Canon S2

[Shelly S]

I have the Cannon Powershot S2 and love it so far, but have not had the chance to try it at night yet . I read that it takes pretty good night pictures but I would like to know what the best settings are to shoot spectromagic and wishes. Should I use the fireworks setting, the night setting with no flash, auto,or something else. I am not sure I will be able to manual set everything quickly without the directions in front of me. I do know that I need to practice, take lots of shots, and be still/tripod, but knowing what settings to start with for these night shots would be very helpful.

Also, for anyone who has this camera, there does not seem to be an action setting. Is auto what I would use for any moving subjects. I really don't mean to sound dumb, but the manual is 184 pages long and it is very hard to retain all that info. Thanks for any suggestions you have.

 

[fwm]

I am looking at the same camera. Can I ask what type of deal you got on the camera?

 

[Shelly S]

There really weren't any deals when I bought my camera a few months ago. All the stores were the same price. I think it was $499. It was slightly cheaper online at the time, but I wanted it that day. I'm sure it is offered at sale prices now, but I am not watching to see how much I may have saved.

I really think the camera takes great pictures. Everything I shot on my trip to the White Mountains came out great. I think the image stabilizer works very well. I can't wait to try it at Disney. I still would love to know about the best settings to try for Spectro, wishes, Osborne Lights etc. without having to manually set everything. Thanks.

 

[LMarge]

I have this camera and really like it so far. I've only had it about 2 weeks, but it is very user friendly. As for deals, if you go to Circuit City.com and order it online you can pick it up at a store near you the next day and there's no shiping fees involved - also it's about $50 less in price than in the store! Depending on where you live the tax jumps it right back up there, but you still save a bit of money - there is also a coupon that prints out when you print your order confirmation for 15% off digital accessories at the time of pick up! I used my coupon towards a bigger memory card - saved another 15 dollars! Good luck with your purchase!

 

[LMarge]

I could use a bit of advice! My daughter is a gymnast and last weekend I used this camera for the first time - on auto setting or on the indoor mode - which did a GREAT job of correcting for lighting since it was inside under floro lights! No flash! and the pics came out relatively well, good color,etc. My problem is the auto focus seems to jump around a lot when it's zoomed out, not into digital but just at the end of it's optical ability - I'm told this is normal? It jsut seems to have a hard time finding what to focus on.Also, there seemed to be a bit of lag and the pics had a lot of blur in them. I'm sure some of that was me moving, but most of the blur seems to be from the action of the gymnast. Any way to get a good still action shot with this camera? I've tried the manual focus lock with the zoom all the way out (12x) - not into the digital mode- and this seems to help some, but they still seem blurry to me! My old camera was a Pentax slr and I'm used to crisp action shots - this is taking a bit of getting used to. I also used the rapid shooting mode, which did do very well for catching more of the shot. Please help, it would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ndelaware]

LMarge, is it your choice to not use the flash? If it is your choice to not use the flash, you may have to try it with the flash on. Indoor sports is one of the hardest tests of a camera and especially a lens. What you are describing (the blurring) is normally a symptom of too slow a shutter speed. The camera sets the shutter speed slower to compensate for the lack of light. But when people are running this will cause a blurring of your picture. The flash will provide the light to freeze your subject. If you can't use the flash due to it being a problem for the gymnasts see if you can change the ISO setting to 400 speed. This is, I believe, the highest ISO setting your camera has. Another thing to consider is the image stabilizer function of your camera. I see your camera has three IS modes. Have you tried the "panning mode" for the action shots? This only corrects for vertical shaking only. If that doesn't work, try turning it off all together. Most of Canon's IS lenses for their slr cameras do not work on moving objects. And if used for action shots will also show alot of blurring. And the autofocus hunting around is usually due to not enough light for the autofocus to do it's job. Hope some of this helps you.

 

[LMarge]

LMarge, is it your choice to not use the flash? If it is your choice to not use the flash, you may have to try it with the flash on. Indoor sports is one of the hardest tests of a camera and especially a lens. What you are describing (the blurring) is normally a symptom of too slow a shutter speed. The camera sets the shutter speed slower to compensate for the lack of light. But when people are running this will cause a blurring of your picture. The flash will provide the light to freeze your subject. If you can't use the flash due to it being a problem for the gymnasts see if you can change the ISO setting to 400 speed. This is, I believe, the highest ISO setting your camera has. Another thing to consider is the image stabilizer function of your camera. I see your camera has three IS modes. Have you tried the "panning mode" for the action shots? This only corrects for vertical shaking only. If that doesn't work, try turning it off all together. Most of Canon's IS lenses for their slr cameras do not work on moving objects. And if used for action shots will also show alot of blurring. And the autofocus hunting around is usually due to not enough light for the autofocus to do it's job. Hope some of this helps you.

ndelaware! Thanks for the tips - you are right about the flash, I cannot use it due to distractions and hazards for the gymnast. I will try the 400 ISO setting and the change in the IS mode, didn't know I could do that - I will reread that section of the manual! I had toyed with taking it back and getting one of the Canon SLR cameras, but from what you said, it sounds like that won't really solve my problem anyway - and then I really have more camera than I need! I did talk to other moms after the meet and they all said that they had problems with the focus on their cameras as well, so it is most likely a light issue within the gym. One other question for you, if I added on of the telephoto lenses to this camera (can't remember exactly what they call them) would that help with the focus issue or just move me closer to my subject? Thanks again for all your help!

