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Canon PowerShot Pro1 Review
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Review
Date: May 4, 2004 |
USER'S EXPERIENCE
Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - Here's what I receive
in the box:
- PowerShot Pro1
- Lens Hood
- Filter Adapter
- Neck Strap
- Wireless Remote Controller
- Li-Ion Battery & Battery Charger
- 64MB CompactFlash (CF) Memory Card
- Interface Cables: A/V; USB
- English & French Instruction Manuals:
User Guide; Software Starter Guide; Quick Start
Guide [very convenient]; System Map; Direct
Print User Guide
- Software CDs: Digital Camera 17.1; ArcSoft
Camera Suite 2.1
The Canon PowerShot Pro1 comes with a
64MB CompactFlash memory card, rechargeable Li-Ion
battery and battery recharger. A wireless remote
controller is a nice addition.
The battery charger plugs directly into a power
outlet. It takes about 90 mins to fully charge
a depleted Li-Ion battery. You can safely recharge
the battery at any time and do not have to wait
for it to be depleted first. The battery life
is approximately 300 charge cycles. If you have
ever wished you could know approximately how much
juice is left in your battery and whether you
can risk it by not recharging it, now you can.
The charge indicator on the CG-580 battery charger
blinks once (0%-49%), twice (50%-74%) or three
times (75%-99%) to give an approximate indication
of the percentage of the battery that is recharged.
A steady light indicates the battery is fully
(100%) recharged.
The supplied 64MB CF card will hold about 17
Superfine Large, or 6 RAW, images. I recommend
you purchase at least a 512MB CF card, or as large
a memory card as you can afford. For example,
a 256MB CF card will allow you to record about
71 Superfine Large images (3264x2448 pixels) or
26 RAW images, which is not a lot. A 8MP image
takes a lot of space (though compressed) so unless
you fancy changing CF card in the middle of a
shooting session, check out the larger capacity
CF cards. The Pro1 accepts both CF Type I and
II.
With Windows XP, you don't need to install any
software to transfer images from camera to PC.
Just plug the USB cable into your camera and PC
USB socket, and ZoomBrowser EX automatically runs.
You do not even need to turn on the camera. You
can specify the default directory for file transfer
and even set transfer to automatic, as I did.
When the transfer is completed (takes about 7-9
sec. to transfer each image, depending on the
power state of your battery), just unplug the
cable, no need to turn off camera. Very convenient.
There are two CDs included: ArcSoft Camera Suite
2.1 (PhotoImpression 5, VideoImpression 2) and
Digital Camera Solution Disk 17.1 (ZoomBrowser
EX 4.6, PhotoRecord 2.0, PhotoStitch 3.1, Camera
Twain Driver 6.4, Camera WIA Driver 6.2)
The User Guide is well illustrated and written,
though the print is on the small side. A Quick
Start Guide is all you need to get started with
the basics of using the camera.
Khoi
Fish
20.9mm, Program AE, Evaluative, 1/60 sec., F3.2,
and ISO 50 with Flash
Here are some of my MENU and FUNC options, with
descriptions:
MENU:
=====
Rec. Menu
---------
| Red-eye = Off |
Set this only when taking portraits.
Because the red-eye reduction lamp fires first,
there is a slight delay before the shutter
fires. |
| Flash Pop-up =
Off |
I like to decide whether the
flash fires or not. |
| Self-timer = 2
sec. |
Great way to prevent camera
shake. |
| Spot AE Point =
AF Point |
Great for macro shots to permit
precise focus of off-centre subjects. |
| MF-Point Zoom =
On |
Magnifies the AF frame area
for a clearer view. |
| AF Mode = Single |
In Continuous AF Mode, the motor,
though very quiet, constantly whirs. |
| Digital
Zoom = Off |
|
| Review = 5 sec. |
Set to any length of time you
find comfortable since a tap on the shutter
release returns the camera immediately to
Shooting Mode. |
| Reverse Disp. =
On |
Flips the image right side up
when the LCD monitor is turned to face the
subject. |
Set up
------
| Mute = On |
Silence is golden (you do hear
a slight muted click). |
| LCD Brightness
= Bright |
Would have preferred
a slightly brighter option. |
| Auto Rotate = Off |
Drives me nuts
trying to compose when the image keeps flipping. |
FUNC:
=====
ISO = 50
Other Settings:
===============
AWB = Auto
Histogram is available on playback. In Playback
mode, press the INFO button a couple of times
until the histogram appears. Set this way, it
will display as soon as you finish taking the
picture for however long you set the Review time
to in the Rec. Menu. It is a good idea to learn
to read the histogram if it is available on your
digital camera. It is not difficult and we explain
it clearly in this tutorial.
You can rely on a histogram display to tell you
whether your shot is underexposed or overexposed
-- no matter how it looks on the LCD screen.
The Canon PowerShot Pro1 is a full-featured prosumer
digital camera, and as such does require some
adjustement time to master all its features. After
three full weeks of use, I am quite comfortable
with all its buttons and dials, though I would
still have preferred some slight moving of the
buttons around to suit my personal preferences
(see Handling
& Feel page).
I am very partial to compact digital cameras
and the Canon PowerShot Pro1, with its compact
size, superb build and handling, excellent image
quality, and professional features, comes close
to as perfect as a digital camera can be for me.
Now, if only Canon would put its APS-sized CMOS
image sensor into it....
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