Canon SD800IS - a couple of ?s

[MMB916]

Hi All,

I am so disappointed with my Sony T30. I am very interested in the SD800IS. It sounds like a better camera from all I have read - would you agree?

Also, I have a vacation coming up on 10/14 and would like the new camera by then. The stores I contacted don't have a delivery date - does anyone know when in October the SD800IS is expected to arrive?

Thank you in advance!

[BowerR64]

The sony looks like a good reliable camera. Does the lens move inside the body?

The less moving parts the less trouble your going to have.

[MMB916]

I don't think there are many moving parts - except the cover of course that slides up and down.
But I just had an important party to take photos of and the light in the photos from this camera were terrible - inside pics. Aside from problems I was having with the memory sticks - even though I had tested all of it out before the event.

So basically I have no faith in this camera - hence, the switch to the Canon.


The sony looks like a good reliable camera. Does the lens move inside the body?

The less moving parts the less trouble your going to have.

[truflip]

indoor party? low light? how many % of the time will u be taking low-light/indoor pictures? how many outdoors?

[MMB916]

I need both - actually, about 50 pics didn't even come out. It seems that the problem wasn't the camera though, it was the memory stick. I purchased an authentic Sony stick - so I thought - from a reseller ecommended on one of the photog forums - www.shentech.com - it turns out they are probably not the real thing -

But my issue now is the Canon SD800IS - it sounds like from everything I have read, I will be very happy with it. Small, IS, zoom, enough MP, like the feel of the camera, don't need a lot of manual controls, I think the zoom is the same as the T30 or better, the WA is a nice addition -

And of course - will it be in stores in time for 10/15??

Thank you in advance for your thoughts....


indoor party? low light? how many % of the time will u be taking low-light/indoor pictures? how many outdoors?

[BowerR64]

Somthing dont sound right, that camera has ISO 1000 how can you mess up indoor shots with high ISO settings like that?

IMO you just need some more practice with what you have. I dont think a new camera is going to help.

When you were shooting inside did the flash work? how far were you from your subjects?

Can you post a shot of an image you took with the sony that you were not happy with? maybe we can see whats wrong.

If i were you i would look into whats wrong with the settings from the camera you have because that camera is capable of taking some good shots. If its not setup right you could have trouble.

These cameras are NOT perfect machines, they can still take bad shots if you let them. Some have so many settings its easy to bump somthing or turn somthing off and then all your shots suck. Like the flash

[MMB916]

Thank you so very much and you make a very good point - the flash did go off - the room was not very large at all - I believe some of these photos were taken with 10 feet.:confused: :confused:

And thank you - I will post some of the photos later when I am at that machine and can resize them to fit the specs of the forum.



Somthing dont sound right, that camera has ISO 1000 how can you mess up indoor shots with high ISO settings like that?

IMO you just need some more practice with what you have. I dont think a new camera is going to help.

When you were shooting inside did the flash work? how far were you?

Can you post a shot of an image you took with the sony that you were not happy with? maybe we can see whats wrong.

If i were you i would look into whats wrong with the settings from the camera you have because that camera is capable of taking some good shots. If its not setup right you could have trouble.

These cameras are perfect machines, they can still take bad shots if you let them. Some have so many settings its easy to bump somthing or turn somthing off and then all your shots suck. Like the flash

[truflip]

well the T30's ISO test with normal lighting at HIGH ISO's werent that great... so in low light its gonna be worst..

what did u mean by u might have problems with the memory stick? is it ruining your pictureS?

[BowerR64]

Try program mode.

Go to the recorde modes (fireworks, auto, beach program) chose program mode.

