DIGIC II vs DIGIC III

[ccg]

What are the advantages of the DIGIC III over the DIGIC II ?? The PowerShots vary as to which processor they have and would like to know if there is a strong case to only consider the DIGIC III. I currently have an A620 and am looking for a new camera due to dropping it.

Thanks

Carl

[BBoi]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIGIC_II

(link actually contains laymans info on all 3 digit chips).

[Marsellus_Wallace]

Originally Posted by ccg

What are the advantages of the DIGIC III over the DIGIC II ??

In Canon compacts DIGIC III is no real advantage. Differences:
- DIGIC III takes a little more time per shot (is slower) than DIGIC II.
- DIGIC III and DIGIC II handle noise in a different way - the result looks different, but none of the two is better than the other. This is a matter of taste.
- DIGIC III enables some more gizmo features and in-camera postprocessing. (i don't care for that).
- DIGIC III gives you a bit (ca. 10%) better battery life, it's a bit more energy efficient.

So don't worry about it, it doesn't make any real difference to your images.
I don't see DIGIC III as a real improvement in the compact cams personally.

[CheesyD]

From the Wikipedia link...

The DIGIC III Image Processor is the latest (as of 2007) advancement to Canon's proprietary DIGIC technology, supposedly delivering superior image quality, more responsiveness and extended battery life. DIGIC III provides a speedier interface to the SD memory card for the Canon PowerShot G7, SD750, SD800, SD850, SD900, A560, A570 IS, and S5 IS. It also provides higher definition for their LCD monitors.
New features

DIGIC III also provides new Face Detection AF/AE, which finds and will track all the faces in the frame and sets the most suitable focus point, when the shutter button is depressed half-way. Exposure and flash are controlled to ensure proper illumination of both the faces and the overall scene, eliminating the common problem of darkened or overexposed faces. The system will also revert to the AiAF system if the subject is either not detected or not deemed to be a subject (based on the iSAPS database). The latter is useful at tourist spots where there may be many people around who are not supposed to be the subject of the picture.

Scene-recognition

iSAPS Technology is an entirely original scene-recognition technology developed for digital cameras by Canon. Using an internal database of thousands of different photos, iSAPS also works with the DIGIC III Image Processor to improve focus speed and accuracy, as well as exposure and white balance.

Dual DIGIC III

DIGIC III is also being applied Canon's latest (as of 2007)Digital SLR cameras. The Canon EOS-1D Mark III uses dual DIGIC III processors to achieve a (Canon claimed) capture rate of 10 frames per second at 10.1 MP (with a maximum burst of 110 JPEG images, depending on the speed of the attached storage).

[basroil]

Originally Posted by Marsellus_Wallace

In Canon compacts DIGIC III is no real advantage. Differences:
- DIGIC III takes a little more time per shot (is slower) than DIGIC II.
- DIGIC III and DIGIC II handle noise in a different way - the result looks different, but none of the two is better than the other. This is a matter of taste.
- DIGIC III enables some more gizmo features and in-camera postprocessing. (i don't care for that).
- DIGIC III gives you a bit (ca. 10%) better battery life, it's a bit more energy efficient.

So don't worry about it, it doesn't make any real difference to your images.
I don't see DIGIC III as a real improvement in the compact cams personally.

comparing an sd450, 700is, and 750 (last has III), 750 is the fastest of the bunch when it comes to read/write/display. the 700 seems the slowest, though startup seems faster then the 450. i wouldn't consider digic III a slower chip, you probably just have some bad examples (maybe the sd1000)

[Cr4zYH3aD]

sometimes it is overkill. a sandisk extreme iii (20 mb sec) is already fast enough for my 400d, a 40 mb/sec would be overkill.