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The ultimate SMALL backup camera?

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I had that problem with my S100 a bit. Its easy to deal with in PS using the clone tool. It only shows up rarely.
Bill Branham said:
Hi David,
A friend of mine purchased an S230 about a week ago. I loved the
size and ordered an S400. HOWEVER, many of the S230 images had
spots all over them. They varied is size and location frame to
frame. The Canon rep. said he had not seen that problem before and
that it must be dust between the lens and the sensor. The dealer
exchanged the camera. Last night one of the two photos my friend
took also had the spots. So it is back to the dealer tomorrow.
Now I am getting worried about the S400 that will arrive tomorrow.
I have already purchased a belt pouch for the camera!!!! When
others whip out their cell phone, I can whip out my camea....LOL

Bill Branham
http://members.aol.com/Wsbranham/Page1.html
Click to expand...
--

http://www.pbase.com/wzictrace
Kanon Powershot S100.
 
Really great pics (similar to 10D), red-eye not bad if you use the focus assist light which acts like a red-eye reduction light.

Only complaint: at full zoom you need pretty much light to focus, even with the focus assist light. Only way to get it to focus is back off the zoom.
DavidP said:
I had just about decided that I wanted the Canon S400 as my
ultra-portable 3x zoom camera that I could have with me whenever I
wanted.

Then I made the mistake of going to Fry's yesterday, and seeing the
Pentax Optio S.

Wow, that thing makes the S400 look HUGE.

It will fit into a box of Altoids!

It's "only" 3.2 megapixels (compared to 4.0), and uses something
other than CF, but that's not a big deal. It can only do 30 second
movies (compared to 3 minutes), but that's that a big deal, either.

Neither is the shorter batter life, really.

Has anybody compared the images from these two cameras?

Casio makes a tiny one, too, though I believe it's a bit bigger
than the Pentax.

This is smaller than a credit card, and thinner than a deck of
cards. Like I said, it will fit into a box of Altoids!

The S400 could be made to fit into a shirt pocket, but it's still
substantially thicker (1.1" vs. 0.8") than this little Pentax.

--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
 
& that really is an awesome BU camera(I steal it all the time)

ISO 50 shots in RAW mode are incredible!!

-John
 
and am pretty pleased with it. You're right, it doesn't have an AF assist light, but with the large DOF, it seems to be OK. I took it to a restaurant last night and after dark it wouldn't lock focus. I took the picture any way and it is OK. Not as sharp as my 1D, but not too bad. You can also preset the manual focus.

Today I took the same outdoor shot with the 1D and the Optio S, then went to Wolf camera and printed them both at 5x7 and although the 1D was better, I was amazed at just how close they were.

I also looked at the S400, but since I have so many empty Altoids cans laying around, I couldn't resist. And it was $100 cheaper.

Jim
DavidP said:
I had just about decided that I wanted the Canon S400 as my
ultra-portable 3x zoom camera that I could have with me whenever I
wanted.

Then I made the mistake of going to Fry's yesterday, and seeing the
Pentax Optio S.

Wow, that thing makes the S400 look HUGE.

It will fit into a box of Altoids!

It's "only" 3.2 megapixels (compared to 4.0), and uses something
other than CF, but that's not a big deal. It can only do 30 second
movies (compared to 3 minutes), but that's that a big deal, either.

Neither is the shorter batter life, really.

Has anybody compared the images from these two cameras?

Casio makes a tiny one, too, though I believe it's a bit bigger
than the Pentax.

This is smaller than a credit card, and thinner than a deck of
cards. Like I said, it will fit into a box of Altoids!

The S400 could be made to fit into a shirt pocket, but it's still
substantially thicker (1.1" vs. 0.8") than this little Pentax.

--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
--
Canon 1D
 
Bill Branham said:
Hi David,
A friend of mine purchased an S230 about a week ago. I loved the
size and ordered an S400. HOWEVER, many of the S230 images had
spots all over them. They varied is size and location frame to
frame. The Canon rep. said he had not seen that problem before and
that it must be dust between the lens and the sensor. The dealer
exchanged the camera. Last night one of the two photos my friend
took also had the spots. So it is back to the dealer tomorrow.
Now I am getting worried about the S400 that will arrive tomorrow.
I have already purchased a belt pouch for the camera!!!! When
others whip out their cell phone, I can whip out my camea....LOL

Bill Branham
http://members.aol.com/Wsbranham/Page1.html
Click to expand...
 
You might want to check out this thread from a few days ago:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=4822375

I was in the same boat. Ended up ordering the S400 because I want to conserve costs on memory cards and figured there's more flexibility in memory with Type 1 cards. I am jealous of the Optio S size though...

