Canon Powershot S2 IS

[scenar]

The teleconverter DOES degrade sharpness a little, especially when u are doing 100% crops.
As it is, the canon S2 is fairly useless above iso200 (in my opinion) thus @ 432mm(35mm equivalent) max zoom, AND a teleconverter, u will be hard pressed in achieving a shutter speed of 1/200 and below for good handheld shots. I assume you will be shooting wildlife? Possibly in a wooded area? Using a tripod/monopod will be a solution, but optical fidelity will be degraded still.
hmm...or what are you gonna shoot with the teleconverter? :think:

From what I have read, the wideconverter has significant barrel distortion, but I am not sure as I do not personally own one.

Just to clarify, you are referring to camera shake that makes the pictures not sharp, right? I think this is a challenge in many situations of high magnification, i.e. telephoto and macro. You don't mean that the teleconverter gives you AF or other sharpness problems, right?

So, nobody has the wide converter? Haven't seen any comments on that yet.

 

[urban]

The teleconverter DOES degrade sharpness a little, especially when u are doing 100% crops.
As it is, the canon S2 is fairly useless above iso200 (in my opinion) thus @ 432mm(35mm equivalent) max zoom, AND a teleconverter, u will be hard pressed in achieving a shutter speed of 1/200 and below for good handheld shots. I assume you will be shooting wildlife? Possibly in a wooded area? Using a tripod/monopod will be a solution, but optical fidelity will be degraded still.
hmm...or what are you gonna shoot with the teleconverter? :think:

From what I have read, the wideconverter has significant barrel distortion, but I am not sure as I do not personally own one.

If that is the case, is it still worthwhile to buy the lens adapter? Given that the teleconverter and the wide angle converter are not very useful?
The lens adapter only serves to put in a UV filter to prevent finger prints and protect it from scratches?

 

[kevyan]

If that is the case, is it still worthwhile to buy the lens adapter? Given that the teleconverter and the wide angle converter are not very useful?
The lens adapter only serves to put in a UV filter to prevent finger prints and protect it from scratches?

Well, to me, it makes the camera easier for me to hold....

 

[scenar]

Well, to me, it makes the camera easier for me to hold....

yup yup, as i mentioned in an earlier post
a LOT easier to hold. oh, and the orig canon lens adapter comes with a hood too,
but note that there will be vignetting @ around 6mm-7mm if u use a filter AND
the hood together.

 

[NightZ88]

so basically, apart frm it bein easier to hold, dere's not much other use if e lens adapter?

 

[kaywalk]

If that is the case, is it still worthwhile to buy the lens adapter? Given that the teleconverter and the wide angle converter are not very useful?
The lens adapter only serves to put in a UV filter to prevent finger prints and protect it from scratches?

I have a closeup diopter for macro (it magnifies closeup subjects) and a circular polarizer, and these make the lens adapter useful for me. When shooting macro with backlight, the lens hood can also go on top of my closeup diopter to reduce flare. Since I regularly switch between these and plain vanilla, my lens adapter is on almost all the time. I use a UV filter for protection only in "dirty" environments, like cooking areas, etc.

I'm not too sure how much barrel distortion is caused by the wide converter, but that does not necessarily mean it is not very useful. But I can't comment further since I don't own it at the moment.

 

[kaywalk]

The teleconverter DOES degrade sharpness a little, especially when u are doing 100% crops.
As it is, the canon S2 is fairly useless above iso200 (in my opinion) thus @ 432mm(35mm equivalent) max zoom, AND a teleconverter, u will be hard pressed in achieving a shutter speed of 1/200 and below for good handheld shots. I assume you will be shooting wildlife? Possibly in a wooded area? Using a tripod/monopod will be a solution, but optical fidelity will be degraded still.
hmm...or what are you gonna shoot with the teleconverter? :think:

From what I have read, the wideconverter has significant barrel distortion, but I am not sure as I do not personally own one.

There is a difference between degradation of sharpness and camera shake, I just needed the clarification mah. Just asked to make informed shopping decisions, that's all. ;p

 

[JuzJaz]

is tis a good deal??? im considering this camera...

http://www.bargaincity.com.sg/digicam/prod_details.php?CATNAME=CANON&PRODID=DGCD0004

 

[felixcat8888]

is tis a good deal??? im considering this camera...

http://www.bargaincity.com.sg/digicam/prod_details.php?CATNAME=CANON&PRODID=DGCD0004

Get an equote from www.mscolor.com.sg and do a comparison. I have a feeling that the freebies are already costed into the price of $975.00 vs a $800++ price from MS Color.

