A95 or S1 is

[overlanddh]

It's time to buy a new camera. The last camera purchased for myself was a Minolta TR-101 35 years ago in Vietnam. The camera and accessories served me well, but its time to modernize. My seached has narrowed to Canon and the models are A95 & S1 is. The price seems right and reviews are favorable.
But which one? Is 5 pixels vs 3 pixels all that important? 10x seems better than 3x zoom for capturing grandkids. However a larger LCD screen is great.
Image stablization seems a plus for grandpa's, but if not using zoom then is it really needed? Are videos from a digital camera all that good? We do have a sony video camera for extended videos. I am asking for your help and opinions. All sugestions are welcome, perhaps something different from Canon?

Thanks
Denny :)

[overlanddh]

Sorry to see there have been no replies, just hope the cameras are not so bad that there is nothing good to say about them. Being a digital newbe, my gut feeling tells me to go with the S1 IS. Will take another trip to the store,
just to get a physical feel for each camera. Still hope to hear your thoughts before we order a digital.
Cheers
Denny

[Rhys]

Sorry to see there have been no replies, just hope the cameras are not so bad that there is nothing good to say about them. Being a digital newbe, my gut feeling tells me to go with the S1 IS. Will take another trip to the store,
just to get a physical feel for each camera. Still hope to hear your thoughts before we order a digital.
Cheers
Denny

Both cameras are so different. The A95 is (I believe) a 5 megapixel 3x zoom compact wheras the S1 IS is a 10x zoom slr replacement.

The S1 is a fantastic camera. I use one. I love mine. It suffers from purple fringing though - as do all long zoom digitals.

[Newbie]

Hope its not too late to reply...

Both cameras are very good, they have their problems, but its really what you need and the usage that u will do that will determine which one to choose.

I do not own the S1 IS but the A95.

Your first comparison, 5MP vs 3MP, well for excellent pictures of 4 x 6, 3MP is enough, for very good pictures 8 x 10, 3MP is enough. 5MP will give u the ability to crop on 4 x 6 pictures and still keep an excellent quality, and it will give u an excellent quality at 8 x 10. Of course, depending on your photo and your taste you will be able to make the prints bigger. But as a general rule... divide the resolution why a number between 180 and 300. Where 180 represents the minimum you should consider(in inches) and 300 the bext(in inches). A95: 2592 x 1944, according to that rule, the minimum would be 10.8 x 14.4. S1 IS: 2048 x 1536, minimum 8.5 x 11.38.
Those numbers can change if you go into a professionnal photo lab.

10x seems better than 3x zoom. Well, actually it doesn't mean much just like that, but you are still right. Because 380mm means a much better zoom than 114mm. This means that u will be able to take an object very far as tho it was close. Its particularly good(judging by what u've said) if you were to go to a sport's event of your grand-children and wanted to take a shot of them on the field. 114mm is quite good too, but in the preceding example, you'll find that there is lots of grass around your grand-children. 114mm will be useful for you to photographs pictures of you grand-children within the boundaries of your house. of course if you have a HUGE field around ur house, this might not be true.

Large LCD... well considering the A95 LCD is 1.8" and the S1 IS is 1.5", its not a HUGE difference but I admit it is very noticeable, it is very useful since on most point and shoot digi cams, using the LCD is the way u will take the pics. Tho, the S1 IS has an electronic viewfinder, so you might be able to use it, if you want.

Image stabilization is a MUST when you are capturing a handheld shot at 380mm, so it is extremly useful for the S1 IS, for the A95, at 114mm it wouldn't really benefit from it, hence it doesn't have this fonction. Where it would be useful at less telephoto is for a little longer exposures.

The video capabilities of the S1 IS are not even comparable with the A95, but I feel that with either its great to have the function on a camera just for those moments where a little film is worth more than a picture. On that matter the S1 IS does not have movie comparable to a camcorder, it can't record for very long, about 12mins in best quality, but the quality is quite good, not enough to replace your camcorder(unless it is on a tripod) and it can zoom during movie so that function is all the more useful on S1 IS.

