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Simon Yates Photography
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Quality Camera, Great Pictures and Videos, Great Price,
This was a quality purchase and I did a huge amount of research as well as visiting and speaking with reps at both Best Buy and Frys. And I would’ve actually bought on Amazon had I had more time before going on vacation but I bought it at Frys Electronics.
First off, I did many comparisons to other Canons recently released. This camera has all of the features of the 320HS except for the WiFi and the touch screen. This camera is identical except for those two features. And at the time of this purchase, those features were $30 more on that camera. But I also considered that the possibility of hardware failures increases the more features you add. Also, I didn’t want to “miss a moment” waiting for the lag of a touch screen. I wanted to be able to push a button and have the picture snap. I also hate giving the camera to someone to snap a group photo and them not knowing where to touch on the screen. The traditional shutter button was a plus in my book.
As for other features, I did a side by side comparison of the 520HS, 320HS, 310HS and 530HS. I opted for a higher resolution and a lower optical zoom because but with the Digic5 processor because, for casual photos, 5x optical should be sufficient. If I want to get a higher resolution with a greater optical zoom, I will just upgrade to a DSLR camera.
I’ve also owned Canon’s for many years and I was happy with previous versions. With the 110HS I took a couple hundred shots on a recent vacation and several videos in HD. The videos came out great with good sound quality for a point and shoot. And the photos were exceptional for the price point.
Personally I also like the auto focus features and the fact that it seems to calculate exposures and makes adjustments when I don’t have the flash on. I did find that turning the flash off gives a much more natural look and with it on my photo subjects seemed to run “hot” so I opted to have it off except in low light situations. The button configuration to toggle the flash on and off is both ergonomic and intuitive.
Additionally, the menus are standard Canon-type, so if you are used to them, you will enjoy a familiar interface. If you are not used to Canon cameras, it won’t take long to learn.
Also, the quality of the hardware is good overall, but it does have a sort of plastic-ish feel. Not bad, as it keeps it lightweight, but be aware that some may find it chintzy feeling. I, personally, think it feels light and nice. The battery lasted for about 2 days taking a combination of videos and pictures but I always kept it off and in the storage case (for power conservation) when not in use.
Finally, I do have to admit again that I bought the camera at Fry’s Electronics in Burbank due to the fact that I was going on vacation the very next day. I bought the SquareTrade warranty direct from SquareTrade, which I felt was a great deal for about $50 bucks for 3 years. It’s the same on Amazon’s site or going through them but you cannot get the 2 year warranty if you go through SquareTrade directly and it seems you can get 2 years full coverage on Amazon, which I would have preferred.
All in all, this is a quality camera with a reasonable battery life, good quality pictures and videos with an intuitive interface. I give it 5-stars and am very happy with my purchase.
PS: I also got a SDHC 16 gig card, class 10 and it seems to be pretty speedy. I’d recommend getting one of those or larger as this camera does not include storage. Also look at picking up some sort of a case. I bought a CaseLogic case with a plush interior (from K-Mart for $10) and am happy with that as well.
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|Stunning Pictures,
In preparing for a trip to a remote area of East Africa, I needed a camera that would fit in my pocket. I have a nice Canon Rebel with all the lenses, but the fear was that if I packed that in my luggage it would be stolen, and it is too bulky to fit in my very limited carry on bag. I purchased the Canon Powershot in the hopes that it would take reasonable pictures. My expectations were that it would not do as well as what I had come to expect with my full size Canon.
The bottom line was that I was blown away with the picture quality and functionality of the camera. I was shocked at the brilliance, contrast and sharpness of the images. I took several thousand pictures on the trip and did not get one bad shot.
Also due to limited space in my carry on bag, I was not able to take a separate video camcorder. I was pleasantly surprised with the video and sound quality from this small unit.
Very rarely have I been as pleased with a product as I am with this one. It gets my enthusiastic recommendation!
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|Great Feature Set!,
I originally purchased as a gift the Canon PowerShot A3400 IS 16.0 MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom 28mm Wide-Angle Lens with 720p HD Video Recording and 3.0-Inch Touch Panel LCD (RED BUNDLE) which included the red camera, a case, and a memory card.
Instead I ended up purchasing for her the Canon PowerShot ELPH 110 HS 16.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 5x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom 24mm Wide-Angle Lens and 1080p Full HD Video Recording (Silver) and returning the A3400.
Having been a Canon fan and owner for many years, since my first Elph, here were my reasons.
