Canon PowerShot S1 IS,
photo courtesy of Amazon.com.

I have a Nikon 850 from back in the old days of digital cameras. I think it produces 2.1-megapixel images. Ever since I saw a high resolution photo from that camera displayed at full size on a computer monitor I've wondered when the digital camera manufacturers would stop increasing the size of the photos and work on other ways of making digital cameras take sharp pictures.

Canon is pursuing this idea with the Canon PowerShot S1 IS Digital Camera. The photos it produces only come out with 3.2-megapizel resolution, but the camera makes up for it with a whopping 10X optical zoom and image stabilization. The lens has a 38 to 380mm zoom capability, in 35mm SLR terms. Compare that to the everyday lens on my Nikon N50 35mm camera: a 28 to 100mm. The lens on my film camera only provides a 4X optical zoom.

The PowerShot S1 IS lets you shoot photos that are really difficult to get with other cameras. I went to a professional baseball game this summer to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday. I tried to get a shot of his name on the scoreboard on the opposite side of the stadium when they honored all of the birthday guests-of-honor. I was taking pictures with my 35mm camera and a 28 to 100mm lens. After I developed the film, I couldn't read his name! With most digital cameras, I would have gotten a very large image, but his name would still have been difficult or impossible to read. I know I could have gotten the shot with the PowerShot S1 IS.

This camera is such a different approach from most consumer-oriented digital cameras on the market today, that I'll make a special effort to be nice to my contact at Canon in order to get a review unit. I think it's worth a long-term evaluation. And, if I were buying a mid-priced digital camera today, I'd definitely give the PowerShot S1 IS a try.