Besides that, the S1 IS is weaker than the A95 for focusing in dim light and the LCD doesn't brighten when its dark(I could be wrong tho). The S1 IS is not the best for indoor shots. The A95's 5MP mean that each picture will take more space on your memory card so you will be able to store less pics on the same memory card, so maybe it will cost you more to buy more memory cards. But that depends on how many pics you take in a day. S1 IS is not as compact as the A95(which is not enough for some) but both feel steady when I held them.

In the end, both cameras are good and the decision will depend on your needs. Don't forget to try them :)

[Rhys]

re: S1 poor focussing - try using manual focus instead. That works beautifully :)

[Newbie]

Rhys, I could be mistaken as I do not own a S1 IS, but I believe I have read that some people had problems focusing in low light situations since it does not have an AF light.

[Rhys]

Rhys, I could be mistaken as I do not own a S1 IS, but I believe I have read that some people had problems focusing in low light situations since it does not have an AF light.

Yes. I found that at dusk (in light in which I could see fairly clearly a mile or more) the camera would not focus without help when aimed at the horizon. Here's the photo I had to use manual focus on. I didn't try uprating the ASA although I wonder whether that might have helped.

[Thon]

Hi overlanddh,

I see that you just concentrate on Canons, not that there is anything wrong with that, but just to be sure you can get the best value for your money, have a look also at other makes such as Panasonic (many fans in this forum), Olympus (I own a Stylus 400 and a C-770UZ), Nikon, Minolta, Sony etc.

In your case, a camera with 10X-12X zoom would be good to take shots of your grandchildren. Some cameras to consider:

The Olympus C-770UZ is a compact 4MP 10X zoom with MPEG4 movie mode, but without image stabilization. The C-765UZ is similar excluding the flash hotshoe and MPEG4 movie mode (only Quicktime).

Another good option while not being too big would be the Panasonic FZ3 with an even better Leica 12X zoom and IS (you can read raving reviews on Pana FZs in other threads in this forum). If size and $$$ is not a problem, then the bigger FZ15 and FZ20 can be considered as well.

There are many other options not possible to be listed here for obvious reasons.

Jeff (DCResource - you are here...) does a lot of testing and reviews on various cameras and can help tremendously. Here is direct link to the review page on this site.
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/allreviews.php

Imaging Resource (another review site) has a good list called Dave's Pick which may help you to determine what you need.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/WB/WB.HTM

Try all the cameras that may suit you and good luck in finding what you need.

Thon

[maverick]

I am new to the forum was reding the reviews before posting one for which camera to buy, when I came accross overlanddh thread.

Have you decided which one to go for yet ? If so then let me know how did you reach the same.

I am more for A95 but was only considering the 3x zoom & red eye problem which I have read in most of the reviews.

The advantage with these 2 over the other 4-5mp are the flexiable LCD display under the price range of $400.

Thus if any one has suggessions on any other brand with 3-5xmp, 3-5xzoom & flexible lcd then let me know.

:)

[Jayde]

maverick

try this highly recomended in fact its best 3mp cam u can currently buy..
quite compact.. good in low light with af assist, 2 night modes, long 432mm zoom and antishake.. cheap too :)

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz3/
it has big bros.. FZ15 /20

these take addon lens FZ3 wont easliy..
FZ15 takes sharper images than FZ20.. but has no hotshoe altho you can use a slave flash... it has its own powerful flash.
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/fz15_pg2.html

or FZ20.. 5mp..features here.
http://panasonic.co.jp/pavc/global/lumix/index.html
pana removed the shooting manual and FZ10 link...shame.. was good !

have a look we here to help... :)

FZ Range is outstanding !
dont miss out..
go try one 1st hand..
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PLZ BUY A UV FILTER PROTECT THAT LENS...