The 24mm wide angle zoom combined with 16.1 MP, DIGIC5, 1080P video, image stabilization, and 5x optical zoom, along with a great array of Canon special effects make this an unbeatable package in a Canon PowerShot Elph.
The 3-inch LCD is nice and bright at 461,000 pixels. It is pocket-sized at 3.67 x 2.24 x 0.79 in.
Overall, this camera produces snappy, bright, colorful shots in a surprising variety of lighting conditions, all in a tiny little package. It has fun effects like Toy Camera, Miniature, Sepia, and Black and White.
The Elph 110 HS records video in HD 1080p at 24 fps or 720p at 30 fps.
Who should get it:
* If you like to shoot in low light. (see note below)
* If you want to shoot HD video in 1080p
* If you want a wide angle lens, this one has a 24mm wide angle lens
* If you’d like a Super Slow Motion Movie Mode that records video at high speeds to allow playback in slow motion.
* If you want that “real film” feel – this one supports 24p movies
* The Elph 110 HS has a high resolution LCD screen
Battery life:
* Battery life is not the best I’ve seen – this camera is rated by Canon to get 170 shots out of a battery — your experience may vary if you are shooting video. You may want to keep a spare battery on hand.
A note about photos in low light:
At first glance, the images appear to be good in low light. And for MOST purposes, it IS good in low light. But if I zoom in at an image to look at the details, I can see that finer details in the image are missing at higher ISOs. I use Photoshop though, so I zoom in really large on an image. Expect some detail missing if you are shooting in low light at higher ISOs. But for most general purposes, this camera will do fine in low light.
Some other cool features of this camera:
* Color Accent – You pick one color to accent in your picture, and leave the rest of the picture in black and white. You pick out the color that is present in your scene before you take the photo. Everything in your photo that is, say, the color red, will show up as red, and everything else will show up as black and white.
* Face ID Detection – Allows you to keep track of 12 faces (grouped as babies, children or adults), which you “register” by recording them with the camera. You can then search for photos with these people in them. For parents with babies, if the camera recognizes your baby is smiling, it will take 3 photos in rapid succession instead of a single shot. It has the ability to detect if your toddler is sleeping: if the camera detects this, it will turn off the flash and silence the shutter.
* Super Slow Motion Video Recording – great for recording video of sports events. It records at 120fps or 240fps and plays back at 30fps which gives the effect of slow motion. It only records at 640×480 or 320×240.
How it compares to other Canon Elphs:
The Elph 110 HS is very close to the Canon Elph 320 HS, except the Elph 320 HS has a touchscreen, wifi and a larger viewscreen. The Elph 110 HS has a slightly faster high-speed burst mode and is a little lighter.
The Elph 310 HS has an 8x zoom and has better macro. It can shoot at 3.5 fps continuous shooting vs the Elph 110 HS’s 2 fps. The Elph 310 HS has DIGIC4 whereas the Elph 110 HS has DIGIC5. The 110 HS has the better 24 mm wide angle lens.
The Elph 520 HS has 10.1 MP, a 12x optical zoom, and a faster 1/4000 shutter speed than the Elph 110 HS. But it has the decreased MP and it doesn’t have the wide angle lens of the 110 HS. The Elph 520 HS’s aperture is also wider at f3.4, so it doesn’t let in as much light.
The Elph 100 HS is slightly cheaper than the Elph 110 HS and has 12.1 MP and DIGIC4, slower shutter speed at 1/1,500, and about half as many dots on the LCD screen; however, its continuous shooting mode is 3.4 fps versus the 110 HS’s 2 fps and in high-speed burst mode the Elph 100 HS is 8.2 fps…
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|A great upgrade over other Rebels,
I had this long awesome review and Amazon lost it of course. So here goes a second try.
This is my second Canon camera. Previously I have owned Olympus and Minolta cameras. I owned a t2i before this and used a t3i for weeks for testing purposes. I will try to cover most aspects of the new features and image quality. For testing purposes I used a Canon 17-40L lens.
Look and Feel:
Not much to say here for the look of the camera. Looks almost the exact same as the t2i, t3i. The battery grip and accessories all fit the same. One thing that is different from the t2i is the proximity sensor. On the t2i it was below the optical viewfinder and above the screen. On the t4i it is above the optical viewfinder. I use an eyecup(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Y06336)and it used to make the screen shut off on its own regularly on the t2i. This is a non issue for the t4i. There is also an added dedicated movie button in the power switch now.
