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Canon S1 IS Digital Camera - Page 4

post #91 of 146
11/18/04 at 6:20am
Thread Starter 
Robert ...
There so many printers on the market today that have a CF slot and will print photo's independent of your computer. Some of these are small and portable like this one from HP.

Any of them would be appropriate for what you are considering ... it's nice to have a good quality inkjet photo printer that is set up to from computer or direct off memory cards. The computer connection is for occasions where you may want to use your computer to do some photo editing.

If I were printer shopping from scratch (and I admit I've not been wathing the market lately), I would seriously look at the Epson photo printers (a PC Mag top pick), since Epson seems to be driving per print cost down and print longevity up. They also have coated papers that resist water damage. (Don't sneeze on an HP inkjet print or the ink runs.)

The Oct-04 issue of PC Magazine did a photo printer buyers guide. You may wnt to read it over ... good comments.

Finally be aware that many of the dedicated 4"x6" photo printers like the Epson & HP above don't all connect to your computer. Also dont dismiss the thought that you might like an occasional 5x7 print, which they can NOT do. MOst often, I'll shoot dozens of pics with my SiIS, but only ochoose to print a few of them. When I do print for keeps, I REALLY prefer the 5x7 size since I can get 2 prints on a std, (8.5x11) sheet of glossy photo paper, which I buy at Costco for under 20 cents per sheet. i.e. 5x7 prints cost me 10 cents each plus ink.
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post #92 of 146
11/18/04 at 6:42am
Thanks Scott. That is some very good info.

I have decided that I can't justify the operating cost for the portable Canon printers that I mentioned in my previous post. They are convenient since they can plug directly into the Canon cameras but each print will cost about 50 cents.

I came to this conclusion after seeing the print machines at Sam's club where you bring in your memory card and print photos for 18 cents each.
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post #93 of 146
11/18/04 at 10:11am
If print cost is driving factor, then you probably are best off using a service like Sam's Club, Costco or even Adorama (at least via their website). But that's not the most convenient way to go and lacks control to help ensure you get what you want unless you do a very good job at it.

Personally, I think there's still a place for at-home printing even though such services are so inexpensive. That's why I bought a Hi-Touch HiTi 640PS for the occasional at-home 4x6 print. And yes, you don't need to be computer illiterate to use it -- it has its own CF card slot and offers some basic editing features that should be good enough for most snapshooters. And the default settings are not bad either -- much better than the Sony dye-sub I had before this. Hi-Touch 4x6's run ~$.40/print. They also have a HiTi 730PS that allows upto 6x8 print size; however, that does require changing the ribbon though, AFAIK.

Also, don't be fooled into thinking inkjet printing is cheaper than dye-sub. That's generally only true if you use 3rd party OEM inks and do refills, instead of buying official branded ink tanks/cartridges. Also, if you don't print regularly, the ink will dry at the printhead and clog the tank/cartridge, so you might end up needing a new cartridge sooner than expected, which will bump up the actual cost. And the prints are probably less durable than dye-sub w/ less smooth color tones although they do usually yield higher contrast.

Personally, I'd stay away from inkjets unless you print often (to avoid clogging), often need larger print sizes than say 6x8 and/or don't mind futzing w/ OEM ink refills. If you only print large very occasionally, you might be better off sending the print job to a print service. Adorama's pro lab should be good, if you don't trust Costco or Sam's Club for this, and they only charge ~$10 for 12x18.

For myself, I occasionally consider getting a large format inkjet from either Epson or Canon, but I just can't justify to startup costs unless I start making $$$ w/ my photography -- maybe I will soon enough. If I were making $$$, I would be looking at either Epson 2200 or Canon 9900. Part of the reason for printing at home in that case is control/flexibility, but probably more importantly, to avoid theft of image files.

_Man_
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post #94 of 146
11/22/04 at 1:47pm
.
Quote:
Have you found the low light focus problem to be a constant annoyance, or just something that takes some getting used to?


Constant in my case. But it's a decent camera.
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post #95 of 146
11/22/04 at 1:57pm
Quote:
Have you found the low light focus problem to be a constant annoyance, or just something that takes some getting used to?


