shufei's Full Review: Canon Elph 490Z APS Film Camera
The Canon ELPH 490Z is probably one of the most featured packed compact camera on the market. We had chosen it hoping to replace the effective but bulky SLRs we used to bring on vacations.
This little camera packs the punch of a 5-point auto-focusing system that 'intelligently' figures out where the main subject is. When the light is low, the active AF takes over, illuminating the subject with infra-red beams. There is even continuous mode AF for following moving subjects; a feature not usually found in compacts.
Exposure is handled by a three-zone metering system that works better than expected from a compact camera. Auto-backlight compensation is standard in most modes. Remarkably, the 490Z has +-1.5 exposure compensation settings.
Molded into the lens-cover that pops up, the flash is positioned much higher that regular compacts, softening the washed-out look that a direct flash often produce. Red-eye reduction is handled by a bulb rather than the flash, a much more effective and energy conserving approach. There is also a slow-synch flash mode for night photography, with a 'bulb' setting of up to 4 seconds.
The zoom lens is impressive, ranging from 22.5-90mm at 1:5.6-8.9. For travel and outdoor photography, the wide-angle lens is a distinct advantage, even though it comes at the expense of the 5.6 aperture.
Film loading is a breeze, and a marvel to watch. We liken it to a submarine hatch that launches the film like a missile. Always attracts glances from those around!
Some other impressive/useful features: diopter correction for the viewfinder; AF frames in the viewfinder showing which point(s) have been selected for focusing; single and continuous film winding; 0.35m (2ft) macro mode; spot mode for exposure and focusing; remote control operation.
The verdict for replacing the SLR? Quite far from it. The following are our main gripes:
- Viewfinder is difficult to visualize as it is too small. We had to squint and shift around before seeing anything. That makes composing very frustrating and eye-weary. A passerby we had requested to take our picture could not see anything at all!
- Intelligent as the exposure system is, we frequently have to compensate when there's high-contrast lighting. Unfortunately, the compensation buttons, including the flash on/off buttons are tiny, depressed buttons behind a small spring-hinged panel, and it takes a lot of finger-nail pressing to rotate through all the selections.
- The intelligent AF system does not always focus on the right subject, and there's no way to lock the focus except by half-depressing the shutter button. That's a problem when asking someone else to take your picture.
- The cover, impressive as it looks, gets annoying pretty soon. To open it, you have to press a tiny button, wait for the cover to pop out, then wait for the lens to zoom out. To close the cover, you have to push the cover, wait for the lens to zoom back, then close the cover. Pretty soon, you'll start losing patience and the cover gets scratched.
The bottom-line: I really like the auto-exposure. Pictures are well-exposed and balanced (most compact cameras I have used tend to over-expose in order to produce legible photos even with poor lighting or composition). I just wish they could improve the viewfinder, the cover, and those irritatingly small buttons. If quality picture is your priority, this is the camera. If you want simplicity and convenience, check out the other smaller ELPHs.
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