There are cameras that arrive looking like serious bits of professional kit.
Big lenses. Big bodies. Loads of buttons. The sort of thing that makes you look like youโre about to photograph Metallica from the pit at Donington.
Then thereโs the Canon PowerShot SX740 HS.
Small. Lightweight. Pocket-friendly.
And packing a frankly ridiculous 40x optical zoom.
Yep, this innocent-looking little compact can take you from a nice wide festival shot to practically checking whether the guitarist has remembered to tune his G-string. ๐๐ธ
The original SX740 HS has been around since 2018, while the newer SX740 HS Lite Edition keeps the same basic camera alive with only a few minor differences.
But is it still worth considering today?
Especially for gigs, festivals, travel and those moments where your phone zoom turns the stage into a blurry Minecraft screenshot?
Letโs have a proper look.
โญ The Riff Report Rating: 8/10
Best for: Festivals, travel, holidays, outdoor gigs, wildlife and general photography
Not ideal for: Dark indoor gigs, serious concert photography and anyone desperate to shoot RAW
๐ญ That 40x Zoom Is Completely Mental
Letโs start with the reason anyone is looking at this camera in the first place.
40x optical zoom.
The lens covers the equivalent of roughly 24โ960mm, meaning you can go from a reasonably wide shot to absolutely ridiculous telephoto territory without changing lenses.
And this thing still fits in your pocket.
That is properly impressive.
Picture the scene.
Youโre standing somewhere near the back of a festival arena.
Your phone takes a lovely photo of 6,000 peopleโs heads, three flags, somebodyโs inflatable dinosaur and a stage approximately the size of a postage stamp.
Whack out the SX740.
Zoom in.
Suddenly you can actually see the singer.
HELLO THERE. ๐๐
For festival photography without press access, that reach alone makes the SX740 incredibly tempting.
๐ท Whatโs Inside?
Underneath the pocket-sized body sits a 20.3-megapixel CMOS sensor powered by Canonโs DIGIC 8 image processor.
You also get continuous shooting of up to around 10 frames per second, optical image stabilisation and 4K video recording.
The headline specifications look like this:
Specification
Canon PowerShot SX740 HS / Lite
Resolution
20.3MP
Optical Zoom
40x
Lens Equivalent
Approx. 24โ960mm
Video
4K
Burst Shooting
Up to 10fps
Screen
180-degree tilting LCD
Wireless
Wi-Fi & Bluetooth
RAW Shooting
No
Viewfinder
No
Touchscreen
No
Itโs not packed with modern bells and whistles, but Canon clearly built this camera around one purpose:
Maximum zoom in minimum space.
And at that, it remains brilliant.
๐ค Is It Any Good For Festivals?
This is where things get interesting.
For outdoor festivals during daylight?
Yes. Very much yes.
Imagine wandering around Download, Bloodstock, Steelhouse, Stonedead or any other giant field full of riffs, overpriced burgers and people desperately trying to remember where they pitched their tent.
You probably donโt want to carry a massive DSLR or mirrorless camera around all weekend.
You also might not have a photography pass.
Thatโs where something like the SX740 becomes incredibly handy.
Stick it in your coat pocket or small bag, pull it out when needed, and suddenly that stage half a field away becomes much easier to photograph.
The 10fps burst shooting can also help when musicians inevitably decide to jump off something.
Singer standing still?
Easy.
Guitarist launching himself off the drum riser?
Hold that shutter button and pray to Lemmy. ๐ค๐
๐ Indoor Gigs Are Another Story
Here comes the big catch.
The SX740 uses a relatively small sensor.
Thatโs one of the reasons Canon can squeeze such an enormous zoom range into such a tiny body.
But small sensors have limitations.
And concert venues are basically photography torture chambers.
One second the stage is black.
Then suddenlyโฆ
RED LIGHT.
Then blue.
Then darkness.
Then some bloke fires a flamethrower beside the drummer.
Meanwhile everyone on stage is moving like theyโve consumed six cans of Monster backstage.
๐
In low light, the SX740 can struggle with noise and detail, particularly as the ISO increases.
A modern mirrorless camera with a larger sensor and fast lens will absolutely destroy it in those conditions.
So if your main goal is serious indoor concert photography, this probably isnโt the camera to buy.
For sunny festival afternoons?
Different story entirely.
๐ฑ Better Than A Smartphone?
This is where the SX740 still manages to fight back against modern phones.
For everyday photography and low-light situations, flagship smartphones have become ridiculously good.
Computational photography can turn a fairly average-looking shot into something surprisingly impressive.
But thereโs one area where phones still struggle.
