|
Articles and Reviews
|
Home >> Photography >> Digital Digicams
- Canon S400 & Sony DSC-P10
I bought my own digicam back in 2001, buying a Nikon Coolpix 950 that was current way back in 1999, but now considered archaic in 2004. It is big and heavy compared to the current digicam offerings and it offers a measly 2 MP of resolution, which was considered state of the art in 1999. It is shocking to remember that the CP950 retailed for CAN $1500 in 1999 and today that $1500 would buy you an 8 MP Sony F828 that blows the CP950 out of the water for resolution, ergonomics and features. It is even more shocking to think that just before the revolutionary Nikon D1 was introduced offering 2.7 MP for US $5,000, a 2 MP Canon/Kodak digital SLR cost US $15,000. The CP950 suffers from all the ills that people have always complained about in compact cameras. Slow turn-on, slow focusing, slow shutter lag, non-existent buffer after taking a frame, even in JPEG capture mode and a next to useless TIFF mode along with chromatic aberrations and noisy high ISOs. It takes about three-seconds for the camera to write a JPEG to the compact flash card and about 30 seconds or more for a TIFF. Not a speed demon and some careful timing and anticipation are required to obtain a shot at peak action. Shortly after I bought my CP950, one of my brothers-in-law bought a Canon Digital Elph that was also a 2 MP camera, but less than half the size of the CP950. At first, the only impressive feature of that Canon was its diminutive size, which found favour with others in the family over my CP950 tank. However, after seeing a number of shots taken with that Digital Elph, it appeared that it offered similar quality as the old Nikon. Impressive that in the space of two years, a same resolution camera can be built to be not much bigger than a deck of cards.
Unfortunately, that CP950 is too large and unwieldy for my wife to toss in her purse or bag, so I’ve been keeping my eye out for something compact enough for her yet high-quality enough for me, even though this camera would never be more than a family snapshot camera. The first obvious look was at the Canon PowerShot S400s that were bought and given out this past Christmas. Before deciding on the S400 for Christmas, I looked at the Canon A70 and Canon A80 units too and was actually leaning towards the A80. The A70/A80 is not that much bigger than the S400 with a little extra grip provided thanks to their use of AA batteries instead of a proprietary Li-Ion cell. The A80 was the desired camera, because it offered metal build over the plastic A70, it has a flip out LCD (none on the A70 or S400), and it took the very common AA cell. It also equals the resolution of the S400, bettering the 3 MP A70 and finally, it was cheaper than the S400 – but not after buying rechargeable AA cells and a charger. However, the diminutive size of the S400 won over the A80 because it was strongly hinted at by one of the recipients of the gift, for as compact a camera as possible. The two families receiving the S400 cameras seemed very happy with the choice, but I think they would have been just as happy with the A80 too. You might have noticed why I, as a Nikon user, am talking so glowingly of Canon cameras. Praise due where praise is warranted and although I very much have biases in favour of Nikon and Canon products in the SLR world, I was particularly taken by the Canon digicam offerings and did not look at any other brand, such as market leader, Sony.
