Finally ordered a decent digital camera...good choice?

[alphatarget1]

Originally posted by: BullsOnParade
If you're going to buy adapters to shoot at different ranges why not get a used DSLR body for within your price range and a good but inexpenisve all purpose lens ? The add on's for P&S aren't really worth the price.

Because a half-way decent DSLR lens is not less than 300-400 bucks new?

 

[alphatarget1]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Originally posted by: alphatarget1

I have a powershot S50, 35mm-105mm equivalent. Taking pictures of architecture was a pain because it's only at 35mm.

But then you can buy like, wide angle & telephoto adapters and all kinds of goodies (filters and such) for your camera, whereas almost nothing is avaliable for mine , one of the reasons why I'm going DSLR in a few months. Still a good choice though, 12x zoom rocks and Canon rules.

Ahhh...gotcha. One of the reasons I got this is because it's sort of a nice blend of an advanced P&S, and some SLR-like features. The movie mode is pretty cool too.

Have you considered the Panasonic 12x zoom model? (5mp) I guess it's a moot point since you bought it already but that thing looked pretty cool with the telephoto add-on.

 

[Insane3D]

Yes, it was one of the cams the S2 was compared to in the review, as was the Sony H1...but I really prefer Canon. The other would need to be much better for less money to get me to try them. Besides, DPR said even though the Sony and Panasonic were better in some things than the S2, they said the S2 was just a much more enjoyable camera to use.

I'm sure they are all nice..

 

[BullsOnParade]

Because a half-way decent DSLR lens is not less than 300-400 bucks new?

That's misleading. There are fantastic used lenses for much less than that,
andplenty of stuff at places like KEH, Wolf, craigslist etc... for amazing deals.


Edited tone.

 

[Freejack2]

Welcome to the S2 IS club. For me nothing blew me away more than the 0cm zoom. I can focus up so close that I have to be careful not to smush the lens into whatever I'm photographing.

I went with the Adata 150x SD card.
It's over 1.5x faster and $20 cheaper than the Sandisk. They've found that the cheaper cards fail no more or less than the expensive ones so I got this one. Same lifetime warranty too.

 

[mobobuff]

It's a great prosumer camera, I've been taking some pictures and videos with it lately, and the zoom + stabilizer are amazing. Also the ability to take high res photos while shooting video is pure genius. Perfect for fireworks shows. I also enjoy how exposure/aperture settings can be controlled simulatenously with the d-pad, saves a lot of thumbwork.

 

[tami]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
Thanks Tami...good to hear. How does it compare to the much more expensive D70?

well, i'm more of a fan of SLR right now since i made my purchase, but i must say that the optical zoom on the S2 IS is probably much better than any lens kit i own (or will ever own). on sunday, my husband and i went to central park to take pictures of random people and things (shameless plug: see my photoblog for some recent shots ) and he got an excellent one of a kid swinging on one of those secure little black swings, whereas i couldn't get one that was as sharp as his for anything (and i tried many times). maybe it was the fact that i was afraid of his dad looking at two random twentysomethings photographing his 2-year-old son, but none of my pics came out.

i'm quite impressed by the quality of the S2 IS, and it's certainly an excellent choice for a camera.

 

[Eli]

I will repeat...

j00 bastard...

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Freejack2
Welcome to the S2 IS club. For me nothing blew me away more than the 0cm zoom. I can focus up so close that I have to be careful not to smush the lens into whatever I'm photographing.

I went with the Adata 150x SD card.
It's over 1.5x faster and $20 cheaper than the Sandisk. They've found that the cheaper cards fail no more or less than the expensive ones so I got this one. Same lifetime warranty too.

Thanks for the info, but the Ultra II handles up to 10mb/s or so, and the S2 IS tops out @ 3mb/s...so I won't even be using half the speed of the Ultra II. That's good to know if I ever get something that needs faster than that...

Edit:

I did a little research on the Sandisk vs. A-Data. It turns out the UII is ~60x-66x, and the new "Extreme" (and pricey!) models are ~130X-140X. The A-Data is probably about on par with the Extreme, and definately faster than the UII. I know the camera can't use the extra speed, but I'm thinking the USB 2.0 xfers between cam/reader and PC will take advantage...

