Canon Ixus 500 opinions

I'm thinking of buying a Canon Ixus 500 to replace my ageing APS camera.
This will be my first digital camera, so I'm still new to the technology.
I've done some internet and magazine research on it, but still have a few
questions. I'd be interested to hear any comments/praise/warnings from
anyone who owns this camera, in particular:

1) How good is it at taking night-time shots?

2) What is the quality of prints like compared to APS film? I'm guessing 5
megapixel photos should be pretty good?

3) My current camera has a "panoramic" setting which results in the photo
being developed as a wider panoramic print. Does the Ixus 500 (or any
digital camera for that matter) have a similar feature, or would I have to
do the cropping manually using the computer and print the photo myself to
acheive this result?

4) I've read a number of comments from Ixus owners concerning an "E18 error"
which apparently results in the zoom lense getting stuck. Has anyone
experienced this on the Ixus 500? Does it only occur if the camera gets
damaged, or is it something that can happen even if you take good care of
it?


Thanks.

The only thing i can confidently comment on is the panorma feature. It puts
the previous picture on half the viewfinder so that you can line up the next
one. The HP R707 does the same.

The only thing i can confidently comment on is the panorma feature. It puts
the previous picture on half the viewfinder so that you can line up the next
one. The HP R707 does the same.

"Nobody" writes:
I'd be interested to hear any comments/praise/warnings from
anyone who owns this camera, in particular:

I have the S410. Same camera, but 4 MP instead of 5.

1) How good is it at taking night-time shots?

Not particularly good. It doesn't have a manual exposure mode, in the
first place. The longest exposure time is 15 seconds (though it does do
dark-frame subtraction to reduce noise with exposures longer than 1.3
seconds). The largest aperture is f/2.8. The highest ISO is 400,
though that's quite noisy.

Now, if you're comparing it to an average P&S film camera, you might be
pleased anyway. I have shot moonlit scenes and the camera sees details
(and colour!) that were not visible to the naked eye. But larger
digital cameras like the G6 have a faster lens, longer exposure time
limit, and full manual control. And a DSLR is much better yet, with the
ability to use f/1.4 lenses and usable ISO 1600.

2) What is the quality of prints like compared to APS film? I'm guessing 5
megapixel photos should be pretty good?

Should be. I've never used APS, but if you're handholding they're
probably both going to be limited by that. On a tripod, the S500 might
well be better.

3) My current camera has a "panoramic" setting which results in the photo
being developed as a wider panoramic print. Does the Ixus 500 (or any
digital camera for that matter) have a similar feature, or would I have to
do the cropping manually using the computer and print the photo myself to
acheive this result?

It's different. Your APS camera actually has a particular sized film
gate. When you select "panorama", it might show a different frame in
the finder, but the camera shoots exactly the same image. The negative
is marked to tell the *lab* to discard the top and bottom edges of the
image, and print on a wider piece of paper.

With a digital camera, you always get the same aspect ratio image. You
can crop and print it yourself, but you should also be able to tell the
lab that you want a panoramic-sized wide print, and they'll discard the
extra data in printing. Or you can crop the data yourself to make sure
the print is cropped the way you want.

In addition, the camera has a "panorama" feature. This helps shoot
*multi-image* panoramas, by providing viewfinder support to help you get
a sequence of images with 50% overlap. It locks the exposure and white
balance for all images so they match. And Canon includes some software
to assemble the panoramas into a single image (or you can use other
software). These multi-image panoramas have much more detail than the
single-image APS panoramas you are familiar with.

4) I've read a number of comments from Ixus owners concerning an "E18 error"
which apparently results in the zoom lense getting stuck. Has anyone
experienced this on the Ixus 500? Does it only occur if the camera gets
damaged, or is it something that can happen even if you take good care of
it?

Haven't seen it on my S410, but I do take good care of it.

Dave

"Nobody" writes:
I'd be interested to hear any comments/praise/warnings from
anyone who owns this camera, in particular:

I have the S410. Same camera, but 4 MP instead of 5.

1) How good is it at taking night-time shots?

