Camera

[michelem]

Thorn,

Do you have the Canon Powershot S3 IS? If so, I have some questions for I am considering purchasing this model for my Italy trip (wish I could lug my Rebel film camera and lenses with me, but I've got a 17.5 lb. weight limit for my bag and need to reserve most of that weight for my bike gear!).

- Any problems with redeye? If so, have you found a workaround?

- Any problems with using the electronic viewfinder or LCD display in bright light?

- Any problems with the lens cap?

- Do you use the movie mode on the camera? If so, what kind of memory card and batteries do you use?

I apologize for hijacking this thread; hopefully someone else will find the info helpful as well!

[Thorn]

Thorn,

Do you have the Canon Powershot S3 IS?

Yep. That's the one...wth the flip out viewfinder

- Any problems with redeye? If so, have you found a workaround?

Uh.....must I admit that I never take pictures of people? I have trouble looking people in the eye, let alone staring at them with a camera Sorry, no help there.

- Any problems with using the electronic viewfinder or LCD display in bright light?

My first trip with it was to Death Valley ( http://www.cassandrathorn.com/images...eathValley.htm ). I didn't have any problems even though I was learning about the camera as I went.

With digital cameras I am a "look through the view finder" sort of person and rarely use the external display. That said, I fell in love with the flip out display. If you look at the dune shots, the low shots were all done with the external display, flipped out at 90 degrees to the camera body. Flip out the display to 90 degrees facing up, hold the camera at the level of your ankles and/or knees and then play with framing while standing up--not rolling around on the ground (hey, I'm old ). In that position there was some glare on the screen (hard to not have some), but not so much that I couldn't judge what I was taking a picture of.

- Any problems with the lens cap?

Oh yeah. Hate it. It is very loose (probably because the lens pops out when you turn the camera on and if it were tight you'd burn out the lens motor). After smearing the lens two times, I got into the rhythm of holding my thumb over the camera lens when I stowed the lens in its pouch.

- Do you use the movie mode on the camera? If so, what kind of memory card and batteries do you use?

Never used the movie feature. I carried 2 1GB cards and rechargable batteries. The use of AA's was a major selling point on that camera.


A couple of other things...I often stepped down the exposure on the camera. Of course we were in the desert, so take that with a large grain of sand. I've had 2 digital cameras previously and have always had to step down. I was impressed, though, with the image quality--even those I took (when I shouldn't have) at full sun.

Because of the image stabilizer I always left the ISO setting at 80. Yes, I'll get longer exposures, but I also will get less noise on the image.

I should have practiced more with the macro before I left. All of my macro shots were awful. Operator error, not camera. I do find it hard to get a focus lock in normal macro mode. I've done some playing in super macro and am looking forward to the next trip to try it out. Very cool feature.

I find the camera a compromise over the camera I'd love to have and the convenience of a little quick shot camera. It'll probably take two more trips before I fully comfortable with it, but I was growing to like it better than my previous camera (and after six years of that camera, I'd grown quite attached). It is lighter and slightly smaller than my previous camera (the old camera had a mechanical image stabilizer). Still not jersy pocket small, but I have a little Topeak handle bar bag that holds it nicely.

Does the 17.5 lb limit include your "purse"? if not, you could always put the camera in the purse and not affect the weight of the carryon.....yeah, that's bending the rules, but....

[surgtech1956]

I have a Sony DSC-H5, 7.2 mega pixels, 12x optical zoom. It's got a 3" LCD screen - great for my 'older' eyes. It uses rechargeable AA's. The only problem I have is that it uses 2 - AA's, - think the batteries would last longer if it used 4. Super nice pictures.

[7rider]

Thorn,
Do you have the Canon Powershot S3 IS? If so, I have some questions for I am considering purchasing this model for my Italy trip (wish I could lug my Rebel film camera and lenses with me, but I've got a 17.5 lb. weight limit for my bag and need to reserve most of that weight for my bike gear!).
- Any problems with redeye? If so, have you found a workaround?
- Any problems with using the electronic viewfinder or LCD display in bright light?
- Any problems with the lens cap?
- Do you use the movie mode on the camera? If so, what kind of memory card and batteries do you use?
I apologize for hijacking this thread; hopefully someone else will find the info helpful as well!

Continuing the hijack....
DH and I just bought the Canon Powershot S3 IS for our trip to Colorado in March. It was small enough to be portable but big enough to have the features we were looking for.
So, I thought I'd respond to these questions, too.
Can't say I've had any problems with redeye. I believe you can correct them right on the camera. There is a redeye reduction setting for the flash - it may be default, or I've set it that way.
I found the LCD useless in high alpine light - which is why I was happy we selected a camera with viewfinder as a back-up. The Nikon (Coolpix S-10?) that we were looking at also did not have a viewfinder.
I had no problems with the lenscap. It's tethered to the camera body, and yeah, it pops off when you turn the camera on (sometimes I forget, and I want to see pix on the screen, and turn the knob the wrong way, and it's kind of disconcerting, but not a major thing).
Movie mode can be a memory hog at high resolution settings. I've since reduced the resolution, and they still look fine on the p.c. and t.v., but look crappy on YouTube. The movies are .avi format, and I need to look if there's a more efficient format I can convert to and how, since the files are soooo huge. Low on the priority list right now, tho'. Definitely go with at least a 1 GB card. The 16 mb card that came with the camera was corrupted from the start, and I threw it away.
Batteries are AA - I picked up some really expensive Energizers (the silver ones, I forget the name), but they've been great ane really long lasting so far. Found them a whole lot cheaper at Sam's Club.

[michelem]

Wow! Thanks for all the great feedback!