In my desire to see what’s happening in mid-level digicams from two leading brands, I borrowed a Canon S400 and a Sony P10. I know little about digicams in general as my interest is in what’s happening in the D-SLR market – when I want to take a photo, even just a snapshot, I reach for my D100 instead of the CP950. If I were shopping strictly for my own needs, I would prefer a camera with RAW capture capability, excellent macro range, ability to mount optional wide or telephoto lens attachments, histogram display, and exposure overrides. I would not be concerned about ultra compact size a la the S400 and if it could take AA cells that would be great because I have so many rechargeable cells in the house. However, this isn’t about me, but about looking for something for my wife, who could care less about any of my needs J Onwards we go. Canon S400
Canon has impressive research and development and their products are usually fairly well thought out for quality and features. The company’s digicams are usually right near, if not right at the top of the pack in their respective classes. The products are solid performers with usually class-leading resolution offered. In the world of digicams, I like what Canon has to offer more than Nikon’s follow the pack offerings that have not innovated much since the original Coolpix 900 with its rotating lens section. In the world of digicams, there isn’t much to tie me down to one company or another despite my gravitational pull towards Nikon only products. As well, other leading brands have been ignored because of their use of memory cards other than compact flash. No need for Fuji or Olympus products with their SD cards and certainly not Sony with their memory sticks. Pentax and Minolta? Never had much interest in their film products and that prejudice carried through to the digital realm, an admittedly shortsighted reaction. But Canon, now there’s a company that seems to have it all together (as much as I gritted my teeth typing that as a bleeding black and yellow Nikon user). J There’s even a Canon CP200 printer in the family now that will allow the Canon owners in the family to directly print their photos without need for a computer. Is there anything more that a non-computer savvy consumer will need besides their PowerShot digicam and compact 4x6 printer? Not really, which is why I believe Canon when they state that they will be the largest photo company in the world for both film and digital (if they already aren’t now). Canon megalomania aside, what about the S400? As is my usual standard, I’m just going to speak in generalities and leave specifics to those who have done so in a far more superior fashion than I from the likes of DPReview, Steve’s Digicams and Imaging Resource. It is an incredibly compact camera and I’m impressed with how much is packed into such a small package. Opening up the battery chamber at the bottom of the camera reveals a battery that is quite sizeable on its own and when coupled with the space taken by the compact flash card slot and 3x optical zoom lens, you realize that the actual electronics of the camera are only a small part of the camera. Amazing how far miniaturization has come in the world of electronics. As expected for such a small camera the rear LCD is quite small, but it provides decent amount of information and although the small viewfinder is usable I’d expect most users to use the LCD for composing a photo. The quality of the images on their own are certainly good enough to satisfy the consumer class of photographer that would likely never produce anything larger than an 8x10 (or 7.5x10 in this case). Sony DSC-P10
One of the more interesting aspects of the Sony P10 is the compatibility with other Sony products thanks to the use of the Sony memory stick. Snap a few shots with the P10, take the memory stick out and load it into a Sony PDA and be able to view the image file in detail, enlarging or minimizing quickly and with ease via a control dial on the PDA. This was one of the first things that my cousin showed me when he brought over his new toys. Theoretically, you should be able to do something similar with other PDA devices, i.e., I should be able to review JPEG files on my flash card via my Toshiba E740 pocket PC. Unfortunately, effective viewing means having to have third-party viewing applications loaded on the pocket PC and even then viewing at high magnifications may not be very smooth or fast. Definitely not as seamless and integrated as the Sony PDA but such proprietary features seem to indicate Sony’s desire for world dominance and forcing everyone to use their standards. We consumers of course resisted Sony’s dark empire way back in the early 1980s when Betamax video was rejected in favour of JVC’s admittedly inferior VHS format. However, Sony has succeeded on a number of other fronts from CD (in partnership with Phillips), Mini-DV, and even Betamax never really left, as it became the professional broadcast standard. Other products seen as initial failures came back in a resurgence of popularity (MiniDisc). Sony’s a player and it’s hard not to take notice of their dominance of consumer electronics even if many regard it as too “consumer”. For years audiophiles regarded Sony as the prototypical Japanese manufacturer that cared more about marketing and specs than actual sound quality. Then one day, Sony came out with Super Audio CD (SACD) and their players were considered very good, even by those that had access to all of the best digital players in the world (Robert Hartley of the Absolute Sound). Now Sony is respected in the high-end audio world as a company that could completely dominate if they wished to, but as of yet, have not. North Americans
are often surprised that in
