Canon Advice

[Syd]

Ok i've been down to the local specialist retailer who was really helpful.

Looked at the Ixus800 agin and had chance to see a s80, and it is as bulky as i hoped it wouldn't be, HOWEVER it is a loveley malliable camera, fits right in my hands - just not in my pocket!!

Only other neg about it is the plasticky lens cover mechanism, but it's left me at a real crossroads - The S80 does everthing I want in 1 box, it's just slightly too big. The Ixus 800 is practically the same money (both can be had for just south of 300) and I guess thats the issue- if I want a point and shoot very compact camera do I drop the budget to 200 and plump for something like a Ixus 750 and then poss look at a DSLR in the future???

I could do with a weeks trial on each!! If only Carlsberg sold cameras

If I'm boring you guys feel free to switch off

[noah]

I could do with a weeks trial on each!! If only Carling sold cameras

If I'm boring you guys feel free to switch off

carlsberg?

course we're not bored. yet... is the s80 bigger than the s70? might be worth looing up the dimensions.

[Syd]

carlsberg?

course we're not bored. yet... is the s80 bigger than the s70? might be worth looing up the dimensions.

OOppps must be the carling i'm drinking

The S80 is smaller than the S70, hence my leaning towards that one, its 100 pounds dearer too!

[noah]

well there goes that cunning plan then

[Syd]

Im drifting more towards the ixus800 i think

But the S80 gives so much more................................

[shiato storm]

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?

as noah said there's little point in mf in a point/shoot camera where you will be viewing the scene through a 2inch screen. only in an slr where the accuracy is assured by the magnification of the focal plane onto the focusing screen through the prism can manual focus be much use. I can set the p200 to set distances such as 30cm, 1m, 5m and the like but tbh the focusing is pretty good anyway i'm not fussed.
another consideration (since we're getting technical) is that the sensor in a dig-cam is smaller than your dSLR, by a fair bit I'd add. the depth of field is vastly greater than a larger area when dealing with these small cameras so, in light of this I know the limitations of the camera and can use it to achieve apparently quite accurate shots. this is were it breaks down though: the lens on a digicam is specifically designed for that camera and that camera alone...so its use is specific. it has some zoom capabilities but at the end of the day its mostly a wide angle for me which is roughly 28mm (in 35mm terms), I ardly ever go down to the higher f/ stop for quite a good reason and that is the circle of confusion. at high f/ stops the light projected onto the focusing plane is no longer sharp and actually disperses leaving slightly fuzzy result. its all tied into the focal length as well but understanding this and why high f/ stops don't always mean sharp pictures is quite important. I digress...
autofocus on many cameras now is so good that there's little need for mf, an SLR has it due to the nature of the equipment, but digicams; there's no need. there is a need for macro setting which prepares the camera for close focusing work otherwise it limitself to beyond a couple of feet (typically). due to its greater DoF I suspect a focus range on one of these cameras woulld look a little like this:
0.3m
1m
3m
~ <--- infinity

with very little in between each marker and rapidly reaching infinity focus, you'd have to be so good at fine muscle control to focus such a tiny lens to such a tiny amount.

there are some fuji cameras (s602pro I believe) that do have some limited mf but again its so limited its quite difficult, especially since you'r meant to be focusing through an EVF rather than TTL...for all out digitals, mf is not great, possible and with good design perhaps effective, but at the end of the day its not high on the consumer wants list.
To the Sony's advantage it does have a high number of customisable options, more than what was around at the time - its 1 and 1/4 year old now! - and still there's cameras being produced that don't quite seem to have the same level of control it does. ok so my dSLR (1dmkII ) smacks its panties in many applications but for a point/shoot affair I can't be happier. Trust me, if you're thinking about wanting control over the images you'll want more than the lower end point/shoot types offered by the canon/nikon camps. I like the cameras but they're too expensive, often have unnecessary gimicks and limited in their use. Go for a 'lesser brand' however and you'll find real gems.
Don't forget certain companies make parts others use. I know, for example, under the hood of my dSLR (however great it is) lurks a sony made lcd and various other out-sourced parts. Canon do make their own sensors though. Nikon use sony sensors - so don't be surprised when a nikon dslr is shortly followed by a sony one (now its teamed up with konica minolta) at somewhat less of the cost of the nikon...sony do make some utter lemosn though. Don't touch the T-series from sony. as far as I can work out the dsc-N1 looks like the newer p200, has a nifty touch screen that enables you to select the point (within the scene) to focus on i.e. not necessarily the center. check it out on steve's digicams...i reckon you could get that for &#163;250 or less with a good bit of hunting.

[Syd]

WoW, thats a lot to take in

Shiatso, you know your cameras!

[shiato storm]

no more than some others round here, just got into a rambling state and didn't stop (oops!), plus its something I think people should know - now the digital camera has become well bedded in.

[jamena]

thanks for the rambling shiato some very informative stuff in there!
I've been toggling between steve's digicams, dpreview.com and dcresource.com
...still undecided, might give the search a break for a while, see what other new cameras come out...

[shiato storm]

the next #big' camera release isn't due until september, we've just had the big one in orlando and photokina (germany I think), apart from that not much happens over the summer as people on holidays already have their cameras. september is scheduled so people can get xmas pressies etc. its all intelligently planned and well marketed so we get the items at strategic points, means the companies get the most out of it too...

[Syd]

The marketing machine is omnipresent!!

Still umming and arrring over the IXUS 750/IXUS 800/S80

I've got all the advice , thanks guys now its just down to the size of my pocket

[McMav]

Get bigger pockets then?

[Syd]

Get bigger pockets then?

LOL

[Sk!mD4Rk]

SYD!!! I'm selling an Ixus 750 here if your interested http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=76930