My first digital camera - still deciding if it's a film replacement

Author's Rating:

Pros: sharp pictures, great prints, easy to use, compact size

Cons: digital camera learning curve, not as straightforward as film

The Bottom Line: 
Best compact point and shoot digital camera available today. Finally a possible digital replacement for film!

Author's Review
I've been thinking about getting a digital camera since the fall of 2002 and nothing really lived up to my requirements until the Canon Powershot S400 came along. I wanted (as a minimum) 4 megapixel, 3 times optical zoom, compact point and shoot, standard (non-proprietary) memory card technology, and preferably Canon because of the DIGIC technology. Manual controls, regular (i.e., AA) batteries and a manufacturer's underwater case were desirable but not essential. I seriously thought about the Canon Powershot S45, but reviews described it as a compact brick, so I waited. And in early 2003 Canon announced this camera. Early reviews said the pictures were as good as the Canon G3 or Powershot S45...

Buying it

I kept watching some of the bargain web sites to see who had deals on the camera, and I decided when the price got to $400 or less I would break down and buy one. Fortunately American Express offered it in the spring for 66,000 points, and I got the camera for exactly $0 (or $66,000 depending on how you look at it). My first use of American Express points and I was happy

Using it

The camera came by UPS, I opened the box, charged the battery, put it all together, turned it on, and kept getting an E18 error code before the camera turned itself off. A check of the Canon web site said it was a problem with the lens assembly. Reading the manual (yes, you definitely need to do that with this camera) told me you need to charge the internal date/time battery from the camera's battery when you first start, so I waited -- about twice as long as the manual said. And magically the camera worked!

Taking pictures is pretty easy. It's just like any point and shoot 35mm camera with a zoom lens. Point..zoom..press button..wait for autofocus..click. Shutter lag isn't bad, maybe a quarter of a second. All the first few pictures looked pretty crappy, so I read some more of the manual, tried holding the camera steadier, and took some more pictures

The pictures

I'm not sure what I'm doing differently, but the more I use the camera, the better the pictures are. About 10% are still out of focus, and it's hard to tell on the small screen outdoors if the focus is sharp or not. But at least I can take several shots and erase the ones I don't like. Exposure on the automatic setting is pretty accurate - at least as good as our 12 year old Canon Photura point and shoot.

Indoor shots are sometimes blotchy. I think because the camera increases the effective film speed, which in turn decreases the sensor quality. You can change the setting in manual mode, but I haven't bothered yet. In bright sun light, the pictures are as good as film. When it's darker or tricky lighting, I don't think it's as good as film. A lot of problems can probably be fixed in Photoshop, but I don't want to spend my free time sitting in front of my computer making vacation pictures look right. After I push the button, I want to see the final picture.

I'll probably take the camera with me a lot because it's so small and I need to learn how to use it more. I'll take it as well as a 35mm camera on my next vacation and see which does better. I don't have 100% confidence in it yet to give up on film

My wife hasn't used the camera yet. Given that you have to understand something about digital photography to get good pictures (or at least understand more about photography than with film cameras), I see her using the camera as a disaster waiting to happen. I can just imagine her complaining than none of "our" pictures came out!

The pictures

There's no way I'm going to sit around and print pictures myself, which is one of the reasons I resisted the switch to digital photography for so long. Besides, consumer ink jet printers always look different than photographs. My contractor showed me some prints from his China trip that were pretty good, but when I saw there were services that printed digital pictures using photographic print technology, I was convinced.

I took my first set of pictures (actually just the compact flash card) to Costco, stuck it in their reader at the one hour photo, and ordered my pictures. The next day I picked them up. Bottom line: 4x6 prints looked at least as sharp as 35mm prints, the color was good, and it used film print technology (i.e., long life and no smears). I could live with 19 cents a print for not having to buy a printer and print pictures myself. I was convinced this part of the process was better than film. Besides, I could pick and choose which pictures I wanted prints of. And being cheap, I could send friends that went on vacation with us digital pictures instead of making prints for them (just like they always do to us)

The whole package

Out of the box, the Powershot S400 comes with enough to get started. Barely. I bought a case, since it didn't come with one and I could see the camera getting all banged up otherwise. I recommend the Tamrac 5688 for about 10 bucks

The 32 MB compact flash card that comes with the camera is a joke. But then again, what 35mm camera comes with a lifetime film supply? I bought a 256 MB compact flash from Costco for about $59, and figure it's enough to get started with. I'll probably buy another 512 MB before I go on vacation (the longer I wait the cheaper the memory will be). I also bought a USB compact flash reader so I don't have to keep plugging the USB adapter into the flimsy looking interface on the camera.

I was planning on buying a cigarette lighter charger, but they're hard to find. After more consideration, I think a second battery is probably more practical, and I'll buy one before I travel on vacation. Each battery charge is supposed to be good for a little more than 200 pictures.

I'm seriously thinking about one of the Canon underwater housings for my next dive trip. Looks like it makes a real sweet underwater camera

The Bottom Line

The Powershot S400 has exceeded my expectations, and I can see once I get it all figured out it will replace my point and shoot camera. Pictures are sharp with good color, but there's a learning curve -- you need to read the manual several times and try things out. The camera usability is pretty straightforward once you figure it out. Fortunately taking pictures is essentially free. I'd get the camera all over again, even if I had to spend $400, and there's still nothing better on the market.