Feel is a little different. The t4i feels more sturdy than the previous two rebels. The buttons are more solid and the selector wheels are improved. The adjustment wheel has better clicks and don’t feel like you could easily flick it and change a setting by accident. The mode selector wheel is sturdier as well. I notice this because my t2i used to regularly switch to A-DEP mode when I would pull the camera out of my bag and I would get upset if I missed a quick shot because of it. I feel this will be a non issue with the new model. One issue I have is using my eyecup mentioned previously. The flippy screen catches on this and is just a slight annoyance but not a huge deal in the grand scheme. The rebel series always felt a bit small in the hand for me so I now use a battery grip which adds weight and substance to the camera.
Touchscreen:
When I saw rumors that the t4i would have a touchscreen I first said I wouldn’t buy it. I figured this would be a gimmick and offer limited functionality. Then when i saw the press release and videos from Canon I changed my mind. I was sceptic of a couple things I will address here. I will start with the touch to adjust. Right now I feel kind of wonky using the touchscreen to make most adjustments to shooting in manual mode which is all i shoot in. But I consider this like moving from a blackberry to an iPhone. You are used to using buttons and the keyboard for so long you are lost on the touchscreen at first, but with time it ends up faster and easier. So in time it will end up faster for me to adjust by touch I am sure. It is in two spots already. ISO adjusting always seemed kind of odd to me on the rebel. The ISO button was placed so you had to kind of search for it and then do a three button combo to set it. On the touchscreen I find this easier. A couple taps and its done. The other major place it’s easier for me is AEB. Bracketing on Canon is typically a pain. Hit menu, find the exposure selector, hit OK. Slide the wheel, hit OK again then press menu. On touchscreen you just press the exposure and tap a couple times to set the bracket.
Touch to focus was something that I didn’t see coming from Canon. When they announced it my thought was it would be OK but nothing great. I figured it would be where you would touch on one of the 9 AF points you would like the camera to use. But thanks to the hybrid CMOS on the camera, it is truly a touch to focus. No matter where in the frame you press the camera will seek out and quickly focus on that area. This function works much better than I anticipated and I may use it in the future. At first I figured this would be a selling point for soccer moms but I was incorrect. I have not used the face detection follow focus to comment on it yet.
Image Quality:
This is the most important thing in the end when you buy any camera. How will my images look? The t4i does not disappoint. Thanks to improvements in the processor, focus, sensor and noise reduction software the t4i simply crushes the previous rebel cameras. We can start with the White balance. On the previous rebels and even the 60d, white balance was not so great. A yellow or tan-ish hue was almost always present and reds were soft. Canon has addressed this issue and images are clear and cary a nice contrast throughout the image. Auto focus I have touched on. Moving from 1 to 9 cross type AF points and a new added contrast detection sensor for AF makes a world of difference. Focus is fast and true and doesn’t waste time seeking as much as before. In live view mode in low light, the digic4 and old sensors were pretty bad. A lot of seeking and misplaced focal areas. This is greatly improved with this model. Because of these reasons if you shoot in auto focus or any auto mode on the camera your images will turn out better.
Low Light/High ISO:
When the digic 5 was announced Canon touted this as being able to provide up to 75% better image quality over the digic 4. Of course I…
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|Great upgrade over my T3i – wow,
I’ve only had my T3i for about 8 months when this came out but I read the details and decided to pre-order. The new T4i just arrived today (body only) and I’ve been playing around with it all afternoon using my 50mm 1.4 lens.
All I can say so far is WOW – I’m very impressed with the upgraded autofocus, the touchscreen, as well as the new focus selection methods. There is a LOT less delay when you move the camera and what you see on the screen in Live Mode. Live Mode is MUCH “snappier” feeling. When you turned on the T3i in Live Mode, it would have a little rectangle you could move around the screen to make sure the camera was focusing on what you wanted. But with the T4i, this system is much more versatile. You can tap the screen to instantly set a focus point, or you can move the little box around (which is much smaller and more precise now – and it will also FOLLOW your focus point when you move the camera around!), or you can allow for a more “general focus” by getting rid of the little box and letting the camera choose how it wants to focus, similar to how it works when using only the viewfinder to take photos. When you do the “general focus”, a bunch of little boxes appear on the screen letting you know exactly which parts of the photo are in sharp focus – the T3i did not do this and only relied on the positioning of the focus box.
