Geekonomics

Which Canon camera would this geek buy?

Jul 27, 2009 20:44

Over the past few months, this geek had the chance to try out various Canon cameras for his travels and functions. I loved almost all of them, but there's one in particular I would just go ahead and buy without hesitation, and thought it'd be good to give you a lowdown since quite a few of my friends have been bugging me to give them my "expert opinion" on which camera to buy.

You must know that before I embarked on this journey, I was not a photography buff and all I knew about cameras were compacts and I've never really handled any dSLRs before. Although I still don't know a lot about dSLR lenses, today, I can handle any dSLR with confidence and produce some decent shots with standard kit lenses.

Canon Digital IXUS 990 IS

 

The Digital IXUS 990 IS feels like the IXUS 980 IS (which I also tried), but that's about where the similarities end. The software and user experience are totally new. In fact, it took a bit of getting used to but I love it for its compactness and great image quality. The best thing I like about it is the zoom blur effect which can be used to create difficult motion blur photos like these, and the reason I will not buy it is simply because after trying all the dSLRs, I'm hooked onto something more powerful. But if you are not into dSLRs, this is a great camera to grab.

Canon EOS 1000D


The 1000D was the first dSLR I used and it was most appropriate for a beginner like me back then because it's an entry-level dSLR. You can see some of the photos I took with it here and read the review on CNET Asia here. I really loved it, but after trying some of the more powerful dSLRs like the 5D MK II, I don't think I can ever go back to this camera.

Canon PowerShot S5 IS


The S5 is CNET Asia's Readers' Choice and it'd be my choice, too. I love the powerful 12x optical zoom and the LCD which flips out and allows you to take shots at all kinds of angles. You can see some of the interesting snaps I took with it here. I would really go ahead and buy this if not for the fact that I'm now hooked to the power of a dSLR and would find it hard to go back to non-dSLRs. But this camera definitely has my thumbs up, and with the combination of powerful zoom lens and flexible LCD screen, has allowed me to take shots at angles which I would find near impossible to take with other cameras.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II


The 5D MK II has to be the best camera I've ever used. What can I say? I'm not worthy! It has won a both Readers' Choice and Editors' Choice on CNET Asia, and I doubt any camera from any brand can match it. I would seriously buy it if not for the fact that it's pretty costly and I'm not sure if I'm about to get that serious with my photography.

Another reason I would hold back on buying this is that with dSLRs and big cameras, I find I must specially lug them along in camera bags with all the necessary gear, as they are just not compact enough for me to bring everywhere. Yet compacts would never match up to a dSLR's prowess. And one more problem is that whenever I pull a dSLR out, people around me become conscious of it immediately (and sometimes intimidated by it) and the shots may not be as natural as I sometimes want them to be.

This is definitely the choice of the pros, and maybe one day I'll get it as my pro camera, too. But for now, I need a snapper which I can use from day to day, and this is not it because of its size. Which brings me to the last camera of the day.

Canon PowerShot G10


A CNET Asia's Readers' Choice, this is one camera that looks a little retro, a tad heavy, but something I would definitely go for in my next camera purchase, simply because it is small enough for me to bring everywhere and powerful enough to make those shots which I can make on dSLRs. Check out my shots on the G10 here.

Now, I guess I have only to wait patiently for the price of this baby to drop.

All in all, over the past few months of engagement, some of the things I like about Canon cameras include:

• Color accent feature which I think friends have mentioned is not available in the other brands which they own.


• Consistent user experience across all the cameras in general. This is a major plus, except that the user experience was changed with the latest 990 IS.


• That Canon uses SD cards compared with, say, Memory Sticks which have been a huge reason I have not ventured to try any Sony cameras. The need to buy new Memory Sticks is a major put-off for me. In fact, I have a nice Sony compact sitting in my room the past few months and I've never used it even once because I have to go and get a Memory Stick first.


• Image stabilizer in all the IS lenses. It's great for those with shaky hands. Or you know how sometimes you pass the camera on to a passerby to take a photo for you, and the photo comes out blur? This will be great for those situations, too. You can find out a bit more about Canon's image stablizer technology in its lenses here. 


• The standard kit lenses in the dSLRs are very decent, as you can see in the shots I have taken here.

What I generally dislike about Canon cameras, which thankfully is not a lot, includes:

• The fact that all the Canon cameras use batteries and chargers that look almost the same but are almost all different! Which means that I can't reuse the batteries and chargers from one camera series to the other most times. This is one thing I hope Canon can look into and change moving forward.


• Generally, I find the standard flash provided, whether in the 990 IS or the dSLRs, is slow to start up and recharge. Which means that if I'm using flash, I have to wait a few extra seconds (which can sometimes be embarassing with all the smiles waiting) before the flash can go off. If I'm taking, say, more than 10 shots on the dSLR, after the 10th shot, the camera starts to perform really slowly as the flash seems to have overheated and I need to wait for it to cool before I can take the next shot with flash. Maybe I'm asking too much as I've been told the problem is generally inherent in all cameras regardless of brand, unless you buy a special speed flash to add to your dSLR.

So there you have it, especially to all my friends who have been bugging me about what camera to buy next. Sorry my experience has only been with Canon cameras so far and as a disclaimer, I'm not affiliated with Canon in anyway. Hopefully, this post will help you in your next shopping decision!

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