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Average rating:
3.53
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Canon's first touch-screen camera, the SD980 IS (Digital IXUS 200 IS) features a 3 inch touch-screen LCD and an optically stabilized 5x zoom lens starting at a wide 24mm equivalent, 12.1 MP sensor and offers HD video recording capabilities.
| Quick links: | Announcement | Forum |
| Announced: | Aug 19, 2009 |
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Average rating:
3.53
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Opinion: Great all-around P&S. Love the wide lens. Overall, the images are a bit painterly for
me (that is, low grain, but at sacrifice of detail). Tiny size is both great AND it's
downside. The screen is so big it is difficult to handhold with one hand without
engaging the touch screen menu GRRRR! Found the menu operations very
counterintuitive at first, but now like them. LOVE the command wheel; very
quick to use once mastered. The switch from video-camera-auto is tiny; too small.
From one command to the next, that button is only about a 2mm throw, making it
maddening to get it to the middle camera setting (the left triangular button on the
top).
Video is decent with very clean with exceptional audio for such a tiny camera. Since
the motion seems to be progressive (guessing) the still frames are very sharp… but
motion is a bit clippy and less than smooth with poor camera technique. Gets pretty
noisy in the shadows in low light. Good AWB.
Love the wide angle video capacity. Note that the flare you get on the LCD when
composing stills is actually IN the video you get… so watch for windows in
background during video as they can cause vertical streaking.
Overall, it's a keeper (for my wife). I have the s90 on order, as I want awesome low-
light capacity; review on that once I get it. Back to the 980… This is fair to good
for what it is. This is very useable at ISO 800. It's nowhere near the LX3 for image
quality; but then again, this is nearly $200USD less and can fit easily in pants
pocket and zooms twice as far. For pixel peeping, sure it's not an EOS 1Ds
XXX, but then again, it's not an EOS. Grain is smoother and less noise than my
Ricoh GX 100; but I'll take a bit more grain of the Ricoh and less in-camera
processing. That's because I take EVERYTHING into Photoshop so don't care. This
IS about twice the sensitivity of the Ricoh, though. That is, Ricoh grain at 400 is
more like the 980 at ISO 800. The 1600 … well, only if it's the ONLY way to get a
picture at all. Lots of loss of detail and chunky.
Problems: • Vertical banding in video from bright backlight sources.
• Mildly annoying painterly effect on all ISO settings to minimize grain (getting
heavy as ISO goes up; but still not as bad as LX2 and earlier).
• Too easy to activate menus accidentally with the touch screen. (wheel menu is
awesome and faster; touch screen is gimmicky IMHO).
Wouldn't call these defects, as this is what the camera is. Keeping these limitations
in mind, I'd highly recommend it as a miniature camera for someone looking for a
basic, very capable P&S. Pros will want fewer gimmicks and more control however.
Opinion: Excellent camera.
Compact, heavy construction, Canon quality.
Night shots produce a nice black.
Very good video quality.
Flash is good for close range snapshots.
I love the "half flash" settings, meaning it is possible to flash in the night and to keep the background visible. That makes for nice pix.
The wide angle is great.
Problems: none, really.
maybe the pix are not as crisp as I would like.
Opinion: + Innovative Face detection with touch screen very practical, especially the feature to allow Face detection with self-timer makes group photo shots fun..
+Touch to focus useful and fast..
+Plenty of features take a long while for beginner to out-grow
+Some advanced features like AFL, AEL, FEL are available.
+Photo stitch along wth AEL, AFL makes taking panorama shots easy..
+Lots of white balance choice, including custom
+Availability of color choices including custom tinit.
+Large 3 inch touch pad
+Large choice of auto shootng modes for beginners
+i-Contrast can be useful, and available as in-camera editing as well..
+Menu navigation intuitive, especially when used with touch pad
+Stylish and attractive design
+wide angle and f/2.8 a plus
Problems: -Power-on button too small, and fragle.. almost require the use of finger nail to operate.
-Camera mode switch similarly filmsy and fragile
-Choosing image by flickering or fanning motion gimmicky and inpractical
-Touch screen requires more pressue than expected, sensitivity cannot be caliberated.
-Most options have limited range, either on or off.
-Exposure compensation up to +-2EV only.
-Grainy image visible in LCD screen at macro mode
-No manual mode, though a P mode is available
-Pointing operation at touch pad really requires long nail.. or the use of toggle strap, which is inconvenient
-Operation of four directional button is a nail operation
-Grainy image visible on computer screen for images taken at iso 250-800, L, f/2.8 zoomed at 50% viewing size.
-Weak battery means shorter shooting time.
-A little bit pricy bordering on low end of prosumer models..
Opinion: this is my 3rd canon camera. S70, SD870IS are the first two camreas with excellent picture quality with superfine mode. dpreview website misguided me for the quality. they have posted quality level as super fine, fine and normal. i bought it and went overseas for vacation. i could not find the superfine mode. i had to take pictures in fine mode. when zooming in the review mode or in the computer, the pixels breaks and the photo's are fuzzy. i hope canon makes the superfine mode again or upgrades the software for all cameras which do not have the superfine mode. reviews have dropped from 4.5 to 3.0 ,,,selling is going to drop compared to sony,panasonic,nikon etc.
Problems: I called canon on 11/23/09 and they said that there is no superfine mode in SD980IS. looks like canon wants to go out of business.
I am going to call to return this camrea or I will call the credit card company to refund my money back for selling this camera by misguiding customers.
Do not buy this product.
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 | 22.3 megapixels 3.2" screen Full frame sensor |
