Canon S2

[Kelly Grannell]

taking gym pictures, sports mode or not, if your shutter is not at least 1/600-ish you won't get a clear picture. With point and shoot, this is impossible. Sports mode or no sports mode.

The best thing you can do is set the ISO to 400 and set Tv (shutter priority) to 1/600 (if the camera allows you to do so, or choose the closest thing to that) and then adjust the levels using photoshop later on,

Night scene: best to use tripod, it uses ISO 100 (or is it 80?), with flash and slow shutter speed.

Night snapshot: you don't really need to use tripod, it uses ISO 400, with flash and 1/60 shutter speed. The background quality will look better using Night Scene of course, but if you don't have a tripod, Night Snapshot is the only way to go.

Fireworks: no tripod = no fireworks picture. Unless you're okay with little bloom from the fireworks instead of the weeping willow bloom-like picture. Set camera to Tv 1/15 second (or about 1/6 second if your hands can be that steady), focus to the castle, zoom OUT as much as possible, set ISO to 100... and do the Hail Mary.

 

[denanbob]

Thanks Kelly!! I will play around with it tonight and see if I can get those settings.

 

[makinorlando]

Thanks for the question and the answer.... I am finally "getting" this and when I read these things can do them on my camera..... then I write them on index cards. We shall she what I can do at EPCOT tomorrow night.

Hopefully picking up a tripod at Best Buy tomorrow too - I have to pick up my laptop and it's the most convenient!

 

[JPG]

Hi all ! I ust bought an S2-IS as an uprgrade from my old Sony Mavica. I am excited to get started learning my new camera.
What are the "must have" accessories, ie lenses, filters, etc...? I am interested in photo related accessories, not so much batteries and such. Thanks !!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

1. get 3 sets of NiMH AA rechargeable batteries
2. get a wide angle adapter (around .7x or .8x but not lower) IF it is available (I'm not 100% sure about that).

 

[JPG]

1. get 3 sets of NiMH AA rechargeable batteries
2. get a wide angle adapter (around .7x or .8x but not lower) IF it is available (I'm not 100% sure about that).

Kelly, any particular brand batteries or charger. I looked at some Energizer brand batteries and charger at WalMart, and was wondering if they are any good ?

 

[Dan Murphy]

I have this LaCrosse, it is EXCELLENT.... http://www.steves-digicams.com/nimh_batteries.html#chargers

And the 2500 Energizers are fine also, you can get them most anywhere....

http://www.steves-digicams.com/nimh_batteries.html

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/index.htm

 

[hlbtimes2]

We havent found a need for any accesories for our S2 IS. We love it just like it is. We do use rechargable batteries in it. But I think 3 sets is over kill, especially if you have a quick charger. I just used it for 3 days at Disneyland. I had 215 pics when I got home. That doesnt include the 20+ that I deleted at the time I took them because they were bad (people walking in front of the subject as I snapped, etc). I used the same set of batteries the entire time. They were still going strong at the end of the trip.

 

[jann1033]

sorry if this has been asked but i can't find it in the search...

the largest card i can find on the canon site is 512 .and that holds 190+ pics( superfine and largest) so would a 2 gb hold 4 times that? or around 760? didn't know if the ratio held true for larger cards. ( i guess a gb is 1000 mb???)

 

[mhutchinson]

Yes a GB is 1000 MB and the photos per card math is kind of fuzzy. It assumes a higher than average file size than is typically stored. Canon use to OEM SanDisk as their cards now I think the ones the sell are by Simple Tech.

And my guess is that if you bought it from Canon directly it would be about the price of a 1GB - 2GB (PRO speed) card somewhere else...

 

[Jeanne B]

It sounds like you're looking for a larger card but if you have a Staples nearby you can pick up a 512MB SanDisk sd card for $26.98 less a $12.00 rebate (must be purchased by Saturday). You can submit the rebate online - I submitted one of their rebates online last month and I received it in less than 3 weeks. I prefer a few smaller 512MB cards rather than one large card so I picked one up to add to the two that I already have - for $14.98 you can't beat it.

 

[JPG]

Thanks for the advice folks !! I can't wait to get started experimenting with my new toy !!!

 

[bcarson]

My dh and I want a camera that can double as a video recorder. If that is even possible. I see the Canon S2 says capable of movie clips and sound. Does that mean that can tape like an entire soccer game or something? Thanks. Also does anyone know how easy this camera is to down load pics on the computer. I am not very techy at all and neither is dh. Thanks!

 

[Dan Murphy]

I have used it a bit. Here is a link I put up yesterday to one, and there should be several others links to the right of that video I think to others I have posted. Google does compress and degrade thje quality some, the video as played directly from the original files are quite a bit better. I can email to you to check out(well, no I probably can not, too big).

The largest file size and time is what will fit on 1 gig. That file s about 90 meg, plays for 45 seconds, highest quality. So I guess you could do about 8-10 minutes.

http://130.94.75.33/showthread.php?t=1110682

Downloading is a snap, just copy files from card to PC, best with a card reader.


ETA----The quality, while VERY good, will not be as good as you can get with a dedicted video camera.

 

[bcarson]

I think I have narrowed it down to these two. I was almost positive about the Canon until I read some reviews that it had focusing issues. I do like the image stab. but I think I read that is only good in movie mode. I am really not techy at all and trying to compare the two leaves me confused. Thanks for the help!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

focusing issues? I've never heard of that. Maybe in low light at the maximum zoom? This is normal. The Kodak won't have that so-called issue due to the far lesser maximum zoom.

Don't get me started on the oversaturation and grain noise on the Kodak.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

PS:

Z650: 10x zoom, no IS, unusable ISO400, claims to be able to take ISO 800 but only at 1.7 MP
S2 IS: 12x zoom, with IS, usable ISO400

 

[WeLoveThePoly]

Oh - my - gosh ..... I am soooo in love!

I just got my Canon S2 IS today. All I did was load the batteries and the memory card (I gotta learn all the other stuff!) and took some pictures outside. Just using Auto mode on this camera takes wonderful pictures. I can't wait to see what it can do when I really use all the "bells & whistles".

I have 5 months to learn everything before I take tons of WDW pictures this October!



Debbie

 

[makinorlando]

Welcome to the club! My love affair continues with mine ! As I've said before, my DD thinks I like my camera better than her! I guess it is pretty bad when you slip away secretly to spend a day at EPCOT with a camera while DD is in school! Also spent Saturday (hot as blazes) alone with it for a few hours again on Saturday while DD was at Blizzard Beach with a friend!


Have fun!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

sorry, posted on the wrong thread.