After hours of research, I've narrowed it down between a Canon S500 and a Pentax S4i I'm looking for something small, yet full of features and can take great photos. From what I hear, the Pentax is smaller, but the Canon has the edge quality-wise(outside of having an extra MP). Does anyone have any real-world experience with either or both cameras? I'm going on Saturday to look at them in person before buying one. TIA. -DC
I've used Nikons, Canons and a few Pentax cameras for a long time. Granted they are 35MM cameras and not digital, but my experience with Pentax products has taught me that all their products are uniformly poor. Canon's products have always given pleasing results, and I've had my mitts on a friend's digital Rebel for a few days and it's a toss up between that and the new cheapish Nikon. I think the Canon will win At any rate, chose the Canon. You will be pleased.
I have experience with Canon. I have owned an S110, S400 and now the new S500. I love them. I've never had a problem with any of the cameras and they deliver excellent picture quality. I love the size of the small Canon digitals. They fit in your pocket easily and if you get a 512MB CF card or a 1G CF card the camera is the only thing you'll need to take on most excursions.
That was my plan exactly, pick up one of the cameras, and a 512MB card, and just keep it with me in my pocket for pretty much everything. -DC
I just came back from 2 weeks in Italy with my S500. It was fantastic. Battery lasted for about 5 days between recharge on a combination of flash and outside [not using the LCD for composition]. I took great idoor shoots with the flash off. Lightweight so we did not have a problem carrying on the the walking and climbign that we did. Plus the image quality was fantastic. You will not be disappointed if you go with the Cannon.
I just got my Pentax S4i and took on my honeymoon for three weeks. What a great camera. It does everything, is small, great picture quality!! Love it.
My powershot A75 came in the other day.I also got the 512MB card.That was about as much as i wanted to spend.Seems like it should do the job though.
DC... Grew up using Leicas (yes plural), have owned MANY digital camera from the Kodac D40 (circa 1997 or so) to Olympus, to (analog) Hasselblad, to Canon D30, to... i love my little Canon S400. Just my humble 2 Yen.
I apologize for the delay, I've been out of town. Geez, you guys are making it hard on me, although I'm leaning towards the Canon for a few reasons. I think I'm going to call around to a few of the local camera shops in a minute and if any has both of them in-shop that I can try out. Thanks. -DC
Canon S50. I have it and it is v good. If there is one critisism I have it is that it is just too complex (with a cast array of options)if you want to use it to the full and you are not a pro. I advise getting the 1gb microdrive instead of the 512mb card. If you take pics in RAW format they can be 15mb each ! also with 1gb you can make long vid clips without worrying about space. For all things technical i check www.zdnet.com and it is the editors choice there, so that was good enough for me. Good Luck
Alright, I happened across a little camera shop yesterday, so I figured that I'd stop in. By luck, they had both models(S4i and S500)! The clerk is a professional photographer and the area and was very knowledgable about cameras. Anyways, 45minutes of standing there with both in my hands and talking to him, I couldn't justify one over the other. I must certainly say this decision has become harder than it should be. Here's a list of pro's and con's: S4i pro's--------------------- Size(smaller than credit card)(3.3 x 2 x 0.8 in) Weight(about half the weight of the S500)(4.2 oz) Aluminum construction SD card More portable $350 pricetag S4i con's--------------------- Only 4MP (I'd rather have 5) No low-light focus lamp 4sec min. exposure Lens isn't as good as the Canon's(not a bad lens, but is a step or two from the Canon's) Small(er) viewfinder Larger LCD S500 pro's-------------------- 5MP! Alum. construction Large viewfinder Smaller LCD Quality lens 15sec min. exposure More professional S500 con's-------------------- Size(A little beefier than the Pentax) (3.4 x 2.2 x 1.1 in) Weight(nearly double the Pentax. I fear I would not want to carry it with me)(7.6oz) CF card $500 retail(although I can get it online for $395-405 shipped) The price isn't really a factor though. It basically comes down to this: The Canon is more professional, but is a bit larger and heavier, the Pentax is not as professional, but is lighter and smaller. I'd like something lightwieght so I will want to carry it around in my pocket, however, I'd like something with features for when I want to take nice pictures. I'm starting to wish that one of them had a serious flaw that would allow me to eliminate it from the two. Any help would be great. I'm going to order one of them today or tomorrow. -DC
If price isn't really a factor get them both. Give them a weekend tryout and send me the one you don't want. Seriously, I am going with the Canon S410. It has enough features and the benefit over the S500 is it is a little faster, I hate the delay when pulling the trigger. 4 megapixels is enough unless you are really blowing up photos. Regarding Pentax vs Canon, smaller is appealing, but the Canon is still very small. I would go with the better lens in the Canon.
Read this guys reviews of both cameras. He is very thorough. http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/optios4i.html
