Disclaimer : If you are looking for a Technical Review about this Digicam than this might not be the one. This is from the desk of not so good a photographer, but an amateur who loves taking different pics just for the fun of taking them and than forwarding them to all his friends.
Well - When somebody ask you ''What you want as a gift? That too from United States of Ammerica?'' I say I wanna have a handy cam first thing, but than I thought something else that - How many movies I will make with a Handy Cam?? And I got confused, than after some deep thinking and after totaling how many bucks I have spent on my so big albums lastly by my Olympus?? I get the answer that I want a Digicam.
So, here am I - sitting with at least a 1000 pics in my laptop taken with my brand new Canon Power Shot SD500 Camera.
All I did with this digicam the day I got it was to go to my roof and take the pics of all the Air Planes landing or taking off from the Airport as I stay a stone's throw away from Hyderabad Airport and its fundoo to watch those awesome big Air Buses and Boeing’s and than taking their pics, although it took me a great deal of effort in taking the shots of moving planes but now I have mastered the art. As Before using this one I never thought that using a Digicam would be this easy, it comes with so many modes and options that I was a bit confused at the start, but when I went through the manual on some Sunday I realized that using this is a kid dish job - Ahem - when I say so, believe me it is.
The Feel :Man, it feels damn good - holding under 200 GMS camera, silver in color as you see in that pic, the moment you turn it on and put it on Auto or Manual or SCN option with a nice sound crrrrrm crrrrm the lency comes out and it feel awesomely good, It feels damn hitech. Set the zoom on anything you want to click and CLICK, the 12X setting pulls the view closer to you and before you click it the digital thing makes the view clear and when I say clear - it is Damn Clear.
It comes with a 1.5'' LCD screen which works like a view finder too but that eats up the battery too, don’t worry, the battery with this one is a small chocolate size one which runs for 180 shots with flash on and can be recharged in about 2 hrs constant charging, moreover the manual says that it runs as long as 300 recharges. The other viewfinder in this camera - I have not used till date as that screen is the best thing. moreover you can set the screen thing to go off automatically if you are not taking any pics for more than 10 seconds and the cam goes off automatically if u leave it still for more than 30 seconds thereby saving a lot of power - these setting are manual and you can set it as you want.
Transferring Images : Its so damn easy, if you install the software in your computer - all you have to do is just fix in the USB Cable in the Camera and Comp, switch the camera on and move that top button to Memory Card Mode and it will automatically copy all the pics from the card to a new folder in your computers ''My Pictures'' folder and the new folder would be named after the date of the day, making it more easier to see what date you shot on what date.
Choosing the Print Options :It gives you a choice of print options, you can decide how many copies of the pics you want and in which order, you can set the order and number of copies in the card itself, take it out and give it to the Developers and they will do the rest for you. The pictures can be seen in a presentation mode too in the cam screen or on your Television with the cable provided.
Memory Card : It comes with a 32 MB Memory Card, which is upgradeable up to 2 GB or more, A 1 GB Card in USA has costed me $45 which in India is costing around 9000/- as of date. With a 32 MB card you can take as many as 300 Pics in 640 by 480 and Around 50 Pics in Post Card Size and around 20+ of A3 Size. The best part is casual photography with this one, take as many pics you want and later on keep on deleting the ones you don’t want.
Largely It works in 4 different Modes - I can say :
Auto :Wherein almost all the setting are inbuilt, all you have to do is choose whether you want the flash on or off, or else whether you are taking a close up or its a distant shot. Set the zoom and click - there you go. In Auto mode all you can select is the quality of print you want - Fine, Super Fine or Normal. And the size you want, small one (640 by 480) or Post Card, A3 or more bigger, the bigger you go the more space it takes in the memory card. But than what’s the point of having a 7.1 Mega Pixel Camera if you don’t want a poster size photo printed.
Manual : A lot of settings have to be done on this mode like lighting - you want auto light or day light, cloudy, tungsten, florescent etc. lots of effects you can choose from, and than finally the size of photo's you wanna develop.
Scenery Mode :This is the best mode in this one, wherein you have a lot of options in which the cam will set its zoom etc like Kids n Pets, Night Snapshot, Portrait, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Underwater, Indoor, once you put in any of those options you will see a sea change in the results of the pics taken, as Kids n Pets is really an awesome option as I have taken 100's of pictures of my nephew in this option as he is one guy who cant remain in one position for more than a sec, and damn good pics I have got.
Video Recording Mode :With a 32 MB Card it gives the recording time of 3 minutes shots with sound and if you go for better quality movie kindda thing than it will record only for 30 Odd seconds, but with a 1 GB Card it will give u recording time of more than 45 Minutes, this option made me change my mind to go for a Digital Camera more than a Handy cam. I have made a couple of short clips and they are quite ok as far as our home viewing is concerned.
Other Important Options : Red Eye Reduction Option, Flash On and Off, Auto Focus, Automatic Shots (U can choose how many photo you want to take), Constant Shoots (where in you can take N number of pictures by keep the clicking button pressed and it will keep on taking the shots till you have memory or battery), Editing Options, LCD Screen Display Switch on and Off Option to save battery, Cable for Television, Date Stamps, Stitch Assistant (In which you can take 3 pictures right to left and than later on stitch them into one), LCD Screen Brightness settings to save battery, Power Saving Mode, Clock Display, Formatting Memory Card, Auto Rotate Option, Language, Vide Viewing in NTSC / PAL etc.
All in all its a good camera which is worth all the money one pays to get it, Easy to use and a great deal of money saving for those who take Photography as a hobby.
Ratings and Comments are more than welcome as always.
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