S1 IS vs. A95

[arizonamom]

First of all, my many thanks to those who take the time to respond on this site. Your advice and expertise has helped me a great deal as I have researched for my digital camera purchase. I'll try to make this short!

I am trying to make the painful decision between the S1 and A95 digital camera. It is my first digital - I have been researching for a long time - but since we have 3 little kids don't want to lose any more great shots!

I actually have had the S1 for a few days - and after experimenting am not sure if I should return it for the A95. I purchased the S1 for the "all around value" it seemed to have: zoom, decent video capability, good pictures, IS. My husband uses our video camera for work so I rarely have it when I need it! I have never had more than a point and shoot camera and wanted to develop my photography - but with 3 little ones no time for photograhy class yet!

My concerns after using the S1 are that it does seem to "hunt" quite a bit and is slow to focus. Will the A95 be this way? Will I just learn how to wait on it?

I have never used an electronic viewfinder - it seems so hard to use in dark and very light conditions - will I get used to this or is it better to have an optical viewfinder like the A95 has? Plus I can't see anything on the LCD or viewfinder in the dark! I have always just used an optical viewfinder so I'm not used to using the LCD screen - but I am willing to learn.

I really enjoy the zoom - if I can zoom in on things then does this make up for the lower number of Megapixels? (I rarely print over 5 X 7)

Or should I just get the A95 and crop?

I have already taken some great pictures (or at least they look great on my computer) - I am assuming as I finish reading the manual and learn they will get better. $300 is a lot for us - so just want the best camera for our needs - but don't want to sacrifice good picture quality and ease of use either.

Once again - thanks so much for ANY input on these 2 cameras!

[Newbie]

The S1 isn't a fantastic camera to focus in low light conditions due to the lack of AF-assist lamp, something which the A95 has. With that being said, the A95 isn't considered fast to focus in low light either.

I do not suggest cropping the pictures taken by the A95 to get the effect of zoom the S1 has. The primary reason for this being that you can't get as much zoom with crops... Actually you can barely get anything without getting less than 3mp.

The A95 is a great camera, but the S1 has a few advantages for you I presume. You have 3 kids, which may be playing into sports. Now let's assume they are playing outdoors and when there is still a bit of light, with the S1 you would be able to zoom on them much better than with the A95. First of all, you get IS which enables you to get a shutter speed a bit faster. Then you have a faster lens at anything but wide angle(wide angle is the same), so you will be able to get a faster shutter speed.

Now, there are obviously situations where the A95 is better, which is why I bought that one and still have it. For one, I don't want to carry around such a big camera as the S1 even if I'd love to have more zoom.

As for the LCD in low light, it can get hard to see, it depends really... But I remember it being hard in really low light, otherwise it was actually quite fine for me or at least to frame the shot properly. Using the optical viewfinder is just ... a poor way to deal with it when you really have no other options. You have an idea of what will be in the picture but you are not sure, so it really isn't fun.

As for the videos, with the S1 you can get some much better quality videos that can last longer. For me, a 30 seconds video is enough.... whether I choose to use 320x240@15fps or 640x480@10fps, its alright. I did wished I'd have the option to get 640x480 @ 30fps for up to 1minute, but its a camera afterall.

I can't make the decision for you, but you've got a good camera which has a few weakness... are they important enough for you to change camera ? and if you do, is the A95 really the one for you ?