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Any Risk of children's disease for the IXUS400?

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torstenr

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When you buy the lastest car model of any brand, you usually have to live with getting a lot of children's disease fixed over time.

Does this go for Digital Cameras and the IXUS400 as well?

I'm posting this as I would rather wait a while buying IXUS400 making sure any errors are fixed. Pls. let me know if this is an unjustified concern.
 
I have read the very short reply to this message (the one below)...

I think what is meant by "children's disease" is bugs and design flaws that are in the model, which may be fixed by later firmware versions or modifications in later shipment batches...

TO answer the first question in the thread, I am pretty sure that the S400 (as most Canons) has flash-upgradeable firmware. So if there are bugs in the firmware etc, then you shouldnt have to worry because firmware patches should fix that (if Canon are any good at releasing them - which I dont know).

As far as inherent design flaws, I cannot say. I would suggest reading reviews for the camera (especially Phil's, if he ever does one). Also take into account the limitations of a camera this small - eg smaller aperture lens, less controls over focus, exposure etc.

Hope that helps.

Elia
log said:
What is "children's disease"?
Click to expand...
 
greg said:
A term used by "smart" people to vault them above the rest of the
crowd and confuse others. I really can't imagine why, in this age
of communication, people choose to make the message more
complicated that it has to be...
Click to expand...
Or a term taken out of a dictionary after translating from a foreign language. Don't forget that for many folks who post in these forums English is a 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th language.

Olga
 
In "English" english (as opposed to any other type) we usually call it "teething troubles" (or teething problems), for which I think "children's disease" is a pretty good translation!!! It means young children getting their first teeth and being miserable in the process, but something they will get over in time.
 
Apart from OlgaJ, MurrayB, and Elia this has been a pretty cringeworthy thread. I can't believe that "smart" comment, isn't it clear that the person asking the question isn't a native English speaker, and it doesn't take a genius to work out what he was asking, and nor does it take pedantry or sarcasm to answer it.
Elia Vecellio said:
I think what is meant by "children's disease" is bugs and design
flaws that are in the model, which may be fixed by later firmware
versions or modifications in later shipment batches...

TO answer the first question in the thread, I am pretty sure that
the S400 (as most Canons) has flash-upgradeable firmware. So if
there are bugs in the firmware etc, then you shouldnt have to worry
because firmware patches should fix that (if Canon are any good at
releasing them - which I dont know).

As far as inherent design flaws, I cannot say. I would suggest
reading reviews for the camera (especially Phil's, if he ever does
one). Also take into account the limitations of a camera this small
  • eg smaller aperture lens, less controls over focus, exposure etc.
Hope that helps.

Elia
log said:
What is "children's disease"?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
These accidental translations of local terms occur often when altering between languages.

What Torsten calls childrens diseases is that a new model, in its infancy, often turn out to have a few flaws. Much like the new versions of MsWindows that always instantaneously are followed by a few upgrade patches. Or car manufacturers that after a few months call back a certain model to fix some minor production errors. Therefore, it is often safer to wait a few months to let all the faults be found and corrected before buying the product.

I have not heard of any digicam having any "childrens diseases". It would cost too much to call back and adjust faulty cameras for the producers to risk it. Some software upgrades are available now and then, but often to improve function and compatibility.

I have not tested the 400 though.

--
Dilman
Happy Snapper
Canon PowerShot S30
http://www.pbase.com/dilman
 
Their profile shows they are from Denmark. I doubt English would be their first language and I would think they have no reasons to think they are above us with their choice of words. I am sure my choice of words in their language would have them either scratching their head and/or rolling on the floor laughing.
I understood what they were asking in their post, so, with being said.

To answer the question, as with anything new, there is likely to be some things that perhaps will need to be fixed via new firmware. And sometimes new firmware does not necessarily fix just problems. Sometimes it just makes the hardware function better. It is so amazing these days how new firmware updates can fix/improve the hardware these days. I work with computers every day and I see this all the time.

As for mechanical design problems with the camera. Well, time will show whether there is any problems there. (I am think of the G2 cracking problem and this problem did not affect the majority of users, in my opinion). But in that problem, that was most definitely the exception and Canon did re-design the camera to address this problem. My personal feeling is that it would be rare to see a problem in this area. Overall, I think Canon makes on the whole, a well-designed engineered product. And I would think the vast majority of their customers agree.

As for the functionality of the camera, for a camera this size, you can expect to see some trade-offs compared to bigger, more costly alternatives. That is to be expected. How important are these trade-offs you need to be asking.

So, after getting all the information you can by asking other people questions, and then researching and reading the reviews, and also by handling the product yourself if possible, the question you need to ask yourself is this: will this camera suit the needs and desires I have at this time in a camera? Sometimes you need to just take your best feeling about it and make your decision, there is no right or wrong answer. After you make your decision, then you can finally begin to enjoy your new purchase as you should.

And later, when a newer camera becomes available and you feel that this newer camera may suit your needs even more then your present camera, you get to make this decision all over again. This is called life.
HWStone said:
Elia Vecellio said:
I think what is meant by "children's disease" is bugs and design
flaws that are in the model, which may be fixed by later firmware
versions or modifications in later shipment batches...

TO answer the first question in the thread, I am pretty sure that
the S400 (as most Canons) has flash-upgradeable firmware. So if
there are bugs in the firmware etc, then you shouldnt have to worry
because firmware patches should fix that (if Canon are any good at
releasing them - which I dont know).

As far as inherent design flaws, I cannot say. I would suggest
reading reviews for the camera (especially Phil's, if he ever does
one). Also take into account the limitations of a camera this small
  • eg smaller aperture lens, less controls over focus, exposure etc.
Hope that helps.

Elia
log said:
What is "children's disease"?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thank you.

I'm a bit surprised that my question - at all - could be misinterpretated - because I did the comparison with cars. But perhaps the "smart" guy never owned a car.

But I think the conclusion is that Digital Cameras don't come wit the same errors as some new car models does. An if any, it seems like this can be fixed by upgrading the firmware.
HWStone said:
Elia Vecellio said:
I think what is meant by "children's disease" is bugs and design
flaws that are in the model, which may be fixed by later firmware
versions or modifications in later shipment batches...

TO answer the first question in the thread, I am pretty sure that
the S400 (as most Canons) has flash-upgradeable firmware. So if
there are bugs in the firmware etc, then you shouldnt have to worry
because firmware patches should fix that (if Canon are any good at
releasing them - which I dont know).

As far as inherent design flaws, I cannot say. I would suggest
reading reviews for the camera (especially Phil's, if he ever does
one). Also take into account the limitations of a camera this small
  • eg smaller aperture lens, less controls over focus, exposure etc.
Hope that helps.

Elia
log said:
What is "children's disease"?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
torstenr said:
Thank you.

I'm a bit surprised that my question - at all - could be
misinterpretated - because I did the comparison with cars. But
perhaps the "smart" guy never owned a car.

But I think the conclusion is that Digital Cameras don't come wit
the same errors as some new car models does. An if any, it seems
like this can be fixed by upgrading the firmware.
Click to expand...
the same with cars - "Safety Recalls" :-)
 
MurrayB said:
In "English" english (as opposed to any other type) we usually call
it "teething troubles" (or teething problems), for which I think
"children's disease" is a pretty good translation!!! It means young
children getting their first teeth and being miserable in the
process, but something they will get over in time.
Click to expand...
Ah.... That makes sense now. For some reason it made me think of chicken pox....
 
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