what to buy - still or video ?

[barracuda]

hi folks !!

need some advice. have had a Canon S45 for 2 years and have been quite pleased with it except that now i have the opportunity to sell it and go for an upgrade !!

am torn between still and video but would like to stick to canon both my present and previous camera (IXUS300) were good.

any recommendations for a good video (3CCD?) camera which has a u/w housing available and what price is should i be looking at ?

must stress i am not looking for professional features other than perhaps RAW stills and good quality video. must be compact as i dont want to lug tons of stuff around !!

appreciate any advice from you out there asap. thanks in advance.

venkat
barracuda diving india

 

[Jamdiver]

Barracuda,

From what I've heard the compact Canon models that shoot RAW like the S70 or S80 focus very slowly..., much more slowly the current generation A610/A620.
And in addition the RAW write times to the memory card are slow as the camera's buffer is small.

Is RAW that important to you?

 

[Chad_Ordelheide]

I've seen the video on the A620. It's "DVD" quality and is actually quite good. If I remember right it is 620x480...(Somewhere around there) at 30 frames per second. Personally, why get one or the other when you can get great video with your still camera!!! Oh yeah, you can also zoom in and out while shooting video. Not bad!!

 

[barracuda]

thanks guys ! no RAW is not that important. shall check out the A620. any more suggestions / advice appreciated. thanks.

 

[barracuda]

guys !!

how abt the IXUS 750 ? heard the reviews on this one are very good. it appears to be a bit more than the A620 but also offers more versatility.

venkat

 

[Jamdiver]

Barracuda,

The reviews of the IXUS 750, or SD550 as it is known on this side of the world have been good.
But that's mainly for topside photography, if you notice it doesn't have any options for you to adjust white balance, shutter speed, aperture..

Basically no manual controls, you'll find that u/w those are important features to have.
Having manual controls is very important.

Also the A610/A620 has a greater optical zoom range..
I personally would go with the A610 as I will in a few weeks .

Check out this thread for a discussion/comparison between the S70 & A620, I found it helpful you might also.
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=115082

Also if you were to do a search or go back a few months looking through the threads in this forum, you'd find a ton of information!

 

[HowardE]

Barracuda,

As someone who shoots video regularly, and my wife shoots stills regularly... I would just throw my 2¢ in by saying that it's MUCH EASIER to SHARE stills, as opposed to video.

For the most part... Stills are ready to present without much post-process being involved.

Video - It usually takes me about an hour to capture, and edit every 3-5 minutes of video. Then you actually have to sit people down, to SHOW them the video (makes me feel like my dad with old home movies).

So in short... Video = lots of post production to make a presentable product, and then you actually have to either burn a DVD to share with friends, or post HUGE files and hope that people have a fast enough internet connection to view them.

As for the camera... My wife uses a Canon S70. She's pretty happy with the results (see my gallery for both videos [sony] and stills from the S70) - I would say her only complaint about the S70 is the lag time between the time you click the shutter, until the photo actually shoots.

Just something to think about.

 

[barracuda]

hi guys !!

have compared the S750 and the A620 and it looks like the A620 wins hands down. thanks for the advice jamdiver. just one last question. do all the manual functions work in the housing and also is the memory card same as the CF card used in older models like S45 ?

venkat

 

[Jamdiver]

Yup all the manual functions work in the housing (Canon).
I'm sure the forthcoming Ikelite housing will allow full functionality for all the controls.

The a610/a620 uses SD memorry (Secure digital), these memory cards are physically a little smaller than CF cards. SD cards cost a little bit more on average though.