Powershot Pro-1: the Big questions

[Cadenza]

I do take pictures on occasion to support
professional work, and there is no doubt
that the Pro-1 will be a great camera with
an excellent set of features. Coupled with
a good EX flash, it could be all the camera
most of us really need, 99.5% of the time.

However, for me the important questions
will be:

1) The autofocus performance indoors on
the G3/G5 borders on the unusable/unacceptable.
I know all about MF/hyperfocal settings, but
dammit Canon, HAS THE AUTOFOCUS BEEN
IMPROVED????

2) Shutter lag performance in low light: at
least 2-3x as fast!

3) Everyone knows compact digicams have
great depth of field. But if you need shallow
depth of field, with a 200mm tele zoom and
the ND filter, does it mean shallow
backgrounds can be more easily achieved?

4) No one is expecting the noise level of the
8MP sensor to match a DSLR, but will it be
at least an improvement over the G3/G5?

5) CA -- unless truly excessive, not as big
an issue for me, but I guess it bothers many
people.

6, 7, 8... Anyone else want to add to this list?

Nikon seems to be agressively targeting
these problems. I'm happy to be a Canon
consumer, but if Nikon is more successful in
delivering solutions to these problems, I'm
jumping ship...

Cheers, Cadenza/SF

[civis]

Why not just wait for the full reviews? They should answer pretty much all of those questions.

[Cadenza]

Why not just wait for the full reviews? They should answer pretty much all of those questions.

Because reviewers lurk here, they will get
their cameras before most of us (assuming
Canon's PR & marketing dept is doing its
job) and they would benefit from being
reminded of what we want to know, not
just bombard us with a bunch of graphics
and quantitative data charts.

Also, to get a sense of where people's
expectations are for this new model.

[slejhamer]

I might be overlooking something, but what does an ND filter have to do with DOF? If the aperture is wide open and the lens fully extended, adding an ND filter would simply give you a slower shutter speed, and this has no effect on DOF. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, for portraiture, this camera would still have more DOF than a DSLR with larger sensor, and you wouldn't necessarily be shooting portraits at 200mm.

While I don't agree with your statement that this is "all the camera most of us really need, 99.5% of the time" it really looks like a good general-purpose walk-around camera. I'd like to see the answers to your other questions too! :)

[Cadenza]

I might be overlooking something, but what does an ND filter have to do with DOF? If the aperture is wide open and the lens fully extended, adding an ND filter would simply give you a slower shutter speed, and this has no effect on DOF. Correct me if I'm wrong.


Hiya, slej.

Answer from dpreview's Phil Askey:

"There are three areas (I can think of) where an ND filter is useful: (1) When you want to reduce the shutter speed to blur movement (such as capturing a flowing river / waterfall), (2) When you want to use a wide aperture to reduce depth of field but the camera has reached its maximum shutter speed and (3) When using the camera with studio flash lights which typically have very high power output."

[http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong3/page13.asp]

Also, for portraiture, this camera would still have more DOF than a DSLR with larger sensor, and you wouldn't necessarily be shooting portraits at 200mm.

My original post,

with a 200mm tele zoom
and the ND filter, does it mean shallow
backgrounds can be more easily achieved?


"More easily achieved" is what I hope for. Right
now in the G3/G5, your subject has to be at a fair
distance for you to be able to zoom in on a close
on a decent composition, and then the background
has to be at an even farther distance, for you to
achieve a blurred background and the illusion of
shallow DOF.

Obviously, this is a major shortcoming for
compacts; I don't think anyone expects the
Pro-1 to achieve shallow DOF as easily as a
DSLR w/ a prime or tele lens, but an
improvement would be nice for us weekend
portratists.

BTW, nice gallery you have. I suppose I can
figure out if I mess with PS layer filters long
enough, but what's the easy way to doing that
shadow trick with the horse statue photo?
I bet children would love to see themselves in
that effect.

Cheers, Cadenza

[slejhamer]

Hi Cadenza,

Yes, I see Askey's point regarding the ND filter. But I'd suggest trying a polarizer first - you'll cut 1-2 stops of light, and if you are shooting in harsh sunlight you'll also reduce the glare on foliage and/or water. Of course, if you can avoid shooting your foreground subject in such harsh light, that's even better. Unfortunately that's not always possible.

You are right - "more easily achieved" compared to a smaller-sensored compact. It will be very interesting to see some of the results from this camera.

Thanks for your comments on my gallery. Regarding the pop-out effect, scroll all the way down to the end of this thread for the simple 11-step procedure:

http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/viewtopic.php?TopicID=6449#27773

Enjoy!

P.S. My apologies for taking your post so far off topic!