Anyone have a Canon Powershot S2?

[czieler]

I was thinking of getting my gf this for her birthday...but I'd like to know if it takes good macro shots in the aquarium .. because... of course I'm going to use it to... heh.

[PelagicMagic]

You might be happier with a A620 powershot for a few dollars more.

7.1 mp and it takes great macros

[czieler]

Hmm..it only has a 4x optical zoom though...the other has 12x... ?

I'll read up on some reviews on it though...

[PelagicMagic]

yes but you will be taking pics of your tank from 1' away not 100 yards. The 7mp will outweigh the 12x optical. Also when shooting macros you do not use any zoom. Now if you plan on using the camera to shoot wildlife then the 12x will be useful.

[czieler]

Yeah...its going to be used for other things as well.. like trips to NC mountains..etc.

I know someone w/ this camera (they don't have a tank though..heh)..I'm going to see if they will let me borrow it for a day to see how tank shots come out.

[Timmy77]

I have the S1 great camera. Not sure about the aquarium picture taking abilities. I'm still trying to figure that out. It takes great movies. I would recommend it. You want at least a 1 gig card for it. Pics attached.

[Timmy77]

I will try taking some new ones latter today or tommorow.

[PelagicMagic]

As long as you go with a Canon, they are great cameras. You should swing by Ritz camera to see all the cameras in person.

Here are some macros I took this morning with the A620, I had to rezize them to 31kb for uploading so they are not as nice as the original 2.5mb pics

[Timmy77]

Few more with the S2. Oh and I saved alot of money by buying it on ebay

[PelagicMagic]

reef macros





Tank shots

[Loverotties]

Nice shots!

[czieler]

Haven't been able to get in touch w/ my friend that has the s2... I also saw their is an s3 that is 6 megapixel...

I like the ones you took w/ the A620...but I just wish it had a better optical zoom for vacation photos ...I have another couple of weeks before her bday though..so I am going to keep trying to borrow the s2 to see if I like it...

[PelagicMagic]

Carol, the s2 is outdated, in 6 months it will really be outdated. Heck my camera is almost "old news" and I am looking to upgrade. If you are really set on this camera at least get the s2. The s1 and s2 are condisered "consumer SLR" cameras which means they are made to do many jobs ie: personal camera, sport camera, and close up camera for nature shots. Its a fine camera but if you want to take nature shots up close you should look at Nikon digital SLR's. They are very expensive but you will get the shots that you are looking for and it will not become outdated as quickly. I also wouldnt recommend a camera that has a lens with a zoom over 4-5x that you cannot remove. You should take a trip to Ritz camera before buying anything.

[PelagicMagic]

also every photo I take in super fine large mode (as I like to call it) I always have to resize the photo to a smaller size on my photo editor. I which I could show you what I am talking about but I cannot upload those large files

[czieler]

We will probably do the S3 if we go that route..as its only $50 more online...

I don't think I could get an SLR ... and do a tank upgrade in January... LOL ... especially since I've promised to buy new bedroom furniture before I do the new tank upgrade...unless my boss gives me a bonus or something I was really just trying to make sure that I got the best bang for my buck since this is really supposed to be a present for her... not to take photos of my tank...but hey... I may as well look into that side of it too..heh. Although one thing I was put off by..was the underwater casing price for the s2 ( didn't look at the s3 ). We go to the keys sometimes and go snorkeling...we'd like to be able to use it there..but I guess I could get one for my current camera..those are only $100 or so. But the case for the A620 is only $160...thats something I'll keep in mind when we are looking at them.

I know what you mean by the image size I do a lot in photoshop for websites, etc, and we do a lot of image/video processing at work...

I will get to the mall w/ her in the next couple of weeks..she is out of town the next two weekends... but after that.. we'll go..and we can have the guy show us both of them.