X

Quick Take: Canon PowerShot S100

Canon updates its popular PowerShot S95 with a longer zoom range and GPS.

Lori Grunin Senior Editor / Advice
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
Expertise Photography, PCs and laptops, gaming and gaming accessories
See full bio
Lori Grunin
3 min read

Canon USA
The back has an improved thumb rest and a direct movie record button.

The Canon PowerShot S95 is a very good, popular camera with some commonly complained about flaws: among those are the poor flash design, lack of a grip, narrow maximum aperture at the telephoto end of the zoom range, short battery life, slow performance and relatively expensive price. With the S100, Canon seemingly addresses a few of these--the addition of a small grip looks like the exception--plus it adds some desirable new features: a wider-angle 24mm start to the zoom range, manual controls and zooming during video, and a built-in GPS.

Here's the product landscape into which Canon's releasing the S100:

  Canon PowerShot S95 Canon PowerShot S100 Fujifilm FinePix X10 Olympus XZ-1 Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 Samsung TL500
Sensor (effective resolution) 10-megapixel CCD 12-megapixel CMOS 12-megapixel EXR CMOS 10-megapixel CCD 10-megapixel CCD 10-megapixel CCD
1/1.7-inch 1/1.7-inch 2/3-inch 1/1.63-inch 1/1.63-inch 1/1.7-inch
Sensitivity range ISO 80 - ISO 3,200 ISO 80 - 6,400 ISO 100 - ISO 12,800 ISO 100 - ISO 6,400 ISO 80 - ISO 3,200 ISO 80 - ISO 3,200
Lens 28-105mm
f2-4.9
3.8x		 24-120mm
f2-5.9
5x		 28-112mm
f2-2.8		 28-112mm
f1.8-2.5
4x		 24-90mm
f2-3.3
3.8x		 24-72mm
f1.8-2.4
3x
Closest focus (inches) 2.0 1.2 n/a 0.4 0.4 2.0
Continuous shooting 1.9fps
frames n/a		 2.3fps
n/a		 7fps
n/a		 2fps
23 JPEG/8 raw		 2.5fps
3 JPEG/n/a raw		 1.1fps
n/a
Viewfinder None None Optical Optional EVF Optional OVF or EVF Optical
Autofocus n/a
Contrast AF		 n/a
Contrast AF		 n/a 11 area
Contrast AF		 23-area
Contrast AF		 n/a
Contrast AF
Metering n/a n/a n/a 324 area n/a
 n/a
Shutter 15-1/1,600 sec n/a 30 - 1/4,000 sec 60-1/2,000 sec; bulb to 16 min 60-1/4,000 sec 16-1/5,000 sec
Flash Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Hot shoe No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
LCD 3-inch fixed
461,000 dots 		3-inch fixed
461,000 dots 		2.8-inch fixed
460,000 dots		 3-inch fixed OLED
610,000 dots		 3-inch fixed
460,000 dots		 3-inch articulated AMOLED
920,000 dots
Image stabilization Optical Optical Optical Sensor shift Optical Optical
Video (best quality) 720/24p
H.264 QuickTime MOV
Stereo		 1080/24p
H.264 QuickTime MOV
Stereo		 1080/30p H.264 QuickTime MOV Stereo 720/30p Motion JPEG AVI
Mono		 720/30p AVCHD Lite
Monaural		 30fps VGA H.264 MP4
Monaural
Manual iris and shutter in video No Yes n/a No Yes No
Optical zoom while recording No n/a n/a Yes Yes Yes
Mic input No No n/a Yes No No
Battery life (CIPA rating) 220 shots 200 shots 300 shots (est) 320 shots 400 shots 350 shots
Dimensions (WHD, inches) 3.9 x 2.3 x 1.2 3.9 x 2.3 x 1.1 4.6 x 2.7 x 2.2 4.4 x 2.6 x 1.7 4.3 x 2.6 x 1.7 4.5 x 2.5 x 1.2
Weight (ounces) 6.8 7.0 12.3 (est) 9.3 9.2 13.1
Mfr. price $399.99 $429.99 n/a $499.99 $449.99 $449.99
Availability August 2010 November 2011 November 2011 January 2011 August 2010 July 2010

Canon will offer a silver model.

Canon ups the image processing to Digic 5--but given the change in sensors that was probably necessary--and claims improved shooting in auto. It also has the rather useless High Quality Burst mode, which captures 8 frames in 9.6fps. Canon has said nothing about real performance improvements, which I find worrisome.

Then there's the price. I understand that with the addition of the new features it makes sense that the camera gets more expensive. But people complained about the S95's $400 price tag; $430 may just break the bank. And in case you were wondering, as far as I know Canon doesn't intend to update the G12 in 2011.