The Canon S100 — like its reciprocal ohm - series predecessors — is an almost staring succinct camera with some drawback stemming from its pocket - favorable sizing . There ’s a batch of crazy tech on board . The Canon god have outdone themselves ; but that outdoing might be the camera ’s undoing .
Why it matters
Enthusiast camera , meet the residual of the world . The S100 wants to be more than just a first-rate - compact pointedness - and - burgeon forth that takes splendid word-painting . It ’s an everyman ’s rig that shoots Full - HD ( 1920×1080 ) telecasting , has a electric battery of in advance options , and a GPS fleck to boot .
The S100 also sports a lot of unexampled hardware that Canon has n’t extensively tested elsewhere . It ’s only the second tv camera to issue forth with the sword raw Digic 5 central processing unit , which is rated six times faster than its predecessor . It significantly improve automatic white balance and interference reduction . fairly impressive study the Digic 4 was used in everything from the Canon S95 to epic SLRs like the T2i and the 5D Mark II . Canon ’s also swapped out the 1/1.7″ 10 - megapixel CCD sensor for a beefier 1/1.7″ 12 - megapixel CMOS . It ’s the first photographic camera of its sort to experiment with a CMOS .
Using it
The S100 does n’t deepen much about the fantabulous design that makes S - serial cameras such a joyousness to use in manual mode despite their flyspeck sizing . In this fashion , aperture and shutter speeding are controlled by the role ring around the lens and by a click - bike on the back . Feeling spunky ? you’re able to exchange what the ring does with a button on the back gore . On the top panel , you select between all the mode you ’d have a bun in the oven on a camera designed for manual use : Av , Tv , P , M , C mode . The famous low - light shooting pre - set is buy the farm , having swapped place with a former card item — a high - active range mode for shooting in contrasty options . A record release on the back control panel start video recording .
As before , all of the other shooting preferences — which ones depend on the manner you ’re in — are buried behind the Func Set button on the back . The difference is that what used to be a streamlined list of essential options for ISO , whitened balance , format , and metering , has ballooned with new features . Some fathom coolheaded — a high - velocity burst setting which shoots eight stills in a row and a top-notch - slow motion video setting — but there ’s also a heap of pick and options you ’ll probably never touch . GPS is controlled from the photographic camera ’s computer menu .
Like
but stated , the S100 makes shoot pic a joy . It ’s sport to shoot with and the results are fantabulous . It ’s honestly fun enough to make you remember to throw it in your pocket — even thought there ’s a smartphone in there with an 8 - megapixel camera . The photos are fabulous , and for that you may give thanks the new Digic 5 — don’t be surprised if you suddenly feel like a expert lensman .
The new 12 - megapixel sensor convey acute 4000 x 3000 images that stay relatively noise free even at the maximum 6400 ISO ( though it ’s better to stay below 1600 unless altogether necessary ) . Despite its demotion to a menu item , the already great “ Handheld NightScene ” setting has substantially improved , and now shoots full settlement photo . The machinelike white Libra , which can set color at multiple point in the figure instead of just one , is so excellent that you may almost leave about lay the coloration temperature manually . Finally , you could shoot JPEGs or else of birthday suit with confidence .
And this thing is unholy fast . The performance is so good that taking a picture halt being a chore and becomes 2d nature — like charter out your phone to read and answer a text substance . The camera finds focal point instantaneously and the shutter fire almost without hesitation . When that shutter send away on the button when you call back it will , that means you ’re steadying your body and timing the stab better . What an amazing mo of feedback .
Everything else on the camera is a bonus : The HD video and topnotch dull question video both work well enough . The build - in GPS functionality is neat - o : not a must - have , but it makes it loose to represent your photos using either Canon ’s bundled software system or using other tools by Flickr , Aperture , Google Earth , etc .
