Necro! so it's been a year now and as you could read in the other thread, well, it didn't go too well for me.
The advice you guys gave in this thread was very helpful of course, but I'll try to explain what somehow ruined the experience for me.
Essentially ? the auto light metering and all that depends on the button half/full-pressure.
1. Battling the automatic light metering:
- it is always active changing the exposure constantly and rapidly no matter if evaluative, centered or point, even a heartbeat, shiver, breath, will ruin the balance you wanted and achieved by tuning the tiny wheel and buttons while trembling and sweating more with each new shot. I use P mode most of the time because it is much less hassle to try and adjust exposure with a single wheel control, compared to M where you deal with double the tiny button and wheel work since the metering won't stop messing your settings anyway. Also P unlike M seems to pick the best possible aperture by itself without you having to correct manually every five seconds or so.
I wish I had a way to stop that auto light metering completely, but I haven't found one (or see conclusion)
2. The halfway/full-pressure button system influencing exposure, focus and stability, all at the same time within a split second:
- that, is the biggest issue, so many things depend on it I just can't believe how terrible design it is. No matter how carefully I press I can see the exposure go off and, then when I press the second half to finalize, in that feverish moment the focus and stability as well become a mystery. The screen/shutter goes black. It is done. But the result will be a surprise, because whatever look, position and focus I was already having all the pain in the world maintaining with increasing trembling and sweat with each shot, will likely be wiped out when I press that second half anyway.
So I've managed to kill the half-pressure, by switching not the mode but just the focus mode to manual, and disabling the safety AF in the menus. But of course I lose the AF ability, so I can either use only the manual but the controls and display are again small so manual focus is not easy at all. The features here to assist like the magnifier and color outlines don't help me in the least. Or I can lock it to infinite and rely on the zoom, but there the results are too random.
I've tried Servo AF and different related settings but none did it for me.
My conclusion, which I believe should apply to the SX720/SX730/SX740, after having experienced the camera in two radically different situations, hand-held, and tripod/timer/remote:
Well, the success ratio (picture looking like I expected with the best IQ) is overwhelmingly superior in the second case situation, either using a tripod and timer, or the smartphone remote functions with the Canon app, this is the only way to fully tame that camera and have it shoot the pictures you want and likely the best it can achieve. The Canon app isn't very good though, main issues are no rotation so the live view is too small, and using it draws so much battery both the camera's and the phone's that it can only be used for a relatively small amount of time.
Comparatively the results in exclusively hand-held situations are like I said recently in the other thread, even being careful it's like only 1/10 photos are worthy or close to the camera's best, so my opinion in that area is radically different from saaber1's, for me that camera can take very good photos, but it rarely gives its best just walking around and shooting hand-held.
I am definitely not a photographer not even a decently experienced amateur, but having spent a year with that camera I feel that I've seen most of it, not ALL of it, as I've probably missed several subtleties, but my point is that if it takes more skill than that or some kind of secret sorcery to bring out its real hidden potential, then it is not really worth the trouble and money, most people will be happier with what the current best photo-centric smartphones achieve as point-and-shoots, even though those can barely zoom in. I love a long zoom for travel and hiking and that's the point of those compact superzooms, but you have to see beyond the compactness of the device itself and think about the amount of attention it will require from you, and weigh if the quality it actually achieves while used only casually is worth half if not more the price of a good photophone.
I imagine the ideal compact point-zoom-and-shoot not necessarily having a massive premium sensor or lens, but before everything reliable stable controls you can trust. if I was asked how I'd like the ideal one, I'd say I don't need a LCD display but a large clear viewfinder, and manual physical direct controls for all the essentials to compose the picture, and rather than fancy auto-driven assist and creative features, just clear essential and precise info at all times along with a fully implemented users profiles system.
EDIT: alternatively if a great good viewfinder is out of the question for cost concerns, then a much bigger and refined LCD, and the option of simple remote shooting (like a BlueTooth, infrared or whatever key chain remote shutter, then you bring a micro-tripod of goriallapod whatever) that would be 100 times better than any smartphone app.
Final word: seems like if you want GOOD pocket photography on-the-go, then have a serious face-to-leather talk with your wallet, save longer instead of spending on entry~ish cameras.
(notice: at the cost of redundancy I want to make clear at this point reminding the reader that I still think a 1/2.3 compact superzoom like the Canaon SX7** or equivalents in the segment can take better photos than even a good smartphone, considering even the huge zoom, but that slightly superior quality is NOT easily achieved, and NOT by anyone)
PS: I have some questions in regards to White Balance and My Colors, but this rant post is already too long so that'll be for later.
