Well, as per my thread the other day, I bought the IXUS 800IS (online for £272) and received it on Friday, agonisingly while I was at work!
Opening the box and there isn't much in there: -
2 CDs containg software and drivers and some Arcsoft software that I didn't install when I had my IXUS V and probably won't install now.
A wrist strap for you to tie on yourself.
An AV cable.
A White mini-USB cable.
An 1100 mAh 3.7v battery.
A battery charger.
A quick manual and a more detailed but not brilliant second manual.
The camera.
16MB SD card! Robbairsh!
First I had the painful wait while I charged the battery for the first time, I needed the camera on Sunday and I'd read somewhere that the first charge of the battery took the longest and gave the least camera life so I wanted to charge up, run the battery down again and charge up a second time before the weekend.
Battery took a good couple of hours during which time I gazed longingly at its shininess! The camera seems very sturdy, not the full steel case of the IXUS V as most of the back, particularly the LCD surround is a glossy black plastic but pretty solid never the less. The battery compartment covers the memory slot as well so fewer hinged doors to snap off accidentally. The door is plastic, as are the hinges so that's probably one of the weakest points of the camera. There is a second mini door that covers the A/V slots (mini-USB and what looks like a 2.5mm jack for video out). That flap looks very flimsy but I suppose time will tell, I'd imagine the only problem if it broke off would be dust in the mini-USB but I can live with that risk.
Finally the battery was cooked so dug out a 256MB SD card I had in an old phone and fired her up. First thing I noticed was the speed that the camera booted up and the lens extended, fantastic. After missing countless shots with the IXUS V due to sitting around waiting for the camera to open I was very pleasantly surprised.
In fact that was the third thing I noticed. The second thing I noticed was that it came in Japanese. No big deal as I knew it had different languages built in but did wonder for a second if that was why it was £100 cheaper than *******! I also wondered if it wouldn’t be more than a little confusing for less geeky people than me as the menus are all in Jap too so there was no guessing which one changed the language. Obviously the manual set me straight on page 4 but still more awkward than I expected as I’d have expected the first screen to have prompted for language. Maybe my camera is a return or refurb.
The first thing I noticed was a solitary dead (actually stuck on blue) pixel. The screen is beautifully bright and clear with excellent detail and no noticeable interference patterns from the reduced resolution. The one pixel is right on the bottom edge of the LCD and I’ve decided to live with it as I can’t be bothered sending the camera back, might be worth checking if you buy one though.
So now I’m all booted up, changed the language and ready to shoot. Menus galore is my first thought but I won’t bore you with that as I’d imagine that is the same with all cameras these days. There is one thing worth mentioning, I don’t think you’re ever more than 3 menus away from the setting you want and on the whole they’re very intuitive with descriptions of each of the little icons being displayed as well. A couple of settings such as “long shutter” and AiAF are on a different menu to the rest of the settings which was strange.
My biggest reason for changing cameras and my worst fear was the shooting time and I can happily report that without the flash on and not even going up to ISO 800, the snaps are very quick and it is pretty difficult to smudge an image by moving the camera too soon. It is very clear when the photo has finished and I really struggled to find a photo that wanted longer than 1 second exposure.
So images are great, generally better when taken by me than the Mrs but women have no patience for menus and sub-menus.
Here is my list of observations (excluding those already mentioned) some could be construed as gripes but remember I do love the camera and these are just little oddities.
1) Auto-focus can take a few goes to hit the right object if the view is busy, There is a different setting for auto focus which I’ve just played with today which can work in these situations.
2) When ISO is set to Auto, the EXIF data just says auto, it would be nice to know what it chose though.
3) Every time you turn it off and on again it turns the bloomin flash on! I hate the flash and specifically got this camera for its better low light capabilities.
4) Some photos are noisy, I know that’s to be expected on such a small camera but I think it could partly be down to ISO settings when in auto. It doesn’t get the optimal balance right every time. It’s also the 1/2.5” CCD which I think is pushing it for 6MP.
5) Don’t forget to zoom back out before doing macro shots, it won’t focus, I wasted 30 minutes thinking it was broken! It’s obvious when you think about it but still got annoyed!
6) Battery did not run down even on first charge after 200 test photos, many with flash. Just recharged it anyway but I think that demonstrates the exceptional battery life.
7) The flash seems very blue, I’d imagine that is pretty standard but does need some effort to compensate.
8) Camera is fantastically small and light but still sturdy.
9) Image stability is probably very good but not really noticed it being there yet, perhaps that is a good thing. Shots are certainly very clear.
10) Colours are brilliant but concerned that as there are many different colour settings I might spend more time adjusting the camera than taking photos, I suppose that is the problem with non film cameras.
11) Continuous shooting is great, only really works well without the flash but very nice little trick.
12) Video footage seems smooth and good quality; only played back on LCD so far so no idea if quality is DVD level or not.
That’ll do for now, if anyone has specific questions, I’ll do my best. I’ll sort some sample images out too but as they’re all my daughters Christening they’re not the best artistically.
Arty farty rose shot
http://www.andybutton.com/gallery/v/Family/Daisy/Christening/IMG_0213.JPG.html
Nice bloke shot I thought, my mate, not me
http://www.andybutton.com/gallery/v/Family/Daisy/Christening/IMG_0235.JPG.html
Muggins with Daisy
http://www.andybutton.com/gallery/v/Family/Daisy/Christening/IMG_0255.JPG.html
I know it's not an ace photo but she's so gorgeous!
http://www.andybutton.com/gallery/v/Family/Daisy/Christening/IMG_0294.JPG.html
Opening the box and there isn't much in there: -
2 CDs containg software and drivers and some Arcsoft software that I didn't install when I had my IXUS V and probably won't install now.