Cheers....

 

[Lmodel]

Get an equote from www.mscolor.com.sg and do a comparison. I have a feeling that the freebies are already costed into the price of $975.00 vs a $800++ price from MS Color.

Cheers....

The actual costings is $1023.75(incl GST) against $840.00, a difference of $183.75. I also think that the differences are due to the "freebies".

 

[scenar]

There is a difference between degradation of sharpness and camera shake, I just needed the clarification mah. Just asked to make informed shopping decisions, that's all. ;p

npnp Yea, even with no camera shake, quality still drops a little. This logic works even for teleconverters attached to SLRs. Not to mention we are using a $70 teleconverter here as compared to the $200-$300 teleconverters used by the SLR folks.

 

[JuzJaz]

erm...but say if i get from mscolor..then i still need to get a bigger sd card oso mah..plus all those 'freebies'..it's still valuable??

The actual costings is $1023.75(incl GST) against $840.00, a difference of $183.75. I also think that the differences are due to the "freebies".

 

[kaywalk]

erm...but say if i get from mscolor..then i still need to get a bigger sd card oso mah..plus all those 'freebies'..it's still valuable??

Personally, I would rather have two 512 MB cards than one 1 GB card, to spread my risks of memory failure. A 1 GB card is almost double the cost of two 512 MB cards anyway.

And now I find that I always leave my lens adapter on so that I can plug and play my other filters easily, so I outgrew my first bag real quick! I don't know how big is the "freebie" bag, but you may want to consider if you will outgrow that bag soon enough.

You're right in a way, you just need to think through whether you can make that deal work for you.

 

[kaywalk]

npnp Yea, even with no camera shake, quality still drops a little. This logic works even for teleconverters attached to SLRs. Not to mention we are using a $70 teleconverter here as compared to the $200-$300 teleconverters used by the SLR folks.

Er, the RRP is $199 for the teleconverter, right? Mind telling me where you got it at $70? I got a genetic inability to suss out bargains :cry: . Actually I'm more interested in the wide converter.

 

[NightZ88]

so does anyone has e wide angle lens? plz comment on it..

 

[scenar]

Er, the RRP is $199 for the teleconverter, right? Mind telling me where you got it at $70? I got a genetic inability to suss out bargains :cry: . Actually I'm more interested in the wide converter.

Sorry!! typo!! its $170 not $70...mmm...type too fast. never see properly...
I got it from AP. My mistake...

 

[Lmodel]

The postings here are making me think twice about getting a telephoto lens...

Anyway, I always had difficulties focusing on a subject while making the background blur unless the subject covers almost 3/4 of my viewfinder. Any bros can help here? Still experimenting between the focal and the shutter...

Perhaps the S2 grp can organise an outing to share ideas, comments and tricks?

Cheers

 

[kaywalk]

The postings here are making me think twice about getting a telephoto lens...

Anyway, I always had difficulties focusing on a subject while making the background blur unless the subject covers almost 3/4 of my viewfinder. Any bros can help here? Still experimenting between the focal and the shutter...

Perhaps the S2 grp can organise an outing to share ideas, comments and tricks?

Cheers

For focused subject and blur background, you need to play with aperture, not shutter speed. You need big aperture, and that means small f-stop. Play around with F2.7 for maximum wide angle, or F3.5 for telephoto, and then increase to maximum. In this order, the background should go from blurrest to least blur. If it's not blur enough for you, then it's the technical limitation of the camera already :sticktong .

So who wants an S2 outing? We can all get together and say, "I have an S 2..." :bsmilie: :bsmilie:

 

[Lmodel]

For focused subject and blur background, you need to play with aperture, not shutter speed. You need big aperture, and that means small f-stop. Play around with F2.7 for maximum wide angle, or F3.5 for telephoto, and then increase to maximum. In this order, the background should go from blurrest to least blur. If it's not blur enough for you, then it's the technical limitation of the camera already :sticktong .

So who wants an S2 outing? We can all get together and say, "I have an S 2..." :bsmilie: :bsmilie:

Even with the biggest aperture, cant seems to get the effect I wanted... Just like a pix of my dog

It seems alright if focused subject covers 3/4 of my viewfinder like this

I dun mind going for a S2 outing. WHO ELSES????

 

[NightZ88]

So who wants an S2 outing? We can all get together and say, "I have an S 2..." :bsmilie: :bsmilie:

Wat is ur desired effect of e dog dat u wan?

Outing? To where?