I’m sure you’d rather have me get on with my thoughts about the Sony P10 than go over Japanese market supremacy, it’s just rare for me to actually use some of what I studied in university J The P10 (actually, its real name is the Cybershot DSC-P10) is shorter than the Canon S400 but a bit longer and very slightly thicker, but I would say that on an overall physical volume basis, they are pretty close, meaning both are very compact. There is a smoothness and refinement in operation in the Sony P10 that makes my Nikon CP950 sound like an old clunker in comparison. The P10 is even smoother operating than the Canon S400 and the amount of information available on the rear LCD is incredible. While the P10’s LCD is just as small as the Canon S400, it offers even more information about the settings and in a really nice touch, the remaining battery life in minutes so that you always know just how much time you have left to photograph. As with the Canon S400, I had no manual to reference the functions and features of the camera, but those familiar with modern day SLR’s (film and digital) should not have much difficulty in working their through the settings and menus available. About the only thing I had qualms about was the abysmal macro shooting distance at the telephoto end of the lens. While the Canon S400 was no match for the Coolpix 950's macro capabilities, it was much better than the Sony P10 and its need to keep a two-foot distance even when the macro focusing was engaged. Comparisons
I pulled out the old Coolpix 950 and did a few comparison shots with the P10, S400 and the Nikon D100 as ultimate reference. As most would know or understand, the CCD chips used in digicams are incredibly small even when compared to APS sized chips, as found in the D100. Digicam chips were originally derived from camcorders, hence the ability to have a real time LCD display unlike SLRs that have a mirror blocking the viewfinder until the time of exposure. But because of their tiny size, questions arise as to the quality provided. Can these small chips produce good quality 4x6, 8x10 or larger prints? How is the performance for noise or will the result become too “grainy” for print use? With such thoughts in mind I took some test shots in my kitchen at low light levels to test out the various ISOs available on all the cameras. I had some preconceived notions about how the cameras would fare, so it would be interesting to see if they would be borne out. The theoretical indicates that the D100 should be far and away superior to what the digicams could produce and while the real world tests certainly do indicate superior performance, we’re not talking about blown out of the water performance. The three digicams all provide a maximum ISO 400 sensitivity compared to the D100 that has ISO 1600 as a readily available setting with ISO 3200 and ISO 6400 available as special modes. For my eyes, I have never been satisfied with anything higher than ISO 800 with the D100 and even then the noise at ISO 800 is still more than I’d like. However, what you see on screen is not exactly what you will receive on print and the noise at ISO 800 seems to get dithered or reduced in appearance on print, to produce a more satisfying looking print. Keep in mind that this my experience with my Epson 1270 inkjet, if you use something else, your mileage may vary. Also, with Noise Ninja in my digital toolbox, high ISO noise is less of a concern than in the old days of 2003 J Of the three cameras, I expected the elder citizen Coolpix 950 to fare the worse with the Sony P10 and Canon S400 about tied. What I found was that the Coolpix 950 turned in some very nice looking images not only for noise but in the way the camera exposed the scene. This is highly subjective of course but I found the Coolpix 950 images to be better out of the camera than either the Canon or Sony, which is not too shabby for something that’s as old as Methusaleh, in the digital timeline. The noise level of the Coolpix 950 was also surprising in that its ISO 400 image looked a lot better than the two new kids on the block. While the Sony P10 was not too bad, the Canon S400 provided the worse looking ISO 400 performance and is something to be avoided. At the lowest, default ISO, there isn’t much to choose from noise wise, but as one moves up the ISO settings, it becomes clear that the larger chipped D100 benefits from better noise to signal ratio and provides a real world benefit of one ISO setting. In other words, the digicams’ ISO 400 was more like ISO 800 or higher on the D100. The Canon S400 at ISO 400 looked worse than the D100’s ISO 800, but not as bad as the D100’s ISO 1600, so I’d say the Canon is around ISO 1200 in D100 terms. What does this mean? You can get away with photographing Junior’s Christmas concert at higher ISOs to get a more pleasing and balanced exposure, but you’d likely want to keep the maximum ISO at 200 and set to the default, lowest ISO for the majority of your photos, unless you invest in a noise reduction program such as Noise Ninja or Neat Image. Exposure wise, The Canon S400 tended to underexpose like the D100 while the Sony P10 tended to overexpose with the Coolpix 950 in between. As mentioned earlier, I found the Coolpix 950 to be the most pleasing on an overall basis, but a bit of underexposure can be easily corrected whereas the more generous Sony exposure might lead to potential problems with blooming and chromatic aberrations. If the Sony were my own camera, I’d probably set a minus .3 or .7 compensation as a permanent setting to ensure that the highlight details do not go AWOL. Below is a representation of how large a file each camera produces along with the actual file sizes:
The surprising result of the samples above is how small the Canon S400 4 MP file is compared to the Sony P10 that doubles it with only an extra MP of resolution. Handling
While both the P10 and S400 are not as fast handling as a SLR, as both take a few seconds to initialize after startup, neither are as bad as some compact film cameras I’ve used in the past and both can do burst mode shooting. The Sony P10 offers a three frame burst which requires you to take the finger off of the shutter release and then pressing it again for another burst. The Canon S400 offers the ability to shoot about one frame per second for up to 8 or 9 shots before the buffer locks you out for a few seconds, then another frame can be taken followed by another few second wait. However, while the Sony only does three frames at a time, all frames are at full resolution whereas the S400 appears to reduce the file size when in continuous shooting mode. With both cameras being so small, there is little mass to keep your hands steady and those prone to bad camera shaking hands need to be more aware of their technique to ensure images are sharp. Image Quality