I have had a lot of trouble taking indoor shots with this camera. It's great outside in full light, but it has a lot of trouble focusing in any low light situation - especially when using the zoom. This has been very disappointing and I've missed some good photo ops because of it.
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post #96 of 146
11/23/04 at 1:12pm
Have you found the low light focus problem to be a constant annoyance, or just something that takes some getting used to?


If I may be so arrogant as to go back and answer my own question...after using this camera for a few weeks, I do find that the autofocus issue is usually a problem in low-light. It is worst when in low light and using the extreme end of the 10x zoom.

Though I will say that I've gotten pretty adept at using the manual focus. It does take some time, though and there is certainly the possibility of missing a shot due to this issue.

Overall, I'm very happy with the camera, though.

JKS
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post #97 of 146
11/24/04 at 10:47am
Any anyone tried using Compact Flash Type II cards in the S1? I read the manual, and it only stated that it has a Type I card slot, so is that the end of the story? I know that the Type II cards are slightly thicker, so I have no idea if a Type II card would fit in the S1's CF slot.
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post #98 of 146
11/24/04 at 4:19pm
According to the review at DCRP, "The S1 can take both Type I and fatter Type II CF cards, including the Microdrive."

Also, at Steve's Digicams, he used a 4GB Microdrive (Type II) with no problems, he says.

Looking at the slot, it sure looks like it would accept a fatter card, but I have no personal experience with Type II cards.

JKS
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post #99 of 146
11/24/04 at 5:12pm
That's good news. I ended up getting a cheap $41 (after rebate) 1GB CF type I card (I am more concerned about storage capacity than writing speed, so I'm going cheap for now).
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post #100 of 146
11/24/04 at 6:32pm
Patrick,

May I ask where you found the deal on the 1GB CF card? PM me if you can't post publically.

I'm looking to upgrade my memory too. I was hoping for something brick & mortar on black Friday, but would consider going online if it's a considerably better deal.

JKS
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post #101 of 146
11/24/04 at 8:20pm
It's at buy.com, the final price takes account of using the 6% off coupon on a Simpletech CF 1GB card. At the price, I wouldn't expect a speed demon, so it's all about storage capacity for this particular purchase decision.
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post #102 of 146
11/27/04 at 5:43am
Thanks, Pat.

I ended up getting a Sandisk 512MB card from Best Buy yesterday for $29.99 (after MIR, of course). I think this should do fine for me for now, at least.

JKS
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post #103 of 146
12/1/04 at 11:37am
I decided to go with the Canon S1 IS. I picked it up at Tweeter on Black Friday for $340. All of their digital cameras were 15% off all day Friday.

This is actually the cheapest I have ever seen it at a brick and mortar store. I purchased the 5 year warranty for $60. If I need to have warranty service done on it all I have to do is take it to the store and they take care of everything. This is why I decided not to purchase it online.

I went to Best Buy after I purchased it and tried to price match it so I could get some extra Reward Zone points but the two sales people were so stupid that they didn't know if it could be done. They said they would have to check with the manager. I told them not to worry about it. I didn't wan't to have to return it to Tweeter anyway.

I would much rather deal with Tweeter anyway if I ever have to use their warranty service.

Thanks to everyone who has posted here! This is the absolute best place for research!
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post #104 of 146
12/26/04 at 10:21am
Ok. I received a Fuji S3100 for xmas. Nice camera. I haven't even opened the box. I am still thinking seriously of going for the Canon S1 IS except I have a few simple questions. My father bought me the Fuji S3100 from Best Buy in Canada and he'd by totally fine if I traded up and I paid the difference. He knows I'm a particular guy who is a nuerotic perfectionist

Every camera has feedback comments about difficulty with low light, over or under-exposure and chromatic aberations etc etc. I think once you learn to use the camera, you are ok. The Canon S1 IS appears to be the best 10x stabilized zoom camera in terms of colour and overall picture quality, and I keep having to make sure its not the really cool video mode that is pushing me. Every time I think of the competition, I am faced with $200 plus more dollars for the other camera's that would be sharper, such as the Panasonic FZ15/20. If I could find a Panasonic FZ10 out there for $549 CAD, then I'd get it over the Canon S1 IS, but alas, I can't find them anymore and the FZ15 and FZ20 still appear to be much more than $549 CAD and aren't available everywhere.

