User reviews for Canon PowerShot S2 IS: Digital Photography Review

Opinion: This camera is a work horse. Takes good pictures, not incredible, but definately good enough for its price range.

I bought this primarily for our boys footballl games, and have been very satisfied. The 12X zoom and image stabilization is great.

But what supirsed me was the video feature. Takes great video...good sound, and will zoom in and out while shooting. Many cameras can take video but only zoom digitally. At any rate I sold my video camera on ebay. Its so much easier to just use one camera. You can buy an 8gb card for about $60 now, which will hold an hour of good quality video.

Some people complain about the lense cap coming of to easily. I like the way it pops off as soon as you power up and the lense motors out...I assume its intentional by the engineers and think its a good thing.

Problems: The plastic construction, especially on the spring loaded battery door concerns me. But, I have had this camera for over a year and have had no problem.

With regard to resolution, it seems canon is going for a softer look. The pictures are not as crisp as the 4MP canon I used to own. I guess thats personal preference.

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Opinion: 1year no problem except ghost spot while shooting video.

Problems: Does anybody have the same problem?
in recorded movie there is a blurred spot in the constant position of the frames. (like 3:20pm).
Have you seen this in your movies?

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Opinion: There's a reason why this camera has so many reviews and was such a great seller for Canon. It's because this is an excellent camera. The body is well constructed, and logically laid out. The layout of the buttons shows that this is designed for people who actually take pictures, and not as a fashion accessory. The lens is of high quality, the flash is strong, and it generally meters correctly. Image quality is outstanding at low ISO, throughout the zoom range. I've taken pictures at Wrigley field at full zoom where you can see the stitching on a player's uniform. A real bargain now, as it can be found for around $200, and it gives images at least as good (or better) than the current S5.

Problems: The CCD sensor. It is one of Sony's problem sensors, and it's not on the recall list yet. How do I know? Because it happened to me. Fortunately, I was in warranty by a single week when it happened. High ISO has a noise problem, but this is not as big a deal as it sounds, because ISO 200 is like ISO 400 on the S3 and 5.

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Opinion: I was using a Powershot-A70 before getting the S2. If you are looking for a point and shoot camera, this is the wrong one but if you are looking for a reasonable camera covering a waste range of features then go ahead, this is a camera needing to get used to it. Once familiar you can get the best pictures. You surly need to read the manual but take time since there are tons of features to be discovered.
Excellent macro, video with zooming feature, stereo sound, Image stabilization and lots of other features makes the camera the best choice for photo enthusiasts.
Against some complains, I'm very satisfied with the battery life. I use Sanyo 2300 mA Batteries. On holyday I used two sets of batteries getting some 800 pictures and one hour video material making some 4,5 Gb of data!
Also I like the flash not popping up, the camera is well formed, the buttons are Canon standard layout plus additional ones, it didn't take long to get used to it.

After using the camera for more then 18 months and some 5000 shots I’m still discovering new features, I love my camera!

Problems: Camera does have problems focusing, sometimes very frustrating when you miss a scene. The lens cap is not also the best solution, but overlay I can say the camera is a hit.

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Opinion: Owned this camera now for 18 months, shot nearly 30,000 images. My impression:

Build quality feels slightly cheap, lots of plastic and some wobble to the body shell. Button presses make creaking noises sometime. Overall not a significant issue, pending the camera is not dropped (I am certain it would not survive the three foot falls onto concrete the way my indestructible Powershot S200 did).

Feature set is impressive and affords plenty of creative potential for novices or amateurs. Photoshop takes care of the rest. Menu architecture is familiar to me, seems fairly intuitive. The camera seems easy enough to use, but a good read of the manual prior to first use can help quite a bit.

For what this camera offers, it is certainly worth the now markedly reduced price. I paid $500 for it brand new and it seemed like a fantastic deal then. After extensive side-by-side use of the S3, I would say that the S2 will deliver almost identical results for a lower price. Feature sacrifice between the S3 and S2 would be largely unnoticeable to most consumers.

I echo others in saying that the battery charge status in this camera is not very effective in foretelling when the batteries are dry. I usually carry three sets with me to avoid being left without power.

