[With Sample Photos] How a 40x Optical Zoom Changes Your Travel Resolution: Canon PowerShot SX720 HS

When you travel, there are moments when you can't help squinting and wondering, "What's over there?" Distant scenery that looks no bigger than a grain to the naked eye. At times like that, the Canon PowerShot SX720 HS, pulled smoothly from my pocket, instantly expanded my field of view.

This is a record of trip scenes captured with the astonishing 40x optical zoom as the spice of the journey.

1. Pulling Distant Details Close with a Fingertip

Let's start with this shot. Beyond a Japanese flag fluttering strongly, the slopes of Mt. Fuji loom. This is a world you can only capture at the SX720 HS's super-telephoto end. A flag in the foreground and a mountain far away. The "compression effect," which squeezes physical distance together, turns an ordinary landscape into something special. It feels not like "photographing something far away," but like "bringing the faraway star of the scene right in front of you." That thrill may be the biggest reason to carry this camera.

2. A Quiet Drama Encountered Along the Way

A rest stop I happened to pull into. There was an atmosphere of people each enjoying their own journey. A heavy motorcycle and the back of someone preparing for the road. Even if you aren't part of the circle, zooming in from a little distance lets you capture it as an "everyday scene" without disturbing the warmth of the moment. The SX720 HS's agility never misses these "chance encounters on the road."

3. Bringing Home the Atmosphere of the Place

The super-telephoto power tends to steal the spotlight, but this camera is also excellent at wide shots.
A parking lot attendant, a signpost, and Mt. Fuji standing solidly behind them. It rendered the "ordinary yet unforgettable everyday scenes" you meet while traveling honestly and without distortion.
From foreground to background, it fits the scale just as my eyes saw it into a single frame. It is the kind of rendering that convinces you that with this one camera in your pocket, you won't miss any scene on your trip.

4. Mt. Fuji, Blending into Daily Life

Finally, a typically Japanese scene I came across during the trip. Houses and lush trees in the foreground, and Mt. Fuji rising solidly behind them. Not a special tourist spot, but someone's everyday view, with Mt. Fuji standing there at such a scale. That fact moved me all over again. The SX720 HS's honest rendering faithfully recorded, without breaking down, the true beauty of Japan, where "daily life" and "magnificent nature" coexist. Being able to keep an ordinary view as a "work" is part of this camera's charm, I think.

The Joy of Lightly Surpassing the Limits of Your Vision

What using the Canon PowerShot SX720 HS made me realize again is that "a zoom lens is a tool that gives my curiosity a shape."

The thrill of spotting something interesting and leaping right to it with a single fingertip. A "40x world" that a smartphone could never reach, yet that you can have without carrying a big DSLR.

"I want to see it closer." Why not release that pure curiosity together with this camera?

View all PowerShot SX720 HS listings here

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