Let us know how you like the Optio. I don't have the S400 yet so can't comment 1st hand on it. Good luck. --HDW
DavidP said:
I had just about decided that I wanted the Canon S400 as my
ultra-portable 3x zoom camera that I could have with me whenever I
wanted.

Then I made the mistake of going to Fry's yesterday, and seeing the
Pentax Optio S.

Wow, that thing makes the S400 look HUGE.

It will fit into a box of Altoids!

It's "only" 3.2 megapixels (compared to 4.0), and uses something
other than CF, but that's not a big deal. It can only do 30 second
movies (compared to 3 minutes), but that's that a big deal, either.

Neither is the shorter batter life, really.

Has anybody compared the images from these two cameras?

Casio makes a tiny one, too, though I believe it's a bit bigger
than the Pentax.

This is smaller than a credit card, and thinner than a deck of
cards. Like I said, it will fit into a box of Altoids!

The S400 could be made to fit into a shirt pocket, but it's still
substantially thicker (1.1" vs. 0.8") than this little Pentax.

--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
 
G/F and I use this.

Takes great little pictures where I don;t need a 1D(s) type of quality. (or am too lazy to carry with me)
--
------------------------------

if you take the time to do something urgent, make sure it is important .............................
 
david, i would have to say that the ultimate small camera should have at least the following qualities:

Sharp glass! this is a must..
No batteries needed.
Light weight
reliable
Able to take images which are archived once taken
No sensor cleaning required
Able to be handheld......

My vote. Leica M6 with TTL and a 35 mm or 50 mm lens ..well maybe not light weight.
Don
DavidP #28649 said:
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
--
Don Maldonado / DMP Imaging
http://www.pbase.com/dmp
 
That uses FILM (ugh) -- lol
Donald Maldonado said:
david, i would have to say that the ultimate small camera should
have at least the following qualities:

Sharp glass! this is a must..
No batteries needed.
Light weight
reliable
Able to take images which are archived once taken
No sensor cleaning required
Able to be handheld......

My vote. Leica M6 with TTL and a 35 mm or 50 mm lens ..well maybe
not light weight.
Don
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
 
anything that has lesser iso such as 200 means they can not control the noise , so canon iso 400 means that they have good noise free camera. sometimes I can not distinguish between my s45 and 1Ds on computer screen. that is how clean it is
 
DavidP said:
I had just about decided that I wanted the Canon S400 as my
ultra-portable 3x zoom camera that I could have with me whenever I
wanted.

Then I made the mistake of going to Fry's yesterday, and seeing the
Pentax Optio S.

Wow, that thing makes the S400 look HUGE.

It will fit into a box of Altoids!

It's "only" 3.2 megapixels (compared to 4.0), and uses something
other than CF, but that's not a big deal. It can only do 30 second
movies (compared to 3 minutes), but that's that a big deal, either.

Neither is the shorter batter life, really.

Has anybody compared the images from these two cameras?

Casio makes a tiny one, too, though I believe it's a bit bigger
than the Pentax.

This is smaller than a credit card, and thinner than a deck of
cards. Like I said, it will fit into a box of Altoids!

The S400 could be made to fit into a shirt pocket, but it's still
substantially thicker (1.1" vs. 0.8") than this little Pentax.

--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
I had the s230 but was unhappy with the lack of manual control. I thought about the s50 but after doing a lot of reading....and a lot was from Adam-T...I found that there was a lot less noise with the s30. Since I didn't plan on printing anything bigger than 8x10, I didn't see the need to go bigger than 3mp, especially if I got more noise, so I got the older s30. I've only had it for 1 week, but so far am very happy with it.

By the way, if you look at the sample pics on steves digicams, you will see A LOT of noise with the Optio S. I would stay away from it.
Dave

http://www.pbase.com/dgsmithmd
10D, S30
Sigma 15-30
Canon 24-85
Sigma 28, 1.8
Canon 50, 1.8
Canon 85 1.8
Canon 70-200 2.8L
Sigma 50-500
 
The image quality is pretty atrocious, there isn't much contrast to speak of, overhead lights with blow out large sections of the image, 640x480 is the peak resolution, and the flash is good for about two feet. But, the look on peoples' faces when I take their mug shot with my cell phone makes up for the terrible camera that it really is.

It's certainly not a mature technology, yet, but I think it's an indication of what future ultra-compact digicams will look like.
DavidP said:
I had just about decided that I wanted the Canon S400 as my
ultra-portable 3x zoom camera that I could have with me whenever I
wanted.

Then I made the mistake of going to Fry's yesterday, and seeing the
Pentax Optio S.

Wow, that thing makes the S400 look HUGE.

It will fit into a box of Altoids!

It's "only" 3.2 megapixels (compared to 4.0), and uses something
other than CF, but that's not a big deal. It can only do 30 second
movies (compared to 3 minutes), but that's that a big deal, either.

