dark goob
Leading Member
I would like to respectfully disagree with Simon Joinson's conclusions about the new Canon PowerShot S80. He makes it sound like the Olympus Stylus 800 suffers from some sort of terrible malady: "overblown image processing," as if it made a camera unusable.
I should point out that a good 90% of digital camera buyers, although most of them definitely don't read DPReview, are typically shooting pictures and then printing them from the memory card at a photo lab's Kodak PrintStation or FujiFilm Aladdin printing station. The largest print the ever make is 8x10 or 11x14, which they proceed to put into a frame and view from several feet away. I challenge Mr. Joinson to print a shot directly from the S80, and then one from the Stylus 800, print them at 8x10 and 11x14, and view them from at least 1 meter away. Then tell us which looks better: the image that has more pop to its color and more sharpness from the Stylus 800, or the flat, soft image from the S80.
I just think it needs to be emphasized that even in that 1% of the time when a person makes an enlargement, the Olympus will hold up very well, and in the other 99% of the time, there will be no difference whatsoever, except for the $100 extra that is missing from your wallet if you bought the Cannon.
Furthermore, lets talk about screens. For $100 more, with Canon S80 you get a 115,000-pixel screen. Not only is this less pixels than the S70 it replaced, but also, unlike all the previous S-series cameras, there is no protective plexiglass cover over the S80's screen to protect it from wear and tear. The black main front body panels are, in fact, not metal, but plastic, with an almost iPod level of gloss to them. Now, I've seen my little brother's S45 that he took fishing with him all the time, and to Costa Rica, and that sucker was beat to hell, and it still worked. I highly doubt that the new S80 would stand up to even half the abuse that any previous S-series model could take, especially that big nice easy-to-crack screen.
Now then, what camera might you possibly buy, if you wanted a 2.5" screen that actually has proportionally more pixels than a 1.8"? With a plexiglass cover to protect it? For $100 less? You would buy the Olympus, my friend... the Stylus 800, which has a gorgeous 215,000-pixel screen that even works fairly well in direct sunlight.
Not that there aren't a lot of nice things about the S80, like its speed, wide-angle lens, large battery, support for high-speed SD cards, and good rapid fire.
But Mr. Joinson also seemed to neglect mentioning how weird the new hybrid scroll-wheel-four-way-directional-controller is. How easy it is to accidentally scroll left or right when you're trying to push the left or right directional control. He did mention the overflow of buttons on the S80, but then just glosses it over like, you'll just get used to it.
Meanwhile the Stylus 800 has a wonderful look and feel, an innovative in-camera "Guide" system which is like having your user manual along with you at all times, and a simple user interface that, while not as flashy and colorful as the Canon menus, is actually more well-organized and simpler to use.
Not to accuse anyone of anything, but doesn't it seem awfully convenient that Canon, who gets by far the most hits of any brand on this site, also gets the best reviews, and also spends pretty much the most money on marketing of any camera company? Just sayin'... you need to read between the lines on DPReview.com, people. And think realistically.
I don't know about you, but I want a camera that's going to last me, that will take a bit of abuse, and won't make me the guinea pig for some radical new menu controller that is not only kludgy to use, but looks like it's gonna break. If you had worked camera retail as long as me, and seen how at least 50%, if not 75% or more, of the cameras that come in for repair are Canons with broken screens, lens errors, or just won't turn on, then you might think twice about dropping $550 on a camera with an unprotected 2.5" LCD.
Just sayin'.
-=DG=-
I should point out that a good 90% of digital camera buyers, although most of them definitely don't read DPReview, are typically shooting pictures and then printing them from the memory card at a photo lab's Kodak PrintStation or FujiFilm Aladdin printing station. The largest print the ever make is 8x10 or 11x14, which they proceed to put into a frame and view from several feet away. I challenge Mr. Joinson to print a shot directly from the S80, and then one from the Stylus 800, print them at 8x10 and 11x14, and view them from at least 1 meter away. Then tell us which looks better: the image that has more pop to its color and more sharpness from the Stylus 800, or the flat, soft image from the S80.
I just think it needs to be emphasized that even in that 1% of the time when a person makes an enlargement, the Olympus will hold up very well, and in the other 99% of the time, there will be no difference whatsoever, except for the $100 extra that is missing from your wallet if you bought the Cannon.
Furthermore, lets talk about screens. For $100 more, with Canon S80 you get a 115,000-pixel screen. Not only is this less pixels than the S70 it replaced, but also, unlike all the previous S-series cameras, there is no protective plexiglass cover over the S80's screen to protect it from wear and tear. The black main front body panels are, in fact, not metal, but plastic, with an almost iPod level of gloss to them. Now, I've seen my little brother's S45 that he took fishing with him all the time, and to Costa Rica, and that sucker was beat to hell, and it still worked. I highly doubt that the new S80 would stand up to even half the abuse that any previous S-series model could take, especially that big nice easy-to-crack screen.
Now then, what camera might you possibly buy, if you wanted a 2.5" screen that actually has proportionally more pixels than a 1.8"? With a plexiglass cover to protect it? For $100 less? You would buy the Olympus, my friend... the Stylus 800, which has a gorgeous 215,000-pixel screen that even works fairly well in direct sunlight.
Not that there aren't a lot of nice things about the S80, like its speed, wide-angle lens, large battery, support for high-speed SD cards, and good rapid fire.
But Mr. Joinson also seemed to neglect mentioning how weird the new hybrid scroll-wheel-four-way-directional-controller is. How easy it is to accidentally scroll left or right when you're trying to push the left or right directional control. He did mention the overflow of buttons on the S80, but then just glosses it over like, you'll just get used to it.
Meanwhile the Stylus 800 has a wonderful look and feel, an innovative in-camera "Guide" system which is like having your user manual along with you at all times, and a simple user interface that, while not as flashy and colorful as the Canon menus, is actually more well-organized and simpler to use.
Not to accuse anyone of anything, but doesn't it seem awfully convenient that Canon, who gets by far the most hits of any brand on this site, also gets the best reviews, and also spends pretty much the most money on marketing of any camera company? Just sayin'... you need to read between the lines on DPReview.com, people. And think realistically.
I don't know about you, but I want a camera that's going to last me, that will take a bit of abuse, and won't make me the guinea pig for some radical new menu controller that is not only kludgy to use, but looks like it's gonna break. If you had worked camera retail as long as me, and seen how at least 50%, if not 75% or more, of the cameras that come in for repair are Canons with broken screens, lens errors, or just won't turn on, then you might think twice about dropping $550 on a camera with an unprotected 2.5" LCD.
Just sayin'.
-=DG=-
