maggiperk's Full Review: Canon PowerShot S45 Digital Camera
I've had the S45 for about 3 months now. It's first outing was on a cruise through the Mexican Riviera. It was used mostly as a snapshot camera and I didn't get many opportunities to try out all the cool settings.
The BW, Sepia and Vivid settings are wicked cool. I like the vivid the most, since I like my photos to POP! and they did. All the outdoor shots were colorful and crisp and true to life. All the portraits taken in the portrait mode had great proportion and realistic skin tone.
The second outing was to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, where I had LOTS of chances to push the camera to it's limits.
The focus is fast! I spent one evening taking nothing but night shots, without the flash. I had no tripod and all the shots were handheld. 9 out of 10 shots are clear as a bell. (I did lean against something sturdy when I could).
The camera has a stitch assist mode, which acts as a sort of panoramic. You take a series of shots in a sweeping motion. When you download the pictures, you can use the stitch assist to merge the photos into one big panorama. It also does 360 degree modes.
I used this for pictures of the Grand Canyon and it really helps convey the massiveness, the way no regular shot could.
The camera is small, but not as small as some of the newer models. It's sleek, sexy, comfortable to hold and it just feels good and sturdy in the hand.
The usual shooting modes are on a thumb dial that is very easy to use. The special modes like color enhancement are in a software menu, but also very easy to maneuver through. I only had to read the manual once to understand where everything is.
Another pretty cool, but useless feature is that you can change the themes on the camera. This changes the start-up screen and the sound effects. Useless, but fun to play around with.
I have printed as large as 5X7 with photo-quality results.
I have the pictures on my desk at work and no one can believe the shots are all digital and printed on a -$150 printer. They don't have that "flat" quality a lot of digital shots get. The colors are true to life and there is no grain or pixilation.
I had no flash problems, as some have reported, and the battery life is excellent compared the Kodak I used to have. I did purchase a second battery to keep as a backup, but I haven't needed it yet.
It's a great camera for total armatures to total shutterbugs.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $395.00 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
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