Camera

[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....