Getting to Know My Canon S2 IS Digital Camera

Late last year, after evaluating features, reading user reviews and seeing stunning photo samples, I decided to get a “prosumer” digicam - the Canon S2 IS.

It’s the 12th most popular camera among Canon owners in Flickr.

It fitted my budget well with much room to spare for 2 sets of batteries, charger, bag (official canon issue), and 1GB SD memory card.

The features overwhelmed me the day I got my hands on it. It was a big leap from the Canon IXUS 40 we once had that got stolen (oh the anguish). So I dug into the instruction manual before unleashing the beast (whipping sound) but still I didn’t gain mastery of it overnight. In fact until now half of the features I haven’t figured them out just yet.

I only got to know my S2 lately when I became an ex-corporate slave and had more chances to tag it along wherever we go.

These are the Features I love in my Canon S2 IS

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Fast 12x Zoom lens
12x of pure optical zooming (aside from it’s digital zoom that no one should ever bother using). This feature lets me take pictures that has a depth-of-field effect which draws viewers’ attention to the subject. Case in point, see one of the first photos I took below - “The Fly.”

Long battery life
It’s thrifty in power. My S2 packs 4 AA 2100mAh NiMH rechargeable batteries. It would run throughout a day of shooting then up to evening when a lot of flash is used and it will still have enough juice the following day.

Vibrant colors
For some reason, comparing the pictures it took to those of other digicams I’ve used, the colors are stunning especially with natural outdoor light. Here’s a shot I took of my daughter.

Customizable Self Timer
For group shots (including the photographer), the S2 can delay shooting to up to 30 seconds (giving ample time for the photographer to join in) and up to 10 consecutive shots in one setup. The groupies will run out of wacky poses before this baby would let up.

Macro and Super Macro
On times that Macro isn’t enough, call on Super Macro :). The closest focusing distance of the mighty S2 is zero centimeters. Hmmm, so that would be in millimeters?

Notice in this gumamela shot, though it was hard keeping it steady, the polens are in sharp focus while the rest are in soft focus.

Compact and Lightweight
It won’t fit in my shirt pocket but it’s still easy to carry along at 113 x 78 x 75.5 mm dimension and 14.3 oz (without batteries).

Video Capture
Though it’s a far cry from 3CCD-quality videos, the S2 captures decent-quality videos in 4 modes. 640 x 480, 30 or 15 fps and 320 x 240, 30 or 15 fps (frames per second). The audio capture is stereo.

I think we took this video of Tiana in 320×240 at 30 fps. Note, since the video is streamed from YouTube, the video quality has been substantially downgraded due to compression.

Creative Control
The typical point and shoot digital cameras don’t have manual, aperture priority, and shutter priority settings. Even if they do, more often it’s very tedious to set.

The S2, being a dSLR-like digital camera, has them.

Since I won’t attempt to explain how each setting is to be used, this wiki on Digital Camera Manual Setting Guide provides some good explanations.

Below is a comparison of 2 pictures. One shot using “Auto Mode” and the other “Shutter Priority.”

Auto Mode

Shutter Priority

Set at half a second shutter speed, notice that this photo looks more artistic. Colors are more saturated, picture quality is much better, picture details are sharper and more defined. Plus the composition of this photo is also better than the first.

and last but not the least…

Slow Sync
Slow Sync is a feature that makes the shutter speed a little bit slower when shooting pictures using the built-in flash. I actually discovered this by accident. Since the shutter is a bit slower, it can capture the ambient light of scene being captured.

This is a lot easier to understand and appreciate with these samples below.

Slow Sync Off - Boring

Slow Sync On - That’s what I’m talking about!

An important caution/tip: Set the exposure compensation to negative two (-2). Otherwise, pictures will be blurry with a lot of light streaks. Another drawback is it’s not ideal for moving subjects. Just like this picture below.

Ok! So to end, what’s the moral of this lengthy post? It’s that “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Haha. Kidding aside, the best way to get good at using your digital camera to capture kodak moments is to use it a lot. It’s free for crying out loud.

And always take inspirations from the masters. These are some of the blogs/podcasts/videocasts/portfolios I read/listen/watch/look at.

Anton Diaz’s Our Awesome Planet

Chris Marquardt’s Tips From The Top Floor

Jessica Claire’s Stunning Blog. Wedding photographer like no other.

Dane Sanders’ portfolio

Leah Zawadzki’s portfolio, She’s a master in taking kids’ pictures

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