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Jay H

Jay H

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I think my G3 was killed on Cannon on the 21st during a huge deluge. Now I'm in the market for a nice new Canon P&S digital... Are the SD800 ISs still da 'bomb or is there a new 28mm IS-adaptable camera that can be had for fairly cheap...

Thanks!

[edit ] dfead? Wow, that is a new one for me! :)

Jay
 
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There are actually many new small cameras with wide angle lenses. In the Canon line you are limited to the SD800 and SD870, the latter doesn't have an optical view finder however. Panasonic has the FX35 and FX500, plus the TZ5 if you want a compact ultrazoom. None of the Panasonics have an optical view finder, alas. Sony has the W170.

Besides wide angle, what else are you looking for?
 
I like the viewfinder.

I'd really like a (native) waterproof camera with viewfinder, 28mm, IS, but apparently, nobody else does or nobody wants to make one...

I see Olympus has some waterproof 28mm (1030SW), digital IS, but again, no viewfinder..

Jay
 
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Digital IS is just pushing the ISO higher. You can do that yourself, I don't consider it much of a feature and certainly no replacement for optical IS.

If you want waterproof/weatherproof your only two options are the Olympus and Pentax ones. Both have compromises, but they do provide protection from the rain.
 
I've read that for the Olympus models to remain waterproof, you have to replace the seals/gaskets in them and only Olympus can do it, which to me says $$$.

Waterproofness is more for kayaking than for hiking. I've had my g3 in a lot of rain and kayaking with nothing more than a cheap lowpro camera case, gets wet all the time (not underwater, just wet) and hasn't died til now. I haven't dumped in my kayak yet with my camera but I guess it's bound to happen.

I might just splurge on a Canon SD800IS or a new SD870IS without the viewfinder... the prices, according to froogle, are not much different. And then maybe go the way of the waterproof shell.

Jay
 
David Metsky said:
Digital IS is just pushing the ISO higher. You can do that yourself, I don't consider it much of a feature and certainly no replacement for optical IS.
Click to expand...
What form of IS are you referring to?

I have heard of a version of electronic (digital if you prefer) IS that supposedly works fairly well: The camera breaks the exposure interval up into many subintervals and takes a "sub-image" for each one. All sub-images are added to make the final image, but each sub-image is digitally registered (shifted) to remove the effects of camera motion. This is not the equivalent of just pushing the ISO.


FWIW, the other forms of IS are electronically controlled mechanical systems: either the sensor is moved to reduce the effects of camera motion ("in-body" IS) or lens elements are moved to compensate ("in-lens" IS).

Doug
 
The IS on the Olympus 1030SW just boosts the ISO until it gets a fast enough shutter speed. Nothing fancy here, just marketing. It's not a very good feature.
 
Jay,
FWIW, I'm very happy with my SD800IS. And I found a spare battery on ebay for like $12. Works great.
Rob
 
David Metsky said:
The IS on the Olympus 1030SW just boosts the ISO until it gets a fast enough shutter speed. Nothing fancy here, just marketing. It's not a very good feature.
Click to expand...
If that is all it is, I agree. IMO, that is bordering on deceptive advertising to call it IS...

Doug
 
Hobbes said:
Jay,
FWIW, I'm very happy with my SD800IS. And I found a spare battery on ebay for like $12. Works great.
Rob
Click to expand...

Using froogle, both of them are roughly in the low $200 range. It's really just the viewfinder issue but the various digicam review sites I've checked, most people seem to really like the 3" LCD on the newer Sd870 IS....

What was really nice with the G3 was the flippable LCD, which made setting up the camera on the ground using the timer easier without having to go into contortionism to see the screen. :)

Jay
 
I have the SD800 as well, and I always use the view finder. I have noticed with this camera more blown out highlights then I had with my previous SD300, and it's definitely soft at the edges. Even with that, I like the camera.

If I were buying a new ultracompact now it would be a toss up between the SD800 and the Sony W170, but I generally hate the Sony menus and Memory Stick. However it does have better zoom and a better burst mode, so it would be a toss up.
 
Another SD800 user here...

I'm happy with it and almost always use the viewfinder. I use a DSLR when quality or wide range of lenses is important, but often carry only the 800 when hiking.

Doug
 
Well, since the prices weren't that spectacularly different, I hope I'll get used to the lack of viewfinder on the SD 870 IS which I just bought from B&H. I bought an IPX8 rated drybag for it and I will pick up a 2gig SD card locally which seemed cheaper than B&H...

Jay
 
Cheaper then $8.95?

You can also try newegg.com. At this point I'd buy an 8G card for about $35. That seems to be the best price/GB.
 
Cheaper at Meritline.com.

HERE

But don't take my word ...... whatever I say will be contradicted anyway.
 
Hmm, when i did a search on "SD card" at B&H, I got a bunch of hits from Lexar which was $29.99 but I guess since it has the word "professional" on it, it probably is tested at a higher bandwidth/thruput so they get to charge more..

So I just called up B&H and added the Kingston one for free...thanks!

But don't take my word ...... whatever I say will be contradicted anyway.
Click to expand...

I have not needed more than 512MB which is what I had in my g3 and I never ran out of space. I do generally on my PC go and delete pictures after awhile and I don't take a whole lotta videos.. I'd rather have a bunch of smaller sD cards than one big one anyway, more redundancy that way. I doubt i'd ever need more than the 2gigs despite the increased MP size of the 870 vrs my older G3.

jay



Jay
 
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You can get cards even cheaper at NewEgg.com which is where I buy most of my memory cards. But if you're already buying a camera from B&H (which I also use) no point paying for more shipping.

I can easily fill a 2G card in a day of shooting. I'm ready to buy an 8G card now. since they're under $30 these days it's almost a no-brainer, ensuring that I'll never run out of memory.
 
How can I tell if my camera will be compatible with an SDHC card versus SD? (Canon A520). Also, what's the difference between the various classes of cards? Class 2, class 4 etc.
 
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By the time you add the cost of shipping, Meritline is less expensive than NewEgg. (At least for the 8GB SDHC card by pq1.) A lot of stuff at Meritline is offered with free shipping. But not everything. The NewEgg site does seem pretty good tho.

Regardless if you save a few bucks at one site versus another, as was mentioned, if you are already buying something from B&H, might as well get a couple of 4GB cards or a 8GB. Hard to imagine, but I'm sure you guys remember when 128MB was like $300 ...... wasn't all that long ago. Then again, my first computer did not even have a hard drive, and booted using 5 1/2" disks. :D We've come a long way, baby!
 
The A520 doesn't support SDHC. You're limited to 2G SD cards.

The different classes measure the speed of read/write. The higher the number, the faster the card can handle writes. For most P&S cameras it doesn't matter much, as the cameras can't write out data very fast to begin with.

SD cards use 60x or 150x to denote speed. They are essentially the same as class 4 and class 6 respectively.
 
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