Canon S2 IS apertures and ISO

I checked out the specs this morning online and I am somewhat confused about
the listed aperature settings; maybe someone can clarify for me.

Specs show range of f2.7 (wide) and f3.5 (tele) (if I recall correctly).
Does this indicate a limitation for the lens? In other words, would the
lens actually be able to close down to, say. f5.6 or f8, f11 or even
smaller? Or not?

Also, ISO ratings are also confusing to me, as my experience has been only
film. I always think of ISO ratings in terms of "fine grain film" vs. less
fine grain, and ability of a higher number, say ISO 800 or 1600 to be more
grainy but more able to catch shots in low light or for action. I notice
that the ISO rating of the S2 IS peaks at 400, yet without film to worry
about, why stop at 400?

Your input much appreciated. -- Judy

In article et,
says...
I checked out the specs this morning online and I am somewhat confused about
the listed aperature settings; maybe someone can clarify for me.

Specs show range of f2.7 (wide) and f3.5 (tele) (if I recall correctly).
Does this indicate a limitation for the lens? In other words, would the
lens actually be able to close down to, say. f5.6 or f8, f11 or even
smaller? Or not?

Also, ISO ratings are also confusing to me, as my experience has been only
film. I always think of ISO ratings in terms of "fine grain film" vs. less
fine grain, and ability of a higher number, say ISO 800 or 1600 to be more
grainy but more able to catch shots in low light or for action. I notice
that the ISO rating of the S2 IS peaks at 400, yet without film to worry
about, why stop at 400?

Your input much appreciated. -- Judy




The beginning and ending f numbers in a listing are usually the maximum
aperture for the lens at its extremes.

Yes, the camera can go to much higher f numbers (dont remember what they
are right now and my S2 is elsewhere.

I wont go over ISO 400 because the small sensor in the camera cant
handle the low light well at all, even the ISO 400 shots will look VERY
noisey (grainey but in a different way than film).

Larry Lynch
Mystic CT

Judith Raskin wrote:
I checked out the specs this morning online and I am somewhat confused about
the listed aperature settings; maybe someone can clarify for me.

Specs show range of f2.7 (wide) and f3.5 (tele) (if I recall correctly).
Does this indicate a limitation for the lens?

Yes, the lens can only open up to f3.5 at the telephoto end, while it
can reach f2.7 at the wide end.

In other words, would the
lens actually be able to close down to, say. f5.6 or f8, f11 or even
smaller? Or not?

It stops down to f8 regardless of zoom.

Also, ISO ratings are also confusing to me, as my experience has been only
film. I always think of ISO ratings in terms of "fine grain film" vs. less
fine grain, and ability of a higher number, say ISO 800 or 1600 to be more
grainy but more able to catch shots in low light or for action. I notice
that the ISO rating of the S2 IS peaks at 400, yet without film to worry
about, why stop at 400?

Digital cameras do not have "grain" the way film does. What they do
have is noise, an unavoidable random error added to the image data.
Boosting the ISO setting boosts the noise along with the image. Your
Canon only goes up to ISO 400 because anything beyond that would
produce really awful images.

As far as we know, the only way to avoid noise in digital cameras is
to make the sensor pixels larger. This makes the sensor larger,
requiring the lens to be larger, and the price to be much higher.
It is not currently possible to make a compact digital camera that
is usable at higher ISO settings, has a long zoom ratio, and has
lots of megapixels.

If you want to be able to shoot at ISO 1600, you need a digital
SLR. You'll spend a lot more money and give up some features
like movie mode or the ability to frame using the LCD, but
you'll get great low-noise images.

Your input much appreciated. -- Judy

Just set your camera at its lowest ISO and forget it. Use the
higher settings only when the image stabilizer doesn't give you
enough leeway to get the shot.

Have fun!

Paul Allen

"Judith Raskin" wrote in
nk.net...
I checked out the specs this morning online and I am somewhat confused
about the listed aperature settings; maybe someone can clarify for me.

Specs show range of f2.7 (wide) and f3.5 (tele) (if I recall correctly).
Does this indicate a limitation for the lens? In other words, would the
lens actually be able to close down to, say. f5.6 or f8, f11 or even
smaller? Or not?

snip...
Your input much appreciated. -- Judy

Also, you may be used to that 24x36 cameras give best sharpness around
f8-f11, but small sensor cameras, like S2IS, have small absolute sized
apertues, and give best sharpness at around f4.5 - f5.6.
Take some test pics on a tripod at different apertures and different
zoomings and see for yourself.
/per