Canon Advice

[Syd]

Hi Guys, feel its now time to update my Fuji S602Zoom Hybrid, am looking for a compact camera with good pedigree, Viewfinder, and above else good image quality.

Have done the norm and been to Jessops, read the mags and websites and have finally provisionally decided on a Canon Ixus 800IS. 6MP, 4x zoom lens, image stabaliser and quick shutter response.

Now the camera retails at approx £400 on the high street, after some research I have found Ebuyer/Dabs offering it for £280, now I have called ebuyer and Pixmania and they are saying it is a European Model with a 12 month warranty - does this create any issues for me

Any comments on the Camera would also be greatfully received - and please don't talk to me about D-50 for not too much more............. I am so tempted , but thewhole idea is to get a small compact camera

[noah]

to throw in another choice have you looked at the canon s70 or s80

and yes you really should buy a d50!!

[Syd]

Hmmmmmm, that S80 looks very nice, must read the review thoroughly now - over to Steve's Digicams

Wonder if it has stabalisition.............

[Yohji]

My uncle recommended me the S80, which does look good for a compact.

[shiato storm]

I would contact canon rather than a retailer to confirm whether there was any problems concerning camera origins. european cameras may conveiniently not include the UK...despite the fact you pay tax on them too!
I'd not pay quite that much for that ixus myself, athough its quite a considerable saving going on-line...
I don't think many cameras have stabilization, and on a small camera it may just be more of a gimick than anything else. it wasn't around a few years ago as much as it is now, do you think pictures then were worse for that? nope, its just not vitally necessary thats all so don't get fixated on it. I would go for stabilisation if the camera had a long zoom lens on, then I can see the need for one, otherwise I can't really.
the s70 and s80 are good, though the s80 doesn't use RAW when the s70 did...not sure why canon changed that, s70 too much of a good thing?

[Syd]

Originally Posted by shiato storm

I I don't think many cameras have stabilization, and on a small camera it may just be more of a gimick than anything else. it wasn't around a few years ago as much as it is now, do you think pictures then were worse for that? nope, its just not vitally necessary thats all so don't get fixated on it. I would go for stabilisation if the camera had a long zoom lens on, then I can see the need for one, otherwise I can't really.
the s70 and s80 are good, though the s80 doesn't use RAW when the s70 did...not sure why canon changed that, s70 too much of a good thing?

Thanks for your thoughts, the reason I liked the sound of the image stabalisation is for indoor natural light/non flash shots, ATM with my Fuji602 I usually get a bit of blurring and I thought that this feature would help - is there a way to get round this without a tripod???

Also am I misssing much not having thr RAW option???

Thanks

[Syd]

Originally Posted by Yohji

My uncle recommended me the S80, which does look good for a compact.

Hmmmm just read a detailed review

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/s80.html

Sounds very promising, again Ebuyer has for £305, I will call Canon to see what their thoughts are - unless anyone has any further thoughts??

[jamena]

Originally Posted by Syd

Also am I misssing much not having thr RAW option???

I've been mulling over this too - would be interested to hear from the people who read this forum if they use it if their camera has the option!? I think RAW is worth it if you like messing about in photoshop and doing post-processing etc. Would be nice to have the option to do so of course...

s80 vs s70 is rather interesting as they both have pros and cons ... www.dpreview.com had a decent comparison article ... left me wanting the pros of both tbh! I'm also looking at the Canon A700 and Olympus SP-350 as cheaper options (£250 and £185 respectively) with a decent feature set and some nice specs, though perhaps marginally less compact?

[Syd]

Ok, getting more excited about the S80 now, need to go and have a peek at one at my local shop.............

One slight concern though - I'm reading alot of reports of an error E18 - a lens lock that renders the camera useless

Anybody got any feedback on this issue????

[Syd]

Oh dear, now I am relly confused

The Canon S80 @ £309 looks cracking, especially like that 28mm lens but a little more bulky than I was hoping for.

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Prod...PageID=26181#1

The Canon Ixus 750 @ £200 looks a bargain

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Prod...PageID=26181#1

The Canon Ixus 800IS @ £279 looks lovely , but is it worth the extra £79 over the 750
for the Image Stabaliser

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Prod...PageID=26181#1

Why does it always have to be so hard!!!!!!!

[jamena]

side by side comparison of features... the first two are your IXUS cameras (canon have a weird naming scheme...)
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/comp..._a700&show=all
I find this side by side thing useful

at a glance I'd say (of the cameras you mention above):
the s80 gives you more manual control of things like aperture, focus, etc.
the ISUX 800 (SD700) has a larger CCD sensor and is the only one with a stabiliser
The IXUS camera are thinner (25mm vs 39mm for the s80)

I added the A700 to confuse you further It's only a touch fatter than the s80, has (I assume) the same sensor as the ixus 800, but retains more manual settings. Plus it runs of AA batteries rather than a proprietary Lithium ion pack...

[jamena]

oh, and the Olympus SP-350 also looks interesting. Cheaper and slimmer than the a700 or s80
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/comp...sp350&show=all

[Syd]

Thanks Jamena, I shall try to confuse myself further

[shiato storm]

go have a look at the fuji f30...
one thing I think really criples many cameras - canon and nikon particularly so - is that firstly you pay for the name, secondly what you end up with is a very limited camera. sure its ok for point/shoot stuff but creativity...I'd be left wanting more tbh. now, my little sony p200 - whilst pretty poor above iso 100 it does have a great deal of manual set-ability, and for that reason alone it put itself above many others. saddly the p200 is no longer made, sony's current dig-cams are still pretty good but some seem a little gimicky. i think the next most reasonable offering is the fuji f30, good iso range - which is good for you in low light - and reasonably rapid response.

[jamena]

Originally Posted by shiato storm

go have a look at the fuji f30...

Do you find the lack of manual focus to be something you miss ever? I currently have a sony DSC-P8 (predecessor of your p200 I think?) which while great, has moments when I wish I had more control. Particularly aperture and shutter control. Manual focus might be nice too. Better low-light pictures would be a bonus

Manual focus being the one thing other than a lithium battery that I have as cons next to the f30 - do you ever find moments when you find yourself wishing you could focus it manually?

[noah]

tbh you can't really manual focus without a proper ground glass prism or rangefinder, so i wouldnt really worry about that. the auto focus should have an assist lamp to help it and the newer models are suprisingly good.

personallly i'd pick the s70 tho the f30 does look very good. its not the smallest but it's still very small and has all the control you need a wide angle lens and shoots in raw. raw allows you better control over editing the images and potentially better quality files, but it does use more space on the cards.