Camera Labs

So, for the past couple months I’ve been checking out different cameras I wanted to get for Christmas. I’m very new to photography and this would be my first camera to kind of introduce me to everything. I wanted something cheap, but with a lot of features, kind of like a jack-of-all-trades master of none, just to get a feel for all the different possibilities.

My parents already had a Canon Powershot SX10 IS, so I started playing around with that and really liked how much I could do with it. I checked some reviews and comparisons and started looking at the Canon Powershot SX1 IS and Powershot SX20 IS. I really liked the SX1’s 4fps and HD video abilities and decided to go with that.

Now, after trying it out a couple days I found that the SX1 only allows for pretty much a shutter speed max of 1 second. I had just assumed that it would be the same as the SX10 and SX20 with its fully customizable shutter speed max of 15 seconds. That was one of the features I kind of liked about the SX10, playing around with cool light effects of a 10-15 second shutter speed. I know the SX1 has the special “long shutter” setting that allows up to 15 seconds, but with 0 customization. You can’t change the ISO or aperture settings at all in that mode, which to me seems like it makes it almost useless.

The question I need some help with from more experienced photographers is if the 4fps ability is worth “more” than the extra customizable 15-second shutter speed ability? I’m not really sure what each could be used for? I’ve got a cousin in soccer that I might try taking some cool action pictures of, but does the 4fps really help out that much with sports shots? And really, if I have to use the flash to get some good pictures it drops to like 1-2 fps, which is around where the Powershot SX20 IS would be anyways.

But, on the other hand, what could I really use the 15-second shutter speed for? I know from the tutorials that getting some great moving water pictures or moving vehicle pictures, I would have to use a slower shutter speed, but that really only ranges around 1/60 to 1 second. Other than some random pictures having fun with lighting effects and maybe some good night scenes, is there any other cool things you can do with a 5-15 second shutter speed? I also know you can’t really get great “star lines” shots unless you move up to the 1 hour or more shutter speeds, so that’s automatically out.

Any advice would help out a lot! I have about a month to make my choice if I want to switch to the Powershot SX20 IS or not. So, just let me know what you think. Thanks everyone for your time!

Hi Reithvorn, and welcome to the forum

15-second exposures, or long exposures in general, are useful on low-light conditions or when trying to do some cool effects, like the dreamy water you mention.

Imagine you are on a beautiful city at night, and want to capture exactly that lighting you are seeing. Without a long exposure, chances are you are going to have to take the image with high ISO (which will ruin the lighting because of high noise level), or the image will be underexposed (too dark). By using a tripod and setting the shutter speed to several seconds exposure, your image will be correctly exposed, with low noise, and your picture will probably be much nicer and detailed. Or course, moving objects, like people, will appear blurred, and you need a tripod to pull this trick off.

IMO, 4fps is slow for action photography. It will probably do the job, but just barely. For action photography you are talking more like 7,8 or even 10fps. My current camera takes about 3.4fps, and it is very limiting. For vanilla soccer games that might be enough, but if you later want to dig into, say, wildlife photography, you are gonna need some extra fps.

Now, I must tell you that I owned that SX1 exactly for about 1 year, and it is an absolutely wonderful camera, a camera half the way between a point and shoot and a full dslr. It takes great pictures (not quite as good a a dslr with good optics), takes REAL HD video with STEREO audio, which is impressive for a camera on that price range.

Regards,
Luis.

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Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f/4.0 L

I owned the SX10 for the past year, the SX1 is the same but with the faster continuous and the HD vid.

The 1 second shutter speed is caused by the mode you're in, the same 15 second exposures can be obtained by using either the shutter priority mode or the full manual mode. Good luck

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Canon 500D (T1i) - Canon SX10 IS - Canon A85

I thought the SX1 was the same as the SX10, but with less camera ability and more video ability. I can only get a 15 second shutter speed in the special "Long Shutter" mode. I have both the camera and manual with me right now and in both "shutter priority mode" and "full manual mode" the shutter scale will only let me go to 1 second. Anything higher doesn't even show up on the scale to begin with.

I've been looking through the manual for a while and the only time I've been able to find anything on a 15 second speed is in that "Long shutter" setting. To me at least, that setting seems kind of useless since you can't change anything else, like aperture or the iso properties, in that mode.

Maybe I'm missing some kind of special button somewhere that'll allow for the extra 15 seconds in "shutter priority mode" or "full manual mode," which knowing me could easily be the case. haha I guess it'll just come down to whether I'd want the more customizable 15 seconds or HD video then. I'm kind of leaning toward the SX20 though.

That's very weird, i can't think what would be causing that.

I know that the camera will not automatically go above 1 second on the shutter, you have to manually tell it to do so by using manual or shutter priority.

Anyone else have this issue on the SX1?

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Canon 500D (T1i) - Canon SX10 IS - Canon A85

[/quote]I have both the camera and manual with me right now and in both "shutter priority mode" and "full manual mode" the shutter scale will only let me go to 1 second. Anything higher doesn't even show up on the scale to begin with.

I've been looking through the manual for a while and the only time I've been able to find anything on a 15 second speed is in that "Long shutter" setting. To me at least, that setting seems kind of useless since you can't change anything else, like aperture or the iso properties, in that mode.
[/quote]

When you say you've been reading the manual for a while is that the paper manual in the box or the pdf one on the disk? You should really be reading the pdf one as its more extensive and should have all the information that you really want.

Hi,
My brother just got a lumix fz35, one of the head on rivals to your Canon sx20is. It gives a 15-30-60 seconds fully customizable shutter setting with iso. With a few trials, I can say that you need at least a 30 second exposure for star photography. 15 seconds does not yield a good result. But, if you are very much interested in fast sports and want to capture that instant the ball hits the racket, you will need an excellent burst. The lumix burst is decent and fast at low res, but barely 2fps at max res of 12mp.
You can choose on the bases of what you photograph most...
Jinay.