It's not a dSLR, it's a Point & Shoot and a good one at that.
Written: Nov 10 '06 (Updated Nov 10 '06)
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Pros: Beautiful camera design, 28mm equivalent lens, quick and easy camera to use.
Cons: Expensive, battery door appears fragile, barrel distortion at wide angle, expensive
The Bottom Line: Photo geeks will nit-pick and get it's older sibling the SD900, real photojournalists will love it for the wide angle and features.
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| mediabaron's Full Review: Canon PowerShot® SD800 IS / IXUS 850 IS Digit... |
The first thing you have to do when getting a compact point and shoot camera is relax, take a deep breath and realize that you are not shooting with a digital SLR camera. I actually packed this camera up to send it back because I wasn't happy with image quality but decided before heading to the post office to keep it. It most certainly is a worthy upgrade from my s500.
Although file sizes due to the high megapixel count will fool your mind into thinking these image files should have the same quality as a digital SLR face it, a much smaller sensor will produce more camera noise since the tiny photosites on the chip aren't as light sensitive as a bigger chip. Also the small zoom lens of the point and shoot won't equal Canon L-Series glass and you'll get distortions and/or abberations.
I'm a professional photojournalist and have owned a Canon 1D Mark II and still own a Canon 5D digital SLR. I have L-Series glass for my lenses and shoot photos every day and work in Photoshop everyday (I'm also starting to use Apple's Aperture).
My previous point and shoot camera was a Canon PowerShot s500 and that was an excellent camera; small body, sharp lens, could be dropped and keep clicking. Okay, maybe only so much of the dropping since mine stopped working due to the CCD going bad (but I swear that wasn't from dropping). So I needed a replacement. I used a wide-angle adapter on my s500 so being the photojournalist I do love wide angle lenses. The SD800 IS appeared to be a no-brainer. 28mm equivalent lens, very compact body, big LCD screen, 30fps VGA video with audio that can fill an SD card, ISO up to 1,600 (and 3,200), optional housing that goes down to 130' deep and Image Stabilization.
Body and Ergonomics
A beautiful looking camera and although it's small there's still enough of a hand-hold to grip it steady with one hand. If you have large hands you might some some problems with controls since this tiny camera is chock-a-block with controls. None of the controls accidentally moved from their dente positions while in use and the big beautiful LCD shows you mode info and lots of other info.
The only two faults I see of this camera's body design are:
Cheap plastic feeling battery/SD card door on the bottom. This has been echoed a lot in SD800IS reviews so I should explain why this is a sore point. When you open the battery door it hinges open untill about 30 degrees is left. The door is super light and flexes so it feels like it could accidentally break-off if pushed a few more degrees open. Since you must open this door to change batteries and to access the memory card if you use a reader the door opens after every use so it seems a bit delicate. Should it have been made more heavy duty? Probably since this one mechanism will be used quite a bit. I did have a Gorillapod quick-release mount on the camera bottom and with it on the door only opens about 95 degrees but I was accidentally pushing it further until I quickly realized the mount in the way. No damage done but quite scary. So far no actual problems with the door but it's not confidence inspiring, especially considering how expensive this camera is.
Other fault which is probably minor in the design is that the crescent moon shaped power button on the top deck is lit with an LED while the camera is powered-up. Probably because this button is not just flush but slightly recessed into the body so finding it in the dark could be a problem. But I'd rather not have that light on there constantly, plus that has to eat some battery power.
The images:
Okay, enough about the body, you wanna know if this puppy can deliver the goods when it comes to photos. It's incredible to see a 28mm equivalent on such a tiny camera. Fully wide the camera exhibits barrel distortion. The lens also exhibits chromatic abberation with purple fringing. But you gotta love that wide angle lens. I wished the tele end went longer but that's the sacrifice for having a 28mm equivalent.
So right off the bat the detractions on the images it produces is: Barrel distortion in wide angle shots, chromatic abberation (purple fringing), noisy images when shooting higher ISO settings, lens could be sharper.
In reality the barrel distortion can be fixed in Photoshop, the CA can also be fixed with special actions but it's not that bad, high ISO images are always noisy for small CCD cameras. And that's why I kept this camera and unpacked it from the return box. My fond memories of the s500 had me thinking it was a better camera (and don't get me wrong, it's a great camera) but side by side images on the SD800IS are better. This camera has a lot to offer in a small package. You'll never get digital SLR quality images in a super compact point & shoot for a reasonable price but if I want quality images I'll shoot with my Canon 5D with some L-glass.
Video and DIGIC III chip
I wanted a camera that could do good quality video too. And sure it's no Canon XL-2 video camera but with 30fps VGA (640x480) video with audio moving pictures are smooth. You can also use the digital zoom while doing videos, yeah quality-wise it isn't as good as optical zoom in video but it's silent and it works well. The DIGIC III chip makes this a speedy camera to start-up and operate, really excellent.
So folks, don't let the negative reviews put you off. If you want an ever ready camera that can shoot 28mm wide and get great VGA video this camera is for you. The worst camera is one that is too big to carry around 'cause you can't shoot photos if you ain't carrying a camera. This camera is ready to go when I am. I'll have some sample photos online soon so check back and stay tuned.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 385
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Solid Enough for a Professional
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Epinions.com ID:
mediabaron
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Member: Baron Sekiya
Location: Kona, Hawaii
Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
I am a photojournalist working out of Kona, Hawaii.
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