Then go into the settings, change it to ISO 200

Set the white balance to like Incandescent (indoor lighting)

set the flash to high, the flash on these cameras is very small and tiny 10 feet might be just a bit to far for a normal flash. Most P&S cameras have this problem

When you take the shot try and remember what the camera sets for F stop and shutter speed. Fstop will probobly be like F4.0 or like F4.5 and the shutter speed will probobly be around 1/60 -1/100

On, steves camera review his conclusion about the sony says the flash range is about 11 feet. So that would explain the low light problem when you used the flash. I think if you used program mode and bump the flash up a click it will help alot. 200 ISO should help also but may be a little high with the high flash setting. You may need to go down to 100 or 80 even with the flash on high. Start with high flash though because you can dial in the exsposure once your sure you have good light.

[MMB916]

As it seems - there are memory sticks that are out there that look authentic and aren't. The only way to know is to open up the stick. I bought mine from shentech, which I mentioned, and thought I was safe since it was a recommended reseller on a photog forum and also, at the time, their customer reviews weren't bad - now they are terrible.

So yes, we took an additional 75 pics. 20 of which came out with 0 KB in them and the others didn't even come out - The stick is a 2 GB and there wasn't nearly enough to fill the stick. I have looked on the stick on multiple computers, used a recovery utility and NO LUCK!! I only have a handful of pics that came out and some are fine but others the lighting is off - for example, not only low lighting but the face of someone looks scary white!! And that's not her face color.

As I said, what's so odd is that I tested the camera and the sticks for many photos indoors and had no problem at all. The camera is only a couple of months old and I use these sticks dedicated to the camera - the pics it took before the party looked just fine - so you can imagine my disappoinment.

So while it might have been the stick and my newbie status (although I did have a Sony DSC-T! before this camera and never had a problem with it), I just don't trust the unit. That's why I was thinking I should just "wash my hands" of it and move to the new Canon coming out - better luck and/or karma (I know, I know - this sounds ridiculous - I agree :D :D )



well the T30's ISO test with normal lighting at HIGH ISO's werent that great... so in low light its gonna be worst..

what did u mean by u might have problems with the memory stick? is it ruining your pictureS?

[MMB916]

Can't hurt - thank you - I have printed these instructions and will try them....

Thank you so very much for everyone's help and attention to this matter!!!


Try program mode.

Go to the recorde modes (fireworks, auto, beach program) chose program mode.

Then go into the settings, change it to ISO 200

Set the white balance to like Incandescent (indoor lighting)

set the flash to high, the flash on these cameras is very small and tiny 10 feet might be just a bit to far for a normal flash. Most P&S cameras have this problem

When you take the shot try and remember what the camera sets for F stop and shutter speed. Fstop will probobly be like F4.0 or like F4.5 and the shutter speed will probobly be around 1/60 -1/100

On, steves camera review his conclusion about the sony says the flash range is about 11 feet. So that would explain the low light problem when you used the flash. I think if you used program mode and bump the flash up a click it will help alot. 200 ISO should help also but may be a little high with the high flash setting. You may need to go down to 100 or 80 even with the flash on high. Start with high flash though because you can dial in the exsposure once your sure you have good light.

[MMB916]

I wasn't sure how to resize the pic to meet the specs of the forum. I have Microsoft Digital Imaging Software, so I just resized the photo in auto mode for a Blackberry. I'm not sure if this shows the low lighting. As a bigger pic, it looks better. Is there an easy way to change the size so I can post a few photos?

This is what I came up with - I do have some actual photos of people to show you. This was a joke - Judge Judy!! :D

Thanks again.....

[MMB916]

Looked like it worked!!!:D :eek:

[BowerR64]

Usualy indoor lighting conditions are close to the same. Usualy people have the same amount of light. You dont go to other peoples house and they have 500watt floor lights, nor do they sit around with candles. Its usualy just about the same 2 60-75watt lights. So if you practice with that you can get the settings close give or take a few minor adjustments to compensate.

Now in the day time near a window this will alter the lighting so consider that also.

I wana see some example pics :D

[MMB916]

Notice the very white scary faces --

And the spots ---

[MMB916]

This wasn't a dark room - just to the left of Judge Judy a few feet where very large windows with daylight (sunny) streaming in.....


