on, and it links to your WiFi or via Bluetooth to your cell phone via the PTZ app from Canon. It took several tries to get my phone to accomplish the linking, but on about the fourth day of trying, when I booted the app up, it informed me of a waiting firmware update. That occurred automatically via the WiFi link, and after that, it found the WiFi and my cell phone promptly and reliably. The literature that came with the camera was sparse, but the app had links to an online complete owner's manual and instructions in usage of the features. The app will store all the photos taken, which includes stills and video clips. The camera when taking a video will track quite reliably the movement and record the dialog of the subjects as they pass by. The camera has a slot for a microSD card, and recharges via a USB-C port. If you are running off the internal battery, it will warn you when the battery is running low. Indoors, you can plug in the camera to any USB-C charging to prolong your shooting session. Outdoors, the battery comes in handy, and connection to your mobile is via Bluetooth, which seems to be reliable and automatic (after the firmware update; prior to that I was totally stymied on how to get Bluetooth to connect or to shot out of range of the home WiFi). As I was looking for a solution to the lack of Bluetooth connectivity, I ran across several reviews and "unable to connect to BlueTooth was a very frequent and prominent complaint. For now, that seems to have be remedied, suggesting that Canon is monitoring and responding to customer input. You do not have to wait for the Pick to decide to take a shot, but can manually take over control via the app, and navigate the camera to the object of your choice and activate the shutter or start a video clip. So you don't have to hope that the Pick captures the blowing out of the birthday candles, but can guarantee it will be archived. There also is the option for a voice controlled activation of the picture/video capture, rather than reaching for the app. I have not yet tried that feature, but could be very convenient. As I was perusing some of the reviews, looking for a solution to my Bluetooth connectivity problem, I ran across the recurrent concerns about the creepy/ invasion of privacy factor of having photos taken without the subject's knowledge. The camera is small, and placed on a bookshelf would be rather inconspicuous, for sure. There are LED lights, green when turned on, blue when tracking and rotating, and a red blink for shutter action. This is not much different than a cell phone capacity to take a candid photo, while you were pretending to read an email. The Pick PTZ camera does look like a small surveillance camera, which are not rare in American households these days. Certainly telling the visitors that they are being intermittently recorded would be courteous, and perhaps, depending on local and state statutes, might be the law in your location. The big advantage over a cell phone, is that when you’re shooting family scenes with your phone, by necessity one person is out of the photo. Of course you could set up a tripod, and a shutter delay and give yourself 10 secs to get into position. But that creates a series of staged photos, not the spontaneous action shots of blowing out birthday candles, or helping in the kitchen, or rolling on the ground with the puppy and having the parent or owner of the camera in the action as well. The concept of a smart camera was on the market a few years ago, from Google, in its Clips camera. At $250, and the touted "machine learning" algorithms really weren't that accurate, that it was pulled after a short run about 4 years ago. Spec-wise" the PowerShot PX has a 11.7 megapixel 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, and can record 11 megapixel JPEG stills or full HD (1920 x 1080) MP4 video to a bundled SanDisk 16GB microSD card. The big feature is a mechanical pan and tilt mechanism, which lets the camera move 340 degrees left to right and 110 degrees up and down. The motor is virtually silent, so it could function as a monitor in the baby's room without fear of waking the child, but there are many such monitors for far less money. There is also bundled a miniature sized Anker Power Port PD "nano" charger and cable; a high quality 20W powerful, nice touch support accessory.

Camera is great, very useful, compact, and decent for the price now days. The only issue I don't like... The night photos are not too clear, they camera is hard to focus, and pictures come out very blurry and need to take a few pictures and hold the camera very very steady to take good night pictures. Day pictures a great, and I use the camera mostly during the day, so it does the jobs. I give it 4.9/5, overall it is easy to use, practical, SD card, and battery lasts a while.

A great concept that needs more work. I love the idea behind the Canon Pick Active, because I think candid photographs are the best and it’s nice to be in some pictures as I’m usually the photographer. The Pick Active is a tiny pan/tilt/zoom camera that rotates a full 360 degrees and can automatically identify and track up to 12 “registered” people at a time. The idea is that you place it in your desired vantage point and it will automatically snap photos and record video as if it was your own Ai photography assistant. It’s small and stable enough to put on most level surfaces, but there’s a threaded tripod mount on the bottom if you need a more specific angle. In typical Canon fashion, the fit and finish is excellent and it’s remarkable how small the camera is. The pictures made it seem like it was the size of a 12oz soda can, but it’s actually even smaller than a mini soda. This makes it easy to carry and less conspicuous for the best candid photos. The size and build quality are all excellent, which gave me high hopes about what this little Pick Active camera could do. It’s a Canon, after all… The picture quality is about on par with a compact snapshot camera. They reminded me of shots from my old PowerShot SD1100IS, which was no slouch either. It does a good job in bright settings, but it’s the low light where this camera struggles. In darker settings, the photos have less grain than my old SD1100, but it’s the person tracking, focusing, and auto-shooting that have a hard time keeping up. Even in a room with moderate ambient light, it had a hard time recognizing people and recording them. I had about 3 people over to watch a UFC fight and it was only able to “register” one person. Mind you, as far as I can tell, the software seems to take photos of people it wants to register automatically, so while I can pick who among the list I want it to focus on, I still have to wait for the camera to find and take a photo of the person before I can do so. I even tried to do a manual shot of a person to see if it would add them to the list, but it didn’t, so I’m not sure what the trick is yet. Speaking of which, you’ll need to download the Canon MiniPTZ app to use the camera. It’s free for Android and iOS, so no worries there. However, I’d gladly pay if it would help the app work better. The user interface is fairly straightforward, but it frequently disconnects from the camera after about 10 minutes or so. What’s an even bigger issue is the lag time between the app and the camera. Trying to pan, tilt, or zoom manually is extremely hard to get right, because there’s about a full second of lag between the controls. I found it a little easier with the digital joystick, but the lag causes you to guess where the camera will stop versus seeing it quickly and accurately. A lot of missed photos from this, which makes the manual mode essentially useless. So far, I find the best way to use the Pick Active is in auto-shoot mode, even though that is highly flawed as well (person identifying and tracking). Battery life is a reported 3.5 hours, which seems on point, but I think it sometimes shuts down when it disconnects from the app, so I haven’t gotten an accurate gauge of it yet. Photo and video storage comes via a micro SD slot with a 16GB card included. All that said, when the Pick Active does work properly, it’s pretty awesome. I love reviewing what photos and videos it’s taken at the end of the day and thankfully the app makes them easy to download. As it stands now, I can’t recommend the camera for most people, unless they don’t mind taking chances on something new and hoping a firmware or software update alleviates the issues. I love the concept of the Canon Pick Active and the hardware itself is great, but the software leaves a lot to be desired.

