Canon PowerShot S2 IS announced

Canon PowerShot S2 IS announced, please see:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0504/05042201canons2is.asp

"David J Taylor"
wrote in k:

Canon PowerShot S2 IS announced, please see:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0504/05042201canons2is.asp

Sounds like a worthy upgrade to the S1; the jump from 3 MP to 5 MP is a
good one. Pity that the S2 IS has switched to using SD memory cards instead
of sticking with Compact Flash. Hopefully the strong chromatic aberrations
of the S1 have been largely tamed, making it a closer competitor to the
Panasonic FZ20 in the image quality department. The old S1 IS and the new
S2 IS cameras even got more than a passing mention at www.robgalbraith.com,
which was a pleasant surprise. It will be interesting to see what shape a
Canon Pro 1 update will take, whether or not it will include IS and a
proper f/2.8 lens to get it somewhere near competitive in features with the
FZ20.

--
Witold.

David J Taylor wrote:
Canon PowerShot S2 IS announced, please see:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0504/05042201canons2is.asp

Interestingly long zoom range but I remember with great
affection real wide angle lenses (24-28mm) and I wonder what are
the practical difficulties in producing a real wide angle in
cameras such as this? IMHO, 36mm equivalent is not a wide angle!


--
James V. Silverton
Potomac, Maryland, USA

--


Cheers _ Hunibal _
"Witold" wrote in message
...
"David J Taylor"

wrote in k:

Canon PowerShot S2 IS announced, please see:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0504/05042201canons2is.asp

Sounds like a worthy upgrade to the S1; the jump from 3 MP to 5 MP is a
good one. Pity that the S2 IS has switched to using SD memory cards
instead
of sticking with Compact Flash.

Is the SD memory card - not as good as - Compact Flash?

Cheers _ Hunibal _

Hunibal wrote:
[]
Is the SD memory card - not as good as - Compact Flash?

Possibly better - there are fewer contacts and no very small connector
pins to break off. Speed and cost are about the same. Just a little
smaller and easier to lose! I've been using KingMax Platinum and SanDisk
Ultra II.

Cheers,
David

James Silverton wrote:
David J Taylor wrote:
Canon PowerShot S2 IS announced, please see:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0504/05042201canons2is.asp

Interestingly long zoom range but I remember with great
affection real wide angle lenses (24-28mm) and I wonder what are
the practical difficulties in producing a real wide angle in
cameras such as this? IMHO, 36mm equivalent is not a wide angle!

A 24mm - 288mm (the same 12X zoom ratio) would be great, wouldn't it?

Cheers,
David

"Hunibal" wrote in news:JVBae.11700$9G.943920
@news20.bellglobal.com:

"Witold" wrote in message
...
"David J Taylor"

wrote in k:

Canon PowerShot S2 IS announced, please see:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0504/05042201canons2is.asp

Sounds like a worthy upgrade to the S1; the jump from 3 MP to 5 MP is
a good one. Pity that the S2 IS has switched to using SD memory cards
instead of sticking with Compact Flash.

Is the SD memory card - not as good as - Compact Flash?

Not as far as I know. As I have got a compact flash card, the use of SD
cards just means that I can't use the CF card in an S2 IS.

--
Witold.

Witold wrote:
"Hunibal" wrote in news:JVBae.11700$9G.943920
@news20.bellglobal.com:
[]
Is the SD memory card - not as good as - Compact Flash?

Not as far as I know. As I have got a compact flash card, the use of
SD cards just means that I can't use the CF card in an S2 IS.

Yes, that's why I said it's a pity as CF cards from an S1 can't be used in
the S2. However, with the cost of cards as it is, perhaps buying some
more amy not be sucha bad idea. After all, you can then use them in the
Nikon D50 should you want to go the DSLR route!

G

David

"James Silverton" wrote in message ...
David J Taylor wrote:
Canon PowerShot S2 IS announced, please see:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0504/05042201canons2is.asp

Interestingly long zoom range but I remember with great
affection real wide angle lenses (24-28mm) and I wonder what are
the practical difficulties in producing a real wide angle in
cameras such as this? IMHO, 36mm equivalent is not a wide angle!

I've got the Panasonic FZ20 and with a suitable WA converter on the front it gets acceptable
wide angle shots. Here are three shots taken with a WA TC = 28mm equivelent-
http://ken.smugmug.com/gallery/431818

In article ,
"David J Taylor"
wrote:

James Silverton wrote:
David J Taylor wrote:
Canon PowerShot S2 IS announced, please see:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0504/05042201canons2is.asp

Interestingly long zoom range but I remember with great
affection real wide angle lenses (24-28mm) and I wonder what are
the practical difficulties in producing a real wide angle in
cameras such as this? IMHO, 36mm equivalent is not a wide angle!

A 24mm - 288mm (the same 12X zoom ratio) would be great, wouldn't it?

Cheers,
David

The problem isn't necessarily the 12x zoom, it's the shortest focal
length. At the shortest focal length the lens has its widest angular
field of view, and as that parameter goes up, the optical designer's
challenges increase at a rapid rate. The lens must always produce a
flat focal plane, be achromatic and sharp to the edges (you hope), and
have minimal distortion. As the angular field of view increases,
satisfying all four of these requirements becomes much harder,
especially if you want a reasonably fast lens. It wouldn't be too hard
at f/8 or so, but who wants that for their maximum speed. Trying to put
a truly wide angle focal length at the end of a 12X zoom on a fast lens
must be either extraordinarily difficult (and expensive) or impossible
with today's glasses if you want good performance. Fixed focal length
wide angle lenses themselves aren't so cheap if they are good.

One of my colleagues designs state-of-the-art lenses for his research.
I'll run this by him for a more definitive answer.

Joe