All in the <head> – Ponderings and code by Drew McLellan –

New Camera

One of my 43things when I signed up was to take more pictures. I don’t think I’m alone in enjoying photographs and the memories they can bring back – but I’m terrible at remembering to take them. A really significant part of the problem has been that my camera, as fantastic as it is, is just too big to carry around comfortably. Plus no one likes have a big camera pointed in their face – especially one that looks like it might be dangerous.

This week I invoiced and got paid for a big chunk of work I’d been doing, and whilst the vast majority of it is going towards one of my other 43things (paying off the dreaded credit card), I decided to splash out just a little and get myself a compact camera.

For a long time I’ve been a big fan of the aesthetics of the Canon IXUS range of cameras. They’ve been making them for years, first in traditional 35mm, then APS, and then inevitably digital. The fact that they’ve been around for so long and yet still seem to be innovating, combined with some hands on experience with my father’s IXUS lead me to start my search at Canon’s door. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The model I went for was the 5 megapixel IXUS 50 (which is called the PowerShot SD400 in the States). It’s extremely compact, has a x3 optical zoom (plus x4 digital) and takes photos at 2592 × 1944 pixels (I think). I opted for the compactness over the extra 2 megapixels of the IXUS 700, which was bulkier. Who really needs that res on a compact camera anyway. Well, I don’t at least.

One really terrific aspect of modern digital cameras seems to be the shutter release delay. My old Sony typically took about 1.5 seconds between pressing the release and taking the picture. Fine for still life, but useless for anything that moves. They seem to have sorted that out, and the delay on my new Canon is negligible.

The other thing I did to help on the photo front was to sign up with a pro account on flickr. Not much in my photostream at the moment, but that’s the point. I simply must take more pictures. And isn’t flickr just fantastic?

– 22 June 2005 –

13 Responses

22 Jun 2005

Steven Jarvis

I just picked up the same camera last week. Previously, I’ve owned a 2MP version and the S410 4MP version. My experiences with those previous elph/IXUS models makes me confident that this one will be a great camera, too.

I “upgraded” to the SD400 for a couple of reasons: (1) it’s half the thickness and a little smaller in the other two directions, making it much more pocketable than the (admittedly already quite small) S410 and (2) the lack of shutter lag time you mentioned. I’ve really got no excuse to NOT carry it with me and take a lot of photos.

22 Jun 2005

Dave

I was just thinking how splendid my Ixus 40 was and you go and upstage me like that… (Ach, who needs 5MP anyway?) Still, I agree about small cameras being so much easier to use. My last was a great hulking Fuji Finepix 2800Z.
Also I’ve just started using the FlickrExport plugin for iPhoto which makes things very simple and straightforward.

22 Jun 2005

Jon Hicks

I have the IXUS 400 (couple of models behind yours), and I love it. Does great macro shots, which I didn’t expect.

I’m with Dave- the iPhoto flickr plugin is the only reason I started using Flickr. It just makes it so easy…

23 Jun 2005

Hans

Good thing you went for smaller size (and price) rather than 2 more megapixels, because the difference between 5 and 7 megapixels is not big at all. What matters most is physical sensor size, but you won’t find much variation of that in compact P&Ss.

23 Jun 2005

Andrew

I’d be interested to see a face-off between your SD400 and Mike Davidson’s EX-Z750. Seems the one holdback for me and the Casio is the dock (no on-camera USB port), and the Canon is definitely making a run for the money.

23 Jun 2005

Joshua Marshall

ah, excellent choice!

I bought the IXUS 400 a couple of months ago and I absolutely love it. I’m still completely and utterly crap at taking pictures, mind, but it’s a start…

23 Jun 2005

Stephan Segraves

I have the exact same camera and I’ve been going through the manual trying to figure out how to take shots with the color accent feature…

The macro features are great. I’ve taken some really cool shots with it and love its size.

29 Jun 2005

Jennifer Grucza

Oh wow, that Sony is one strange-looking camera.

Part of the reason I got a digital camera was for the size. I have a Canon EOS Rebel 35mm, but it just takes up so much room, especially in its case. The digital camera I bought, the Canon A70, is not as small as your SD400, so I don’t carry it around in my purse all the time (like I do with my iPod), but it is still small enough that I don’t feel conspicuous hauling it around. Of course, it’s not in the same class as my 35mm, but it does a pretty good job. The A70’s, unfortunately, are having a lot of problems. It seems like it’s only a matter of time before I start getting weird streaks and E18 errors, according to all the reviews coming in.

01 Jul 2005

Mary

What can i say but 2 simple words: Great choice!

04 Jul 2005

John

Neat camera. Although I would have gone for the 5mp Casio. I know.. you must be saying why a brand named Casio! Well, surprisingly, for the price it is definitely one of the best out there. Mike has written a post on his blog at mikeindustries.com

13 Jul 2005

Mark Porthouse

We got an Ixus V2 some years ago. Lovely metal! Only 2mp and haven’t upgraded yet.

23 Jul 2005

Peter J Lambert

I got the Ixus 50 a month or so after my son was born. My Nikon Coolpix (2.1mp) just wasn’t pocketable enough and I new I would to carry a camera round everywhere I go from then on as he started doing new stuff.

Also, I felt I needed something with a quick start-up and a quick response on the shutter. The IXUS 50 did it all and I’m well chuffed with it after 2 months.

One thing though. It has compatibility problems with some brands of SD cards.. I got a Bytestor card and found that after about 60 shots it would freeze up and give errors. I wouldn’t be able to view the pictures I’d taken on the camera or download them directly from the camera, only via a card reader. Best stick with a Canon card or a Sandisk. I can’t remember the link to the forum thread that listed all the good/bad cards but if I do I’ll comment again. In lieu of that, have a google around.

28 Aug 2005

Creford

I think the sensor size 1/1.8” (7.18×5.32 mm) is one of paramount features and is the basic features presently. So A80, A95, SD500 and so on, any of them is a good choice.