When compared to 4, 5, and 6 MP quality prints though, the 2 MP print is wanting. For about CAN $600, a person can purchase a camera that will provide a very good looking 8x10 without any interpolation required. When I made some test prints, I just simply set the physical dimensions and let the dpi fall where they may, which was still over 200 dpi and good enough to produce a photo quality print. Taking the 4 and 5 MP images to the next popular size of 11x14 is where things can get a bit dicey and while certainly doable, the subject matter is going to have to be kind in order to allow for a large print to happen. The less detail the better. This is where a larger CCD in the D100 comes into its own and continues to provide a smoother looking file. Somewhat surprising for me, the Canon S400 held up better than the Sony P10 when resampled to an 11x14 size and looking at micro details on the monitor. While the extra MP of resolution is nice to have if it actually means something towards ultimate quality, in the case of the Sony P10, that extra MP over the S400 provides little to no benefit. In fact, the S400 image holds together better than the P10, which suffers from greater artifacts. BUT keep in mind that these comments are based on reviewing a tiny section of an image and resampling that. On a print, one would never notice nor care about such things because one isn’t likely to be able to see such differences. We have to keep in mind that we’re talking about pretty subtle differences with the Coolpix 950 being an exception since it is beyond its 2 MP capability to produce a good 11x14 print. While all the cameras are capable of producing image files that can be printed right away, the samples below (used for macro testing) indicate that some editing is still required just to neutralize the color, let alone any special editing one would want to do. I used a Kodak grey card placed in the lower portion of the frame to reference later when setting the grey point in Photoshop. The grey adjusted photos are also good at revealing how each camera tends to expose a scene.
Conclusion If I had to make a choice today based on what I’ve seen in the Canon S400 and Sony DSC-P10, I’d have a very tough choice. On the one hand I love the compactness of the Canon and while the Sony is not very far off, the Canon still has the edge. Canon also uses the common compact flash card that integrates more easily in my family. On the other hand, I love the information that the Sony provides on the rear LCD, which allows one to gauge how many shots and how much power is available in the camera. The Sony also operates more smoothly and refined than the Canon, but not any faster. The Sony provides a movie mode that while not ever enough to satisfy the budding director in us, is passable. The movie mode, which Sony calls MPEG-VX is large enough for TV viewing, but the frame rate is a bit slow at 16 fps. The microphone is impressive for how much it can pickup. The Canon movie mode is a paltry sub-VGA format that is of little use than for e-mailing purposes. A family movie made during my youngest daughter’s 1st year birthday party with the Sony P10 is small on a computer monitor at only 640x480 resolution, but just large enough to get away with on a video CD, when sitting at a regular viewing distance to the TV. If pushed on a decision I’d probably go for the Canon S400 because of the size and use of the compact flash card format. But the digicam market can change significantly in a very short period of time. Since the time I thought of this article to the time I was actually able to write it, the PMA show came along with the announcement of more 8 MP digicams and more interesting for me and my needs, of cameras that will utilize the MPEG-4 video format for higher quality with lower file sizes within a digicam body. I like the idea of having a digicam that can produce a high enough quality video file so that I do not have to spend another $1000 on a camcorder. So, while a Canon S400 or A80 was where I was heading towards for my wife, I’m going to have to give her an IOU on her birthday, in order to wait for the more interesting MPEG-4 capable cameras to come out. While today’s typical digicams simply destroy the typical film point and shoot in features available, a person new to photography is likely to be confused with all the menus and settings available. These are features (setting aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation, white balance, etc.) that the camera manufacturers want to market to serious photographers, but are going to be meaningless for my wife and others like her that simply want to point and shoot. The other aspect of digicams that people don’t seem to think about much is how to print their images after taking them. While little has changed in terms of being able to go to a one-hour developer or drugstore to receive prints from digital files, what seems to happen is that these digital files accumulate and even though one only has to print what one wants instead of all the duds as with film, people don’t seem to clue into how to print them. Some will go all out and buy a nice little dye-sub printer such as those made by Canon, or an inkjet for more control in their own digital darkroom, but most will have to get use to dropping off the memory card at the processor and then picking up at the end of their shopping trip, just like the old days. As I wait for the ultimate digicam to come my way, I have to say that I'd be pretty happy with either the Canon S400 or Sony P10 for simple everyday use, such as stuffing into a jacket pocket when taking the kids to the playground or for snapping a few birthday pics of the extended family members. I would think twice about taking such a camera as my only one for a vacation to Europe given my serious photographer credentials, but for the family members using their S400s, they love it as their primary camera. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Correspondence & About this website Copyright © 1998-2008 Edwin Leong |
|
 |
|
Five
or so years ago many predicted that compact digital cameras would take
over from film cameras because of their ease of use (relatively speaking)
and immediacy offered by digital technology. My general observations
of consumers on the street and at events (weddings, dinners, parties)
would confirm that the prediction has come true. Digital cameras are
everywhere and they have taken over pride of place for most photo stores.
