New A80

[stduc]

Afraid I couldn't resist the lure of the A80 - so I just bought one. Anyone interested in my A70 make me an offer!

[Matzzzy]

So...how is it???

[stduc]

matzzzy - why the sad face?

So far I'm very pleased. It's going to take some getting used to though. As did my A20 and A70. For the record here are my observations so far. Comaparing the A80 to the A70.

Images are noticeably crisper.
There is no discernable noise from the CCD at ISO 50. (1 second shot inside a black velvet bag).
I can't find any hot pixels.
At ISO 400 I can find a row of mildly warm pixels but to compensate the noise is much lower and more even than on my A70. (My A70 had a 'vapour trail' of warm pixels along the top)
I think Canon have made a mistake. From my test shots I would say ISO 50 is pretty close to ISO 100 in reality and ISO 400 is nearly ISO 800.
The new screen is brilliant, I can see it slowing me down when trying to take a quick shot as its a tad fiddly to get out and rotate. But I wouldn't be without it.
The central magnified viewing area in manual focus is wonderful. It should eliminate those out of focus macro shots completely.

In fact I only have two tiny reservations.
There is now a green 'power is on' LED on top of the camera. Why? It kind of gives the game away when your trying to be discreet (pop concerts and the like).
The lens is slightly smaller which makes it a very tight fir for my lens cleaning 'pen'.

But these are minor quibbles. At the moment I think Canon have done a great job. Basically the A80 is a G3 in a smaller package.

[Matzzzy]

Well, the sad face was quite accidental :-)

I was very excited to hear about your experiences, not because I will buy the camera (right away, since I had my A70 for about 4 months only) but a couple of friends are interested in my camera...maybe they should try the A80.

Thanks for the in-depth review, I'll show it to them for sure.

.:Matz:.

[stduc]

Another minus is the optical viewfinder is not as comfortable to use as the one on the A70.

BTW my wife has stolen the A70!

[Matzzzy]

stduc wrote:
Another minus is the optical viewfinder is not as comfortable to use as the one on the A70.

BTW my wife has stolen the A70!


hahaha, and you didn't see that coming?? :)
I kinda almost decided to get a few lenses today.
Wanted to take pictures of a fire I saw quite far away (result posted in Share pictures) and I couldn't get a decent zoom.
So, lens and tripod...the list grows :)

Have fun with the A80


Ps. You can't take RAW with this, right? Ds

.:Matz:.

[stduc]

matzzzy wrote:
stduc wrote:

BTW my wife has stolen the A70!

hahaha, and you didn't see that coming?? :)


.:Matz:.

Kind of and It's good news (I think!)

matzzzy wrote:

Ps. You can't take RAW with this, right? Ds


.:Matz:.

Correct (unfortunately)

[stduc]

Another + for the A80 - Canon have changed the exposure algorythm in P mode at least so that after 1/400 sec the aperture starts to close until f8 when the shutter speed again starts to climb.

At least that's what I think it does after taking some test shots. It certainly took one at f2.8 1/400 sec and another at f8 1/500 sec. Both at ISO 50. But trying to reverse engineer the actual algorythm is non trivial problem. I wish CANON would publish it! Anyone got a full engineering spec for the A80, or any CANON camera come to that?

[lcfred]

That's why they should release a firmware upgrade that really fix (or enhance) something on other models...

But I don't think they will...

[Flavio]

Do you guys know the resolution of the LCD of the A80. The Canon's site says it is 66k, but Jeff Keller says on his site that it is 113K.
I sent him an message asking about that, and he said he got this infor from Canon USA, but he'll still confirm it.
Cheers!

I hope I can get my A80 soon...

[stduc]

flavio wrote:
Do you guys know the resolution of the LCD of the A80. The Canon's site says it is 66k, but Jeff Keller says on his site that it is 113K.
I sent him an message asking about that, and he said he got this infor from Canon USA, but he'll still confirm it.
Cheers!

I hope I can get my A80 soon...

How can you tell? Apart from what CANON say? Anyway the manual agrees with this link. http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/a80/specs.html

[Flavio]

stduc wrote:
flavio wrote:
Do you guys know the resolution of the LCD of the A80. The Canon's site says it is 66k, but Jeff Keller says on his site that it is 113K.
I sent him an message asking about that, and he said he got this infor from Canon USA, but he'll still confirm it.
Cheers!

I hope I can get my A80 soon...

