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(More customer reviews)The canon s60 feature & performance wise, falls somewhere between a point-and-shoot and a pro-sumer level 5MP digital camera. I had originally planned on getting a G5, but the G5's unwielding size and weight (although a great performer) made me consider the newly released s60. I was looking for a portable pro-sumer, 5MP digital camera, that was no bigger than our Canon SureShot 35mm film camera. The s60 (and the ultra compact s400) both have the same CCD imager as the G5, but I chose the s60's 28mm wide angle lens, extra feature set, and longer battery life over the p500's.
From my experience, taking pictures indoors with a flash seems to be the biggest hurdle for any digital camera to overcome, and the s60, while not perfect, is one of the best indoor cameras of its size I have tried. Indoors, in a moderately lit room, the s60 in AUTO mode takes true color, well exposed images within 10 feet of the subject(s). I have found that using "P" mode with the flash exposure compensation set up to + 1/3 or +2/3 works best if you are in a poorly lit room and you also wish to see the background.
While it is true that there is some barrel distortion at full wide 28mm mode, it is not enough of a problem detract from it's overall rating. All compact and ultra compact cameras I have tried have had some barrel distortion at wide field and chromatic aberation on bright objects. As far as one person's comment about the images being blurry because of inferior lens quality, I would have to disagree. The images I have taken are very smooth and have vibrant, true colors. The s60 does apply a sort or internal anti-aliasing to smooth out the images. Most of the professional portraiture cameras (like the Kodak pro cameras) do this either in software or by hardware, as most people do not wish to see every facial pore on their subject. You can chose to "sharpen" internally on the s60, or just use one pass of Sharpen in Photoshop to sharpen the images even more to suit your taste.
I also had the opportuntity to compare the G5 and s60 side-by-side, by taking photos of the same subjects both indoors and out. I could not see any noticeable difference between the two, image quality-wise. I have taken over 200 images within the last 5 days with my s60 and have been very pleased with both its image quality and ease of use.
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Canon Powershot S60 5MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Optical ZoomCanon updates its popular S-series PowerShot digital camera line with the 5-megapixel S60. It features a number of enhancements over the previous S50 model, including larger optical zoom (3.6x versus 3x), a closer macro zoom distance, larger video resolution, support for conversion lenses, and a higher capacity battery.
Optics and Resolution The PowerShot S60 has a 5-megapixel sensor with a maximum resolution of 2,592 x 1,944 pixels, enough detail for 4-by-6-inch to 20-by-30-inch (poster size) photos. Other resolution modes include 2048 x 1536 (3MP, 1600 x 1200 (2MP), 1024 x 768, and 640 x 480. It features a 3.6x optical zoom and 4.1x digital zoom for a total 14.8x zoom. The lens features Canon's new UA (Ultra-high refractive index, Aspherical) lens, allowing for the design of a more compact lens--making the S60 almost 8% thinner than the S50. The 28-100mm focal length range expands to 200mm with the addition of an optional 2x tele-converter.
Canon's powerful DIGIC image processor provides a huge capacity for complex assessment of the scene to be captured. The PowerShot S50 uses information from the zoom position, scene brightness, and other systems to determine what sort of subject is being photographed in order to optimize AF speed, exposure accuracy, and white balance performance.
Movie Mode The S60's movie mode has been upgraded to a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 (10 frames per second); it also offers 320 x 240 and 160 x 120 modes (15 frames per second). Individual movie clips are limited to 3 minutes maximum per clip (and 30 seconds maximum for 640 x 480 mode).
More Features For beginners, the camera is point-and-shoot simple. Just twist the dial to Auto and start snapping pictures. The PowerShot S60 offers a myriad of setting options, including three light metering modes, white balance presets with two positions for custom settings, exposure and focus bracketing, manual focus and AF lock, aperture and shutter-speed priority, and adjustable ISO-equivalent sensitivity.
The PowerShot S60 features 13 shooting modes, including subject-based modes and semi-auto modes such as aperture priority. Photo Effects are an easy way to add creative dimension to your photography, with settings including Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Sepia, Black & White and Custom. A fast sequence mode allows a maximum frame rate of 2 frames per second, maintained for up to eight images. A new Macro Function lets you shoot as close as 2 inches with incredible detail: the shortest focal length of any Canon compact digital camera not equipped with Super Macro.
The nine-point AiAF lets you focus your subject no matter where it appears in the viewfinder. For more freedom, FlexiZone AF/AE let you select which part of the frame you wish to focus on without moving your camera.
Other features include:
Large 1.8-inch LCD monitor
Built-in flash with auto, on, off, manual, slow-synch, and red-eye reduction modes
Simultaneous RAW and JPEG file recording
15 second to 1/2000 sec shutter speeds
Intelligent Orientation Sensor displays your images properly rotated during playback on the LCD screen and your computer screen
Storage and Transfer The S60 uses CompactFlash cards to store images, and it's compatible with Type I or Type II cards, including Microdrives. It also supports the FAT32 format for cards larger than 2 GB. The included 32 MB card holds approximately 21 images at the Large/Fine setting. It connects to Macs and Windows-based PCs via a USB 1.1 connection.
Direct Printing/Sharing The S60 incorporates Canon's new Print/Share button that speeds and simplifies printing to compatible Canon and PictBridge enabled printers. It also offers one-touch image transfer to Windows XP, Me, 2000, and 98 computers for use with image processing programs, uploading to the Internet, or placement in e-mail. When connected to a Canon Compact Photo printer, a Movie Print mode divides the selected clip into equal parts and prints thumbnails of a maximum 63 equally spaced frames onto a single sheet of Postcard Size Paper.
Power and Size The camera is powered by the rechargeable lithium-ion battery NB-2LH, which provides approximately 240 shots with the LCD on and 550 shots without the LCD. It measures 4.5 x 2.2 x 1.5 inches (W x H x D) and weighs 8.1 ounces (without battery).
What's in the Box This package contains the Canon PowerShot S60 digital camera, 32 MB CompactFlash card, rechargeable lithium-ion battery (NP-2LH), battery charger, wrist strap, USB and A/V cables, CD-ROM with Digital Camera Solutions, ArcSoft Camera Suite, and drivers, and printed operating instructions.
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