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Canon PowerShot S1 IS 3.2 MP with 10x Optical Zoom

Canon PowerShot S1 IS 3.2 MP with 10x Optical Zoom

List Price: $499.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good camera if you want to have full control
Review: I've been using point and shot cameras from Olympus and Sony. They are good, but they still can't defeat Canon. This Camera offers a lot of functions to play with, and everything can be manual controled. The 10X zoom is something that you don't easily find in other cameras and it also gives you the oportunity to change lenses. Get a big Compact Flash card and some rechargable batteries and you're ready to go. It's only 3.2 mp, but it's what you really need because nobody is printing large pictures this days.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best Camera I've owned!
Review: I've owned several Sony Digital Camera's and this is the first Canon that I have ever bought. The unit is slightly bulkier than my past cameras but the performance with respect to the zoom, color and clarity make it all worth it! The Image Stabilization feature is the best. No more blurred pictures!

The zoom feature is nice as well. Great close up shots! Very easy to operate.

The swivel screen is also another awesome feature. I can flip the screen over so I don't have to worry about it getting scratched. It is relatively easy to use. The only change I would make in the design of the camera is the location of the "set" and "menu" buttons. It is placed in a location that is where you would most likely hold the camera. It is easy to hit the button accidentally while you are trying to take a picture. Otherwise, this camera is definitely one of the best I've owned and worth the price!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Master of all trades
Review: If you wanna
1. shoot good close up shots of your loved ones;
2. capture all that intricate art work of that museum pillar
3. capture true colors of sparkling marble of taj mahal, with the green trees around, blue sky above and giant red sand stone gates in the background
4. take that picture of well-lit downtown with lines of fast moving cars with their head lights on
5. shoot that swing shot of tendulkar(the cricketing world knows him) from the pavilion
6. great results from a match-making agency (non-Indians: Ignore this. You will not know what I am talking about)

this is the camera you got to buy.

10x with great image stabilization, true colors and great manual control on the pictures, semi SLR kind of controls...all for about 320 bucks. Now, thats a deal!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent camera
Review: One of the best digital camera out there. I have been using it for the last 3 months and fully satisfied with it.

Pros:
Excellent quality digital photos. Probably one of the best in the cameras in this price range.
10X Zoom
Image stabilization
Provides full manual operation including Av and Tv priority
Camcorder quality movie mode
Cons:
Camera doesn't focus all that well in a low light situation
Electronic view finder instead of the optical
little slow in focussing maybe because of the slowness of the flash card used

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Canon S1 - best features for this price range
Review: The Powershot S1 has all the features of my old Canon A60, but the 10x zoom with image stabilizer sold me. No more blurred photos! The diopter on the viewfinder is another unique feature that this bi-focaled person appreciates. Adjust it to your vision and images are focused perfectly in the viewfinder. The LCD screen can be flipped in different positions, which is handy. Bonus: fold it down to keep it from getting scratched and full of fingerprints. It's a tad smaller than I'm accustomed to, but suffices. The pop-up flash is handy, and again, is less likely to get damaged when down. The lens cap, when tethered to the neckstrap, pops right off when you turn the camera on. No more losing lens caps or getting the lens dirty and scratched. (Yes, I'm tough on my cameras.)

The 3.2 MP size is perfectly suited to 8x10 or smaller photos. You don't need more than that for casual or semi-professional use. The 32 MB memory card is adequate, but purchase a 512 MB compactflash card and you are set. Yes, it eats batteries, but purchase a set of rechargeable batteries and charger and you are set to go. I even bought an inverter for my car so that I can plug in the charger when on trips. The video feature is nice, but we use it rarely.

The biggest selling points, for me, were:
- Canon brand; reliable and well-built, good customer service
- Compactflash memory; inexpensive and easy to find
- uses AA batteries, not a proprietary battery
- 10x zoom; get those close-up shots you can't get with a 3x
- image stabilizer; people with shaky hands love this
- Flip out LCD view screen
- easy-to-use menus and controls
- many settings available on top dial
- manual focus available when in low-light
- ability to add on wide-angle and telephoto lenses and filters
- optional remote control
- quiet operation; zoom and shutter not noisy like the A60
- tripod mount on bottom
- unit is not too bulky or heavy and fits in most camera bags
- best features for digital camera in this price range
[...]

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The highest quality camera for the non-pro
Review: This camera delivers exactly what I expected. I sold both my mini dv movie camera and other digital camera and replaced it with this. The highlights:

+ The movie mode is the crowning achievement of this camera. Theh movies are fantastic, and most importantly are recorded on a CF card, which loads right onto my PC. No transferring video from a camcorder. This is the #1 reason I changed cameras.

+ The shot quality is outstanding. Crystal clear and colors are great.

+ The zoom is outstanding. Combine it with the image stabilizer and it's just fantastic.

+ The controls. Easy to learn, use and understand.

The negatives:

- When you push the button half way down to shoot, it will not follow your subject with you. I have two kids who don't stay still. When i depressed the button to take the picture on my old camera, i could follow my subject as it moved, and when it could lock into focus, it would. What you have to end up doing is focus on a stationary object at the same distance/focal length as the moving object you want to shoot. Get it to lock in focus and then move over to your moving object and shoot it. It's really not that bad, but not ideal either.

- only 3.2 mp. I sure wish it was 5.

- electronic zoom. I had manual zoom with my last camera and that was outstanding. It was so precise and I could zoom at the speed I wanted.

- no low light auto-focus assist lamp. What this means is that if you're shooting in low light, it takes about 1.5 seconds for it to focus. If you're shooting kids or something moving, that is not easy.

Bottom line is that all the important qualities in a camera are here, and the movie mode is awesome. If you're looking for the perfect camera, trust me, it doesn't exist. Image quality is great - the price is right - and you can't lose with this shooter.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I'm Impressed!
Review: This camera just feels better than the cheaper priced models. It doesn't feel like your holding a $200- 500 piece of plastic in your hands. The picture quality is outstanding, and the turn around time to take another picture is excellent.

The movie mode does eat up space on the compact flash card, and I think the 1 GB flash cards are very overpriced. But the movies come out better than my camcorder.

The swiveling LCD is also a very nice feature. This camera might be a but pricey for a 3.1 MP, but worth every cent that you spend. I can't imagine any disappointments with this Camera. Its smaller than what it appears in pictures.

I have zero complaints about this camera, and I can always find something to complain about.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Except for Focus Problem, Great Camera
Review: To be brief:
Wonderful lens! Loss of contrast and other second=order optical aberrations at zoom extremes are minor, and still allow remarkable pix for a 3MP point-&-shoot unit!
BUT, you only get good pix if it's focused.
It is among the worst I've seen in medium-low-light auto-focus ability.
It was seem fortunate that it has a rather full-featured manual focus ability, but that function (manual focus) is so cumbersome to use it's ultimately not much help.
I concentrate on wildlife, and shoot at extreme zoom focal lengths, usually in late afternoon when illumination is rosy but not abundant. But unless the light is bright, and with high-contrast subjects, the camera hunts and, about half of the time, misses focus by a mile. Not good.
On the good side, this camera is so conveniently sized to fit the hand, so well-equipped with a solid aray of amateur features, with such a remarkable lens and the IS system to boot, I thought it would save me the expense of buying a D-SLR. But the focus problems destroys that, and I now realize that the lack of the EVF's and small-ish display's abilities to display sufficient resolution to confirm focus at shoot-time, I'll have to bite the bullet.
A product that achieves only 40% of its potential, from lack of 1% of functionality (and one that everyone else gets right as a basic starting point).
Too bad.


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