Re: Canon S80, aperture after zooming back etc.

Mick wrote:
I own a Canon S50. We need another camera and I am thinking about buying another Canon, since I like the fact that photo quality is good and expecially that colors are very natural.

However the software of S50 was VERY annoying in some circumstances. I would like to know if the following points have been fixed in the S80, please tell. Partial replies welcome :-)

- In S50, in any mode where the aperture is manual, if you zoom back (wideangle) and you set the widest aperture (what is that, 2.5 I think) then you zoom to telephoto, the aperture shrinks and becomes some 4.5 . (And up to here it is correct.) Now the problem is that when you zoom back the aperture STAYS FIXED TO 4.5!! So if you don't remember to widen the aperture every time you zoom back, you get a photo where things are as small as in wideangle but the photo is as dark as in telephoto!! This is *extremely* annoying imho, makes you waste tons of photos. Is it still so in S80?


I have an S80 right here next to me, and here is the result:

1) Zoom all the way out, set aperature to 2.8
2) Zoom in, the aperature goes to 5.3
3) Zoom out, the aperature goes back to 2.8

Does that make it an automatic like the other guy said? I don't think so. It's just getting as close as it can to the aperature I specified. If I set the aperature to 3.5, it doesn't change in the first half of the zoom range, but it rises if I zoom in further, but returns to 3.5 asap when I zoom back out.


- In S50 there is no "programmable" setting (nor any automatic setting with a reasonable algorithm) which can be programmed so that the camera thereafter automatically does this: (e.g.)
- Always use widest aperture
- with high light use ISO 50, Large photos, short times
- when light is not so high increase times up to 1/40
- on lower lights increase the ISO to 100
- on lower lights reduce size to Medium1
- then raise ISO to 200
- then reduce size to Medium2
- then increase times to 1/30
- then raise ISO to 400
- then increase times to 1/20
- then reduce size to Small
- then increase time as much as needed
there is no such thing on S50 so basically to obtain good photos I always have to tweak all settings by hand, or at least (to obtain at least decent ones) the ISO and the size of the photos, which are never automatic.
Is this any way better on S80?

I don't think so. I do think you can save sets of manual settings, so you might be able to set one for each of the conditions you listed. But I've never used the save settings feature, so I could be wrong. If you really want to know I'll look.

I'll just add one more variable to your progression, the flash output can also be controlled, though only to three settings. IMHO there's too big a jump between these three.


- In S50 I could not choose a point for Auto Exposure: all the area was taken for AE evaluation so in dark environments I would see a few bright pixels at 255,255,255 and all the rest of the photo would be black. Can I choose a point for AE in S80?


The short answer is yes.

Longer answer: The S80 has a autofocus rectangle which you can make large or small. If you make it large, the camera automatically chooses one or more smaller areas to use. If you make the rectangle small, you can manually move it around the frame using the rocker switch. Then for autoexposure, you can set it to meter the center of the screen, or to compute exposure on the movable AF area (which is what I think you want).

What's easier, though, is to use the "exposure lock" function. Put the AE/AF rectangle over an area with the desired lighting, hold the shoot button half-way, then press the ISO button. The metered aperature will be "locked in" for the next shot buy adjusting the shutter speed and/or aperature (depending on whether you're in program mode, shutter priority, or aperature priority).

Sorry if that sounds complicated, but it is! (IMHO). It took me a minute to figure this stuff out because I never use it.
.

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