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Just posted: Canon Powershot S110 hands-on preview

Sep 17, 2012 at 08:00:00 GMT

PREVIEW CANON POWERSHOT

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Just Posted: Our Canon PowerShot S110 hands-on preview. Canon's latest enthusiast 'shirt-pocket' compact looks very similar to last year's S100, but gains a touchscreen and built-in WiFi connectivity at the expense of its predecessor's GPS. But the S110 is entering a more-crowded market place, with larger-sensored rivals now available. So what does it offer to stay competitive? Read our preview to find out more about it.

Click here to read our Canon PowerShot S110 hands-on preview

Comments

Total comments: 32

Just had a hands on with the S110. I'm a S95 owner as we speak. This is a Nice, and I mean Nice little camera. IQ is a bit better due to the DIGIC 5 inside and the touch screen is a nice touch. Will wait till price goes down a little and I'll get one. Again Canon do the right thing and make a camera that takes nice shots and has some great extra tech features. (A round of applause goes around the room)

1 upvote

Tired.

Very tired offering.

Wake up Canon.

Innovate... or stagnate.

2 upvotes

Canon wake up! It's not 2011! It's 2012 and Sony RX-100 is out there and has the "same" size and a lot bigger 1'' sensor (3 times).
Where you sleeping when sony was designing RX100? Non of you (nikon, canon, pana, oly) has an asnwer for RX100?!? You still announce 1/1.7'' cameras like last year?!?

Unless s110 costs 300€ or less there is no meaning for such cameras.. (1/1.7'').

3 upvotes

Oh no! Sorry this is a big fail for me. I need a camera for building forensics. Since we do a lot of work hanging from ladders, crawling through pipes and swinging from scaffolding...photos must be taken with one hand.

This camera offers no advance over the previous model. The touch screen creates problems using the camera with one hand as you inevitably trigger some touch screen function. Additionally, where is the really nice thumb rest from the S100?

I could care less about the WIFI....the GPS was interesting...not completely useful.

For this model to sing it should have had:

* Thumb rest
* No touch screen
* VOICE MEMO...(well loved and very much missed function).

Comment edited 34 seconds after posting

2 upvotes

I was looking to replace my well-worn, JB welded s95 with a bevy of batteries only to see the S110 uses the 5, not the 6 of which I have! Like my Nikon D40, I upgraded to the D5000 since it used the same battery..the d5100? Like Canon...NO!
I looking now to Camera's that use the NB-6L!
Thanks alots Canon and Nikon!

0 upvotes

Six previews on one day - you guys are great :-)

1 upvote

This camera offers zero wow factor. Zero.
I mean...I guess if your into touchscreens & wifi it could be appealing? I just can't see why anyone would choose this over other new compacts, like the sony rx100 or the new fuji xf1. Smaller sensor & slower glass takes it out of the race immediately.
Canon is really slacking in the excellence & innovation depts lately...

4 upvotes

It had wow factor last year when they released it the first time.

2 upvotes

Which camera has wow? Tie the camera to your dick and swing it as you run around nude in the shopping malls. Then you have wow.

Comment edited 32 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

Doesn't XZ-2 beat this one? It may not be a pocket size but still that lens on S110 is very slow.

1 upvote

slow lenses seem to be Canon's signature these days...

2 upvotes

Canon made the G15 with a lens about the same speed as the XZ-2. This has a slower aperture so it can be made very small.

Incentendally, the f1.8-4.9 is pretty popular for premium pocket cameras. RX100, P310, XF-1 all share it.

1 upvote

S100 experience has removed any Canon camera from consideration.
I do like their printers.

2 upvotes

Two words ..."Printing Error"

0 upvotes

The other day I was considering the Pentax Q, as I already have an S100. Then I walked around Central Park with my D7000 and looked at what others were carrying . I saw many Nikon 1's and other 4/3 cameras. What I got out of that was it looks "weird" and you still have the bulk... a small body, with an oversized lens. Reminds me of an old Sony I had where I carried it by the lens. What is the advantage of the small body if you put a large lens on it? My S100 and D7000 (which takes shots quickly) seem to be all I need. This new "upgrade" seems a bit silly. Not even sure about the Pentax Q anymore... I do not need touch screen on my camera, Wi-fi nice but not a must-have... faster lens, faster shots....

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

1 upvote

Exactly my point of view. I have a DSLR (for good quality pictures and to catch running kids) and an S100 to carry everywhere. A CSC is a nice compromise, but still a compromise between picture quality, speed and size. If I want good quality, I need big sensor and with big sensor comes big lens and I don´t have a pocketable camera any more.