Neither is the shorter batter life, really.

Has anybody compared the images from these two cameras?

Casio makes a tiny one, too, though I believe it's a bit bigger
than the Pentax.

This is smaller than a credit card, and thinner than a deck of
cards. Like I said, it will fit into a box of Altoids!

The S400 could be made to fit into a shirt pocket, but it's still
substantially thicker (1.1" vs. 0.8") than this little Pentax.

--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
 
The camera-in-a-cell-phone is kinda neat, but I'm much more interested in the latest phones that have a Palm-Pilot built-in.
Bob Murching said:
The image quality is pretty atrocious, there isn't much contrast to
speak of, overhead lights with blow out large sections of the
image, 640x480 is the peak resolution, and the flash is good for
about two feet. But, the look on peoples' faces when I take their
mug shot with my cell phone makes up for the terrible camera that
it really is.

It's certainly not a mature technology, yet, but I think it's an
indication of what future ultra-compact digicams will look like.
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
 
mini-me said:
DavidP said:
I had just about decided that I wanted the Canon S400 as my
ultra-portable 3x zoom camera that I could have with me whenever I
wanted.

Then I made the mistake of going to Fry's yesterday, and seeing the
Pentax Optio S.

Wow, that thing makes the S400 look HUGE.

It will fit into a box of Altoids!

It's "only" 3.2 megapixels (compared to 4.0), and uses something
other than CF, but that's not a big deal. It can only do 30 second
movies (compared to 3 minutes), but that's that a big deal, either.

Neither is the shorter batter life, really.

Has anybody compared the images from these two cameras?

Casio makes a tiny one, too, though I believe it's a bit bigger
than the Pentax.

This is smaller than a credit card, and thinner than a deck of
cards. Like I said, it will fit into a box of Altoids!

The S400 could be made to fit into a shirt pocket, but it's still
substantially thicker (1.1" vs. 0.8") than this little Pentax.

--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I really like our S30, which is our first and only digital camera. I was first attracted to the S230 because it was so compact. But my husband and I tried the cameras in the store and the S230 controls were too small for my husband. I realized that the S230 would be a little bulky in a pants pocket so I'd probably need a small case, anyway. On the other hand, the G2 seemed too bulky, so we decided on the S30.

I usually carry it in a Lowepro MX-10 bag, which also accommodates an extra battery, CF card, and an expodisc, whose cord is thread through the loop for the wrist strap along with the wrist strap. I use the strap that came with the bag to carry it around my waist.

I really like shooting RAW because I can wait to choose a custom white balance until conversion time. I just leave the white balance set to auto and take an expodisc shot for each change in lighting. That way I can whip out the camera and immediately start shooting and then, when it's convenient, take an expodisc shot.

We have had the camera for about six weeks and I have taken 1800 pictures, most of them of my young child or of buildings. I love having the camera ready at all times. I have taken good pictures at the most unlikely places: shopping at Wal-mart, working in the garden, playing with the neighbor children, passing interesting buildings on my way to work. The S45 or S50 is probably a little better, but I am quite happy with the S30 and think it is a good value. The results are quite good.

Alice
DGSmithMD said:
DavidP said:
I had just about decided that I wanted the Canon S400 as my
ultra-portable 3x zoom camera that I could have with me whenever I
wanted.

Then I made the mistake of going to Fry's yesterday, and seeing the
Pentax Optio S.

Wow, that thing makes the S400 look HUGE.

It will fit into a box of Altoids!

It's "only" 3.2 megapixels (compared to 4.0), and uses something
other than CF, but that's not a big deal. It can only do 30 second
movies (compared to 3 minutes), but that's that a big deal, either.

Neither is the shorter batter life, really.

Has anybody compared the images from these two cameras?

Casio makes a tiny one, too, though I believe it's a bit bigger
than the Pentax.

This is smaller than a credit card, and thinner than a deck of
cards. Like I said, it will fit into a box of Altoids!

The S400 could be made to fit into a shirt pocket, but it's still
substantially thicker (1.1" vs. 0.8") than this little Pentax.

--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
I had the s230 but was unhappy with the lack of manual control. I
thought about the s50 but after doing a lot of reading....and a lot
was from Adam-T...I found that there was a lot less noise with the
s30. Since I didn't plan on printing anything bigger than 8x10, I
didn't see the need to go bigger than 3mp, especially if I got more
noise, so I got the older s30. I've only had it for 1 week, but so
far am very happy with it.

By the way, if you look at the sample pics on steves digicams, you
will see A LOT of noise with the Optio S. I would stay away from
it.
Dave

http://www.pbase.com/dgsmithmd
10D, S30
Sigma 15-30
Canon 24-85
Sigma 28, 1.8
Canon 50, 1.8
Canon 85 1.8
Canon 70-200 2.8L
Sigma 50-500
Click to expand...
 
