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Resolved Question

which canon point & shoot to get?

Nov 30, 2011 10:19PM PST

i've been looking for a point & shoot to compliment my canon T3i. the S100 was what i was waiting for, but the reviews indicate still a few things canon didn't fix from the S95.

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Rush to Judgment
Nov 30, 2011 11:43PM PST

The S100 is not available yet, so their is no real world information available.
It is typical of early reports on new cameras to be negative about something.
Seems to be a quirk in reviewers nature.

I suggest you wait for at least 6 months and then you will have some factual information.
That revue's main complaint is the S100 is slower than the S95.
That is probably because the reviewer did not read the User Manual carefully.
From what I have read, the S100 incorporated a feature from the G12 which was to do with automatically detecting which "Mode" to select.
That feature was to assist the less knowledgeable photographers.
As a DSLR user, you probably have never used a "Mode" because you have something better which is Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Program, and Full Manual.

On the G12 that feature caused a longer shutter lag. It added about 0.4 second to Shutter lag.
On the G12, you can disable that feature and you then have a very short shutter lag.
If you can get your hand on a S100 user manual, you can determine if that feature can be turned-off.

Regarding the Canon 300 HS:
That camera has a poor quality 24mm focal length lens.
Every picture (with no zoom) will be very soft on the right and left side of the picture.
The canon 310 HS fixed that by using a 28mm focal length lens.
But a DSLR user may find the overall picture to be softer than their DSLR pictures.
So do a little pixel peeping before you decide.
Also the 300/310 does not have Sutter Priority, Aperture Priority and Full Manual.
Someone having used a DSLR will find that to be a handicap.

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being patient
Nov 30, 2011 11:52PM PST

hmm, i thought the S100 was already out. i could have sworn i'd seen one at best buy last week. (the demo's battery was dead, and they didn't have a replacement handy.)

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S100 Canon
Dec 1, 2011 5:16AM PST

I just checked Amazon and they show the Canon S100 as out of stock.
And no guestimate as to when they will get some.
So there may be a few out in the real world, but my guess it is a small amount.

To my knowledge all point & shoot cameras will lose light as they are zoomed.
(well ... Leica may have one, for a price).

Most DSLR lenses are the same.
There are some that do not lose light, but they are expensive.

18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 is a typical Canon DSLR Lens.
This tells us that the lens can zoom from 18-55mm (focal length) and
the aperture with no zoom is f/3.5 and f/5.6 when fully zoomed.
And that aperture change is not linear, it changes faster at the start of the zoom.

A lens that does not lose light when zoomed will look something like this:
24-70mm f/2.8 (cost is about $1,400)

Here is a look at Canon DSLR lenses:

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/ef_lens_lineup

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aperture size
Dec 1, 2011 9:53PM PST

but in the review of the S100, they make a point about the aperture size narrowing when zooming. i understood that to mean it was more than normal, but i could have just been assuming. the fact that they brought that out despite that it happens with all other point & shoot cameras was why i was wondering.

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aperture size
Dec 1, 2011 10:59PM PST

I guess you are talking about one sentence in the review:

"the lens' aperture narrows very quickly as you zoom out"

In my last post, I said that the change in aperture when you zoom is not linear.
That is true of all zoom lenses.
When you first start to zoom, the aperture immediately starts to narrow and changes at a slower rate the further you zoom.
Example: if you had a lens that was rated at f/2.8 - f/5.6 the middle f-stop would be f/4
If the lens was a 6X zoom, you would not be at 3X zoom when you reached f/4.
You would reach f/4 much earlier, at about 2X zoom.
i.e. non-linear

I don't know why they made an issue of this.
If the S100 was greatly different than any other lens, they should have given us some figures to support their view (if it were true).
Perhaps it is because the S95/S100 has such a bright lens (f/2) that there is a perceived difference between the S100 aperture change and any other zoom lens.
I would disregard their statement.

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thanks
Dec 2, 2011 12:14AM PST

i guess i'm going to have to do a hands-on review of my own to see if some of the points made are matters i should concern myself with.