How can you tell? Apart from what CANON say? Anyway the manual agrees with this link. http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/a80/specs.html


STDUC, it was not me that told that... as I mentioned before it was Jeff Keller that told me that.
Please check on his web site: http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_a80-review/index_pfv.shtml
And also his answer over my question to him:
"I am trynig to straighten this out. I was told by Canon USA that the 67k
figure was incorrect."

[stduc]

flavio,

All I was trying to say was, who knows the truth? Short of taking a magnifying glass and counting!

What I can say it that it is a very nice clear display. Because it is inset, rather than flush with the surround, it seems much clearer than the A70.

[Flavio]

Nice to hear that !!
I want mine !!! hehehe... here in Brazil it's starting to appear..

[Flavio]

Two question for A80 owners:

First is for those who has experienced A70:
# have you guys noticed much difference btw A70 and A80 lens, my question is because the A80 is 38-114 and A70 is 35-104. Any concerns on this?

Second:
# are all A80s made in Japan?

[stduc]

flavio wrote:
Two question for A80 owners:

First is for those who has experienced A70:
# have you guys noticed much difference btw A70 and A80 lens, my question is because the A80 is 38-114 and A70 is 35-104. Any concerns on this?

Second:
# are all A80s made in Japan?

Can't answer second question.

You get marginally more zoom and marginally less wide angle. You also get marginally less purple fringing (chromatic abberation) when taking into the light shots. The lens is also much quieter in operation. THE big difference in picture quality is down to the CCD IMHO. There is significantly less noise (or maybe I have a bad A70?)

[Greybeard]

# are all A80s made in Japan?[/quote]


No, I don't think they all come from Japan.

When I purchased mine at Castle Cameras in UK I had a choice of 'Made in Japan' or 'Made in China' A80 models - needless to say I bought the "Made in Japan" A80 -

This raises the question:-Shouldn't Digicam Reviewers inquire if the manufacturer's review model is from the same production source as the majority of the production models will come from???

Are manufacturers 'misleading' reviewers by offering initial product samples from the best production facilities, rather than from the facilities in 'average'/'lower-priced' countries???

I recall similar sourcing issues with Canon's APS Ixus, when Dixons cunningly placed a bar-code stock sticker over the "Made in Taiwan"
box text - Canon were equally shy of indicating the true source of the Ixus, the baseplate stated "Canon Inc. Japan" on the Taiwan-made camera, whilst the Japanese sourced Ixus additionally stated "Made in Japan" on the baseplate!!!- Lens flare on both models was equally horrendous! - so at least both factories were consistent!

However the Taiwan-made Ixus was reatively easy to identify - the flash housing flip-up door, and the baseplate film door weren't exactly the same shade of gunmetal as the metal body!

I'll return to take a closer comparison between the differently sourced A80s next week and will report back to interested parties.


Greybeard.

"French is an strange language, do you know they have no word for Entrepeneur?" - George W. Bush

[Greybeard]

Sorry for 'blank' post -[ FX mutters darlky about Microsoft, the Web, and everything else!]

I was trying to say A80's are also made in China according to the boxes, I'll compare my "Made in Japan" model with a Chinese version and report back soon


Greybeard

"French is a strange Language, do you know they have no word foe Entrepeneur?" - George W. Bush

[Greybeard]

Recovered the 'lost text from tForum, it was hidden under the large black box!
>
>
No, I don't think they all come from Japan.

When I purchased mine at Castle Cameras in UK I had a choice of 'Made in Japan' or 'Made in China' A80 models - needless to say I bought the "Made in Japan" A80 -

This raises the question:-Shouldn't Digicam Reviewers inquire if the manufacturer's review model is from the same production source as the majority of the production models will come from???

Are manufacturers 'misleading' reviewers by offering initial product samples from the best production facilities, rather than from the facilities in 'average'/'lower-priced' countries???

I recall similar sourcing issues with Canon's APS Ixus, when Dixons cunningly placed a bar-code stock sticker over the "Made in Taiwan"
box text - Canon were equally shy of indicating the true source of the Ixus, the baseplate stated "Canon Inc. Japan" on the Taiwan-made camera, whilst the Japanese sourced Ixus additionally stated "Made in Japan" on the baseplate!!!- Lens flare on both models was equally horrendous! - so at least both factories were consistent!

However the Taiwan-made Ixus was reatively easy to identify - the flash housing flip-up door, and the baseplate film door weren't exactly the same shade of gunmetal as the metal body!

I'll return to take a closer comparison between the differently sourced A80s next week and will report back to interested parties.


Greybeard.

"French is an strange language, do you know they have no word for Entrepeneur?" - George W. Bush