3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
The Rolls Royce of amateur cameras
Date of Review: Sep 14, 2004
The Bottom Line: Read the reviews and published features and if you like what you see, go get the S1 IS, it is all that is published and more.
Well I purchased this camera taking into account the overall quality of the pictures as shown on internet reviews. Purple fringing at telephoto and distortion at wide-angle were then something I would have to live by.
It did no more, nor less than expected. In other words I was not disappointed at all.
The camera is small, fast, sharp and fun to use.
Yes, indeed, and that is the most common complain, the auto-focus is the pits at maximum telephoto range. I can confirm that with many waisted pictures. On the other hand, this consumer camera can be manually focused. That is something quite rare to put on the plus side.
I was mainly attracted by the fast and silent zoom that could be used in movie mode. Talking about the movie mode, it is outstanding and could be the only reason to purchase this camera over another (higher pixel count) model.
All in all, having to carry just one camera and being able to take great shots, amazing video clips and never run out of power because it is AA powered, made it for me.
The Canon software that comes with the camera is a pain to use but the results that come out when stitching multiple shots is still second to none. Each frame is reshaped to turn a perfect panoramic picture.
I miss an external flash contact, I also dislike the accessory mounting tube and lens-cap arrangement altogether, but nothing is perfect.
First rate camera if you are really going to use it as a movie cam. Then, be prepared for a 4Gig hard drive purchase.
