Canon PowerShot Pro 1 8MP Digital Camera with 7x Optical Zoom

by Canon

Product Details

Data Sheet [1.14mb PDF]

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Product Manual [8.90mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 5 inches ; 1.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001G6U5C
• Item model number: Pro1
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,263 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 24, 2003

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description PowerShot Pro 1 gives you the creative performance of a high-end SLR camera with the digital capability and ease of use inherent to the PowerShot line. The camera's 8 Megapixel CCD captures life to the extent that even prints of 8" x 10" or larger are highly detailed and gorgeously colored.

L Lens

	Lens construction: aspherical lens in blue, UD lens and fluorite in purple

The PowerShot Pro1 incorporates Canon's top-of-the-line lens, the L Lens, legendary among professional photographers. Driven by an Ultrasonic Motor, the super-fast 28-200mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.4-3.5 lens uses fluorite and UD (Ultra-low dispersion) glass for clear, sharp image delineation with an absolute minimum in chromatic aberration. Also incorporated is an Aspherical lens, precision-manufactured to within 0.1 microns, which corrects spherical aberrations and curvilinear distortion while keeping the zoom lens compact.

Shooting modes for all occasions
PowerShot Pro1 offers shooting modes (see below) for every situation and level of photographic experience. Photo Effects in Vivid Color, Neutral Color, Low Sharpening, Sepia, Black & White and Custom are also available, boosting the artistry of your shots instantly.

Three light-metering modes deliver precise exposure: evaluative metering, center-weighted average metering and spot metering, which lets you measure exposure at the chosen AF point or the center of the frame for an exceptional level of control. And the camera's innovative FlexiZone AF/AE system lets you move the AF point around the frame to focus on off-center subjects without reframing the shot, and connects the AF point to the exposure system when the camera is in spot metering mode.

Modes

• Custom: Control and store 2 sets of parameters to your exact preferences
• Auto: Concentrate on your composition while the camera manages all the technical work.
• Portrait: A larger aperture ensures a well-focused subject and beautiful background blur.
• Landscape: A smaller aperture is perfect for capturing sweeping vistas
• Night Scene: Background exposure and slow-sync flash light tricky night shots perfectly.
• Shutter Speed Priority: Select from a wide range of shutter speeds while the camera sets an appropriate aperture.
• Stitch Assist: Easily create precisely aligned panoramas. Stitch Assist even lets you confirm the next image to shoot on the LCD monitor or electronic viewfinder while you’re shooting the current image.
• Movie: Create movie clips with audio and enjoy a broad range of resolution choices: high-resolution VGA (up to 30 sec.) or long-play QVGA and QQVGA (up to 3 minutes). Unwanted scenes can be deleted during playback.
• Program: Set almost all parameters yourself, while the camera selects aperture and shutter speed.

Advanced Digital Imaging Technology

Canon's exclusive DIGIC Imaging Processor revolutionizes how you shoot digital by allowing the camera to process images faster and improving the accuracy of the autofocus. DIGIC also reduces the effects on noise in your images. iSAPS Technology is an entirely new scene-recognition technology developed for digital cameras by Canon. Using an internal database of thousands of different photos, iSAPS works with the fast DIGIC Imaging Processor to improve focus speed and accuracy, as well as exposure and white balance.

The components of photographic space that are precision captured by DIGIC

Incredible Up-close shots
Super Macro Mode: The PowerShot Pro1 features a standard macro function that allows you to shoot clearly at just 4" from your subject. It also incorporates a new Super Macro Mode that takes you in even closer. Position your subject as little as 1/2" from the tip of the lens and capture a full 8 megapixels of astonishingly close detail.

Bigger, Sharper, Vari-angle LCD monitor

With a comfortable, ergonomic grip and natural inline layout of key elements, PowerShot Pro1 is designed with the photographer in mind. The camera features a swiveling 2.0-inch Vari-angle LCD monitor that offers the highest resolution in its class at 235,000 pixels. The electronic viewfinder offers the same sharp resolution, and both keep pace with the high-speed zoom for seamless, responsive shooting. Information in the large display panel is always clear and visible and the panel can be illuminated at the push of a button. The mode dial is located for easy viewing during operation, and a main switch takes you quickly from shooting to playback mode.