Proper long-distance optical zoom.
That 40x zoom is the SX740โs secret weapon.
Digital zoom on a phone can quickly start looking like CCTV footage from outside Greggs.
The Canon is actually using optical zoom.
That means substantially more real reach without simply cropping the life out of the image.
For photographing distant stages, wildlife or landmarks, that makes a huge difference.
๐ฅ 4K Video Is A Nice Bonus
The SX740 can also shoot 4K video, making it useful for festival clips, travel footage and social media content.
For a camera this small, having both enormous zoom and 4K recording is handy.
Just remember one thing.
The further you zoom in, the more every tiny movement becomes exaggerated.
At 960mm-equivalent reach, what feels like a tiny wobble can suddenly resemble footage recorded during an earthquake.
Image stabilisation helps.
Seven pints of lager generally doesnโt.
๐บ๐
๐คณ Flip-Up Screen
Another useful feature is the 180-degree tilting rear screen.
Flip it upwards and you can frame yourself for selfies, vlogging or those inevitable festival campsite videos where everyone looks remarkably fresh despite having slept for approximately 37 minutes.
Unfortunately, the screen isnโt touch-sensitive.
And that feels fairly ancient nowadays.
You will absolutely try tapping it.
Nothing.
Tap again.
Still nothing.
Then rememberโฆ
Oh yeah. Buttons.
๐
โ No RAW Shooting Is A Shame
One of the biggest disappointments for photography enthusiasts is the lack of RAW support.
The SX740 shoots JPEG images.
For casual photography, thatโs absolutely fine.
For serious editing?
Less ideal.
RAW files give photographers considerably more flexibility when recovering highlights, lifting shadows and adjusting colours in Lightroom or Photoshop.
That can make a particularly big difference with challenging concert lighting.
So if youโre hoping to squeeze every last bit of quality out of your images later, the lack of RAW is definitely something to consider.
๐ SX740 HS Vs SX740 HS Lite
The naming makes it sound like Canon has stripped half the camera out of the Lite model.
Thankfully, that isnโt really the case.
The SX740 HS Lite Edition is essentially the same camera with one notable difference:
No USB charging.
Instead, youโll need to remove the battery and use an external charger.
Is that slightly annoying?
Yes.
Is it the end of civilisation?
Probably not.
Just make sure youโve got spare charged batteries before heading into a festival field for twelve hours.
Because finding a charger halfway up a Welsh mountain is generally frowned upon.
๐ท Is It Worth The Money?
This is probably the toughest part of the whole review.
The SX740 remains capable, but fundamentally weโre talking about camera technology originally launched several years ago.
And depending on availability, prices can still be surprisingly high.
That makes the value proposition slightly awkward.
At the right price, itโs easy to recommend.
At premium compact-camera money?
You need to really want that enormous zoom.
Because youโre sacrificing several things commonly found on more enthusiast-focused cameras:
No RAW.
No viewfinder.
No touchscreen.
Small sensor.
Limited low-light performance.
But youโre getting something many alternatives simply cannot offer.
A genuinely massive zoom in a tiny camera body.
๐ธ The Riff Report Verdict
The Canon PowerShot SX740 HS / Lite is one of those wonderfully strange cameras that somehow feels both outdated and completely brilliant at the same time.
Its entire argument for existing can basically be summed up in one word:
ZOOOOOOOM. ๐ญ๐ฅ
That 40x optical zoom remains incredibly impressive for something this compact.
Chuck the SX740 in your bag before heading to an outdoor festival and you could capture photographs that would be incredibly difficult with a phone.
But expectations matter.
If youโre hoping to stand at the back of Cardiff Utilita Arena during a dark gig and produce photographs worthy of the front page of Kerrang!?
Nah, butt.
Physics has entered the chat.
But for daytime festivals, wildlife, holidays, sightseeing, theme parks and anything where getting physically closer simply isnโt possible?
Now weโre talking.
โญ Final Score: 8/10
Zoom: โญโญโญโญโญ
Portability: โญโญโญโญโญ
Daylight Photography: โญโญโญโญ
Video: โญโญโญโญ
Low-Light Gig Photography: โญโญยฝ
Value: โญโญโญ
Festival Usefulness: โญโญโญโญยฝ
The Canon PowerShot SX740 HS isnโt the best compact camera for outright image quality.
It isnโt the best dedicated concert camera.
And it certainly isnโt the most modern camera on the shelves.
But as a tiny camera you can shove in your pocket while still having access to a completely ridiculous 960mm-equivalent zoom?
The little bugger is still seriously good fun. ๐ธ๐ค๐ฅ
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Zero Apologies.