Usualy indoor lighting conditions are close to the same. Usualy people have the same amount of light. You dont go to other peoples house and they have 500watt floor lights, nor do they sit around with candles. Its usualy just about the same 2 60-75watt lights. So if you practice with that you can get the settings close give or take a few minor adjustments to compensate.

Now in the day time near a window this will alter the lighting so consider that also.

I wana see some example pics :D

[MMB916]

Eeks!!!:( :(

[BowerR64]

The first one of judge judy you can tell the flash just dont have the power to light up that far away. If you look close on the image you can see better lighting closer in the image. That looks about 5-6 feet that looks to be the distance for your flash in the mode you shot that in.

If you use that as a judge, you can estimate the distance you need your subjects for the flash to be good for the mode you were in that day (auto?)

What other modes does your camera have? try High Sensitivity, Twilight, Twilight Portrait. See how these shoot in low light. I think these are 3 for low light. Or night time

[BowerR64]

Eeks!!!:( :(

The white spots is dust on the lens. Move the ISO down to 100 now, the flash seems to be working ok at that distance so now move the ISO to 100 or set the Exposure Compensation (EV) to like -1 or -2

clean your lens, its dirty

[MMB916]

I always shoot in Auto. I have tried the other settings and the background seems to come out darker.

What do you think of the scary white faces and the spots?

Thank you....


The first one of judge judy you can tell the flash just dont have the power to light up that far away. If you look close on the image you can see better lighting.

If you use that as a judge, you can estimate the distance you need your subjects for the flash to be good for the mode you were in that day (auto?)

What other modes does your camera have? try High Sensitivity, Twilight, Twilight Portrait. See how these shoot in low light. I think these are 3 for low light. Or night time

[MMB916]

Thank you so very much - I will do that. Funny - I clean my camera like a luncatic because it's black - including the lens - so I thought - :D

Thank you. Thank you!

[BowerR64]

I always shoot in Auto. I have tried the other settings and the background seems to come out darker.

What do you think of the scary white faces and the spots?

Thank you....

The spots is dust, blow the dust of, hold it in the light and look at the front of the lens. See if you can see dust on it if so blow it off or wipe it with a lens cleaner.

The white faces i think is just a bit over exsposed. But thats ok, your just dialing in the settings so for now its getting better. Now you just need to adjust it a little more to what you like.

Keep the flash on high but now move the ISO to 100 then try it.

[truflip]

u kno what.. id say wait for the SD800 IS..
u get:
DIGIC III
better zoom range (starts at a wider 28mm to 3.8x vs 3x on sony)
9 point focus with face detection (this may help with your portraits)
MUCH better shutter speed range (from 1/1600 for those bright outdoor sunny days to 15seconds.. of w/e u wanna shoot for that long :p )
movie clips up to 4GB worth
the oh-so-easy and cost effective access to SD Memory Cards
and its a Canon :)


the reason i asked earlier if u were gonna be taking pics most of parties or dinners in low light is for u to look at the Fuji F30.. it gets through the day/outdoor shots, but its not the best.. its capable of clean pictures at high ISOs so it really helps on dark/dim pictures where u want to avoid flash. it doesnt have IS however.. and uses xD.. the camera itself costs less than the T30 and SD800IS but it has a bigger sensor (6th gen super CCD) 450-shot battery life, its pretty quick. great image quality..

anyway like i said, between the T30 and SD800 IS, id take the Canon :) i hope this helps..