A wrist strap for you to tie on yourself.
An AV cable.
A White mini-USB cable.
An 1100 mAh 3.7v battery.
A battery charger.
A quick manual and a more detailed but not brilliant second manual.
The camera.
16MB SD card! Robbairsh!
First I had the painful wait while I charged the battery for the first time, I needed the camera on Sunday and I'd read somewhere that the first charge of the battery took the longest and gave the least camera life so I wanted to charge up, run the battery down again and charge up a second time before the weekend.
Battery took a good couple of hours during which time I gazed longingly at its shininess! The camera seems very sturdy, not the full steel case of the IXUS V as most of the back, particularly the LCD surround is a glossy black plastic but pretty solid never the less. The battery compartment covers the memory slot as well so fewer hinged doors to snap off accidentally. The door is plastic, as are the hinges so that's probably one of the weakest points of the camera. There is a second mini door that covers the A/V slots (mini-USB and what looks like a 2.5mm jack for video out). That flap looks very flimsy but I suppose time will tell, I'd imagine the only problem if it broke off would be dust in the mini-USB but I can live with that risk.
Finally the battery was cooked so dug out a 256MB SD card I had in an old phone and fired her up. First thing I noticed was the speed that the camera booted up and the lens extended, fantastic. After missing countless shots with the IXUS V due to sitting around waiting for the camera to open I was very pleasantly surprised.
In fact that was the third thing I noticed. The second thing I noticed was that it came in Japanese. No big deal as I knew it had different languages built in but did wonder for a second if that was why it was £100 cheaper than *******! I also wondered if it wouldn’t be more than a little confusing for less geeky people than me as the menus are all in Jap too so there was no guessing which one changed the language. Obviously the manual set me straight on page 4 but still more awkward than I expected as I’d have expected the first screen to have prompted for language. Maybe my camera is a return or refurb.
The first thing I noticed was a solitary dead (actually stuck on blue) pixel. The screen is beautifully bright and clear with excellent detail and no noticeable interference patterns from the reduced resolution. The one pixel is right on the bottom edge of the LCD and I’ve decided to live with it as I can’t be bothered sending the camera back, might be worth checking if you buy one though.
So now I’m all booted up, changed the language and ready to shoot. Menus galore is my first thought but I won’t bore you with that as I’d imagine that is the same with all cameras these days. There is one thing worth mentioning, I don’t think you’re ever more than 3 menus away from the setting you want and on the whole they’re very intuitive with descriptions of each of the little icons being displayed as well. A couple of settings such as “long shutter” and AiAF are on a different menu to the rest of the settings which was strange.
My biggest reason for changing cameras and my worst fear was the shooting time and I can happily report that without the flash on and not even going up to ISO 800, the snaps are very quick and it is pretty difficult to smudge an image by moving the camera too soon. It is very clear when the photo has finished and I really struggled to find a photo that wanted longer than 1 second exposure.
So images are great, generally better when taken by me than the Mrs but women have no patience for menus and sub-menus.
Here is my list of observations (excluding those already mentioned) some could be construed as gripes but remember I do love the camera and these are just little oddities.
1) Auto-focus can take a few goes to hit the right object if the view is busy, There is a different setting for auto focus which I’ve just played with today which can work in these situations.
2) When ISO is set to Auto, the EXIF data just says auto, it would be nice to know what it chose though.
3) Every time you turn it off and on again it turns the bloomin flash on! I hate the flash and specifically got this camera for its better low light capabilities.
4) Some photos are noisy, I know that’s to be expected on such a small camera but I think it could partly be down to ISO settings when in auto. It doesn’t get the optimal balance right every time. It’s also the 1/2.5” CCD which I think is pushing it for 6MP.
5) Don’t forget to zoom back out before doing macro shots, it won’t focus, I wasted 30 minutes thinking it was broken! It’s obvious when you think about it but still got annoyed!
6) Battery did not run down even on first charge after 200 test photos, many with flash. Just recharged it anyway but I think that demonstrates the exceptional battery life.
7) The flash seems very blue, I’d imagine that is pretty standard but does need some effort to compensate.
8) Camera is fantastically small and light but still sturdy.
9) Image stability is probably very good but not really noticed it being there yet, perhaps that is a good thing. Shots are certainly very clear.
10) Colours are brilliant but concerned that as there are many different colour settings I might spend more time adjusting the camera than taking photos, I suppose that is the problem with non film cameras.
11) Continuous shooting is great, only really works well without the flash but very nice little trick.
12) Video footage seems smooth and good quality; only played back on LCD so far so no idea if quality is DVD level or not.
That’ll do for now, if anyone has specific questions, I’ll do my best. I’ll sort some sample images out too but as they’re all my daughters Christening they’re not the best artistically.
Arty farty rose shot
http://www.andybutton.com/gallery/v/Family/Daisy/Christening/IMG_0213.JPG.html
Nice bloke shot I thought, my mate, not me
http://www.andybutton.com/gallery/v/Family/Daisy/Christening/IMG_0235.JPG.html
Muggins with Daisy
http://www.andybutton.com/gallery/v/Family/Daisy/Christening/IMG_0255.JPG.html
I know it's not an ace photo but she's so gorgeous!
http://www.andybutton.com/gallery/v/Family/Daisy/Christening/IMG_0294.JPG.html
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