Hey all, I'm looking for a new digital camera. I like the Canon line, and have narrowed it down to the SD series. The SD 700 looks attractive, and seems to offer a lot for a small camera, but I'm not quite sure if the lack of aperture, and shutter priority will affect me that much. I'm not even quite sure what either offer me as a novice photographer. Help is much appreciated.
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Sounds like this is a nice point and shoot camera but has little to offer in terms of manual controls. Do you want to take snapshots (parties, etc.) or do you want to do "photography?" In my mind, if your goal it simply to capture relatively high quality snapshots, the SD 700 would probably do the job well. If you really want to learn about photography as a form of artisitic expression, you will soon yearn for some sort of manual control over the exposure.
Aperture priority and shutter priority help you set the type of exposure or how the light gets into the camera. For example a wide aperture and fast shutter speed is good for capturing action without blur. A narrow aperture and slow shutter speed is good for capturing a large landscape clearly.
Basically, if you had any interest in the above paragraph, you might want to look into something like the Canon S3 IS or even an inexpensive SLR which will allow you to grow into it more. If you would rather not worry about all that exposure stuff and let the camera figure it out, go with the SD.
Aperture priority and shutter priority help you set the type of exposure or how the light gets into the camera. For example a wide aperture and fast shutter speed is good for capturing action without blur. A narrow aperture and slow shutter speed is good for capturing a large landscape clearly.
Basically, if you had any interest in the above paragraph, you might want to look into something like the Canon S3 IS or even an inexpensive SLR which will allow you to grow into it more. If you would rather not worry about all that exposure stuff and let the camera figure it out, go with the SD.
The SD series take some great pictures. I'm used various versions and the picture and build quality is great. Don't let yourself be sucked into the megapixel pull. I believe Canon even has a 10MP SD1000, which seems overkill to me. Features like face recognition and image stabilization are nice extras though.
I personally love my Canon Powershot G7, which is basically Canon's flagship non-DSLR camera. The new Powershot S5 which was announced only a few days ago, promises to be a good camera too though. Albeit a bit big to be used as a Point and Shoot. http://www.dpreview.com/news/0705/07050703canons5is.asp
Depending on what your budget is you should make a choice on what features you definitely want. If your budget is less than $400-$500 you can count DSLRs out altogether.
I personally love my Canon Powershot G7, which is basically Canon's flagship non-DSLR camera. The new Powershot S5 which was announced only a few days ago, promises to be a good camera too though. Albeit a bit big to be used as a Point and Shoot. http://www.dpreview.com/news/0705/07050703canons5is.asp
Depending on what your budget is you should make a choice on what features you definitely want. If your budget is less than $400-$500 you can count DSLRs out altogether.
Regarding SD700, perhaps you should get SD850 (shipping in June) that replaces SD700? The differences aren't groundbreaking -- higher resolution and improved LCD, 8 MP vs. 6 MP image sensor (boo! -- slower continuous shooting, larger file size, potentially noisier), DIGIC III with face detection vs. DIGIC II, SDHC compatibility, and time lapse recording -- but comparing the LCDs on SD700 and SD1000, SD850's LCD should be dramatically nicer.
Speaking of SD1000, if you don't need image stabilizer, it might be good enough.
My wife has SD800 (I use Digital Rebel XTi) and she really appreciates the wide angle lens. Yes, it tends to generate soft corners but it's really not that objectionable (unless you like to put important subject in corners) and to us, soft corners at wide angle shots are better than no wide angle. (I can always use XTi with EF 17-40mm f/4L USM when details are important.)
None of the Canon point and shoots will save the image in RAW format anymore. They removed that feature some time ago. If you think you might care about setting the shutter speed and f-stop then you'd care about this too.
If you really do need all this, just go with an SLR. The P&S cameras have such short focal lengths that you can't narrow the DOF even t the lens wide open so apertur priority is not so usfull on a small P&S.
I'm guessing you're speaking from your own experience here, but I completely disagree with that comment. I have the ability to set pretty much everything on my camera but I can't save into RAW, and to be honest, I really don't care. So far I don't feel the need to have to be able to edit everything in PS which is one of the main advantages of RAW. It just doesn't bother me.
I'm guessing Canon did pretty extensive research and found that most consumers buying non-dslr cameras really don't care about RAW, otherwise they surely wouldn't have dropped it from there G-series powershot cameras.
Or they discovered they were losing sales on prosumer DSLRs to the G-series. It's not as if RAW is a difficult feature to implement, it's just a dump from the sensor.
Look seriously at the Eos low end systems. The Xt comes in a kit for just over a hundred bucks more than the point and shoot you are looking at. Perhaps less used. If you want to learn photography a point and shoot won't help you learn much. Now is you just want snap shots and no learning curve a PS is fine.
Thanks to all
Thank you all for responding with your recommendations. I think that all this info has been important. For now, I am indeed looking for a point and shoot. I need it to be compact, though I am interested in something more serious down the line. I think I will be going for the SD700. Looks like a good deal, and I do respect canon's quality. If anyone has anymore suggestions, I am always open.
thanks again.
Thank you all for responding with your recommendations. I think that all this info has been important. For now, I am indeed looking for a point and shoot. I need it to be compact, though I am interested in something more serious down the line. I think I will be going for the SD700. Looks like a good deal, and I do respect canon's quality. If anyone has anymore suggestions, I am always open.
thanks again.