Great camera for traveling. Compact enough to fit in a backpack or purse. Higher quality pictures than an iPhone camera. Love the WiFi feature which allows you to transfer pics easily to an iPhone. Also love the flip up screen that can be used for selfies. The only negative is zoom is limited compared to more professional cameras but it is adequate for my needs.

Definitely had to mess with the settings for the look I wanted but once I did, I was obsessed with the photos. Very light and compact to carry around in my purse. Great flash. If you can find it for retail price, definitely worth it.

I love this camera. Easy to use, great zoom feature, nice clear pictures and I love the flip up screen for selfies. We do group bike rides and we always "missed" someone in the pictures or had to sit out the person taking it. Not any more. Small enough to carry in my pack. I just love it.

Canon released this interesting new camera idea where the camera is also the cameraman. Great for those times when you're having a party and want to take candid shots, but also want to be in the shots. So now, with the Powershot Pick, you won't need to hire a photographer to cover events. A couple of these in strategically placed spots will take care of your event for you, right? Not so fast; AI works, but has caveats. Unboxing this from what was a festive looking box to reveal the camera box, a 16GB microSD pack, and an Anker 20W charge adapter. I find it strange for them to add to the camera's package with basic battery charging ability rather than have them included from Canon. Especially considering the camera requires a 20W charger that may not be already available to you since most USB ports offer only 10W. I thought the addition of a 16GB card to be a bit paltry until I realized the 11.7MP resolution of the pictures and videos were rather small, I guess it was a nice touch. The camera itself was a lot smaller than I expected simply because the form factor is akin to a typical PTZ security camera, being about twice the size. If it wasn't so delicate and strange, would've been a nice pocket camera. I needed a specific app rather than the Canon Connect app I already had. In order to connect to the camera, it first needs to connect through its own Wi-Fi, then with Bluetooth. This is what it does every time. If you're like me and don't like having apps running in the background, you have to connect the same way, kicking you off internet access. I found the app to be good for programming the shooting modes and seeing a playback of the media. The live view of the camera was laggy and controls only worked intermittently which made positioning for a picture quite difficult. The camera's AI tracking mode only works if you stand within 3ft of it and it registers your face. Not something you can place at a party to take random candid shots of guests that are not registered. And even then, you need to be within 3ft of it to enable it. I find it difficult to determine the battery's charge level in the app as there is only an icon and no percentage. Canon says you should get between 2.5 to 5hrs of operation per charge. I'm only getting about an hour and almost nothing to show for it. I had a party this past weekend and thought this would be a great way to test the camera. I placed it in the dining room and turned it on about 20 minutes before sitting down. After the party, I checked the camera to find 1 picture and 1 video at the same time as the picture. That was it! It got nothing else for over an hour at the party. I think the camera is a great idea, it's just half baked. The lenses and image chip are of low quality attributing to the grainy pictures. Better lenses might allow the AI to recognize faces at a further distance. If they can release some firmware updates to correct these issues, it might be passable. For now, it would be good for a quick vlogging session or solo recording.

Excellent value. This camera has 40x optical zoom yet is compact enough to put in my jacket pocket. Great all around camera, I take it on road trips to capture scenery, family portraits, and close-ups of wildlife and birds.

Takes good pictures. Light weight, fits in pocket. Easy to go from still pic to video mode. Several negatives: Flash has to be activated manually, Flash mode reverts to Auto when turning off. Video button very small and difficult to turn on and off.

Wrote this for my SX730, but the specs for the SX740 are similar for still photo. Love this thing! Most concerts don't allow cameras with removable lenses. This one is the best as it has a 40x OPTICAL zoom....(don't fall for cameras that boast digital....you will NEVER get a clear pict using digital zoom) You can be the envy of your concert going friends using their iPhones trying to capture an image like this....! Last pict at The Stones concert shows how far back I was and still got some incredible photos no phone camera would achieve. Stop relying on your phone for everything!!!!!

This camera is so versatile, easy to use and best quality pictures!