I have recommended this camera hundreds of times to people looking for a good all-around P&S digital. Despite my intentions of moving up into the DSLR world, it is likely that I will continue to use this camera frequently until it finally dies like my S200 did (right around 154,000 shots the flash went out and the lens stopped focusing). Somehow, however, I doubt the S2 will make it to 150,000.

Problems: Regrettably, image quality did not live up to the expectations I had (especially upgrading from a 2.0 mpxl sorely outdated S200). Side by side 100% crops revealed decreases in sharpness and saturation compared to the S200; Photoshop corrected many of these problems and in the end I was satisfied with post-processed results. Most daylight, outdoor images turned out as well as can be expected for the price range, but image quality suffers under low-light, flash, and backlit conditions. Technique improvements solved many but not all of these issues. Telephoto focus issues do not bother me much, as this is to be expected with such a compact zoom lens, although the problem is exacerbated in low light.

Small problems should not frighten away newcomers to this product, as Canon got many elements of the equation correct. It is doubtful the S3 presents such a significant advantage as to render this model obsolete even in the present market. As an all-in-one, this camera is a class leader, at least from my experiences with competing models.

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Opinion: I bought a refurbished S2 because the S3 is now out and I got a good price. It never seemed right and had recurring focus faults. Some reviews from when the S2 launched mentioned intermittent focus faults so I wasn't really sure if it was a design fault I had to live with. Anyway, I did send it back as it was no use to me the way it was and I was sent a brand-new replacement. I'm bloody glad I did send the first one back as there is *no way* that those focus problems were just something I had to live with: the replacement is *spot on*, *every time*. The camera is, quite possible, the best thing since sliced bread.

Problems: as above

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Opinion: my last camera was a panasonic fz3, which i was very happy with. i liked its 12x zoom and image stabilization, so i decided to get the s2 with its slightly better resolution and because i had heard so many good things about its movie mode. the first thing i noticed was how much heavier the s2 was compared to the fz3. not a big issue for me, but i girlfriend prefers a lighter camera. i very much like the swiveling lcd screen, and i was fairly impressed with the macro mode. the movie mode is also pretty nice, because it incorporates the image stabilization system and allows zooming, which i couldn't do with the fz3. however, there were also a number of things that i did not like very much compared to my fz3. for one thing, there is no automatic pop up flash, but thats not really a big deal at all. however the zooming kind of irked me. it seems to have only two settings: super fast or super slow, both of which are rather annoying. the zooming also seemed kind of loud to me, so that when i zoom in movie mode you can hear it squeaking pretty clearly in playback. my final complaint is that is just feels a bit more flimsy than the fz3. all the buttons seem loose and wobbly, like my camera already needs an adjustment or something. the fz3 always felt very sturdy. all in all, i think i will get used to most of these changes, and i am quite pleased with the camera.

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Opinion: Run away from it. Potential headache and loss of the investment.

Problems: Crap can I say. After exactly 1 year and a couple of days (means out of the warranty period), when putting on "Camera" mode, for taking pictures, no image was displayed nor on the LCD or viewfinder (just like if the lens cap or something was "blocking" the lens. The problem began intermittently but now it´s gone. Result: Can´t take pictures anymore. Sent to a Canon´s repair center, and got the suprising diagnosys that the whole "optic unit" would need to be change. Camera never fell down as was always treated like a jewel. Price for the repair ? Over a 200 bucks in the US. Over 500 in south america. Means, a "new camera". Canon doesn´t give a damn about their clients. They should have take this as a quality problem (seeing that I´m not the only one who had this same problem) and make this repair for free. But quality recalls doens´t bring any profit isn´t it, Canon ? So.. bye bye. Let´s change the brand and wish them a slow and painfull bankrupcy.

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Opinion: Wish it would have lasted longer than 13 months. Loved the versatility and compact size. Didn't like the low light performance.
Shot over 4000 pics.
Wanted an S3is, now looking for something more robust.

Problems: Dreaded E-18 lens transport error code. Canon Service replys slower than promised on the web. Sent to Canon-they said it wasn't worth fixing. Cause of problem given as dust/sand getting in to lens transport system. (Sisters A-620 same code, 6 months light use.) I should add that I protected it as much as possible while using it in a predominantly outdoor environment.

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