Fast
forward to late 2003 when family Christmas gifts were being planned
and the current version of that Canon Digital Elph (the PowerShot S400)
now offers double the resolution for less money than what the original
Digital Elph cost. Two were bought and are now being enjoyed by family
members and here I am still stuck in 1999 with my CP950 as my compact
camera. That is not to say that the CP950 is useless, far from it, as
it still takes as good a photo as it did when I first bought it and
I really got my money’s worth when I used it to illustrate the e-Book.
My point being that it is remarkable how quickly technology has allowed
for consumers to enjoy extremely compact cameras that offer all the
quality that they would ever desire (speaking generally of course).
Sony
is the leading digicam maker in terms of market share and while its
offerings are almost as compact as the Canons and there is nothing to
be desired in terms of resolution, the memory stick was a sticking point
since there are plenty of compact flash cards floating around in the
family. As it turned out, I loaned one of my 512 MB cards to one of
the S400 users to snap away as much as he desired on Christmas day instead
of being stuck with the chintzy 32 MB card that came with the S400.
Something impossible to have done if the camera had been a Sony.
Canon’s
management has committed the company to become the leading digital photography
company. Canon will do so by capturing market share meaning very aggressive
moves on several fronts to be first to market with various products
and gaining consumer allegiances. Introduction of the Digital Rebel
D-SLR is but one step towards global domination and on the digicam side,
Canon will introduce a number of new cameras in 2004. 
My
cousin bought this camera and when he showed it to me I was impressed
with how compact it was while offering 5 MP of resolution. Sony is known
for its relationship with Carl Zeiss and the use of Zeiss lenses in
a number of higher-end cameras and camcorders. Unfortunately, the P10
discussed here is not one of those cameras so blessed by Zeiss. However,
at this level, I am given to the use of Zeiss being nothing more than
marketing bluster by Sony than of actual superiority versus other comparable
cameras. In another Japanese/German partnership, Panasonic uses Leica
lenses in a number of their digital camera and camcorders.
Sony
has worked on the classic Japanese strategy of entering a market via
low cost goods and then building up the brand to eventually takeover
the mid-range market. Once that market supremacy has been reached, then
the Japanese companies go after the high-end market with products that
are usually better engineered, better built and cheaper than the domestic
market products. The most obvious example of such is in the car industry
where the likes of Toyota, Nissan and Honda meant cheap crap in the
1960s, but now are regarded as being superior to the North American
domestics and their related high-end brands (Lexus, Infinity, and Acura)
are compared with the likes of BMW and Mercedes, having outclassed the
likes of the domestic Cadillac and Lincoln years ago.
A
deck of cards and a Nikon point and shoot film camera included for size
comparisons in this sample shot>>
Both
newer cameras are so small that there just is no excuse for never
having a camera handy in your hands or pocket for that out of the
blue photo that appears before you. The Canon S400 is quite impressive
for how much quality can be packed into such a small package and is
compact enough that a larger guy can easily pocket it in the pants,
as my 6 foot tall brother-in-law showed me with his.
At
the most popular 4x6 print 
