Canon PowerShot S2 IS Problems and Solution

[mulderfox]

There are a few re-occuring Issues with this Good camera. (I like it a lot, and I am a proud owner)
So, I've decided that the only thing that will get Canon Europe/America/Global/Japan to get off its collective A*** is to create public pressure in the form of a flow of unified complaints to its support centers.
The two main issues as I see them are solvable via a firmware upgrade. I'll admit that there is some work to be done, but they should have done that work before they released the camera - and they would have blown any competition out of the water if they would have.

The link I include here is a direct link to the canon america email support page. You dont have to enter anything beside the asteriked items.
You can use the text I already sent them, add to it, or send your own woes. It all works. I hope that there will be some following to this as this may turn a good camera into a great one.

https://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=SupportMailerAct&fcategoryid=223&modelid=11368


Here's what I sent:

1. The Lense Cap is poorly attached to the lense. ( and I do understand that it was partially done to avoid the lense becoming stuck when the camera is turned on) This is very disturbing and may cause scratches.

2. The only compression format for still pictures is JPEG. This is troublesome for people who wish to take a photo with no compression and than edit it clean of artifacts on the computer, choosing the compression format of their own accord.
Most quality camera that are no from the "point and shoot" class support uncompressed formats such as RAW or/and TIFF.

3. The compression format for video is MJPEG. while it delivers excelent quality it does so at a price of very poor compression and limits the file size to 1 Gigabyte in size (7-8 minutes of video). It would have been much better to choose a format such as MPEG4 which is available as a free format (XVID) and is highly efficient and capable.

I'm certain that at least for the later 2 paragraphs, you are able to set things right by releasing a new and improved firmware for the said camera (Powershot IS S2) - that addresses those issues. And I am also certain that this will make countless canon buyers much more happy about this fine product.

[Jack]

How about adding better autofocus to the list, especially in telephoto?

[mulderfox]

I've provided a link to canon's support email page. maybe you can help? :)

thanks.

[JTL]

My pet peeve is that there is no battery life indicator! There's no excuse for that! This seems to be a Canon "thing"...:mad:

[coldrain]

Very silly to ask for an mpeg 4 encoding in a compact digital camera. mpeg4 encoding/decoding does need a LOT of processing power! Have you ever converted or encoded mpeg4 in your computer at home? You know it was not real time, and that with all that processing power.

Very unrealistic to ask that of the tiny and power efficient computer inside a digital camera.

[mulderfox]

The PC is a multi-purpose machine. it can do a multitude of tasks - depending on the software.
However, there are low-cost single-chip solution DSPs that can do the mpeg4 encoding/decoding task with no effort.. why? because they were specifically designed with that single task in mind.

http://www.epn-online.com/page/14493/mpeg-4-encoder-decoder-chip-integrates-high-performance-3d-graphics-engine.html#

this is one good example. a chip by Toshiba that allows mpeg4 encoding/decoding on a 3G cellphone.. (kinda smaller than a 500 Grams Digicam? ;) )

[coldrain]

The PC is a multi-purpose machine. it can do a multitude of tasks - depending on the software.
However, there are low-cost single-chip solution DSPs that can do the mpeg4 encoding/decoding task with no effort.. why? because they were specifically designed with that single task in mind.

http://www.epn-online.com/page/14493/mpeg-4-encoder-decoder-chip-integrates-high-performance-3d-graphics-engine.html#

this is one good example. a chip by Toshiba that allows mpeg4 encoding/decoding on a 3G cellphone.. (kinda smaller than a 500 Grams Digicam? ;) )
Right, show me where it says it will encode 640x480 30 fps in real time.

[Montana]

Doesn't the c770 allow mpeg4?

[mulderfox]

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/c5.html

he of little faith... :)

[MrSleep]

1. I dont see how that would cause scratchs. :confused:

2. Thats why they make the G series. :rolleyes:

3. Charlie and the choclate factory. :p

[amimaija]

My pet peeve is that there is no battery life indicator! There's no excuse for that! This seems to be a Canon "thing"...:mad:
Battery life indicator is a necessary thing...

[JTL]

Battery life indicator is a necessary thing...I beg to differ...it's not "necessary"...but there's no excuse for not having one!