Canon Realis SX7 Portable Projector Review: Summary, Pros, Cons

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Art Feierman

Overall, Canon's flagship projector is excellent. It is extremely bright for a small projector. Of course one of its key strengths is that it is an SXGA+ resolution projector, ideal for projecting applications and presentations with sources that are higher than XGA resolution. It has the ability to project fine detail that most projectors just can't do.

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The Canon Realis SX7 should be especially successful with the engineering and science crowd. It is ideal for command and control centers, as well as architectural firms, and others accustomed to working with workstations and very high resolution PC's and Macs.

The price of the Canon Realis SX7 is anything but inexpensive, but, there are only a couple of SXGA+ projectors under down under $3000 (where bright XGA projectors tend to be priced), and none of the much lower cost SXGA+ projectors can match the Canon for sheer brightness.

The SX7 is a great projector for displaying high resolution graphics, renderings, and technical drawings!

Canon Realis SX7: Pros

Hefty 4000+ lumens!
SXGA+ resolution is what this projector is all about - the ability to produce fine detail from high resolution sources
Reasonably small, and portable for an SXGA+ projector
Overall very good color handling
Exceptional image processing flexibility (color controls, etc.)
Very good sharpness, as befits an SXGA+ projector
Very nice, compact remote control, even for those with large hands
DVI input (digital) compatible with HDMI
Monitor out
Multiple audio inputs, and an audio out
1.7:1 zoom lens offers excellent placement flexibility. For more, you normally need a projector offering interchangeable lenses (more $$$)
Good overall input flexibility
Remote mousing functions
Great warranty - 3 years parts and labor
Come with nicely padded carry case, with room for plenty of cables

Canon Realis SX7: Cons

Significant video artifact from HDMI source, when video has a great deal of action (image processing demands)
No vertical lens shift
Lacks full remote mousing with joystick type of control

Canon Realis SX7: Typical Capabilities

Documentation
Lamp life
Size and weight for a 3 panel 4000 lumen projector

Canon Realis SX7: Summary

One really significant flaw in image processing, is the exception to an otherwise excellent, and most impressive projector.

When fed its native 1400x1050 resolution, the SX7 produces razor sharp images from technical drawings, renderings, and computer graphics - and of course text.

Thanks to the same SXGA+ resolution, it also does a very good job with standard XGA sources, and handles other higher resolution source material better than the usual XGA projector.

If Canon ships in another unit, and it lacks the image processing problem, or if we can isolate it further, and discover that only one out of many ways to feed video sources to it, has the problem, the SX7 will be reconsidered for our Hot Product Award. In all other ways, it deserves it!

Most impressive, overall!