Not particularly good. It doesn't have a manual exposure mode, in the
first place. The longest exposure time is 15 seconds (though it does do
dark-frame subtraction to reduce noise with exposures longer than 1.3
seconds). The largest aperture is f/2.8. The highest ISO is 400,
though that's quite noisy.

Now, if you're comparing it to an average P&S film camera, you might be
pleased anyway. I have shot moonlit scenes and the camera sees details
(and colour!) that were not visible to the naked eye. But larger
digital cameras like the G6 have a faster lens, longer exposure time
limit, and full manual control. And a DSLR is much better yet, with the
ability to use f/1.4 lenses and usable ISO 1600.

2) What is the quality of prints like compared to APS film? I'm guessing 5
megapixel photos should be pretty good?

Should be. I've never used APS, but if you're handholding they're
probably both going to be limited by that. On a tripod, the S500 might
well be better.

3) My current camera has a "panoramic" setting which results in the photo
being developed as a wider panoramic print. Does the Ixus 500 (or any
digital camera for that matter) have a similar feature, or would I have to
do the cropping manually using the computer and print the photo myself to
acheive this result?

It's different. Your APS camera actually has a particular sized film
gate. When you select "panorama", it might show a different frame in
the finder, but the camera shoots exactly the same image. The negative
is marked to tell the *lab* to discard the top and bottom edges of the
image, and print on a wider piece of paper.

With a digital camera, you always get the same aspect ratio image. You
can crop and print it yourself, but you should also be able to tell the
lab that you want a panoramic-sized wide print, and they'll discard the
extra data in printing. Or you can crop the data yourself to make sure
the print is cropped the way you want.

In addition, the camera has a "panorama" feature. This helps shoot
*multi-image* panoramas, by providing viewfinder support to help you get
a sequence of images with 50% overlap. It locks the exposure and white
balance for all images so they match. And Canon includes some software
to assemble the panoramas into a single image (or you can use other
software). These multi-image panoramas have much more detail than the
single-image APS panoramas you are familiar with.

4) I've read a number of comments from Ixus owners concerning an "E18 error"
which apparently results in the zoom lense getting stuck. Has anyone
experienced this on the Ixus 500? Does it only occur if the camera gets
damaged, or is it something that can happen even if you take good care of
it?

Haven't seen it on my S410, but I do take good care of it.

Dave

"Dave Martindale" wrote in message
...
"Nobody" writes:
1) How good is it at taking night-time shots?

Not particularly good. It doesn't have a manual exposure mode, in the
first place. The longest exposure time is 15 seconds (though it does do
dark-frame subtraction to reduce noise with exposures longer than 1.3
seconds). The largest aperture is f/2.8. The highest ISO is 400,
though that's quite noisy.

Now, if you're comparing it to an average P&S film camera, you might be
pleased anyway. I have shot moonlit scenes and the camera sees details
(and colour!) that were not visible to the naked eye.

My current camera is a fully automatic point-and-shoot model and doesn't
have any manual settings. It can almost take decent photos at night but not
quite - city skylines and the like come out far too dark. I think the
longer exposure times on the Ixus 500 might help me out.

Thanks very much for your response, that was exactly what I was looking for!

"Dave Martindale" wrote in message
...
"Nobody" writes:
1) How good is it at taking night-time shots?

Not particularly good. It doesn't have a manual exposure mode, in the
first place. The longest exposure time is 15 seconds (though it does do
dark-frame subtraction to reduce noise with exposures longer than 1.3
seconds). The largest aperture is f/2.8. The highest ISO is 400,
though that's quite noisy.

Now, if you're comparing it to an average P&S film camera, you might be
pleased anyway. I have shot moonlit scenes and the camera sees details
(and colour!) that were not visible to the naked eye.

My current camera is a fully automatic point-and-shoot model and doesn't
have any manual settings. It can almost take decent photos at night but not
quite - city skylines and the like come out far too dark. I think the
longer exposure times on the Ixus 500 might help me out.

Thanks very much for your response, that was exactly what I was looking for!