Some Questions on Canon A80

[wainism]

hi people,
looking for some advice...

was originally looking to get the Sony F828 but due to budget constraints :cry: and further considerations that i doubt i will be shooting that much and wonthave use for all the other features. also i m just really starting out in photography.
so i decided to get a compact with some manual functions

seems like the Canon A80 is a good cam that has some manual functions.
just wondering,
1)what the image quality like?
2)is it pretty idiot proof(cos i find Nikon compacts abit diff to use)?
3)can i adjust both my apertures and shutter speeds as well as my exposure?
4)hows the noise levels like shooting at night? will i need an external flash?
5)how does it compare to the new A95
6)what is a recommended CF for teh A80?

would appreciate if anyone else here can post some pictures that they have taken to illustrate the answers to my questions. or advise me on other cams in this class

Thank You so much for all those who can help! :embrass:

 

[simplicity_]

seems like the Canon A80 is a good cam that has some manual functions.
just wondering,
1)what the image quality like?

the image quality is relatively good. i have no problems with the image quality. so far, the largest size i've printed is 5R. no problems.

2)is it pretty idiot proof(cos i find Nikon compacts abit diff to use)?

yeah, its simple and easy to use. can use it w/o reading the manual. ^^

3)can i adjust both my apertures and shutter speeds as well as my exposure?

yes, there's a manual mode where u can adjust the shutter speed, apertures and flash output.

4)hows the noise levels like shooting at night? will i need an external flash?

hmm. shooting at night? do you mean nightshots of landscape? for me, i find the noise level pretty low..
btw, there's no hotshoe for A80.. so cant add on external flash.

5)how does it compare to the new A95

i think its almost similar except that the A95 is 5mega-pixel while the A80 is 4mega-pixel. not very clear abt this..

6)what is a recommended CF for teh A80?

uhm, depends on how many pictures you'll be shooting and the size of your pictures. currently im using a 256MB CF. pretty decent for me la. personal preference and usage really.

Just my 2cents worth. hope i helped. ^^

 

[simplicity_]

oh yah, this is one example la..

no editing was done to it. if i remember correctly, my ISO was 400 (its the highest ISO anyway.. lol)

so maybe you can judge based on that? but i know of other users using A80, they have really good shots.. like Latmo, Alechim, Chunger, tunster.. just to name a few.

 

[nightwolf75]

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/a85.html
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/a95.html

simplicity has covered all the main issues at hand. anyone, somebody else asked the same question earlier.

check out the 2 reviews above on the 2 cams in question. basically, from the looks of it, not much differences except in the MP. ask urself, wat u are shooting most of the time (there's a difference bet this and wat u HOPE to shoot most of the time...), how often u'll be using the cam, and how big a photo u want to develop? then, buy according to your purposes.

actually, if u dun mind 'old' tech, the A75 or A80 works just as well and cost a bit cheaper. A75 is 3.2MP, A80 is 4MP. both cams will give u a A4 size pic without too much loss of quality in print and very user-friendly.

as for the CF card, since these cams have a relatively slow write speed (vs DSLR), a normal CF card like SanDisk or Haigawara will suffice. other brands u can consider is Transcend or Kingston CF cards. Transcend can get from Memory World, Kingston, i think, can get from Eastgear. 128MB shld suffice. unless of course u want to go on an extended holiday lah. then mebbe u can consider a 512MB.

 

[wainism]

just read the review on A80 and A95.
apparently the LCD size oso differ by abit. but both can flip out and twist all 360 degrees rite?
also wanna enquire abt the movie mode. wats fps and wats the diff btw the 2?
cos i read that A80 shoot a max of 3mins but A95 ony for 30secs or something like tt?

 

[latmo]

1)what the image quality like?
2)is it pretty idiot proof(cos i find Nikon compacts abit diff to use)?
3)can i adjust both my apertures and shutter speeds as well as my exposure?
4)hows the noise levels like shooting at night? will i need an external flash?
5)how does it compare to the new A95
6)what is a recommended CF for teh A80?

1) Answer is here : http://www.fotop.net/latmo
2) Yes, i only read my manual once for some advance function
3) if you are talking about all 3 together then no, in M mode you can only adjust the shutter speeds and apertures, you cant adjust the EV (thats what i read from the manual) you can adjust the EV for all the mode EXCEPT auto and manual
4) Quite good for ISO less then 200, i normally use 50 to 100. you want to get a slave flash for A80 ? cos A80 dun have a hotshoe .... and i seldom use my flash as i always take landscape photo
5) A80 is 1MP lesser, 0.3"LCD lesser, erm .... ya the focuing technic for A95 seem a bit different also
6) 512 can shoot around 250 photo, 256 can shoot sround 125 photo blah blah blah jugde your self, erm ya btw for A80 or P&S camera forget about those high speed CF, just get the cheappest one will do

 

[wainism]

wow Latmo, looking at ur shots really personifies the statement its the photog not the camera! gives me great confidence to get the A80 man, do u use any filters with ur A80? or coverters? or u just crop ur shots? saw the dragonfly one, good detail and colour.
any experience with the movie mode?

 

[latmo]

wow Latmo, looking at ur shots really personifies the statement its the photog not the camera! gives me great confidence to get the A80 man, do u use any filters with ur A80? or coverters? or u just crop ur shots? saw the dragonfly one, good detail and colour.
any experience with the movie mode?

oh the dargonfly is closeup +4 and crop
most of the SBG shot have filter and SOME(not all)of the later one (IMG 1700+) have wide angle convertor

movie mode ... never use at all ...
A95 movie mode has 3 minute also but the resolution remain the same as A80 320x240 @15FPS
if you want to use the VGA quality movie mode 640x480@15FPS then only 30sec can record and as for A series i think A95 will not be able to zoom when taking movie as the same for all a series camera

 

[Oblivion]

Image quality is quite good and color quite accurate. Only thing is that the LCD is pretty small. A 256MB CF Card should be just right. It can take up to 200 pics using the highest resolution. Come have a look at my images, I just took up photography at beginning of year, so the pics might not be that pro

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