Canon PowerShot S1 IS 3.2 MP Digital Camera with 10x Image Stabilized Optical Zoom
by Canon
|
List Price: Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
|---|
(Click here)
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon PowerShot S1 IS 3.2 MP Digital Camera with 10x Image Stabilized Optical Zoom
Customer Review: Great Value...Very Good Camera
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had the S1 IS for about 6 months now and I am very happy with the camera.
Positives: Very easy to use; awesome video quality + sound; good picture quality; image stabilization feature seems to work well; nice variety of shooting modes; 10X optical zoom will spoil you; omni positional screen will become a must have for future cameras.
Negatives: 3.2 MP is OK, but more is always better, especially if you are going to blow up and/or crop your shots; macro mode would be nice; sometimes camera seems to search too long in mid to low light in auto mode - picture quality can suffer.
I've not yet explored even half of the camera's features. I've been very happy shooting stills mostly in auto mode and video. Camera can do a lot more if you ask it to.
I'd definitely recommend this camera, or the S2 if you want to spend a bit more for more MPs and other features. I added a 1 GB flash card and two sets of rechargeable batters, neither of which I could do without. You'll need at least a 500MB card if you plan to shoot much video.
Customer Review: Nice for the Price!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the Powershot S1 IS in Oct. 2005 to replace my Canon T70 film camera. I really like this camera, and here is why:
1) It has an "Auto" mode so that my wife and kids can use it without worrying about flash, f-stops and shutter speeds. OK, almost all digitals do this. ;-)
2) But, you can change to Program AE, Tv, Av or fully manual mode. Now we're talkin'! I'm all for point and shoot ease when it comes to family snapshots, but sometimes I like to get creative with a sunset, moonrise, night shot, fill-flash, silhouette, etc. and this camera can handle it. It's got up to a 15-second shutter, which is longer than many in this class.
3) You can add narration comments to photos, which I find handy when documenting something that the picture alone does not explain. Like, I do genealogy photos so I want to say who lived there or whose grave marker that was, or whatever. You can download the comments to the computer as a WAV file as well. It's like taking notes while you're recording the scene.
4) Movie mode is *almost* a replacement for my Sony Digital8 camcorder. Other than the camcorder recording in stereo and having better low-light sensitivity, the Powershot S1 can handle most of what I use a camcorder for. Image stabilization and zoom while recording are bonuses in this camera class.
5) No lens swapping any more. With the 10x zoom from 38mm to 380mm, there's no need to carry any lenses with it, although you can get a wider wide angle and a longer telephoto, but why? If you're that into photography, you should be looking at digital SLRs anyway.
6) Vari-angle LCD makes it so much easier to get an angle that you can't when the LCD is attached. Shoot over your head, from your feet, around a corner... not many cameras in this class can do that.
7) Stitch Assist mode. OK, this was a feature I liked in particular that you may not care about. But I like to take panoramas, and with the T70, I was guessing how much overlap I had, what the exposure should be for each shot, etc. With the Powershot S1, it locks in white balance and exposure on the first frame, then shows you 1/3 of the last frame in the next shot so you can line them up. I can do hand-held panoramas all day! :-)
OK, so there were a few negatives that I'll share too:
1) There's no hot shoe for my Vivitar flash, although you can buy a Canon flash unit for this model. But I probably won't because I think the built-in ~15 ft. flash range will be all I need.
2) Speaking of that... flash pictures that you take from about 5 feet and closer seem to be washed out in the highlights. That may be because the sensor is reading the dark background and overcompensating. But you can manually adjust the flash power, which I set to about 1/4 on the scale and that seems to cure the problem for close ups.
3) A low-light focusing lamp would help. I had some trouble on Halloween eve focusing outdoors with natural light.
4) I think I like the pre-flash type of red-eye reduction rather than the little LED light that's on this camera. It doesn't seem to take care of red-eye in all cases (like when people are not looking directly at the camera), but it works OK in most cases.
I believe the newer Powershot S2 takes care of some of these issues, but then again, it's almost 2x as expensive at this point in time.
When you buy this camera, you will need a case and a memory card for it. I bought the Tamrac 5693 Digital 3 Bag here on Amazon, which fits the S1, an extra set of batteries, an extra memory card, and the camera's video cable. I've heard that the Canon PSC-70 bag is on the small side for this camera. The memory card I bought (here on Amazon again) was the SanDisk SDCFH-512-901 512MB Ultra II CompactFlash Card, which has plenty of space for what I need and is a pretty fast card.
One other thing you'll probably want to buy is some NiMH batteries. I didn't have a charger either, so I bought a package of 8 2500ma Energizer batteries and a nice Powerex MH-C204W charger for about $50 at [...]
I came away with this whole setup for about $375, which I think was a great deal and well worth the convenience and quality that I got. I considered the Panazsonic Lumix DMC-FZ4 too, but I liked the Canon features and the fact that it used cheaper AA batteries and CF card. So the big 35mm bag sits in my closet now and this little camera goes everywhere with me.
