Canon Powershot A80

“I bought it to get better pics while backpacking. It's supposed to be a good camera. It has 4.0 megapixel and zoom lens. I hope it's a good one. If you have one, what do you think?”

“I think you'll like it. I bought the Powershot SD110 back in May and I love it. It's tiny, and has both an automatic mode for quick shooting, and a manual mode for taking more advanced pics.

Takes spectacular pictures either way. Haven't used the movie mode yet...”

“I wonder if I bought a starter camera. I bought it on a whim. Mine was just too inferior.”

“now I have to figure out how to use it. It's not as user friendly as my other one.”

“looks like it does quite a bit of stuff.”

“hikerchic had one on the South-Lake to North Lake trip last week. I have a Powershot A70. My son has one also. They are the same except for the flip out screen and 3.2 vs. 4.0 megapixels.

My son and I don't use the automatic mode. We find the P mode to be more useful. I set mine at 100 asa, although sometimes I use 50 asa.

Great camera!

My advice: For the next week, take it everywhere with you and take pictures. Play around with it as much as possible to find out what it will do.

For example, if you find that the center of your pictures are coming out overexposed, learn how to set the spot exposure (so it will expose based on the focal point and not average the whole screen).

The video clip mode works well, but uses the initial exposure setting for the entire clip. Make sure you keep that in mind.

Enjoy! The A70-80 series is highly rated. I think even backpacker magazine had an article on the A60 & A70 within the last year.”

“good. thanks Phil”

“I love mine, it takes great pictures and it has virtually every manual setting you could think of, plus the advantage of a point and shoot camera.

If you like using the Stitch Photo mode to make panorama shots, I just discovered that you don't really need to use the Panorama mode on the camera as long as you over lap and don't change settings. The fold out view screen can be a bit difficult to use in bright sunlight and matching up the images can be difficult when using the stitch mode.

I got the rechargeable batteries/charger and use regular AA's as my backups.

I think you'll be really happy with you new camera

There are a couple forums you can visit that deal with the A80.


Canon Talk Forum
Canon”

“yeah, I'm reading the manual and playing around with some settings. I may have to do some expirementation this weekend before I head to the Endless Mountains next weekend.”

“Seems like I read that the A70 has a 640x480 movie mode, and for some reason the A80 does not. Its largest movie frame is 320x240. At least, that's what I read.”

“Nahh...Canon Sucks

















;)
LOL!”

“Yeah, the photo stitch thing on the Canons is pretty cool -- and pretty easy to work. All the wide-angle images from Ithaca in my albums (12a - 12f) were taken that way.”

“D'oh! Try this:

My Webshots Albums.”

“The panoramic function works great if you can see your screen in the sunlight to align the shots (about my only complaint). Make sure you keep the camera level as you turn to take the shots, otherwise the panoramic curves.

A plus is that it uses AA batteries. I also use rechargable NiMH batteries with Alkaline back ups.”

“I'd use a tripod for taking panoramic shots. It's much easier to keep the camera level that way.”

“I'm trying to decide between the A80 (a best pick by CNET) and the G3. Canon camera's rock!”

“G3 is a MUCH better camera. G3 without a doubt. But... most people won't ever use many of the features that make the G3 a far superior camera, but even for point and shoot the G3 in a landslide.”

“yeah, the A80 starts at f2.8 and the G3 f2 so that alone would give a better picture. Mainly that was the reason I have been leaning toward the G3 even though it is $200 more.”

“I love my A80. Just bought it two months ago and so far so good. Takes great shots and has the auto settings as well as manual. Haven't read the book yet to see what all I can do on it. I love the fact that I can show my pics on the tv! It's more fun than showing prints! Good luck in choosing!

Take a look at the pics I took on our last trip to the sierras (not the Mt. Lassen pics)
http://community.webshots.com/user/hikerchic5.”