King of Pocket Cameras
Canon’s venerable Powershot S camera line, starting with the S90 two years ago, just got a step better with the new S100.
.While not visually much different than last year’s S95, the S100 is probably a bigger jump than the S90 to S95 was.
What’s improved?
- More grippy body – grips on the front and back, grippier finish
- 1080P video instead of 720P (h264 mov files)
- better noise reduction with DIGIC 5 image processor
- better dynamic range and low light sensitivity
- 12 megapixel camera
- bigger wideangle/zoom range – now 24-120mm equivalent instead of 28-105mm
- geotagging – Yay! So I can see where all the photos were taken.
Like the last upgrade, don’t feel compelled to upgrade from an S90 or S95. The picture quality has improved, but only noticeably in low light.
UPDATE: I was surprised to see that Gizmodo couldn’t recommend the camera due to battery issues. They’re either doing something wrong or have a bad camera. While the battery life on the Canon S series has never been great, the S100 isn’t any worse for me than the previous models. It can stay in standby for weeks (I’ve only had it a few weeks) and it can take around 200 shots. I keep the GPS photo tagging on and the GPS logger off.
