Advice needed...

[Swordwindsg]

i hope you take into account F11's min aperture at telephoto.

F5.0 - F8

S2's min aperture at telephoto is f3.5


(kindly correct if wrong. thx)
sources from: dpreview

hmm...according to dpreview...it's min aperture is f2.8 leh...max at f5.0...well good enuff leh it seems...

 

[Swordwindsg]

think in the end, you know your current and projected shooting needs best (i hope).

if you know what you really wanna shoot, you will know which cam suits you. if you don't know, neither can we

ya bro...i know exactly wad u mean by tt... i will hang on wif the camera for the moment first...will try it out more often then will i decide what's the best for me! anyway, i'm juz lookg for advice here, definitely not directions...thks!

 

[d7t3]

not really. 2.8-5.0 means largest/max aperture is f/2.8 at widest angle, largest/max aperture is f/5.0 at longest zoom.

smallest/min aperture is f/8 at any zoom setting.

 

[Swordwindsg]

huh? dun reali get u leh bro...the website showed specifically that max is f5.0, min is f2.8 leh...did u infer those figures out urself or is it a known fact?? sorry for the ignorant qns...haha!

 

[foxtwo]

hmm...according to dpreview...it's min aperture is f2.8 leh...max at f5.0...well good enuff leh it seems...

i think you've mistaken the stats, f5.0 is not the max aperture. it is the min aperture allowed when using telephoto focal length.

Eg. (dpreview) Canon S2 IS is spec-ed at f2.7 - f3.5. That doesn't mean you only have ~1 stop of aperture to play with, it just means the min aperture when shooting at its telephoto focal length (which ever it may be) is f3.5, hence you lose ~1 stop of light between WA & telephoto.

Where I'm getting at is, if you were to shoot using F11 at its max focal length (~108mm) your fastest setting is: min aperture available = f5.0
fastest iso available = 1600

Compared with canon S2 IS with equal focal length (~108mm, now assuming worst case it is at telephoto focal length), fastest setting is: min aperture available = f3.5
fastest iso available = 400

F11 wins by ~1stop. Less if the S2 min aperture at ~108mm is actually f2.7.

Furthermore
F11: max shutter speed available = 3secs
S2: max shutter speed available = 15secs

As technical comparision goes, you are not losing anything much with the S2.

ps. of 'cos at WA F11 will win handsdown lah.

 

[Swordwindsg]

haha! reali thks bro! for the elaboration there...

 

[d7t3]

understand what it means first.

for aperture, f/2.8 is bigger and lets in more light (although number is smaller).
thus f/8 is smaller and lets in less light.

for low-light shooting, a bigger aperture (smaller number) is better.

for zoom lenses, the max/biggest aperture possible can vary.

for the f11, the max aperture depends on the zoom.

at widest, max is f/2.8, pretty good. at narrowest, it's f/5, not very good.

for the f11 and many other compacts, min aperture is f/8. any smaller (e.g. f/11 or f/16) and the image quality will suffer.

 

[Swordwindsg]

yup...i know abt these bro...thks!

 

[schon]

have you tried diffusing your built-in flash?

besides, the focal range of the F11 is nowhere near that of your S2.

 

[Swordwindsg]

diffusing flash? wad's tt??

hmm...honestly, as i'm not reali a serious photographer...i do not find many opportunity to reali play wif such extensive focal range the S2 can offer me also lah... for me, the most i play wif when taking shots R the shutter speed and aperture... haiz...may i reali shd start in the buy-sell thread for my S2 soon...haha!