Capture extremely fast-moving subjects
Speeding objects are fair game with a high-precision shutter drive that reaches a maximum speed of 1/4000 sec. (or you can shoot for up to 15 seconds in low light). Two continuous shooting modes capture high-impact images at any pace: standard (1 image per second) or high-speed (2.5 images per second).

Shoot high-quality movies with sound
High-quality movie clips with audio capture all the action. The PowerShot Pro1 offers several resolution choices: high-resolution VGA (up to 30 sec.), or long-play QVGA and QQVGA (up to 3 minutes). Delete unwanted scenes during playback.

Bracketing
Bracketing lets you capture 3 exposures with one shot, setting a range between ±2 stops at 1/3-stop increments. A major advantage to digital is the ability to switch ISO ratings without worrying about switching film rolls. PowerShot Pro1 offers instant access to ISO equivalents of 50, 100, 200 and 400.

Easy Connectivity

• To printers: The camera connects directly to a wide range of Canon Card Photo Printers and Canon Direct Photo Printers for a world of printing options: credit card-size, 4" x 6", 5" x 7", letter-size (8.5" x 11"), 11" x 13", labels, and much more, all without your computer. While Canon printers will deliver the highest quality prints from your PowerShot Pro1, the camera is equipped with PictBridge compatibility to ensure smooth connections to other manufacturers’ printers as well.
• To PCs and Macs: PowerShot Pro 1 comes complete with Canon’s own Digital Camera Solution Disk and proven third-party software:
  • ZoomBrowser EX (Win)/ImageBrowser (Mac): A user-friendly program that lets you quickly and easily connect, manage files and view images.
  • PhotoRecord (Win): Create exciting photo layouts for personal or business use, putting text anywhere on the page. Includes Exif support for enhanced color accuracy and detail.
  • PhotoStitch (Win/Mac): Join sequential shots to create seamless, perfectly aligned vertical, horizontal, 2x2 panoramas or 360° panorama movies.
  • TWAIN Driver/WIA Driver (Win): Allows your computer to recognize your camera and integrate well with third-party software.
  • ArcSoft Camera Suite (Win/Mac): Crop, enlarge and retouch photos and video clips like a pro.
  • Apple QuickTime (Win): Makes playing back your video clips fun and easy.

What's in the Box
This package contains the PowerShot Pro1 digital camera, 64 MB CompactFlash card, lens hood (LH-DC10), battery pack (BP-511A), battery charger (CB-5L), wireless controller (WL-DC100), USB and A/V cables, lens cap, and neck strap. The supplied software on the CD-ROM includes browsing and printing software ZoomBrowser EX (Windows) and ImageBrowser (Mac). Other software includes PhotoStitch, plus photo and movie manipulation software ArcSoft PhotoStudio and VideoImpression.

Product Description

Canon PowerShot Pro1 Battery Slim. This is a 7.4 Volt, 1000 mAh, Li-Ion Battery . Dimensions: 2.16 x 1.49 x 0.86. 100% OEM compatible.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

245 of 256 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Compared to the Digital Rebel..., May 2, 2004

By 

Abel Robineau "Professional Photographer" (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Canon PowerShot Pro 1 8MP Digital Camera with 7x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I own the Digital Rebel (300D) and last week I bought this Pro1 for my wife. So after a week of intensive use and testing (we are both professionnal wedding photographers) here are the pros and cons, some of them compared to the rebel:

PROS:
- 8 MP
- L "pro" lens, really delivers crisper and sharper images than the bundled EF-S of my rebel, but I still prefer my EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
- 28-200mm equivalent is everything we could ask for weddings, we usually stay in the 28-80 range anyway because of flash range limitations
- the built-in flash is reliable, fast and strong
- lots of functions and modes, + 2 custom settings
- very small, *ideal* for a woman's hands, yet again I'm used to the rebel plus the battery grip so...
- 1 compartment for CF card and battery
- incredibly bright, big and clear LCD, very useful
- flip over LCD panel
- good battery bundled (1350 mAh versus 1100 for the rebel)
- also bundled: 64MB CF, neck strap, 58mm filter adapter, remote control (!) and hood
- Good price (same as rebel)
- hot shoe for external flash
- black "pro" look

CONS:
- Electronic zoom ring, a bit slow and drains battery
- autofocus too slow for wildlife or sports
- not as user friendly as previous Canon models
- maybe a tad too small for most men hands
- smaller cmos sensor than the digirebel
- takes like 2 seconds to turn on (I expected less than the rebel, but it's the same)
- usb 1.1 (should be 2.0 what the Hell was Canon thinking??)
- almost impossible to focus in low light, even with an external flash with IF assistant beam
- freezes the viewfinder for a sec when if focuses, annoying
- not many additionnal accessories (like battery pack, eyepiece extender...)

