The Canon PowerShot SX740 HS is a compact point-and-shoot camera. Though its tiny sensor won't blow you away any more than your phone camera, this pocketable point-and-shoot comes with a 40x zoom-capable lens, making it super easy to capture far-off subjects. Add in 4k video capability and a price that won't break the bank, and you've got an appealing budget option for casual or travel photography.
The Canon PowerShot SX740 is okay for travel photography. Its out-of-camera image quality is decent, and photos don't have a lot of visible image noise at low ISO settings, but they aren't very sharp. Its autofocus is okay but isn't very consistent when tracking moving faces. The battery life is also disappointing. That said, the camera is very portable and easy to take wherever you go, but it can be a bit uncomfortable because of its compact size, especially if you have larger hands.
The Canon PowerShot SX740 isn't the best choice for landscape photography, though it's fine for more casual photography. The biggest issue is its tiny sensor, which has a limited dynamic range, meaning it can't capture a wide array of detail in high-contrast shots. Its built-in lens isn't especially sharp, although the camera does produce pleasing colors.
The Canon PowerShot SX740 is decent for sport and wildlife photography. It can shoot at a reasonably high continuous speed and has an okay autofocus system. However, it may struggle to clearly capture fast-moving subjects like athletes or running animals. Image quality isn't the best, but the long zoom range and good stabilization feature means you can get fairly clear shots of far-away subjects.
The Canon PowerShot SX740 is decent for vlogging. It's portable, and its flip-out screen lets you easily monitor yourself while recording. Its optical stabilization helps keep videos stable, even when you're on the go. Unfortunately, it has poor 4k and FHD video quality, so videos aren't very sharp or detailed. The autofocus is also inconsistent when tracking faces.
The Canon PowerShot SX740 isn't a good choice for studio video, though it isn't meant for this use. Video quality is poor in both 4k and 1080p, with limited dynamic range and sharpness. Its autofocus system does an okay job tracking moving subjects, but it sometimes struggles to keep them in focus. The camera lacks inputs and outputs and has limited internal recording capability for higher-quality video capture.
The Canon PowerShot SX740 isn't meant for action video. While it's very portable, it doesn't support 120 fps or 240 fps video recording, so you can't capture slow-motion action videos. It doesn't have the best 4k or FHD recording quality, either. It also lacks any water resistance.
The Canon SX740 comes in two different color variants: Black and Silver. We tested the Black variant, and you can see the label for the model we tested here. We expect the Silver variant to perform similarly. If you come across another variant, let us know in the discussions.