The continuous autofocus during video worked very well on my 50mm 1.4 lens – sure, the focus motor was a little noisy, but if you’re taking scenic shots or something where you’ll be replacing the audio with music anyway, motor noise is a non-issue. If you’re doing interviews where the person is talking into a lav mic, it still won’t be an issue because the lav mic will be too far away to pick up the motor noise. Motor noise is only an issue if you’re using the built in mic, which I would regard as an “emergency only” mic anyway.
So all this means that you do NOT need an STM lens to use continuous autofocus – the main purpose of the STM technology as I understand it is to make autofocus FASTER and QUIET. Video autofocus with my 50mm 1.4 is what I would call “fast enough” – meaning, it is a bit slow compared to a camcorder (and noticeable on-screen), but not so slow that it should distract my viewers from the content too much. The only time continuous autofocus won’t serve you very well is in dark rooms where it can’t lock on to anything very quickly. My 50mm 1.4 lens hunted for focus in very dark areas so in situations like that I would manual focus.
Video is excellent quality as always. If you’re used to the T3i video, this is just as stellar and tends to make people and scenes look better than they do in real life (when using the 50mm 1.4 at least) – They’ve moved the video mode to be part of the on/off switch instead of on the mode dial which is where it was on the T3i. This allows you to pick a mode on the dial and then turn on video straight from there and make use of those settings. So you can do full auto exposure video, full manual exposure video, or Program Mode video very easily.
I also love the increased ISO to 12800 and the ability for the camera to take multiple exposures and combine them to help eliminate noise and camera shake. This works very well for my purposes. It’s a small thing but something I’ve not noticed anyone else talking about is how much BETTER the shutter sounds. Somehow it’s more satisfying and reminds me of the more expensive cameras.
HDR Mode: I’ve uploaded some of this camera’s HDR photos to the image section on this page so you can see how well it did combining 3 photos at 3 different exposures – the T4i can do this in camera with no software needed. It takes 3 quick photos and processes them for a few seconds and then the result is the image you see. The 3 originals do not get saved. To save them, you would have to use manual exposure bracketing which this camera does quite well. When using HDR mode, you only have to worry about getting proper focus and then everything else is taken care of for you. Some of the images can come out looking a little weird, but if you take 2 or 3 different versions at different focal points, you should get at least one that looks very nice and detailed with lighting that doesn’t look too cartoony. One thing that surprised me was how, in one of my photos, a car unexpectedly entered the scene while it was taking the 3 shots. The resulting image had NO car at all. Pretty cool.
CONS: So far, the only thing I DON’T like about the cam are the buttons – somehow they feel cheaper and more fragile than on the T3i. I’ll update this if I discover anything else not up to par.
Overall, I love the camera and am very happy with my upgrade over the T3i. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the new STM lenses can do.
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|A review with sample pictures,
I upgraded from Canon T1i to Canon T4i. Having this T4i camera for 3 days and taking more than 1,000 pictures in different modes and environments, I want to write a few words for other fellows.
The main reasons for my upgrade are: 1) 9 cross-type focusing points; 2) Faster shooting burst rate; 3) Continuous video focusing; 4) Touch screen (very useful features). The picture quality is from very good to excellent. Color tone is realistic. Pictures from T4i camera look better than pictures from T1i camera in term of white balance and sharpness (probably from the benefits of 9 cross-type focus points). It is definitely more snappy in sport mode, focusing is fast and burst rate is good. I do like the continuous focusing feature in the video mode because of the convenience. It takes between 1 – 2 second to focus to new scene and you can hear the focusing noise from the lense. Definitely, there are rooms for improvement (faster focusing and reduce the motor noise during focusing) in video feature. I don’t have the new Canon STM lense, so I don’t know if it is quite or not.
This camera is good enough as an entry level and for people who to upgrade from their point-and-shoot cameras.
Link to some sample pictures that I took with my Canon T4i camera (go to flickr.com and search under tags only for henrynnguyen). I uploaded the orginal picture size (3456×5184 pixels), but the flickr.com reduced the picture size to 1365×2048 pixels. Hopefully that you still have a sense of how the picture quality look. Most of my pictures were taken in raw format, then converted to jpeg format using Canon provided software. The lenses that I used were Canon 50mm F1.4 USM and Canon 28-70mm F2.8 L series. The memory card is ScanDisk 32GB, UHS-1 rated. The Canon T4i camera performs as advertised by Canon. My main interests are accurate and fast focusing with high burst rate (who is not???). Overall, this is a very good entry dSLR camera. So, I am happy with the product and intend to keep it.
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