In February 2004, Canon unveiled the PowerShot Pro1, which marked the pinnacle of the fixed-lens prosumer camera line. Priced at around $1000, it boasted a top-notch 8-megapixel sensor, a flip-out screen, and the first - and only - PowerShot lens adorned with the revered red ring insignia of Canon's top-tier L-series.
It also turned out to be the final camera in this series. In this review, I'll bring it out of the archives, close to its 18th birthday, to see how it stands up today!
The Pro1 was the third and last model in the PowerShot Pro series, which began in 1998 with the Pro70, followed by the Pro90 IS three years later in 2001. All three models featured an extended zoom range (for their time) and an array of controls to cater to photography enthusiasts who couldn't commit to the size or cost of a DSLR, especially when equipped with an equivalent large lens.
While the Pro70 and 90 IS shared a similar L-shaped design with an internal zoom, the Pro1 used an extended lens, allowing for a more compact body, at least when the camera was powered off for transport. Canon, however, didn't skimp on the grip, making the Pro body more comfortable to hold compared to the flat-faced G series. The surprisingly hefty body also felt reassuringly dense without being overly heavy to carry.
Similar to the previous Pro models, the Pro1 integrated controls including a mode dial, a thumbwheel, a front finger dial, and physical buttons to adjust settings like drive mode, metering, flash, and macro mode directly. In manual mode, you could switch between adjusting shutter speed and aperture by clicking the finger dial, with an exposure range from 15 seconds to 1/1600 at the maximum aperture of f/2.4. Stopping down to f/3.2 or f/5.6 could push the shutter speed up to 1/2000 or 1/4000, respectively.
If you preferred longer exposures or larger apertures in bright conditions, the integrated two-stop ND filter could be toggled on and off in the menu.
Like the G series, Canon equipped the Pro1 with an upper status LCD displaying plenty of shooting information and an orange backlight. Meanwhile, a collar controller powered the camera in shooting or playback modes, with a central power button.
For composition, you could use the electronic viewfinder, the first for a Canon PowerShot since the Pro90 IS, or the fully articulated 2-inch LCD screen with a side-hinged design that could flip and rotate to nearly any angle, including forward-facing for selfies or turned back to protect it.
At the back, beneath a small door, you'd find three ports: a standard USB connector, a DC input for optional AC power, and a 3.5mm AV output for TV playback. It's also worth noting that the fully functional hot shoe supported Canon Speedlite flashes, ring lights, or Canon's macro flash accessories.
The standout feature of the Pro1 was its 7x optical zoom lens, equivalent to 28-200mm, which became its claim to fame as the first - and still the only - PowerShot camera with a red ring, signifying Canon's renowned L-series. This was proven by its use of fluorite and super-low dispersion elements in the lens construction. Up until that point, the L brand had been reserved for Canon's top-notch full-frame lenses and high-end camcorders.
The Pro1's lens also utilized USM, albeit for motorized zoom. A smooth-turning ring on the barrel adjusted the zoom, with markings on the barrel indicating the current focal length. To me, it felt slightly disconnected - not to mention slower to start - compared to the more responsive mechanical zoom of competitors like the Sony F828. The maximum aperture range of f/2.4-3.5 was also a tad slower than Sony's, but it allowed for a much more compact camera body.
There was no filter thread on the lens, but the bayonet mount supported various accessories, including a 58mm filter adapter, as well as an optional 1.5x teleconverter and close-up lens.
Behind the lens, you'd find Sony's latest 2/3-inch CCD sensor with an impressive 8-megapixel resolution. This made the Pro1 the highest-resolution PowerShot from Canon at the time and surpassed the initial 6-megapixel DSLRs in terms of sheer pixel count. This, along with similar feature sets, put it in competition with other notable contenders, including the Nikon COOLPIX 8700, Minolta DiMage A2, Olympus C8080, and Sony's F828, although with a differently tuned color filter array. Canon allowed you to choose between three levels of JPEG compression, five image sizes, or RAW format capture. The highest-quality JPEG images typically measured around 3-4 MB each.
The Pro1 allowed you to shoot at ISOs ranging from 50 to 400, but as with many cameras from that era, the best quality was achieved at the lowest setting. ISO 50 looked very good, 100 was decent, but at ISO 200, you could start to notice some loss of quality, and at ISO 400, the image quality was noticeably compromised. However, this was quite common for cameras of that time.
You could also record video at up to 640×480 pixels, VGA resolution, at a slightly choppy 15 frames per second, although some of its high-end competitors offered smoother 30 frames per second options at the same resolution. Video clips were limited to 30 seconds, and while the screen flipped forward for potential vlogging, the lens lacked any optical image stabilization.
Behind a large door on the camera's grip side, you'd find the battery and memory card slot. Canon stuck with Compact Flash for the Pro1, supporting both Type I and Type II cards, including IBM MicroDrives. My old 1GB MicroDrive still worked fine with it, although with slower access times and more significant power consumption compared to solid-state cards. Canon included a 32MB CF card with the Pro1, although it worked well with my SanDisk Ultra 1GB card, providing ample and quick storage.
In terms of power, the Pro1 used the same BP-511 Lithium-Ion pack that Canon widely deployed until 2008, so even though it's discontinued, replacement batteries are still available. Therefore, with easy access to power and memory, the Pro1 remains quite usable to this day.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét