Canon PowerShot S2 IS Digital Camera

Xcellent First or Serious Digital Camera

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Aug 11, 2006 | 5 out of 6 found this Canon PowerShot S2 IS Digital Camera review helpful

Pros: IT'S A CAMERA/CAMCORDER IN ONE!!!!!

Cons: A tad slow auto focus (no big deal read on)

This camera is a serious one that even a first timmer can learn to use. Don't worry about the high tech stuff at first, it's good to go right out of the box. Learn more as you go. Page 72 in the owners manual tells what each option it has and the pag...e that tells what that option is and how to use it. A little play time with that stuff and you'll figure it out in no time. BUY a HIGH speed SD card for it also at same time as purchase if possible. It comes with a 16MB card which is really only good for learning to use it. Buy a name brand SD card like Sandisk or Lexar with 60x speed or greater. This will save battery life and give you quiker shots and better video. Don't trust the low cost cheapies they tend to have read errors in no time. This is not acceptable when camcording or shooting valuble moments. Don't lose out on that over a $20 bill. TRUST ME I LEARNED THE HARD WAY TWICE! AUTO focus is in my opinion almost useless compared to manual focus. If you buy one this is what you do to focus it. When you zoom in or out the camera goes out of focus. Hold the shutter button at half to focus a little faster once zoomed in. SIMPLE but. When auto focus is OFF, you zoom in on something it goes out of focus less and then you half press the shutter button which gets it back to focus MUCH faster. SIMPLE SIMPLE! Ready shoot and quik. When you zoom in on auto focus it over focuses and then goes back wasting battery life. On manual just zoom in, half press, and BAM there already. Okay I'm sick of typing. If this is your first one then I highly recomend the Cannon S2 IS. Buy it and a high speed 2G SD card. (video eats alot of memory so go 2Gig) Throw away your old camera and 8mm camcorder. IF YOU WISH TO SAVE MONEY (like 75-150 or more) and buy a cheaper camera here's what will happen. 1- You'll learn how to use it. 2- You'll find out what things you WISH it had or did. 3- You'll want a view screen that swivels so you can hold it above your head and still see what your shooting. 4- MORE OPTICAL ZOOM 5- You learn new things and then out pace it. It doesn't keep up so you end up buying a nicer one down the road. TWO purchases instead of one. Kind of reminds alot of us about the computer were on right now huh! Read more Less