No Like
So you ’ve been liberated right ? The Canon is fast , fun , and portable . Then you wake up one mean solar day to go apple picking or to go to the beach or you wake up one evening and go to a political party — whatever . You bust out your trustworthy camera . It ’s dead . Or maybe you burden it completely overnight , frivol away for a while , and then pull it out of your pocket : dead . Turns out , that new Digic 5 central processing unit is not all rainbow and puppy kisses .
The television camera is honest for about 200 photos from a full charge . That ’s nothing . The S95 and S90 drew right smart well stamp battery carrying into action and could harbour a bang for month . Here ’s the trouble : canyon installed a major upgrade to the image mainframe — along with a high - resolving detector , new stamp battery - sucking features like HD video recording , slow - move , high - burst , and GPS . All of this and the barrage barely increased in sizing , from 3.7 fivesome 1000 mAh to 3.7 V 1120 mAh . After all , how could you match much more assault and battery into this photographic camera and still keep it pocket - size of it ?
If you ’re willing to await past this individual serious operation flaw ( buy a spare battery ? ) , the relief of this camera ’s issues are only modest vexation . The tv camera nigh always prioritizes ISO over shutter speed in automatic context , which is n’t great if you ’ve got shaky hand . And while all the new features are well and good , the camera feels a tad littered with options behind the menus — a penetrative contrast to the otherwise sleek design . At times , it can feel more like a tool corner than a tool .
Should you buy it
The Canon S100 is an amazing camera . And I would n’t purchase it . As a Canon fan , you have no melodic theme how tough it is for me to say that . Do n’t get me wrong , there are plenty of reasons to buy this camera : It ’s lilliputian , tight , takes great photos , and has awesome functionality at a very fairish price . None of that matters if the camera wo n’t turn on . This camera is the germ of something great , but it ’s not fully developed . If you go for it , keep the battery on the courser , backpack a spare , and be quick to babysit — because this camera is not quite originate up .
Canon Powershot S100
Price : $ 430
Sensor : 12.1 - megapixel Digic 5 central processor
ISO : Up to 6400
range : 4000 x 3000
picture : Up to 1920×1080 , 24 fps
screen door : 3 - in , 461,000 dots
Gizrank : 3.5
Update : November 10 , 5:30pm
Both the S95 and S100 are rated at 200 shot per electric charge and the S90 is rate slightly higher . In my experience with both the S90 and S95 , I would use the camera intemperately for a day without the camera dying . Many , many hundreds of photos over hour and hours . Earlier this week , I take the S100 shelling off the battery charger and after about 2 hours/200 photos , the S100 died .
As one commenter luff out — very discourteously , I might add together — this is distinctly different from the months I spent on the same S90/95 charge . Now we ’re peach about standby electric battery life . “ Does the battery hold its armorial bearing ? ” I ’m on about a month since my last S90 burster . It ’s still die hard and use it for work 3 - 4 times a hebdomad — that ’s pretty good . I woke up to a dead S100 , but I ca n’t say for certain that ’s a standby job .
But I ’ll tell you what , since you guys are such proficient sports , I ’m going to look into this and keep you posted . If any of you have bring off to get your baseball glove on an S100 — I’m dying to find out what you think .
Update 2 : November 10 , 7:15
So let ’s talk GPS apace . A bit of you asked if I notice a departure in battery spirit when I turned the GPS off . Well in reality some of you instruct me to turn my GPS off — I’ll just take that as a different way of asking the same enquiry . We all know GPS polling kill earpiece assault and battery , so why not a photographic camera ?
Yes , I turned it off , and yes it makes a difference . The S100 ’s GPS not only track your photos , it has a separate routine that keeps a GPS log by sporadically checking into the heaven — even when you sprain the camera off . It wo n’t stop until you go into the photographic camera fare and turn it off , which since I never go into the photographic camera menu , it would be easy to do . Still after turn the GPS off , the television camera still die observably quicker than the premature models .
you could keep up with Mario Aguilar , the source of this post , onTwitterandGoogle+ .
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