Ring piece
As such the S100 comes with expert features such as AE lock, Manual focus, focus bracketing, RAW format support and fine control over advanced parameters such as noise reduction. Many such features are also available on more consumer-focused cameras too, but tend to be hidden away deep in the darkest recesses of the menu system.
Retractable 5x zoom lens delivers a 35mm equivalent of a 24mm,f2 wide-angle
The key difference with the PowerShot S100 is that these functions are presented much as they would be on an SLR and if you’re familiar with an of Canon’s own EOS models you’ll recognise the sparse, textual menu system which eschews the spinning animated graphics and attention-grabbing flourishes of standard consumer models.
You get quick, customisable access to all functions, meaning you can make adjustments quickly and easily without having to resort to the menus or take your eye off the subject.
The ring at the front offers easy control of a variety of manual functions
A clicky thumbwheel mode dial sits at the top right above a new rubberised thumb grip. There's also the usual four-way cursor controller-cum-input dial sitting at the rear. Individual buttons are provided to enter playback mode or the menu system and a new dedicated movie record button is also included.
A fourth button is used to select the function of the camera’s lens-mounted control ring which is one of the PowerShot S100’s most important features: By grabbing and twisting the ring you can adjust any of a selection nine functions. These include obvious candidates such as zoom or manual focus and also control over the aperture setting – something you can’t adjust in this way even on the top of the range Canon SLRs.
Familiar functions, but now the S100 features improved grip adornments
None of these control options would matter one jot without some serious specifications to back them up, and here the PowerShot S100 does not disappoint.
Top-notch optics are a given, and Canon has extended the zoom range of the PowerShot S95 at both the wide and telephoto ends to give us a range of 5.2mm to 26mm which translates to 24mm to 120mm in 35mm terms. This works out at a 5x zoom range – a significant increase on the 3.8x zoom of its predecessor but still relatively narrow in today’s market.
Next page: Sample Shots
COMMENTS
I disagree that the GPS is a gimmick
Especially after a trip, I find that being able to tie down where a shot was taken really makes reviewing them more pleasurable.
Especially when visiting destinations that change substantially with the seasons, being able to locate and view other people's photos taken at the same place and a different time of year adds an interesting extra dimension to the place you've visited.
90%
Sounds such a good review that it should be rated at 90% which bring it down from 100% with some minor issues like the min aperature and speed in raw mode.
How often does a RegHard review go below 60% and above 90%. The scores on the doors are not good enough to give a realistic view of the review. At the moment you have to take 60% as crap and 90% as effing brilliant. It should be more like 10% for crap and 100% as effing brilliant.
Re: I disagree that the GPS is a gimmick
Agreed!
If you're serious about photography you often go out on a walkabout and shoot a series of recce shots to scout a location, you'll often do this without your full bag of kit. Having a camera with GPS means you know to within a few feet exactly where you took the viewpoint you really favoured. Nothing worse than scouting a location then coming back a week or two later and wandering about in the dark trying to find the exact spot you wanted to shoot from again.
Great review for a great camera, corroborates with other views, discussion on DSLR vs Compact
e.g. at kenrockwell.com and on amazon.co.uk
Also, for an informative discussion on DSLR vs Compact look at:
http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/14510/is-there-at-least-one-reason-why-i-should-buy-an-entry-level-prosumer-aps-c-dslr
Failures
A friend has had really bad experience with one of these, having to keep send it back for repairs.