Bottom Line: I would still recommend it for weddings or maybe all-round, but the next thing I'm buying in about 6 months will definitely be another digital SLR (like the 1Ds), give the rebel to my wife and sell the pro1. It's a great camera, but it's not really "pro" like the name and the L lens suggests.

Well that's about it, I hope it helps.

155 of 162 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not *quite* as good as I expected..., April 20, 2004

By 

M. Olson "bone jammer" (Olympia, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canon PowerShot Pro 1 8MP Digital Camera with 7x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I'm a fairly inexperienced camera user, and this is my second digital. My previous camera was a Canon Powershot A80, which did everything exactly as expected, and is great for the money.

I waited excitedly for months to get my hands on this camera, and, as a whole, the camera is exceptional. Image quality is great. It's also very responsive, and super easy to use (for a manual cam). You just can't beat the swivel LCD screen, (super) macro mode, and 8mp resolution.

There are, however, some things which should be mentioned:

-High noise at ISO over 200 (camera does 50/100/200/400)
-Autofocus very sluggish, making it hard to catch action shots
-Made to hold with right hand, in which it fits nicely. On the left side, however, there is no "comfortable" spot to hold the camera. Not ergonomically correct. Even bizarre. I usually just "rest" it on my hand.
-No AF assist light for focusing in low light/night time situations. This is truely bizarre, as my A80 ($300 camera) has one built in, and it works great! Seems like a ridiculous oversight...
-Alot of buttons on a small camera. Fingers may cramp.

By no means is the camera "junk", and I've enjoyed it thus far, but felt it necessary to mention these problems for others to consider.

68 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of the 8 megapixel digicams, May 27, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Canon PowerShot Pro 1 8MP Digital Camera with 7x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

The Powershot Pro1 is the best all-around 8 megapixel digicam. It is compact (unlike the Olympus 8080, Sony F828, and Konica Minolta A2); has a fast 28-200 lens (Olympus only goes to 140mm equivalent, Nikon doesn't allow wide angle); and allows for fine adjustment of focal length (Olympus and Nikon use a crude zoom lever that makes it difficult to zoom exactly as you want to). An additional important point is that the Powershot can actually be used in RAW mode: the Olympus, Sony, and Nikon cameras lock-up for a while after taking a picture in RAW mode (this means the camera is not usable for up to 12 seconds after a RAW picture is taken).

Perhaps the closest competitor to the Powershot Pro1 is the Konica Minolta A2, but the A2 has an old lens design that lacks the resolution of the Powershot Pro1, and the A2 is much bigger, lacks the high resolution LCD screen on the Pro1, and has limited movement of its LCD screen. The A2 has a very high resolution viewfinder, but with a good LCD screen (like the Pro1), using a viewfinder is not preferable (for me at least). The A2 also has been noted in online reviews to have quality control problems.

Comparisons aside, some reviewers here have suggested that the Pro1 has "slow" autofocus and that the LCD screen freezes for a moment as the autofocus operates. The conclusion given is that the Pro1 is therefore difficult to use with moving subjects. The difficulty, however, is primarily with photographic technique rather than the camera's autofocus system. Because of the sensor size and lens design, the Pro1 has a large depth of field, meaning that subjects will appear in focus over a fairly large distance. Even at the telephoto end, the depth of field for a portrait (e.g. 100mm) at f/4.5 will be sufficient that you can pre-focus the lens and follow a moving subject easily. The shutter response is very very fast when the lens is already at its focus point. This is a standard technique often overlooked by people who never used a manual focus camera. And this technique is far better than relying on the autofocus system in any of the 8 megapixel cameras: none of them is faster than intelligent pre-focusing! The Pro1 makes this even easier by allowing the user to store a focus distance in the Custom1 and Custom2 settings.

This is a terrific camera. No camera is perfect, but the Pro1 makes the best compromises in its class.

And for those worried about image noise when looking at photos magnified on screen: this is eliminated from actual prints using any of several noise reduction software packages. Don't be afraid to use 400 speed on the Pro1, put the file through good noise reduction software, and print it. The result will still be very nice.