How bad is the redeye problem in A610/620/SD550/SD450 compared to Sony DSC P200?

[nitinkrsri]

I had a Sony DSC P72 for some 3 yrs now and recently gave it to my sister. I never had red eye problems to the extent that i would remember, and i take a lot of photos indoors at night of my kids.
Now i am in the market for a new camera and are leaning towards a Canon A610 or Canon SD 450 (avoiding the 7 MPs counterparts after reading reviews that they have more noise). I just want to know how bad is the redeye problem. Would appreciate all inputs from anyone who owns either of these and if they could compare it with any other camera they have operated.
Please answer soon. I want to order one in a day or two.
Thanks and best regards, NK

[JTL]

I had a Sony DSC P72 for some 3 yrs now and recently gave it to my sister. I never had red eye problems to the extent that i would remember, and i take a lot of photos indoors at night of my kids.
Now i am in the market for a new camera and are leaning towards a Canon A610 or Canon SD 450 (avoiding the 7 MPs counterparts after reading reviews that they have more noise). I just want to know how bad is the redeye problem. Would appreciate all inputs from anyone who owns either of these and if they could compare it with any other camera they have operated.
Please answer soon. I want to order one in a day or two.
Thanks and best regards, NKEven though I'm a big Canon fan, the Sony P200 has all of those Canons beat as far as redeye is concerned...and it's a very good camera in general...

[Honolulu pix]

I can't say anything about the Canon's you referred to- but when I did
my research about six months ago- all I read about was the red eye
on the
Canon 500. I chose the P-200, and love it- sharp pictures, lots of
detail, and no red eye, and a choice between aperatures of 2.8 or 5.9.
Hope this helps. I love my Sony, even though Canons are great too.

[nitinkrsri]

Thanks for the info. I don't want to go this time with Sony because cnet rates it really low, a 6.8 compared to 7.6 for P72 at its time. So i guess Sony hasn't maintained the lead in anyway.
That is the reason i am leaning towards a canon A610 or SD450, but if 1 out of 3 shots taken indoors gets a redeye then i can't go for it since i take a lot of photos indoors.
Others please share your experience and give me some idea.
regards
NK

[waynehayes]

Hi,

I personally wouldnt let Red-Eye put me off a camera. Post production software such as PhotoShop can remove it with the click of a mouse button.
Indeed, I currently own a Kodak DX7440 and red-eye is quite a problem, but I run all of my pictures through PhotoShop and it works a treat.

Wayne

[Jerry98]

So far no red eye in the pictures I took, I own the A610 but of course I notice others have a problem with it at times...

[Javair]

I have an A95, and the red-eye is present in a majoriety of indoor shots, unless you set the double-flash designed to stop red-eye. However, I do not like the double-flash as the smiles must last longer and the spontaniousness of a situation does not lend itself well to that. I use the single flash, and correct red-eye with software.

[winnapaug]

I purchased SD 450 about 3 weeks ago, and generally like the fine image quality and excellent vidio clip ability.

Red eye has been a serious problem, however, appearing in vast majority of indoor flash photos. Canon includes software whereby one can edit out the red eye. The result,however, are eyes that look red-less, but ghoolishly glassy.

I havn't yet had time to explore all aspects of the camera, and perhaps some manual overides or red eye reduction feature is included. If you take a lot of people flash pix, though, you should be concerned about this.

[Rob1151]

I own the Canon PowerShot S30 and the A620. The S30 when not in red eye reduction mode and (of course) with flash on causes consistent red eye in indoor shots. I use Photoshop Elements to quickly remove the red eye in photos, which is extremely effective and takes a minute or so. When in RE reduction mode, I experience less red eye, but don't like to prolong anything that removes spontaneity in my shooting. Typically, I try to use natural light before resorting to any flash/ flash with RE reduction on, etc.

As for the A620, there's no getting around the fact that with flash on and no RE reduction mode, the red eye is consistent for those subjects looking toward the flash (camera). I haven't experimented enough with the A620 in RE reduction, but plan to do so in the next few days. If it's markedly different than my S30, I'll post the information.

Talking with many digital camera owners, I find red eye to be one of the common complaints regardless of whether the camera is of high or low quality. If the Sony model handles red eye, it's worth considering. However, for me, eliminating red eye is not as important as the overall picture quality produced by the camera with other more important features that need consideration. Red eye removal with PSE is the way I plan to go whenever it becomes an issue.

[F3HP_2_the_grave]

I use the 620 for everyday carry and on the whole I find it great. The flip side is indoor shots which almost always involve flash. It sucks. It is as if Canon designed the camera for long distance retinal scan. As a point of interest to those who use the supplied Arcsoft Photostudio. I have had little success with it's red eye removal. A product which has worked for me is Google's Picasa. I have only recently entered the digital world so I am not ready to step up to Adobe just yet. I would like to get an idea what I can get from the camera before I use first-aid.

I am used to an SLR with a handle-mount flash which ensured the flash never reflected directly back into the lens. At this point my next purchase will be the external flash. Being side-firing I am hoping that red eye will be a thing of the past.