Questions:

1) The 3.2 vs 3.87 MP thing drives me crazy. If this camera was a "4MP" camera, I'd have bought it long ago, even if it was more expensive. When you compare 8 x 10 photo's from the Canon S1 IS vs the Panasonic FZ10 or even a lesser 4MP camera, how much less sharp are the Canon S1 IS pictures? I would like to take photo's and print 8 x 10. Am I asking for too much with the Canon?

How are the Canon S1 IS's 8 x 10 photo's compared to:

a) Fuji S3100 (4MP)
b) Olympus D580? (cheap small alternative to the expensive cams)
c) Canon A85 and/or S400?
d) Panasonic FZ10 or FZ15? FZ20?

2) Where is the lowest advertised price for the Canon S1 IS right now in Canada? I will likely buy it at Best Buy for $549 unless I find a lower price and price match it.

Thank-you in advance for any info.
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post #105 of 146
12/26/04 at 12:57pm
I picked up the Canon S1 IS. I picked up a 512 MB Compact Flash card by Lexar. Its a 12x card which is 1.8 MB/second. The guy at Best Buy said it was good enough, but of course, he was wrong. In the manual you need 1980 KB/second and so 1800 KB/second isn't fast enough. I'll be returning the Lexar CF. Today I slipped over to Future Shop and picked up a SanDisk UltraII 512 MB CF card for $59.99 CAD plus tax. The 512 Ultra II card will serve as my main photo card, with the included 32 MB CF card as a backup. Later I'll keep my eyes open for larger "high-speed" cards like the Ultra II and perhaps grab one for playing around with video.

Well. I'll take some pictures and report back.

What cards did you all get?
What are the longest lasting batteries available out there?
Does using a faster charger risk wearing out the batteries any quicker than a slow charger?

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post #106 of 146
12/26/04 at 3:03pm
Delete this post if possible.
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post #107 of 146
12/27/04 at 3:02pm
I picked mine up a 6 months ago for 355$ from best buy. I just do pricematches - usually circuit city has the S1 for 359.99 and best buy does 110% price match... if you talk to them.

To Chris,
Keep your eyes peeled for an S1 sale, you can get some money back if you pricematch.
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post #108 of 146
12/27/04 at 3:10pm
I forgot to share this with you guys.

I was about to sell my S1 so I could buy the new Kodak 7590 5.0mp S1-type of camera (you know, 10x zoom, SK lens, yadda yadda) for $500 with included camera dock. However, looking over its specs, it doesnt come with features that I took for granted with my S1.

Lets start with the obvious, the S1 has the STABILIZER, kodak is a big NO. S1 is COMPLETELY zoomable during movie mode, 7590 isnt. S1 can go 30fps for flawless movie recording, 7590 only up to 15fps @ vga. S1 is faster with its zoom, 7590 is slow as molasses. No swivel screen for the kodak, either. Also, the S1 is much faster off a cold-off than is the kodak... not to mention, the S1 is faster in between pics. Kodak seems to like to be "processing" for extended periods of time.

However, kodak does have the better lens and a higher resolution at 5.0mp. In this case, though, I feel that the S1 beats the new guy overall.

My one gripe though, how come both dont have a dedicated AF light????

Thank goodness for the MF feature on the S1 (and the kodak I think).
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post #109 of 146
12/27/04 at 4:27pm
Yeah, the S1 may go on sale and I can price match it. Thanx for the reminder.

I do wish the S1 had an auto focus assist light because the auto focus isn't so good in low light and I can't see the flippin LCD view finder or lcd screen. Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure it out. Its funny because inside, even if its dark, you'll have lots of light because of the mondo flash! Yikes. Its a bit over eager. "Don't worry photographer! I'll make sure you have light! ZAAAPPPO!". Wow. Its a little strong.

I bought a nifty all-in-1 card reader for my S1 IS. So far it works ok

I too wish the S1 IS had 4 or 5 MP. Basically, I'll use the S1 IS until Canon comes out with a 4 or 5 MP version and then I'll compare and consider trading up.

