Canon PowerShot IS vs non-IS

[gregd]

Does Canon have 2 lines of PowerShots?
The IS and non-IS? Are they (kinda) really 2 lines of cameras?

Canon PowerShot SD800/850 IS vs SD900/750.
Do people think of them that way?

Also,
I see a deal at Dell.
"Dell Home offers the Canon PowerShot SD800 IS Digital ELPH 7.1-Megapixel Digital Camera, model no. 1270B001, for $269 with free shipping."

Is that a pretty good deal?
Dell is not some fly-by-night mail order place. So I would feel comfortable buying from them.

thanks for any help

[griptape]

IS means image stabilization. It's a gyroscope built into the lens that keeps it from shifting with slight movement (such as slight hand shake at lower shutter speeds). It just means you can get a lower shutter speed without blur due to hand shake than you would be able to without IS. IS will not reduce blur from moving subjects (children, pets, ANYTHING that moves). It only helps reduce blur from camera shake.

And yes, that's a good price.

[David Metsky]

I bought my SD300 from dell.com, they are good and they often have great prices. Check TechBargains (http://www.techbargains.com/) to see if there are any good coupons right now.

The cameras you are looking at are the SD-series. Powershot is the entire line of P&S digital cameras, including the SD, A, S, and G cameras. As griptape said, IS is just a feature that some cameras have. I suspect most future cameras will have IS, and it's a nice feature, but not one that defines the camera.

[gregd]

Thanks for the replies.

The non-IS models seem to shove as many megapixels as canon can?
Then there is the IS for a better picture. but not as many megapixels?

[griptape]

Megapixels are just marketing. They could put 50 megapixels into a sensor if they chose to. But those pixels would be smaller, and less light would reach each pixel, so you'd end up with a noisier, darker, blurrier image. All of the SD series use the same size sensor. There's no reason to consider more megapixels a feature. IS won't give you a better picture. Just a slower shutter speed when neccesary.

[David Metsky]

Well, IS can give you a better picture in many situations, it's just not a fix-all. It can allow you to shoot a handheld shot that you couldn't otherwise take clearly, and I take advantage of it all the time on my S3, especially at zoom. On the SD-series it's probably not as important because of the smaller zoom lens, but still very useful.

More MP doesn't mean better pictures, just larger ones. For most folks, I would guess that anything greater then 5MP is simply wasted. They'll never print bigger then 8x10 and won't need to or want to spend time cropping images. In some cases more MP is important, but when it is you really want quality pixels, something the small CCDs can't deliver, at least not yet.