Kathleen and I didn’t make the trip to New York City yesterday specifically to shop for a digital camera, but we ended up looking at them at both The Apple Store and B&H Photo and Video. I got to look at the Canon Powershot A85 side-by-side with the Canon Powershot S1 IS. Surprisingly, I prefer the Powershot A85, primarily for price and form factor reasons.
I think the Powershot S1 IS is a terrific idea with a great feature set, but it’s noticeably bigger than the Powershot A85. In spite of the fact that the 10x optical zoom and image stabilization features are features I’d like to have in a digital camera at some point, if I bought it I’d have to deal with the following things I consider problems:
- Price: It’s more expensive than a compact Powershot A85 and you are giving up resolution.
- Size: The Powershot S1 IS is half an inch wider and taller than the A85 and over 1 inch deeper. That doesn’t sound like much when you look at the numbers, but it’s really noticeable when you hold the cameras or try to put them in a pocket or purse.
- Size of the LCD: Although the Powershot S1 IS has a “Variangle” LCD (one that flips out from the camera body and rotates), it’s 1.5″ and looks small compared to the 1.8″ fixed-position LCD on the Powershot A85. If you move up to the Powershot A95, it has a 1.8″ Variangle LCD.
- Viewfinder: The viewfinder on the Powershot S1 IS is a tiny LCD with a diopter control, but the LCD viewfinder and the main LCD screen freeze during autofocus and in continuous shooting mode. The Powershot A85 has an optical viewfinder which shows less than 100 percent of the actual image, but there’s no way for it to freeze.
As I suggested in my last point, the big decision for me is whether to buy the Powershot A85 or the Powershot A95. The biggest differences between the two seem to be the fact that the A95 has a 5-Megapixel image sensor while the A85 is “only” a 4-Megapixel model, and the A95 has a Variangle LCD. The Variangle LCD would be helpful in situations where I want to hold the camera above my head or close to the ground. This is something I have done in the past with Nikon digital cameras with articulated bodies, so I am inclined to consider the flip-out LCD an important feature.
I hope this information is helpful to Operation Gadget readers who are deciding which Canon digital camera appeals to them as an experienced amateur photographer.