Why You Can Trust CNET Canon speeds up, adds Wi-Fi for PowerShot S110
Though the camera retains its disappointingly slow lens, Canon claims it's about 30 percent faster than the S100 at shooting.
Canon made quite a few changes for its replacement to the popular S100, but alas, not necessarily for the better and it only addressed one of the camera's two biggest issues. More and more this camera is becoming less and less an enthusiast compact, despite support for raw and manual exposure controls.
On the plus side, Canon added Wi-Fi support for direct upload or mobile device connections and syncing; in exchange, though, it dropped the GPS, stating that geotagging functions are better performed by your phone or tablet. I suppose that makes sense, unless you're like me and prefer to leave location services turned off. It also incorporates a touch screen, which is pretty useful.
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The company addressed the camera's lackluster performance, with an ostensibly faster autofocus system. That's always welcome, though the S100's (and the S95's before it) bigger performance issue is shot-to-shot time, where image processing becomes more of a problem. Since it uses the same Digic 5 processor, I'm not sure what impact Canon's improvements will have on that. Though it's the same resolution as before, Canon says it's a newly developed sensor, and it does claim a 10fps burst albeit for only 10 frames. We'll have see if that's followed by 15 seconds of file saving.
My biggest disappointment, though, its that the camera still has the same old slow lens. And to quote my S100 review, "The addition of the grip inset makes a big difference in shooting comfort." So Canon got rid of it. Sigh.
Here's the competitive field for enthusiast compacts in its price range (9/19/12: updated with more complete specs):
| Canon PowerShot S100 | Canon PowerShot S110 | Fujifilm XF1 | Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 | Samsung EX2F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sensor (effective resolution) | 12.1mp CMOS | 12.1mp CMOS | 12mp EXR CMOS | 10.1mp MOS | 12.4mp BSI CMOS |
| 1/1.7-inch | 1/1.7-inch | 2/3-inch | 1/1.7-inch | 1/1.7-inch | |
| Sensitivity range | ISO 80 - 6400 | ISO 80 - | ISO 100 - ISO 12800 | ISO 80 - ISO 6400 | ISO 80 - ISO 3200/ 12800 (expanded) |
| Lens | 24-120mm f2-5.9 5x | 24-120mm f2-5.9 5x | 25-100mm f1.8 - 4.9 4x | 24-90mm f1.4-2.3 3.8x | 24-80mm f1.4-2.7 3.3x |
| Closest focus (inches) | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Continuous shooting | 2.3fps n/a | 0.9 fps (with AF) 2.1fps (without AF) | 10fps n/a | 5 fps 12 JPEG/ n/a raw (11fps without tracking AF) | n/a |
| Viewfinder | None | None | None | Optional EVF | None |
| Autofocus | n/a Contrast AF | n/a Contrast AF | n/a Contrast AF | 23-area Contrast AF | n/a Contrast AF |
| Metering | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shutter | 15 - 1/2,000 sec | 15 - 1/2,000 sec | n/a | 60-1/4,000 sec | 30-1/2,000 sec |
| Flash | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hot shoe | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| LCD | 3-inch fixed 461,000 dots | 3-inch fixed touch screen 461,000 dots | 3-inch fixed 460,000 dots | 3-inch fixed 920,000 dots | 3-inch articulated AMOLED 614,000 dots |
| Image stabilization | Optical | Optical | Optical | Optical | Optical |
| Video (best quality) | 1080/24p H.264 QuickTime MOV Stereo | 1080/24p H.264 QuickTime MOV Stereo | 1080/30p H.264 QuickTime MOV | 1080/60p AVCHD @ 28, Mbps; 1080/60p QuickTime MOV @ 28 Mbps Stereo | 1080/30p H.264 MP4 Stereo |
| Manual iris and shutter in video | Yes | Yes | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Optical zoom while recording | Yes | Yes | Yes | n/a | Yes |
| External mic support | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Wireless connectivity | None | Wi-Fi | None | None | Wi-Fi |
| Battery life (CIPA rating) | 200 shots | 200 shots | 300 shots | 330 shots | n/a |
| Dimensions (WHD, inches) | 3.9 x 2.3 x 1.1 | 3.9 x 2.3 x 1.1 | 4.2 x 2.4 x 1.2 | 4.4 x 2.6 x 1.8 | 4.4 x 2.4 x 1.1 |
| Weight (ounces) | 7.0 | 7.0 (est) | n/a | 10.6 (est) | 11.4 (est) |
| Mfr. Price | $429.99 | $449.99 | $499.95 | $499 | $499.99 |
| Availability | November 2011 | October 2012 | October 2012 | August 2012 | August 2012 |
Yes, it's still the smallest camera available in its class, and a lot of people will continue to be attracted by the fact that it's a 5x zoom lens compared with the faster lenses offered by Panasonic, Samsung, and Olympus. And maybe there's some image improvement to go along with all these changes as well. Or, hopefully, Canon will continue to keep the S95 around for a bit longer.