PowerShot Pro1 out of date?

I've slowly worked my way up from point and shoots to my latest camera; a 20D. I have also slowly amassed a few lenses and other bits and bobs, my trouble is that when I go out for a blast on the bike I no longer take the camera as a matter of course as there's too much stuff to lug around. I've decided to invest in a camera that while still giving reasonable results won't completely fill my top box, I've looked at many types and makes (fancied the new fuji 9500 until I read the reviews). I've knocked it down to 2, the Powershot S2 IS and the Powershot Pro1, The Powershot S2 IS seems to have some great new features and Wow! a built in 432mm lens but lacks a few of the fine tweaks of the Powershot Pro. I'm leaning towards the Powershot Pro if only to be able to make use of my 580 EX flash and the IR remote looks like a great toy as well. It's spec is on the whole better than the S2 IS but it's been out a while now and uses the old Digic processor. Can anyone who has any knowledge of either camera give me their views on the subject please.

Do you want the latest in technology? S1IS. Do you want beautiful pictures? Pro 1 or G6. They are definately old technology. It's kinda like if you have a 10D or an original Rebel. They both take beautiful pix even tho time has passed them by. All digicams are going to struggle with low light. Once you get past that, I recommend the Pro 1 or G6.

I've been a 20d owner for over a year now (yikes, guess it's out of warranty!), and a Pro1 owner for about 2 weeks. From my perspective, the Pro1 takes a great photo. Shutter lag and so on are a pain after a 20d, but the image quality is really quite decent. Low light focusing is a complete pain compared to other point-and-shoots like the Sony DSC-V3 (which I'm selling). Manual focus is a bit weird but does the job.

Overall I suspect the Pro1 is a bit of a personal camera. Some will love it, some will hate it, but it's most definitely up to the job. I'm FAR happier with it than the DSC-V3, which is a pretty recent model.

I bought a Pro1 today from Jessops, they had it on their site for £447.00 but when I picked it up today they only charged me £286.00; it seems like a good price to me. I am busy trying it out, it doesn't seem to like my 4X magnifying filter and boy were you right about the shutter lag I had to check it wasn't set on timer, so far not overly impressed but it's early days.

return the pro 1 and just get a decent super zoom and that's all you'll have to carry. just a suggestion.

Ouch, your £286 is hurting me. I paid much more than that

I moved from a Fuji S602 through a 300D to the 20D, when I was looking for another camera that I could throw (well not literally throw) in the bike box and take off with I thought about the Fuji S7000; basically an S602 with double the megapixels. When I started looking around the Web looking at differant specs; the Pro1 seemed to outshine the S7000 by miles but I'm beginning to think I made the wrong choice now, it seems to have a very dubious auto focus (beebs to tell you it's focused when it clearly hasn't)and I can't get over that shutter lag (you could go make a cup of tea ;and drink it while it decides to take the picture); you've absolutely no chance of catching a moving target as the screen locks when you focus so you can't follow anything. Out of the 50 or so pictures I've taken so far; over half are clearly out of focus, I can count on one hand how many pictures were out of focus from the thousands I took with the Fuji. It's auto focus was instant and it had vertually no shutter lag; also the dam screen didn't lock when you focused. No; I think it's going back, I wanted one up from a point and shoot but I didn't want to have to work this hard to get a half decent shot

have you tried installing the firmware update yet? i here it clears some of these problems up, espeically the screen locking up during auto focus.
http://www.canon.co.jp …ng/pspro1/firmw​are-e.html

Plasmablob is right... the firmware apparently makes it a new camera. Mine came installed with the update and I haven't had the problems you describe.

Don

On the one hand, my hit rate is nowhere near as bad as you describe. It really doesn't feel like I'm working all that hard to get my shots. I do have the latest firmware though (check for a black dot inside the battery compartment).

On the other hand, even with the latest firmware, the whole thing feels very sluggish compared to a 20d. I think I may turn off image review, because that definitely makes me feel unable to take several shots in quick succession.

So far my biggest complaint is that it's harder to hold a Pro1 at waist level with the LCD flipped out and zoom than it is on a G series. I'm still absolutely loving it though.

I downloaded the firmware update and unpacked it, tried to update the camera and it came back and told me it had already been updated. There was no black dot but with the look of the packaging I think someone has had this camera before me and returned it, the digital solutions disc was already open and you don't need to do that if you're just looking at it in the shop. I hate to think how the camera performed before the update, it must have had people nearly suisidal. I'll percevere a little longer but if I don't start to like it even a little bit it's definitely going back; even if I did get it at a good price.

Well I've actually got round to reading the manual, most of the shots are starting to come out fine; I've learnt it's limitations now and stopped trying to push it too far, I'm starting to get along with it a little bit but still find it a little sluggish.

I've no vested interest in keeping you with a Pro 1, but I'm glad it's working out better. It really is a little sluggish, but I've found the quality excellent. I use Capture One for my RAW conversion from the 20d, and that works also with the RAW files from the Pro1. A converted RAW from the Pro1 quite often is close to indistinguishable from a 20d file (so long as it's ISO50, not too dark.... etc etc more limitations).

I suspect the Pro2 will be the camera of my dreams if it ever comes, but actually I'm very happy with the way a Pro1 + 20d cover almost all situations.

There are a three reasons why I would choose a Pro 1 or G6 over a Powershot S2IS:

They take CF cards
They use a BP511 battery
They have a hotshoe

OK then, I'm really getting to grips with this camera now and I'm loving it. Canon really have put some thought in to making it, it seems to be able to do so much and the picture quality is spot on. The battery and CF card fills one side completely and the lens seems to retract all the way in to the body so where all the circuitry is I don't know. Still a shame about the shutter lag though! I'm definitely keeping it.