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Canon PowerShot S1 IS

REVIEW DATE:  06.22.04

Ratings

EditorGood

ReaderExcellent

Rate This Product

Canon PowerShot S1 IS

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Company Name:
Canon U.S.A. Inc., www.powershot.com
Price:
$500 street

Spec Data:
3.2 megapixels; 10X optical, 3.2X digital zoom

Pros:
Ergonomic. Comfortable to handle. Packed with features. LCD Screen.
Cons:
Expensive. Soft exposures. Doesn't support uncompressed JPEG formats.
Bottom Line:
Although it's designed nicely, the Canon PowerShot S1 IS is expensive and can't compete with the 4MP sensors on some of our tests.

Review
The Canon PowerShot S1 IS is ergonomic, and comfortable to handle. It and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ10 are the only models in this roundup with image stabilization... Click here to read the full review.

 MEMBER RATINGS Rate it Yourself 

rd_miller
Member rating: 
February 8, 2006
I bought this camera a couple of years ago. I am a hard core shopper but don't mind paying for value. My purpose in buying this model was general photography, video, and underwater photography/video. Canon makes a very simple and versatile underwater case. I have used it extensively with excellent results. I am using a 4 gig drive in the memory slot and have had no problems at all.

John_Welch
Member rating: 
December 8, 2005
I bought this camara for family photos and video. Yes video. It does a really good job of 30fps at 640x480. I use a 4Gb micro drive (currently $120 on eBay), and can record up to 2 hours of video in 1/2 hour segments. I am getting the S2 now because it fixes all the little nags I had with the S1: USB is now 2.0, audio records in stereo from mics in the front of the camara instead of the back, 5.2Mp instead of 3.2.

sousana
Member rating: 
June 24, 2005
I've owned this camera for a little over 3 months. In burst mode on superfine setting, it filled an entire 256mb card in less than 1 min. I bought this for the telephoto lens for nature shots and such and added a 3x teleconverter to increase range. The camera writes 3.2mp files to the Sandisk ultra II 66x CF cards faster than I can take the shots at times. The picture quality I've noticed is very good for only a 3.2mp camera. I have just purchased the Canon powershot S2 which is the 5mp 12x optical version of the S1 and it is even better. I like being able to make spot changes and when the camera is turned off, all settings return to normal. All around this is a very good purchase and prices are dropping now. Sure, you can buy a 5mp cam, but they mostly come with 3x optical.

ianbb
Member rating: 
September 25, 2004
I looked at a few 10x optical zoom cameras. Only the Canon has any image stabilizer. Having a high power zoom and a blurry picture is not what I wanted. I use a HP 7960 to make great prints. You need to keep the settings high to make an 8 x 10 but 4 x 6’s come out great just off the high settings. There are also a lot of little tweaks you can do to make the shot look just the way you want. I also got the 2 x tele. lens without the image stabilizer in the store it was hard to use full zoom and get a steady shot! Try the cameras out in a real store before you buy one.

Esteban_Rome
Member rating: 
September 24, 2004
Certainly there are better cameras in the market but in this range of characteristics and easy of use the Powershot S1 IS is a winner not only by the inclusion of the Image Stabilizer system that produces sharp pics and the handy superzooom that is a great plus, and spite the negative reviews that says that this camera is not suitable for night or interior pictures, I´ve been experimenting with manual focus with great results yelding quite acceptable images for a 3 MP sensor.
 
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