canon SD600 vs SD630

I've had an SD400 and an SD450 - similar to the SD600 series cameras and the viewfinder is pretty much useless. If you're trying to conserve battery life it can come in handy, but with the lack of battery life indicator until you're almost out of juice it's kind of a moot point.

If I were in the market for a new P&S, I'd go for the SD630. The IS feature on the SD700 is great, too, on these small P&Ses, especially in low-light/indoor scenarios.

I'd get the one with the viewfinder. Does having a slightly larger screen really help you that much?

If I want to take a photo in low light, I use the viewfinder every time. Not only is it impossible to frame a scene under low light using the LCD, but you shake the camera more if you don't have the camera pressed against your face.

And if that LCD ever breaks or isn't working perfectly because of something you do, then it's essentially unusable without the viewfinder. I think I'd just get a new one anyway, but at least it's still an option.

Oh, I also use it to save battery life. Yes, Canons have sucky battery life indicators (it's useless), but even before I get a warning, I have a good idea of how much juice I have remaining. If I know I want to take a lot more photos, I turn off the LCD and the screen preview that appears after I take each photo.

That's interesting, Abstract. I find that it's quite hard to frame a shot properly looking through the viewfinder - the angle always seems to be a bit off and it's not a full view of the shot (see DP Review assessment).

Have they improved or is my face just getting in the way?

I, personally, am moving up to an SD 550 from my SD200. I have *NEVER* used the viewfinder and I never plan to.




Never.




Not once.





On that note, I highly suggest the Powershot SD series.... best little cameras on the planet.

Rower_CPU said:

That's interesting, Abstract. I find that it's quite hard to frame a shot properly looking through the viewfinder - the angle always seems to be a bit off and it's not a full view of the shot (see DP Review assessment).

Have they improved or is my face just getting in the way?

Click to expand...

No, they haven't improved it, but if you're taking low light shots, it's the best way. Your eyes are better at discerning differences at night than an LCD. In the dark, things look completely black on an LCD. So while the viewfinder is not very accurate, at least you can take the photograph.

My last experience using the viewfinder was in the Gold Coast 4 weeks ago. I took a few photos during the last 20 minutes of sunset, and most of them came out a bit blurred. I started to take photos while looking through the viewfinder (it was still bright enough to use the LCD, but anyway...). At that point, it was only getting darker; however, I got sharper photos, and ended up keeping only the photos I got while looking through the LCD (which were taken in lower light!) and deleted most of the shots taken through use of the LCD.

Here are 2 photos I got, both taken at 1 second exposure, taken handheld with no image stabalization, no noise reduction or editing, set at ISO 400, using a Canon SD400. The 2nd photo was taken under complete darkness, but I still got a decent photo. My friend only got blurry photos when she took photos using her Olympus, which had no viewfinder.

Rower_CPU said:

Have they improved or is my face just getting in the way?

Click to expand...

For me, after a little while, I got used to it. Except for anything heavily affected by the parallax, I actually prefer using the viewfinder now.

I don't think the LCD will kill the battery that much faster on the 630 vs. the 600, but it will make a little difference. But, in the end there isn't much of a difference, so if you prefer the 630 - it's better to get a camera that you like...

Yeah, just get the one that you like. I'm just being anal because I have a DSLR. While I understand that my point and shoot will have it's limitations, I want to limit the number of weak points down to a minimum, which means being able to keep my camera still in the dark, or to frame a shot in the dark (although the viewfinder won't be accurate). Having a p&s with or without a viewfinder is just like comparing a camera that has a lot of limitations, and another camera with even more than that. I want convenience, but even when using my SD300, I still feel like a very amateur photographer who might need to take any sort of photo at any time.


But hey, most people I know now have a camera without the viewfinder, and they're perfectly content. Sorry if I made you worried.