toys

[mmcirvin]

I have it on good authority that one is required by law to buy a fancy still and/or video camera when expecting a baby. I was telling myself I couldn't justify the expense of buying a really nice one, when I was informed that various monetary gifts I got for my birthday were required to be pooled toward a new digicam rather than spent on the yu hsiang pork at Sichuan Gourmet in Billerica.

As much as I love Sichuan Gourmet, I had to agree that this was a good idea.

Like derspatchel, I was looking seriously at the beautiful Canon S3 IS and balking slightly at the price, especially considering that you have to budget a bunch of money for accessories on top of that (a decent-sized memory card, battery charger, and case, at the very least.)

I then discovered that its predecessor, the S2 IS, is now available as a clearance item for dramatically lower prices. I've already handled this thing at stores and immediately wanted one. The main differences are that the S2 has a 5MP sensor instead of 6MP, which as far as I'm concerned is no difference at all; and the S2 is silver instead of black, so the camera geeks with 800 dollar DSLRs will laugh at you. I can live with that. DPReview fretted a bit that the S3 wasn't really that much better, though they are both excellent cameras. So I've ordered the S2.

This is good.

Comments

[iayork.livejournal.com]

I got an S2 IS last summer and have been very happy with it. I've talked two other people into buying one, and they've also been very happy with theirs. It take nice movies as well as pictures, and if you crank up the memory (I have 1 GB, you can probably double that for the same price now) you can take a reasonably long clip.

Have fun with it.

When is the baby due, again?

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Due date is July 31, so we're in the home stretch.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...Part of my reasoning is that this looks like it's a great camera for photographing fidgety children and/or critters, because of the many splendors of its lens and the tiny shutter lag. But it looks to be especially good for sports fans, which is why I've already promised Sam she can borrow it for skating events.

[iayork.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, most of the pictures at my Flickr site were taken with the S2 IS. You can see that some of the sports shots are okay (e.g. this one and this one), but there is significant blur (e.g. here). I think this could be overcome with a bit of fiddling with F-stops and ISO values, but since I'm usually juggling Matthew with one hand while trying to photograph William with the other (or vice-versa) I don't often get much chance to make the necessary adjustments.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

I think shutter-priority mode is probably what you want there; insist that fast shutter is what you want and let the camera figure out the rest. But it also looks like it wasn't the sunniest of days, in which case I'm impressed that it even did that well.

Skating events are hard because the lighting is indoor lighting and the people are far away. Sam's usually had the best luck (with my dinky old Nikon 2500, and her much nicer Sony) photographing stationary things like initial and final positions on the ice. But even there I could tell she could really have used a stabilized long zoom.

[iayork.livejournal.com]

It was a grey day, and I was quite a distance from the action (Matthew wanted to be at the top of the bleachers behind first base). I brightened them up some in Photoshop (or maybe iPhoto, I can't remember). I'm pretty sure that I could have got much cleaner shots with more time to twiddle with the camera.

The stabilizing zoom is fantastic. It works really well.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Also, when it comes to cats and kids, there's the eternal problem that they get really interested in messing with the camera. With cats, it's especially bad if there is a dangling strap, but little kids always try to handle the camera itself and touch the lens. I imagine I'll have to watch out for that more with the lens being a larger target.

On the other hand, the weird swiveling lens on my Nikon almost invites finger smudges even from adults, since opening it up involves handling the piece that the lens is on.

[iayork.livejournal.com]

The lens on the S2 has a problem with its motor in some cases. The first camera that arrived died within ten minutes with the lens frozen in the "out" position.

It's possible that William enhanced the problem by throwing a toy dinosaur at the lens, apparently looking for an action shot. He got action he wasn't anticipating, all right.

Fortunately the vendor (Beach Camera, a plug here for good service) replaced the camera without question and I haven't had any problems with the replacement.

[asienieizi.livejournal.com]

While it is required by law there's another aspect they don't mention. Next up is the requirement to buy everyone on your "photo/video receiving list" a new pc and periphals capable of viewing them. Then there's the tutorial time you'll be spending. ie: The Grandparents
Heh.
Don't ask me how I know this.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

This is mitigated by the important fact that, unlike most people who e-mail photographs, I understand how "scale image" works.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...However, I know from being on the receiving end that mailing video can be a bigger problem!

[asienieizi.livejournal.com]

Until we got some family members trained I can recall some very painful two hours (or longer) receiving times. Just now, thinking back on it I think I can feel the tears beginning to well up in my eyes.