Optio S4 is it any better than the S??

[t1mt]

When the Optio S first came out I thought that this would be the ideal digital camera for me - incredibly compact and with enough megapixels to deliver reasonable pictures. As somebody very wisely said, 'the best camera is the one you have with you'.

However after reading some of the comments in this forum about the quality of pictures I got cold feet and put off my purchase.

Pentax then announced the S4 and I think that maybe this is the one.

Jreview started an excellent thread a while ago about it having all glass lenses and how this might overcome some of the shortcomings of the S.

My simple question is has it?

Or have Pentax simply added the extra 1mp as a marketing ploy because their innovative lens system is unable to make use of it?

Or is the 4mp sensor prone to noise as some have suggested.

I could delay further or I could buy the Canon Ixus 400, but I know if I do I will always regret it. The Optio is so small its beautiful.

If I get the S4 I want to know that the picture quality is not just average but good, otherwise I will regret not buying the Ixus.

In other words ......Help

 

[jreview]

Good question re: how much better is S4 than S.

Until someone makes careful comparison photos of a test pattern (or something like it), we won't have a definitive answer on the image quality improvements of the S4. The only reviews out so far are sort of puff pieces.

The best guess on the 4MP sensor quality, based on the very few from-the-hip sample photos out there, is (so far as I can tell) that it is roughly just enough better to make up for the smaller light-gathering ability per pixel, for 4MPixels. (There are 15% more pixels in each direction, but there is also 15% less light-gathering surface in each direction).

The best guess on the lens system, so far as I can guess, is that the lenses also may be showing a modest improvement with glass, in keeping with the need for it w.r.t the increase in MPixels, but nothing dramatic - no big leap, unfortunately. Furthermore, the manufacturing problems with a portion of cameras having misalignment problems seems to still be there, same as ever. So if you buy, check out the upper left hand corner right away for excesssive softness.

I'm still going to buy one (I'm working on getting a Japanese model, although I may break down and get the less-obtrusive brownish-silver model we have here). There is little doubt in my mind that the comparable Canons (S400, S230 and SD100) are superior image-producers - sharper, smarter (Dipix or whatever it's called) and better at focussing in the dark. The Pentax may hold its own in colour quality. I do think the S4 was brough out mostly for marketing reasons - 4MP is being seen in the market as some kind of minimum. And, it's still a good camera.

For me, it comes down to - the camera that I will have with me when I want to capture something. Only the S4 fits in an Altoids tin - a Canon would need to be protected by a bulky case, with its fragile lens cover. I think the S4 hits the sweet spot - not that we wouldn't love to have some of the things on our wish list (e.g. wider wide-angle, better sharpness!, less noisy sensor / higher ISOs, focus illuminator or better dark focussing, faster write speed to card esp. 32x cards, 640x480 movies, longer long exposure). The new little single-focal length Canon SD10 is interesting too, but it's bigger as well.

If I was willing to lug a medium-size camera around, I would probably go for the Nikon with the super-short-focal-length lens, e.g. 24mm equivalent. The short-focal-length wide angle is vastly more useful in cities and interiors (where you can't back up because of a wall or a building behind you) than a long telephoto is. You can't hold the long telephotos on point/shoots steady enough anyways to make them useful - a huge zoom range with a long telephoto is 100% marketing to people who know litlte about cameras, and figure any higher number is better.

You can't really sharpen the S4 images enough to make them look like the comparable Canons - the sharpening would look awful. I think of it as equivalent to a fabulous 2MP camera, a decent and very small 3MP camera, or a passable and tiny 4MP camera. It does have charm - enough for me to want one anyways.

Happy shopping / jg

 

[Arn]

t1mt wrote:
My simple question is has it?

Judging by the samples that I've seen, there doesn't seem to be any major differences in the lens / image quality.

Or have Pentax simply added the extra 1mp as a marketing ploy
because their innovative lens system is unable to make use of it?

You got it. I'm pretty sure it's a marketing trick. Most people buy cameras based on megapixels. I KNOW they do, I've seen it happen plenty of times. Also, Pentax isn't the only manufacturer to use this trick - also Olympus and others release cameras with minor if any improvements, besides megapixels. It's just like buying a computer by the MHz....

Or is the 4mp sensor prone to noise as some have suggested.

It's the law of physics. Simple as that. It won't have less noise anyway.

I could delay further or I could buy the Canon Ixus 400, but I know
if I do I will always regret it. The Optio is so small its
beautiful.

Well. You've got a lot of camera in small size in the Optio S. Size really matters for me. I've thought about getting another ultracompact camera, but I haven't found any that could replace the Optio S...

If I get the S4 I want to know that the picture quality is not just
average but good, otherwise I will regret not buying the Ixus.

It is average. But Like I said, the Optio S is a lot of camera for it's size. Here are some images that I've taken with the S, if you haven't seen them:
http://www.pbase.com/arn/optios