If the interface of the PowerShot
S80 is mostly traditional for a Canon digital camera, it does
add a couple of new touches. One excellent addition is the
animated mode dial that spins on the upper right of the monitor
when the mode dial is turned, particularly since the Mode
Dial is easily rotated accidentally while handling the camera.
The on-screen dial attracts attention and clearly displays
the current mode, preventing mistakes from occurring.
The same system is used to select Scene modes and with the
selection of movie modes, but this time in conjunction with
the new Multi-control Dial. As the Dial is spun, the various
Scene or movie modes are presented as a spinning dial in the
upper right corner of the screen, while their name is superimposed
in the middle of the screen.
As explained at the outset, in most other respects, the interface
of the S80 is quite typical of other Canon cameras. The menu
system is composed of three sections, both in the capture
and playback modes, the second of which contains the options
of the Setup menu:
Mute: On or Off, serves to turn off all sounds
produced by the S80.
Volume makes it possible to adjust the volume of
all the sounds over a range of 5 steps or Off:
Start-up Volume,
Operation Volume,
Self-timer Volume,
Shutter Volume,
Playback Volume.
LCD Brightness: makes it possible to adjust the
brightness of the screen over ± 7 steps.
Power Saving:
Auto Power Down (On or Off), controls if the camera
powers down when inactive.
Display Off serves to select the delay after which
the LCD monitor turns off automatically (10, 20, 30
seconds or 1, 2, 3 minutes).
Time Zone: Sets Home or World time, a second time
zone that can be used while travelling with the camera.
Date/Time: serves to set the internal clock and
calendar of the S80.
Format: serves to format an SD card. A Low-Level
option can be selected that can return a memory card to
its original read/write performance, and which is sometimes
necessary for capturing movies.
File Numbering: On or Off, decides whether or not
images' file numbers restart at 1 every time a memory card
is formatted or a new card is used.
Create Folder has two options:
Create New Folder: to save images into a new folder
Auto Create: Off, Daily (Monday through Sunday) or
Monthly. Creates new folders as required based on the
day or month.
Auto Rotate: On or Off, although it appears in
both the Setup menu accessed when the camera is set to a
capture mode, and in the Setup menu accessed when the camera
is in playback mode, these two options are in fact independent.
When set to On in the capture mode's Setup menu, the camera
records the orientation of the shot. But only when this
option is set to On in the playback's Setup menu is the
image automatically rotated when displayed.
Distance Units: selects the units used in the Manual
focus mode, meters and centimetres, or feet and inches.
Video System selects the video out signal: NTSC
or PAL.
Reset All: returns the camera to its original defaults.
Canon provides two manuals with the PowerShot S80. The first
is the Basic Camera User Guide, the other is called
the Advanced Camera User Guide. The Basic guide is
a simplified introduction to the camera and its modes, designed
to let a novice photographer obtain results quickly with the
S80. The second, the advanced guide, is intended to guide
a user through a more in-depth exploration of the camera's
capabilities, and settings.
While the intent of the guides is laudable, the advanced
guide would be more useful if it also included the abridged
information contained in the Basic guide, and did not require
the reader to go back and forth between each manual.
Software
As it does with its current digital cameras, Canon includes
a single CD-ROM with the PowerShot S80 called Canon Digital
Camera Solution Disk (version 26).
The disc contains software for both Macintosh and Windows-based
computers:
For Macintosh computers, the disc contains:
ImageBrowser 5.5
Photostitch 3.1
ArcSoft PhotoStudio 4.3
While for computers using Microsoft Windows, the following
programs are available:
Zoom Browser EX 5.5
PhotoRecord 2.2
PhotoStitch 3.1
Camera Twain Driver 6.6
Camera WIA Driver 6.4
ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5.5
Apple QuickTime 6.5
ZoomBrowser is the primary piece of software supplied
with the S80. It is designed to function as a download tool
for images captured with the camera and runs automatically
once the camera is connected to the computer via USB. Moreover
it can be used to sort, adjust, and create slide shows from
images already on the computer's hard disk.
ZoomBrowser allows folders
to be selected from the left pane of the program's window,
while the folder's contents are displayed in the right pane.
A variety of presentations is possible, including thumbnails,
and detailed views that include the shooting data and a histogram
for the currently selected image.
In addition, photos can be double-clicked, opening them in
a new window where they can be adjusted for colour, tone,
saturation, brightness and contrast.
PhotoStitch is the
other main program included for both Windows and Mac. It is
designed to assemble series of images captured using the Stitch
Assist mode of the S80 into single panoramic images.
Windows users will be able to use PhotoRecord, a
program that serves to create photo albums. PhotoRecord allows
adding frames to the images and organizing the images over
backgrounds which form part of the album pages.
Finally, ArcSoft PhotoStudio is
a complete image editor that offers some of the features found
in professional image editors, such as layering, and precise
selections of parts of images so that they can be edited exclusively
without altering the rest of the image.
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Interface & Software