[dukie]

I bought the sony p200 a month ago. Overall I am happy with the camera. Lots of manual controls. What I don't like is the zoom is awful I have yet to take a picture without blur while zooming. I recently got a sd450 on sale. I figured I would try it for a week and then return it or sell the p200. I really like the canon better as far as ease of use and printed picture quality. I took a few pictures with the two cameras on the exact same settings at 5mp on a tripod from the same distance and lighting. They both make a great print. With the sony I could read the magazine names on the spines from 12 ft as clear as day. Overall the canon actually produced a nicer 4 x 6 print. It was more lifelike and colors were more accurate. The canon is a no brainer point shoot you got a good picture. The sony even on auto mode is picky sometimes you get a good picture sometimes it is grainy, blurry, or the colors blend.

The things I don't like about the canon are battery life (about 1/2 of the p200). Also, there is no timer on the canon that tells you how many minutes left the sony has this feature. Another nice feature of that the sony has is a histograph. Canon has one but only after the picture has been taken. WIth the sony the histography can tell you to make shutter speed or exposure changes to get the light right. My biggest problem with the canon is the red eye. Every indoor picture I have taken in all settings have red eye even with red eye reduction on. With the Sony even with red eye off there is rarely red eye. I wish the Sony had a ISO 50 setting though the canon does. If the canon had the feature of the nikons with in camera red eye removal it wouldn't be so bad. I ended up returning the canon and keeping the sony. The sony is small, but not too small it fits nice in my hand. The canon is almost too small for my large hands. They both are good cameras in my opinion just depends on how much tweaking you want to do or know how to do.

[infocus]

I have a Canon A95 and was looking to trade up to the A620. Here are some observations and look forward to some feedback.

Red-eye problem:
It is there; though from what I have read and seen, it is a typical problem with most all cameras. You might have the subject not looking directly into the flash, or trying a different camera angle.
In fact, I have stopped using the red-eye reduction feature because it adds to the time it takes for the shutter to go; and the results are basically the same, with or withtout.
Red-eye is a cinch to correct, though with almost any program, including Picasa2 which I find of invaluable help in simple editing, but most of all organizing all the pictures in the hard disk. And is for free! www. picasa.com

AA batteries on the Canon:
Great feature. You can use disposable or re-chargeable. I often see people with their cameras using rechargeable batteries running out of juice at the wrong time. I just pop in 4 AAs (which you can get at a moment's notice anywhere) and I'm all set go to again. The Canon is very good on batteries, even with the LCD on.

A620 and the larger LCD:
I did not like the fact that the LCD on the A620 is 115,000 pixels vs. 118,000 for the A95. That, with the A620's larger LCD, results in duller images displayed.
I suppose that with all the newer features of the A620 (faster processor, slightly wider lens, better macro, etc.) that one could get used to the less vibrant LCD display. Would like to hear from someone that has an A620 about this point.

[nate2]

Red Eye.
I bought a Canon SD450. The camera is ultra compact and takes high quality pictures. I bought it because it takes 640x480 video at 30 fps. The only problem I currently have with it is that the "red eye" is present in almost every (95%) photo I've taken indoors with the flash on. Sometime the red eye is less pronounce (could call it pink eye?) but it is still present. The red eye reduction is completely useless as it makes no difference on the outcome of the photo. I'm actually getting more and more disappointed as I'm writing this post... Hope this helps.

[bascom]

So far no red eye in the pictures I took, I own the A610 but of course I notice others have a problem with it at times...
I have an A610 and get red eye. I don't find it a big pain though. It only happens indoors in low light when people are looking right at the camera which is only 5-10% of my photos. Then I use photoshop to remove it.

[dotbalm]

This is my experience and humble opinion.

When I use the predecessor to the P200, the P150, I don't ever enable red-eye reduction. I use flash liberally and don't get red-eye 95% of the time. Images are sharp. Images are clean to 200 ISO. No zoomed in focus issues. Some low light focus misses. No need to post-process for red-eye. I usually resize and crop.

The Canon compact line has not impressed me with respect to red-eye, even with red-eye reduction enabled. This is a peeve of mine wrt to Canon, but the issue isn't limited to them, I just expect more from their ultra/compacts. I say this based on my owning the A80 and replacing it with the P150, and also based on use and observation of Canon ultra/compacts post-A80, and reviews here and elsewhere.

Here is more detail re the compacts I know the most about: Canon A80, Sony DSC P150 and the new Fuji F30: http://dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23309&page=2

I was informed of flash issues re the P200, so if it were me, I'd get the P150.

If CNET gave the 200 a bad review, so be it, go for a new 150. At 7MP, clean/sharp images, good P&S manual controls, burst, throttle down flash and lack of red-eye most of the time w/o using the red-eye preflash, it is my go-to camera indoors and out. No zoomable movie mode while movie is being shot, only 3x optical. I bought the Fuji F30 when my 2 yr old decidied he'd close his eyes to the P150 when it flashed, but I don't like how much post-processing I have to do with the Fuji.

And the Sony is light and skinny enough to be truly comfortable while pocketed. If you want to leave Sony, so be it, but if you want to leave the P200 based on the review you read, then give the P150 a chance if red-eye is a concern. Good luck.