Customer Review: amazing!
Summary: 4 Stars
i love the way this camera feels in my hands: like a real SLR camera. it's also got enough weight that i don't feel like it's going to blow away with the slightest breeze. it's just a tad on the large side, not really fitting into a pocket, but it fits alright into an average sized purse. the options for additional acessories are wonderful, including extra lenses and a waterproof case. the LCD screen is incredibly cool. when not using the camera, the screen protects itself from unwatned fingerprints or dust, but when you want to use it, it flips out, turns around (which allows you to take pictures of yourself and friends if no one is there to hold the camera) but once turned around, the screen also flips back in, allowing you to use it as you would any old screen. (that might just be my favorite feature--it's the little things). this was one of consumer reports favorites for people who like to shoot snapshots, but also occasionally like to get a little creative, and that fit me to a tee. although pricey, i feel like this camera is worth every penny.Customer Review: Excellent camera, once you get used to it.
Summary: 5 Stars
We picked up this camera as a replacement for our lost Nikon Coolpix 3100. We'd been really happy with the 3100, and we'd read a lot of professional reviews of available cameras before settling on this one. A lot of people liked it, so we figured it was a good bet for us.
At first, though, it was frustrating; the camera seemed to struggle with focus indoors, and we weren't able to get it to take many good pictures. For the first half an hour, I wondered if it would just be better to return it and go for another camera.
However, that's first impression; and I was used to a little point and shoot camera. Once you get used to this one, though, you find that it's much more capable; and the problems it has are mostly things you can get around.
Firstly, the focus in low light. There are a number of ways around it - firstly, the manual focus combines with the autofocus pretty well. I was able to get some pretty sharp results out of this the very first time I tried it, using the camera at full zoom in not great lighting. Secondly, you can use some of the little camera tips (focusing on similar-distance objects that the camera can pick out better - a little backward as a solution, but it works pretty well) and finally, because the camera lets you configure a custom shooting mode yourself, you can set up a hyperfocus mode. A lot of people using this camera have found that a decent hyperfocus setting all but wipes out the camera's struggles with focusing in low-light, allowing it to work well as an indoor point-and-shoot camera.
The next issue is the screen size - but honestly, I don't have a problem with it at all, probably because it's the same size as our old camera had. On top of that, the screen is a decent resolution, it's clear and much brighter than the screen on our old camera, and the fact that you can tilt and flip it means you can take pictures from just about any angle or position you can dream of. If you want to take a picture with the camera close to the ground, just flip the screen out and angle it upwards; and if you want to take pictures of yourself, flip the screen around. No more guesswork, and no more pulled muscles and twisted necks trying to take tricky pictures!
The other features add together to make this camera wonderful, especially at the price. The video mode is great - 30 frames a second, 640 by 480 pixels with good sound recording to boot, though you'll want a fast memory card to use it, and the video clips come out as fairly hefty AVI files. The 10x zoom is nice to have too - you can take pictures you were never able to before. Image stabilization, too, works a treat - and the battery life is wonderful.
Basically, this camera has traded megapixel resolution for features and versatility, and I think it's more than worth it. 3.2mp seems small in today's market, but it's still a good resolution; far more than is needed for web pictures, and plenty to produce crisp 5x7" prints. And with the other features that this camera has, the pictures you'll be able to take will simply be better than those you could have taken with a higher mp, but less capable camera.
In the end, it's a little less accessible than the simpler point-and-shoot cameras at first, but it's very rewarding once you get to grips with it. Definitely worth getting, and definitely worth sticking with.
(Update - after almost a year of use, we still really like this camera. Its quality for general photography is great, and the quality of videoclips it can takes are more than good enough to put onto a DVD. However, we've missed the quick response of our old little camera sometimes - there are certain situations where our old Nikon was faster and much easier to handle, and for very close-up photography, the lack of resolution means you're a little limited. But as an all-round camera, it's still been a great one, and still deserving the full five stars for the price.)
Customer Review: Canon PowerShot S1 IS 3.2 MP
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great camera. I bought it just prior to a trip to Russia and quickly learned its many features. I continued to learn about more features as I used it on this trip. Great photos and easy to use 10X zoom allowed me to capture all the sights with little or no training. I bought a SanDisk 512 memory card and can record several hundred photos. I reviewed my photos at the end of each day and deleted the poor shots from the camera. I also bought a ($14) camera bag, 4 rechargeable AA batteries with charger ($10) at Walmart that works great. I use Picasa2, free photo edit software, abd now I am good-to-go. You will love this camera. I previously used a Epson PC600 digital camera $600 and there is no comparison - this camera MUCH better, but 6 years has elapsed.
Luck,
Vince LaPorte
Marshall, MN