 

[Charade]

Another thing you might try, if possible, is to set the camera focus point to only one spot. Ideally the center one. When I played around with that camera in the store, I noticed sometimes it would focus on something other than what I thought I was aiming at because it picked a different focusing sensor.

 

[ndelaware]

LMarge, usually a longer lense makes the issue worse. This is usually because the f/ stop of zoom lens is usually higher at full zoom unless you get an very expensive lense. The lense on your camera is is f/2.7-f/3.5 which is not too bad but even that is not cutting it for you. Putting a telephoto on it may or may or may not affect the f/ stop but the more zoom on a camera, the harder it is to the camera hold the steady. Of course that is what the IS was made to overcome. If you are zooming all the way in on your daughter not only is it harder to hold the camera steady but you are also closing down the f/ stop to f/3.7(lower f/ number = better low light performance). Which in turn will tell the camera to slow down the shutter speed which causes blurring. If turning the IS to another mode or turning it off don't help enough, try taking some pictures of her zoomed out but keeping her centered in the viewfinder. Then when you load them to your computer you can blow them up if you have a basic photo editing program. One probably came with your camera. Another suggestion that might help you is to use the eyepiece not the lcd when taking action shots. I know it's just a smaller lcd in there but it will help you steady the camera.

 

[LMarge]

Thanks everyone for the advice! I have started using the eyepiece instead of the lcd and it has helped a lot, just with the pics around the house of the kids playing and such. I need to look at the setting for the focus and make sure I'm not changing it somehow while I'm shooting. The advice on the extra zoom is very much appreciated! I really don't want to invest in something that I really don't need. I have taken a few shots in the wide format and they seem to be very nice when enlarged and cropped - this will probably be my main option! Thank you again! Everyone on this board is just so wonderful and helpful! One more thing, I would love to see photos you have taken with this camera, especially those from the Kingdom!! Please share after you get back!!

 

[Melrosgirl]

I've narrowed down my new camera to the Canon S2 IS or the Sony DSC H1. The reviews for the Canon are just a tad better than the Sony, so I'll prob. go that route.

I tried out both cameras at Circuit City. It's so hard to tell though how good (or bad) they really are. Each picture I took on each camera looked blurry. Is that because they are tied with the security devices there at Circuit City, so it's hard to take real pictures? Is it because the cameras really didn't have memory cards in them? (Not sure!)

My big concern with a new camera is lag time. My current camera (Kodak Easyshare) is horrible. I realize that unless I go the SLR route, I will have a bit of a delay. (I'm not that much into photography that I need to spend the extra money on a SLR.) Anyone know if the Canon S2 IS or the Sony DSC H1 is decent when it comes to lack of a delay? thx!

 

[Razor Roman]

I had a friend who was looking into one of those 2 cameras. I normally steer everyone towards Canon, but I recommended Sony for his purposes, and he loves it.

He is a huge soccer nut, and coaches his Daughter's soccer team and his son is also in a league. His wife wanted shots of the kids playing soccer and the Sony has a "burst" mode that lets you shoot a bunch of pictures in rapid succession, which can be helpful in getting those great action shots during sporting events. If you have any interested in shooting high speed like that, the sony might be the way to go.

He has said the delay on the camera isn't noticable to him...

 

[Melrosgirl]

thanks

 

[3dog2kidmom]

Has anyone shot the fireworks at WDW or the Osborne lights with the special Fireworks or Night Scenes settings on their Canon S2 yet? I was reading the manual on my new camera and delighted to find these special programs. Of course I don't have anything to practice on except the fire in our fireplace, lol, and the difference between auto and the fireworks program was amazing!

I've only ever attempted fireworks once, years ago, with my 35mm Canon EOS Elan and even following advice I got from my photo class instructer at the time was not pleased with the results so didn't even consider taking any shots of lights or fireworks.

Thanks in advance for any experiences!

 

[babynursedawn]

took mine and got some really good shots, even took most of them in auto mode. just kept taking lots of pics. I did have the IS mode on continuous. took some with the fireworks mode on, no tripod just held really still, and got good shots there too. I will try to post a picture. I would practice for the osborn lights though. Maybe a light display at a local park or mall?

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Hi all,

Does anyone have the Canon PowerShot S2 IS 5.0 megapixel camera?


If so, what do you think about it, and do you have any tips?

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

just wondering if anyone has any input.

 

[LittleDino]

I'm not too familiar with the Cannon PowerShot. But if you ask this question on the Photography board, I'm sure you'll get lots of responses. The photography board is located directly underneath the Community board. Hope you get some good advice!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Thanks, LittleDino.

Does anyone have some insight on this camera?

 

[ndelaware]

I don't own one Mary Jo but I can tell you it is a very good camera. It is consistently rated as the best of the current crop of high zoom 5 meg cameras with image stabilization.