Time to play and have fun with the camera
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post #110 of 146
12/27/04 at 4:55pm
Are there firmware upgrades for this camera? I just tried the video function and with 640 standard (not fine) and at 30 fps, the video appears very jumpy and there is a delay between the sound and the video. (ie The dog barks and then you see him bark). I'm using a Sandisc Ultra II CF card. The manual says you need 1980 KB/second for the 640 x 480 pixels (fine) at 30 fps. The Ultra II card is rated for 9 MB/second.

Any ideas why I have jumpy, delayed video?

thanx

...I have improved playback a bit. I suspect it may be my PC and the video playback software.

How good should a 640 x 480 30 fps video look anyways? It seems they look kinda choppy. Maybe I'm expecting too much?
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post #111 of 146
12/27/04 at 7:22pm
I haven't played w/ the video features on digicams -- except a couple times w/ a Canon S230 -- but 640x480 at 30fps borders on DVD resolution/quality. Of course, if the compression is heavy, then it'll be more like a crappy DVD or a crappy digital cable/satellite channel.

Is it jumpy when played back in-camera or only on your PC? If it's only jumpy on the PC, then maybe you need to defrag your HDD or need better software (or better version) or whatever else. If it's jumpy in-camera (or both), maybe you need to defrag (or reformat) your card -- and don't do stuff like delete pics that are scattered throughout the card before you shoot video as that will likely fragment the card. Usually, I just reformat my cards after each time I offload the pics -- that will effectively defrag the card. With good quality video, which means high *sustained* bandwidth, you need your storage to be defragged so it doesn't need to skip around the card looking for writable space. And then during playback, you want the playback storage to be able to sustain the playback bandwidth also.

Of course, it's very possible that the S1 can't really live up to its 30fps rating at a *sustained* level too. That happens all the time w/ inexpensive video hardware that's advertised as full NTSC/PAL resolution at full NTSC/PAL frame rates. High quality video is a tough thing to do even though each frame of video is very low res compared to photo stills. That's why there will probably be separate markets for video and stills for a very long time to come even though convergence has been growing.

As for AA rechargeable batts, check out Thomas Distributing (www.thomas-distributing.com). They're one of the most popular on-line sources for this. IIRC, they carry some >=2000mAH NiMH AA's that would probably suit your needs. I wouldn't worry about the fast chargers as long as it's a good smart one. Yes, they will likely shorten the overall useable lifetimes of your batteries, particularly if you leave them on the charger to keep them topped off, *but* IMHO, the gains far outweigh the losses.

And oh, congrats on your new camera.

_Man_
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post #112 of 146
12/27/04 at 7:57pm
RE: the lack of AF-assist light, well, it's probably because they aren't nearly that useful in practice, except at close proximities. I guess they should've provided one anyway, but it almost certainly won't help you at or near the tele end of your 10x zoom lenses. When dealing w/ AF-assist, there's the big problem of parallax. Maybe someday, these camera makers will figure out a way to overcome parallax for an AF-assist light *or* maybe they'll just design compact digicams w/ much better overall AF system instead. For instance, I rarely ever need to use the AF-assist light on my Nikon D70 -- and I shoot at f/2, ISO1600 quite often too.

Actually, you may find that sometimes you just need to know how to work around the weaknesses of the AF system in your compacts. For one thing, aim your focus on something that has contrasty vertical line-like elements as that's what most of them are designed to look for. If there are horizontal lines, then just rotate your camera around to make them appear vertical to the camera, lock focus and then recompose. Also, the AF is usually designed to work best w/ white/green/blue-ish color targets, not red -- red is toughest. Take advantage of the intrinsically large depth of field (DOF) of compacts, eg. if something else near your subject makes for a better AF target, use that for the focus lock instead. Also, take advantage of the large DOF and relatively limited focus steps when you use the otherwise unuseable manual focus feature of most of these compacts.