The price is awesome so I just may have to get that...

Thanks!

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: tami

Originally posted by: Insane3D
Thanks Tami...good to hear. How does it compare to the much more expensive D70?

well, i'm more of a fan of SLR right now since i made my purchase, but i must say that the optical zoom on the S2 IS is probably much better than any lens kit i own (or will ever own). on sunday, my husband and i went to central park to take pictures of random people and things (shameless plug: see my photoblog for some recent shots ) and he got an excellent one of a kid swinging on one of those secure little black swings, whereas i couldn't get one that was as sharp as his for anything (and i tried many times). maybe it was the fact that i was afraid of his dad looking at two random twentysomethings photographing his 2-year-old son, but none of my pics came out.

i'm quite impressed by the quality of the S2 IS, and it's certainly an excellent choice for a camera.

Thanks again for the information. It's great to hear first hand experience with it...

I hope it ships soon!

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: tami

Originally posted by: Insane3D
Thanks Tami...good to hear. How does it compare to the much more expensive D70?

well, i'm more of a fan of SLR right now since i made my purchase, but i must say that the optical zoom on the S2 IS is probably much better than any lens kit i own (or will ever own). on sunday, my husband and i went to central park to take pictures of random people and things (shameless plug: see my photoblog for some recent shots ) and he got an excellent one of a kid swinging on one of those secure little black swings, whereas i couldn't get one that was as sharp as his for anything (and i tried many times). maybe it was the fact that i was afraid of his dad looking at two random twentysomethings photographing his 2-year-old son, but none of my pics came out.

i'm quite impressed by the quality of the S2 IS, and it's certainly an excellent choice for a camera.

Whelp, you could always go for a 20D

Seriously, you probably need to fool around with the settings a bit to get what you want. I can't imagine the D70 not being able to deal with that situation. If you bump up your ISO a bit to make sure you have an appropriate shutter speed while maintaining a good working F stop, that should do it. Oh I don't know how your auto focus AI works, so that could be an issue too.

 

[flexy]

>>>
The movie mode alone is insane...640 x 480 @ 30FPS, stereo, and image stabilized, up to 1GB.
>>>

this sounds great actually (S230 owner 640x480, 15 fps....but then this cam costs as much (if not more) than a decent camcorder.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: flexy
>>>
The movie mode alone is insane...640 x 480 @ 30FPS, stereo, and image stabilized, up to 1GB.
>>>

this sounds great actually (S230 owner 640x480, 15 fps....but then this cam costs as much (if not more) than a decent camcorder.

Yeah, I was never a fan of the s series cams, mostly because of their shape. I prefer a camera with a body like the S2 or the G series...more SLR like. The ultra compact flat rectangle design of the S series is not my cup of tea, so to speak, but I can understand why people like such an ultra compact camera.

 

[tami]

we pre-ordered ours from amazon during the last week in may. they said it would be shipped around june 30, 2005. then i learned that it was already on store shelves in the first week of june, so i bugged amazon about it and they expedited my shipping. i got it around the same time.

while it was in transit, however, i found a great deal on dell ($380!!!) and we jumped on it. we had to ship our camera back to amazon (it was sitting in a box unopened for about a month until we got the new camera). it was an awful wait -- they said early to mid-july but then it came august 1st. still, it's a great camera and it's worth the wait. you should allow yourself to get excited during this time -- as it's worth it

by the way, it's quite small. after looking at online ads and pics, i expected a larger and heavier device (despite the fact that it accommodates SD rather than CF). that was not so, however. it's lightweight and surprisingly small for the kind of feature-set it has.

i know you'll like it. check out this thread for some excellent shots by a new S2 IS owner.

my husband's pictures are here. see that kid on the swing? that's the pic i simply could not take well. also, below that are some eggs that were fried on the street. i guess it's true that the weather can do that to you. (my photo of that is coming up on my photoblog in the coming weeks)