Approx. dates of manufacture: 2004
Sensor Size: CCD 1/1.8"
Max Resolution: 2592x1994
Memory card: Compact Flash (CF)
Approx. original price: $499
Approx. street value: low
This is almost identical to the S100, except that it's about 3 generations and 4 years advanced in technology. Wikipedia has a nice chart outlining the differences, but here it is a nutshell: for pretty much the same size and weight:
S100 |
S500 |
|
Max Resolution |
1600 x 1200 |
2592 x 1944 |
Lens (35mm equiv) |
35-70mm f/2.8-4 |
36-108mm f2.8-4.0 |
Auto Focus |
3 point |
9 point |
ISO |
100 fixed |
50 to 400 selectable |
Shutter |
1 to 1/500th |
15 to 1/2000th |
A lot of other things, but those are the key features that got my attention.
I bought this camera because I wanted a grab-shot camera. Grab shots are fast, unplanned, target-of-opportunity photos that you get when you're just out and about and suddenly see something worth getting. I wanted a camera I could easily carry in my pocket wherever I went, but without the execrable quality of cellphone cams. I love my Canon 40D, but it's way too big to lug around all the time.
I ended up with the Canon S100, but the image noise was awful. The images look fine if you leave them alone, but once you start playing with the curves in Photoshop, or God-forbid convert them to monochrome, suddenly they looked like they had a bad case of chicken pox.
This one is better, but I got it from a thrift store and there's a reason it was there—there's some intermittant problem with the sensor, so sometime it works and sometimes it's dead. Usually whenever I want to use it is when it's nutty.
Camera manual: Orphan Cameras.com