nutmac
05-07-2007, 03:37 PM
I guess lack of discussion demonstrates how much of a minor update SD850 is over SD700. Frankly, I am rather perplexed that SD850 does not update SD800. I suppose plenty of folks prefer 35-140mm focal lengths over what I consider to be more-useful-for-the-masses 28-105mm focal lengths. Or maybe 4x optical zoom sounds better from marketing perspective over 3.8x. Nevertheless, I hope Canon updates SD800 with at least improved LCD (not that existing LCD isn't great already) and better lens (corner sharpness at wide angle).
Ergonomics seem unchanged along with styling, dimension, and weight (thinner profile would be nice). So I wonder why the underwater housing (WP-DC5) has been replaced by WP-DC15? Canon should unify the button layouts and create more universal underwater housing already. These underwater housings are expensive and it would be nice if it can be used with other PowerShot SD-series models.
Anyway, from best to worst:
2.5" 230K pixels pure color LCD (from 173K pixels) -- great
Face detection auto focus -- although overrated, it works pretty well on SD800
SDHC compatible and comes with 32 MB instead of 16 MB -- still useless, but more is still better in this case
8 MP over same 1/2.5" image sensor (up from 6 MP) -- Boo! Larger image size, slower continuous shooting (1.3 vs 2.1 fps)
ISO 1600 -- absolutely useless since ISO at or above 400 is so terrible
Worse battery life (230 vs. 240 shots) -- I thought DIGIC III was supposed to improve battery life?
Ergonomics seem unchanged along with styling, dimension, and weight (thinner profile would be nice). So I wonder why the underwater housing (WP-DC5) has been replaced by WP-DC15? Canon should unify the button layouts and create more universal underwater housing already. These underwater housings are expensive and it would be nice if it can be used with other PowerShot SD-series models.
Anyway, from best to worst:
2.5" 230K pixels pure color LCD (from 173K pixels) -- great
Face detection auto focus -- although overrated, it works pretty well on SD800
SDHC compatible and comes with 32 MB instead of 16 MB -- still useless, but more is still better in this case
8 MP over same 1/2.5" image sensor (up from 6 MP) -- Boo! Larger image size, slower continuous shooting (1.3 vs 2.1 fps)
ISO 1600 -- absolutely useless since ISO at or above 400 is so terrible
Worse battery life (230 vs. 240 shots) -- I thought DIGIC III was supposed to improve battery life?