December 2010 Archives
(See Volume 1.)
My wife immediately claimed the SD1400IS. She swapped it with her SD1100IS, and is completely happy with it. Same case size, same battery type; easy switch.
The SD4000IS went back to Amazon. I had two problems with it, both related to focusing. First, in anything but bright light, AF sometimes missed, and missed badly. By "badly" I mean that it focused on a nonexistent close object, meaning that the entire picture was out of focus. In contrast, my Lumix sometimes misses, but when it does, it's because it didn't see something narrow or off-center, meaning it focuses to infinity. That leaves most of the picture (the background) in focus. Between the two mistakes, I'd rather have infinity focus (usually junk, occasionally artsy) than near focus (always junk).
Second, video focusing constantly hunted, just barely enough that most clips were junk. I did manage to take a few gorgeous clips of Union Square, San Francisco in perfect mid-day overcast lighting, but otherwise I couldn't trust the video enough to bother recording anything important.
It's possible that my camera was a bad sample, but I now see several user reviews on Amazon complaining about exactly the same focusing problems.
So I'm back to my old cheapo Lumix, and I'm in the market again. Possibilities:
- Take back the SD1400IS from my wife. Or get another; it's only $149.
- Try the S95. Advantage: get to learn post production because it can output raw files. Disadvantage: 24p video (and fake 24p, at that).
- Spend my money instead on a DSLR lens and donate it to my wife's XT.
- Completely blow my couple-hundred-or-so budget and get a new entry-level DSLR, lenses, filters, pouches, fast memory cards, a copy of Lightroom, and a backpack to carry it all in.
Option #3 might be the best choice. A good Canon EF lens is probably a long-term investment, or at least resellable. I won't get the HD video I wanted, but my phone can do that well enough.
Still thinking.