On many Canon compacts, they offer a custom mode (or two) that allow you to store settings that could help out for this. You might consider using one to store a hyperfocal distance setting for certain kinds of shooting, eg. indoors w/ flash at/near wideangle, or another that works reasonably well when zooming across a reasonable range. I did just that w/ my Canon G3 (before upgrading to Nikon D70) and had one custom mode set to f/3.2, manual focus at ~12ft that worked very well across the entire zoom range (35-140mm, 35mm equiv) for shooting 1/2 height adults or full height little kids when using flash. I got so used to the manual focus on my G3 that I often didn't even need to use the custom mode and just guessed the approx distance and rely on the large DOF and fired away w/ my external flash on top (and bouncing most times). Rarely did I ever bother to rely on the weak AF system on my G3 for indoor/low light situations.

Just some tips for ya to overcome the weak AF/MF of these compacts. Also, the more you learn about photography principles, the more you can work around the weaknesses of digital compacts. Learning about DOF would be one important step.

_Man_
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post #113 of 146
12/28/04 at 6:27am
I think the size of your CF card will impact the enjoyment you will derive from the camera-mode of the S1. Plus, I still haven't figured out how to get the AVI it creates to play on my PC (none of the codecs I have loaded are sympatico with whatever Canon is using, and I haven't quite loaded all the Canon-related software that came with the S1).
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post #114 of 146
12/28/04 at 6:56am
I didn't load the canon software. I just bought a handy little all-in-1 flash card reader and installed the driver for that. I use Windows Media player 9 and it works ok. All the AVI video's that are examples from the Canon S1 from the internet seem to play back with some missing frames or stuttering. Perhaps I'll try some video's from other camera's and if they're better then I'll have to admit that there's nothing I can do. To me, it should look like seamless video. I don't care too much about the resolution or colour depth, as I'm sure it'll be ok, but from what I'm seeing on my PC, the res and colour depth ARE great, but the frame rate appears poor. I changed how it looks on my PC, so perhaps I'll try playing back on the unit and outputting it to the TV. I suspect the AVI's and windows media player are suspect. Still, its possible that the video abilities of the camera are probably not as fast as they say they are. I basically see tearing of the image and what looks like fewer frames/second and what looks like stuttering.

Someone quickly remind me how to play back video on the player itself. I'll check the manual

Can I convert AVI's to MPEG's?
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post #115 of 146
12/28/04 at 7:53am
The video mode is more than adequate. Its my fathers PC thats not working well. My dads PC has no problems with MPEG's, but AVI's aren't playing back so well.

I played it back on the camera and on a couple of TV's. The resolution and frame rate are fine on interlaced TV's. There is a bit of noise in the image, but it looks pretty good. At least as good or better than my old GE VHS-C camcorder of 15 years ago!

I think the lousy frame jumpi-ness on my PC has to do with the video playback.

Well. I'm going to keep playing with it and I'll report back when I've had some experience and taken some photo's.

Happy Holidays
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post #116 of 146
12/29/04 at 6:46am
I just recorded a movie at 640x480 (30fps) and it is smooooth. It must be your video playback, Chris.

See if dl the newest codecs help.
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post #117 of 146
12/30/04 at 5:59am
I'm sure its the PC and/or codecs. Oddly, it looks a little better on quicktime, but still has missing frames. In bright light, the resolution and colour are incredible. This is the one reason I bought this digital camera. Smoooooth video. It looks good on the camera and on a TV, so I'm sure its fine. I'll figure out the codec's deal

Does anyone know of an application that will convert AVI's to MPEG's? I'd like that.
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post #118 of 146
12/30/04 at 10:07am
For MPEG-1 encoding, TMPGEnc 2.5x is free (via the trial edition), but if you want MPEG-2, then you'll have to pony up for the licensed version of TMPGEnc 2.5x. Click here for its website for that product and other associated products. Their newer TMPGEnc XPress 3.x requires periodic online validation for their licensing.

BTW, this topic (AVI -> MPEG) should continue in the Computers/HTPC area, and there are many thread dealing with this subject should you do a search in that area.

Let's keep this thread about the Canon S1 IS.
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post #119 of 146
12/31/04 at 2:46pm
Ok. I'll look into that stuff over there
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post #120 of 146
1/6/05 at 7:29pm
I'm finding the autofocus on "AUTO" setting kinda lame indoors compared to my fathers Fuji Finepix 1400 zoom. Is it possible I'm doing something wrong?
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