Is the S1-IS the camera for me

[ED GABRIEL]

I am concidering purchasing a S1-IS in the early spring. mostly for zoom outdoor photography. Is this a good chice for wild-life photos without spending to much? thanks----ED

[Bodryn]

I bought my S1 IS in May 2004 and for the price I think you can't beat it for wild life photos. The image stabilization allows you to take great photos at 10x optical zoom without the use of a tripod! I leave that feature on all the time. I have gotten nice photos of Caspian terns and many kinds of ducks and grebes including a pair of Western Grebes far out on a lake which this camera brought up nice and close. So far I've taken 1900+ photos with it and I absolutely love this camera! Another thing: if you are older and need reading glasses for close up, this camera is ideal because all settings can be made while looking through the viewfinder which gives you the exact view your picture will give you. After taking the photo, the viewfinder shows you how the picture turned out. Another nice feature is the custom setting which allows me to pre-set the camera for zoom, manual focus, infinity focus, continuous shooting and lots more. Lots more nice features on this camera.

[bballboy30]

I use that camera for wildlife too. I am very happy with it. It has good focus most of the time. I have found that a tripod is a must for low light photography. It is not very easy to get frame filling shots but you can blow them up on your computer. Overall, if you are on a budget I would go with this camera. However, if you need a lot of zoom and have the cash I would recommend a SLR and a good lens. Hope this helps.

Alex

[gsmx2]

I recommended this camera for my father before he took off the Africa for a two game tour. He loved it. When others with small digital cameras were putting theirs away because the animals were too far away, he was zooming in and getting good shots.

The 3 megapixel limit actually worked for him....lots of shots on 256 megabyte cards and he will never print more than a 4x6. Will that work for you? If you want larger prints, you should wait until Canon puts a 4 or 5 mp sensor in the camera.

[Ikinaa]

I bought the S1 IS for my Dad (69 years old) for christmas.
He loves it, the zoom, the stabilizer, everything works well.
One nice thing is also the swivel screen. As I have a G3, I knew this feature before and i knew it was a must for my dad, as he does a lot of gardening now that he is retired and loves also to take pictures of flowers, so with the swivel screen it's easier to get interesting angles in macro. For 'wildlife' (the birds in the garden, etc) which is really shy here, the swivel screen is interesting too, because you can put the cam more discreetly in place, the zoom and IS works fine for these subjects too.
The only thing I regret is the size of the screen (1,5'') and that it's too light in review mode. The pictures look fine in the histogram, on tv, on a pc-screen, but seem overexposed on the little screen (but the histogram says that it's ok...). ANyone else has this problem? Is there a solution for this?

[DocFrankenstein]

What animals are you gonna photograph?
How large are you gonna print?
How far away are they gonn be?

[lensmen]

think there is an underwater housing for the camera, by canon.

Seems that the IS would be a great help if this is confirmed.

How close is the marco mode, my S50 is at 10cm....like to have it at 5cm or less...

OK. A seldom used pre-owned S50 with housing is up for sale!!!!

[Youngster]

As I'm fairly new to photographing and cameras overall, I don't have a lot to compare with.

However, I've been very happy with my S1 so far and I don't see how I would actually NEED anything more than what this camera has to offer.

Here (http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_s1-review/index.shtml) you have a pretty good and detailed review of the product.