[BowerR64]

u kno what.. id say wait for the SD800 IS..
u get:
DIGIC III
better zoom range (starts at a wider 28mm to 3.8x vs 3x on sony)
9 point focus with face detection (this may help with your portraits)
MUCH better shutter speed range (from 1/1600 for those bright outdoor sunny days to 15seconds.. of w/e u wanna shoot for that long :p )
movie clips up to 4GB worth
the oh-so-easy and cost effective access to SD Memory Cards
and its a Canon :)


the reason i asked earlier if u were gonna be taking pics most of parties or dinners in low light is for u to look at the Fuji F30.. it gets through the day/outdoor shots, but its not the best.. its capable of clean pictures at high ISOs so it really helps on dark/dim pictures where u want to avoid flash. it doesnt have IS however.. and uses xD.. the camera itself costs less than the T30 and SD800IS but it has a bigger sensor (6th gen super CCD) 450-shot battery life, its pretty quick. great image quality..

anyway like i said, between the T30 and SD800 IS, id take the Canon :) i hope this helps..


One thing about the telescoping lens is it will reduce the white spots if the lens is dusty. The reson you see the white spots is small dust particles but they show up so extreme is because the lens is next to the flash. The glare from the flash is lighting up the dust. The canon wont do this because the lens extends out and any dust wont be lit up by the flash.

I had a fixed lens camera and i had that happen alot specialy when i went to a dusty place like a race track. Ill tell you though, that fixed lens camera took a beating and it never failed i had it for like 6 years and it still works its just a .5 mega pixel camera LOL!

[truflip]

.5 mega pixel camera LOL!
rawr, webcam quality... lol

[BowerR64]

rawr, webcam quality... lol

It was a Fujifilm DX10, your right just about webcam quality. lol

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/BowerR64/DSCF0008.jpg

I swear i dropped that thing so many times and it still works with its 4 meg smart media card and everything. :rolleyes:

[MMB916]

Thanks to all of you so very much for all of your input and help. I will play with the settings, per your advice however, I must admit I'm soured on the Sony so I will probably be back when I get my new SD800IS - then I will still need advice :D :D

[downtrodden]

Id personally play with and master your sony before upgrading. make sure you got the basics down before dropping money on the canon.. otherwise, you'll sour yourself on the canon too. Just my two cents though. GOODLUCK AND HAVE FUN!

[BowerR64]

Id personally play with and master your sony before upgrading. make sure you got the basics down before dropping money on the canon.. otherwise, you'll sour yourself on the canon too. Just my two cents though. GOODLUCK AND HAVE FUN!

I think she has time, i dont think the 800 will be out for a while. She may not even be able to get one this year. If they come out late in the year they might be a popular item for the christmas season and may be a hard camera to get.

[MMB916]

Thanks so very much. I will play with the Sony and learn a bit more about technique - if I keep having access issues while saving, etc... with a memory stick bought from Sony, then I will revisit.

I was told the Canon's would be in the stores early October but maybe that is incorrect.

I will start by working off of all of the notes and direction I received from this thread!! :D :D

[Viv]

Hi Mary,

I just looked at a canon power shot 800 IS yesterday. It is at Best Buy and Circuit City said it is in their system and you can order it on line now. They expect them in this week or next. I looked at a Canon 710 IS yesterday. Very Nice but I want a smaller camera I can fit in my pocket or purse for traveling. I loved my old canon digital and will buy another one this week.

Please let me know if anyone else have played with the Canon 800 IS

Thanks, Viv

[MMB916]

I pre-ordered mine from Circuit City and it shipped out this morning. I am out of town so I am going to try to go to a local Circuit Cityor Best Buy so I can test these cameras - I know I am keeping/buying one, I just want to get the best one possible for needs. It sounds like everyone is so very happy with their Canon digital cameras in this series.

Thanks for letting me know it exists in the store and I will update the thread when I see it. I wish the SD900 had IS,then I would look into that one as well - but no luck on that.

Hi Mary,

I just looked at a canon power shot 800 IS yesterday. It is at Best Buy and Circuit City said it is in their system and you can order it on line now. They expect them in this week or next. I looked at a Canon 710 IS yesterday. Very Nice but I want a smaller camera I can fit in my pocket or purse for traveling. I loved my old canon digital and will buy another one this week.

Please let me know if anyone else have played with the Canon 800 IS

Thanks, Viv