JeffEdwards
New member
After years of putting off buying a digital camera, I bought the Canon S30 two weeks ago. In this short time, I'm very impressed! The pictures have incredible detail and color. The camera has several different modes to please anyone - from those who just want to press one button to the professionals who want to manually set everything. I also find the camera very easy to use. The clearly marked buttons are much more practical instead of the endless menu screens on some other cameras. Despite other complaints i've read about the Set button being difficult to use, I have had no problems with this function at all. The software was also easy to install without difficulty.
I've taken a variety of pics to test out the camera and have been pleased in almost every instance. Daylight photos are perfect just using the auto setting, even photos taken with the sun behind the subject. Inside the house, some adjusting of the white balance and flash exposure make for pictures that have better light and color than the actual conditions. I've also taken some photos of the christmas tree lights (multi-color, only light in the room), and for the first time have a perfect picture of what it actually looks like to the human eye. Similarly, a photo taken in a completely dark room turned out bright and properly focused. Also took an outdoor photo of the dog running for a freesbie and the image was captured without a blur using the sport/action setting. I got this camera at buy.com for a bargain price of $488 and would recommend anyone looking at this camera considering purchasing from them as well. (no, i do not work for them in any form, just a satisfied customer!)
Problems:
My complaints are minimal and would not impact my decision to recommend this camera. Photos that were taken in low light conditions, such as candlelight, were blurry without the use of a tripod. Canon needs to integrate its excellent image stablizer lens into all its cameras to remove hand-shake blur at slow shutter speeds. Redeye reduction doesn't work that well, but i have yet to see a camera where this actually works. I have found that manually adjusting the flash intensity has helped with this problem. One other annoying feature is the image size/resolution settings changing between the auto and manual modes. I've set the default to the smallest jpeg size and superfine resolution. However, when I switch to manual mode, the camera takes the photos in the largest size. But perhaps there is a fix for this if I read the instruction book more throughly. And finally, while I haven't run out of memory or had the battery die, I've ordered a ibm 340mb microdrive, backup battery and ac adapter. (btw, datavis.com has the microdrive for $140, far lower priced than anywhere else i've seen.)
Feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have any questions.
I've taken a variety of pics to test out the camera and have been pleased in almost every instance. Daylight photos are perfect just using the auto setting, even photos taken with the sun behind the subject. Inside the house, some adjusting of the white balance and flash exposure make for pictures that have better light and color than the actual conditions. I've also taken some photos of the christmas tree lights (multi-color, only light in the room), and for the first time have a perfect picture of what it actually looks like to the human eye. Similarly, a photo taken in a completely dark room turned out bright and properly focused. Also took an outdoor photo of the dog running for a freesbie and the image was captured without a blur using the sport/action setting. I got this camera at buy.com for a bargain price of $488 and would recommend anyone looking at this camera considering purchasing from them as well. (no, i do not work for them in any form, just a satisfied customer!)
Problems:
My complaints are minimal and would not impact my decision to recommend this camera. Photos that were taken in low light conditions, such as candlelight, were blurry without the use of a tripod. Canon needs to integrate its excellent image stablizer lens into all its cameras to remove hand-shake blur at slow shutter speeds. Redeye reduction doesn't work that well, but i have yet to see a camera where this actually works. I have found that manually adjusting the flash intensity has helped with this problem. One other annoying feature is the image size/resolution settings changing between the auto and manual modes. I've set the default to the smallest jpeg size and superfine resolution. However, when I switch to manual mode, the camera takes the photos in the largest size. But perhaps there is a fix for this if I read the instruction book more throughly. And finally, while I haven't run out of memory or had the battery die, I've ordered a ibm 340mb microdrive, backup battery and ac adapter. (btw, datavis.com has the microdrive for $140, far lower priced than anywhere else i've seen.)
Feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have any questions.