2 upvotes

that is because the compromise the CSC strikes on image quality/size is the winning formula.

1 upvote

So is this supposed to be the Smartphone S100? Can I make calls, and skype from it?

0 upvotes

I have S90 and S110 is definitely not an upgrade option for me now that RX100 is here. Very disappointing. G15 neither because in that case I'd rather get a G2X but I don't know when that announcement will come.

2 upvotes

Still 1/1.7? No way.
Canon should learn more from Sony RX1.

2 upvotes

Only good thing about this camera is that it lowers the price of the S95 and S100.

8 upvotes

The release of this camera didn't lower the price of the S95. Why would it? The S95 has now been out of production for several years and thus the price will remain high for the very, very few left in new condition.

0 upvotes

lots of new products from Canon lately and mostly very, very incremental upgrades. Is the whole R&D department in winter sleep or are they making so much money that the beancounters think they can get away with warmed up versions of the cameras from a few years ago?

8 upvotes

Seemingly Canon paid much more attention to the G15, which is considerably different from the predecessor. The S110 is just a cosmetic change so that Canon can tell: Look, we have another novelty!

1 upvote

Or, they got completely blindsided by the competition and are scrambling to catch up (in the meantime, here are some minor distractions while we R&D something else!)

3 upvotes

I agree with alfpang - they are scrambling right now, or at least should be.

Having been a Canon user for the past 3 years, it's become apparent just how incredibly conservative the company is, and that will be their downfall if they keep it up. Canon management does too good a job ensuring that products are not contributing to the cannibalization of other Canon products - a philosophy which has ultimately led to crippling new product releases instead of pushing the industry forward.

I think my biggest current disappointment with Canon is the dynamic range performance of their new sensors compared to the new Sony designs - the competition is coming in at around 14 Ev's at base ISO, but the best Canon can do is about 12 Ev's - 2 full stops - that's a lot of lost headroom!

Sheesh, my RX100 can capture a wider dynamic range than my 7D, and the low-ISO RAWs are more flexible in LR4 - creating a realistic HDR-style image from a single RX100 RAW is easy, but not so for the 7D.

0 upvotes

Everything is moving faster than ever before and Canon cannot keep up. As a former S45 and S90 owner you can see this through out their product line. This goes from slower processing, slow AF, no 60p video, etc and in general they rarely inovate. It even impacted their entry FF and mirrorless entry.

Comment edited 17 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

As an S100 owner I can think of some features to be improved; however adding a wi-fi or a touchscreen are not the ones. The biggest problem of S100 is the lens, slowing down to terrible f5,9 at the tele end (what makes the camera unable to focus anywhere but in bright light). The newest enthusiast comacts showed the direction: fast lenses are the right way (EX2f, LX7). Although RX100 and the new XF1 don´t have fast lenses at the tele end as well, but f4,9 is still much better than f5,9 (cca. 1/2 EV) and they both have bigger sensor to offset the disadvantage. And giving away the handgrip was a mistake too, although small, it helps handling of the camera a lot.

5 upvotes

I own the S95 and I still think it's a great camera.
But just like judex, I find that the biggest minus is the aperture at the tele end!
I would even sacrifice a bit of the zoom range (or a tiny tiny bit of the small size) for a faster tele end.

1 upvote

I have an S95 too, and I dont see any compelling reason to upgrade (*).
If I were in the market for such a camera, I would definitely try to get a discount on one of the previous cameras in stead of buying the latest one.

*: Full HD video maybe, but the 720p video on the S95 is not bad at all.

One thing that I think one should take into consideration is the lack of grip on these cameras. It is a problem. The S100 gained a small finger ridge, but that has gone now. And if you choose the white S110 it will have a totally smooth and slippery surface. Not reassuring at all. Definitely try it out and think about this before you buy.

2 upvotes

Indeed, but there is the great grip that Richard Franiec made which fits the S90 and S95, so I assume that he'll do the same for the S110. I have it on my S90 and it made a world of difference to the handling!

0 upvotes

Sadly, an incremental update (mostly auxiliary functions and software?!) that doesn't come close to catching up with the RX-100 or even Fuji's natty new compact.

I'm a long-standing Canon fun, and hung on to my S95 for years (briefly flirted w the S100 and then returned it). Just switched to the RX-100 this past weekend. Looks like it'll take a while for Canon to catch up again.

(I do miss Canon's IS and manual mode tho.)

2 upvotes

Total comments: 32


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