This is OT, but I am amazed that Fry's has made it to Texas. I wonder how widespread they are through the country now. I used to visit the original store in Sunnyvale, California, in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Originally Fry's was a small local supermarket chain. For a while you could buy groceries and computer gear in the same store.
DavidP said:
I had just about decided that I wanted the Canon S400 as my
ultra-portable 3x zoom camera that I could have with me whenever I
wanted.

Then I made the mistake of going to Fry's yesterday, and seeing the
Pentax Optio S.

Wow, that thing makes the S400 look HUGE.

It will fit into a box of Altoids!

It's "only" 3.2 megapixels (compared to 4.0), and uses something
other than CF, but that's not a big deal. It can only do 30 second
movies (compared to 3 minutes), but that's that a big deal, either.

Neither is the shorter batter life, really.

Has anybody compared the images from these two cameras?

Casio makes a tiny one, too, though I believe it's a bit bigger
than the Pentax.

This is smaller than a credit card, and thinner than a deck of
cards. Like I said, it will fit into a box of Altoids!

The S400 could be made to fit into a shirt pocket, but it's still
substantially thicker (1.1" vs. 0.8") than this little Pentax.

--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
--
Bob Poole
 
If your Palm has an SD slot you can get a camera for it. The new Kyocera 7135 Palm Phone has an SD slot. I'm getting one this week.
DavidP said:
Bob Murching said:
The image quality is pretty atrocious, there isn't much contrast to
speak of, overhead lights with blow out large sections of the
image, 640x480 is the peak resolution, and the flash is good for
about two feet. But, the look on peoples' faces when I take their
mug shot with my cell phone makes up for the terrible camera that
it really is.

It's certainly not a mature technology, yet, but I think it's an
indication of what future ultra-compact digicams will look like.
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
 
Since your white balance is on auto, how does taking a picture of the expodisc help? Can you use that picture during raw conversion to set white balance on other images?
Alice_61 said:
I usually carry it in a Lowepro MX-10 bag, which also accommodates
an extra battery, CF card, and an expodisc, whose cord is thread
through the loop for the wrist strap along with the wrist strap. I
use the strap that came with the bag to carry it around my waist.

I really like shooting RAW because I can wait to choose a custom
white balance until conversion time. I just leave the white
balance set to auto and take an expodisc shot for each change in
lighting. That way I can whip out the camera and immediately start
shooting and then, when it's convenient, take an expodisc shot.

We have had the camera for about six weeks and I have taken 1800
pictures, most of them of my young child or of buildings. I love
having the camera ready at all times. I have taken good pictures
at the most unlikely places: shopping at Wal-mart, working in the
garden, playing with the neighbor children, passing interesting
buildings on my way to work. The S45 or S50 is probably a little
better, but I am quite happy with the S30 and think it is a good
value. The results are quite good.

Alice
DGSmithMD said:
DavidP said:
I had just about decided that I wanted the Canon S400 as my
ultra-portable 3x zoom camera that I could have with me whenever I
wanted.

Then I made the mistake of going to Fry's yesterday, and seeing the
Pentax Optio S.

Wow, that thing makes the S400 look HUGE.

It will fit into a box of Altoids!

It's "only" 3.2 megapixels (compared to 4.0), and uses something
other than CF, but that's not a big deal. It can only do 30 second
movies (compared to 3 minutes), but that's that a big deal, either.

Neither is the shorter batter life, really.

Has anybody compared the images from these two cameras?

Casio makes a tiny one, too, though I believe it's a bit bigger
than the Pentax.

This is smaller than a credit card, and thinner than a deck of
cards. Like I said, it will fit into a box of Altoids!

The S400 could be made to fit into a shirt pocket, but it's still
substantially thicker (1.1" vs. 0.8") than this little Pentax.

--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
I had the s230 but was unhappy with the lack of manual control. I
thought about the s50 but after doing a lot of reading....and a lot
was from Adam-T...I found that there was a lot less noise with the
s30. Since I didn't plan on printing anything bigger than 8x10, I
didn't see the need to go bigger than 3mp, especially if I got more
noise, so I got the older s30. I've only had it for 1 week, but so
far am very happy with it.

By the way, if you look at the sample pics on steves digicams, you
will see A LOT of noise with the Optio S. I would stay away from
it.
Dave

http://www.pbase.com/dgsmithmd
10D, S30
Sigma 15-30
Canon 24-85
Sigma 28, 1.8
Canon 50, 1.8
Canon 85 1.8
Canon 70-200 2.8L
Sigma 50-500
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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