Steen Bay
Veteran Member
Well, how many cameras should they test? Will 3 be enough? Maybe we should blame Canon instead?
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Just Posted: S100 studio comparison samples
- Thread starter SHood
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gail
Guest
Thanks for pointing this out. Troubling, but good to know so things can be put in proper perspective.
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gail ~ http://www.pbase.com/gailb
My Canon S100 Blog: http://www.digicamhelp.com/topics/camera-logs/canon-s100/
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gail
Guest
As few or as many as they want.
The issue is whether or not to post sample images knowing there is a problem with a camera. Simply inform your readers that there is a problem, not bury that fact in a commenting section.
Hopefully dpreview will do the right thing and post that there is a problem in a more prominent place at the site.
I was shocked and confused when I first saw the dpreview samples because my S100 is just fine. But I would have never known about the need for dpreview to ask for a third sample if I didn't just happen to read about it in a post in one forum thread (at the time, it's been mentioned in several threads since then).
Who said Canon was not to blame? If there is a quality control problem for some of the cameras, it's a shame and potential buyers should be informed.
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gail ~ http://www.pbase.com/gailb
My Canon S100 Blog: http://www.digicamhelp.com/topics/camera-logs/canon-s100/
On the contrary. They are doing just the right thing. Two cameras should be enough and the fact that they are trying to get a third sample proves that they are doing more than enough to assure that the softness it is not due to bad samples.
ps. what would you expect from such a small lens with such a wide aperture and focal lenght range? Of course the lens on the S95 is easier to produce (and the lens on the S95 is a marvel being so sharp for such a lens)
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pics: http://www.pbase.com/arn
NO, he does not know for sure that there is a 'problem', if two cameras have similar problems it might be that they are 'representative' and that the good ones are the exception to the rule. Please note that DPR isn't the only review site with some really bad studio shots.
Canon needs to sort things out before they continue shipping S100 cameras. For a premium camera like this this is not acceptable IMHO.
I think DPR did the right thing; I would not want them to silently keep testing samples until they hit a good one and then publish just those results without any comment. DPR isn't the only site with problematic S100 shots. Some of the Imaging Resource studio shots have weird problems too. This is worrying.
just in case: some people seem to have good S100 cameras, so we know Canon can pull this off. They just have to step up their QC, and they should at this price level.
I totally disagree with what you are saying here; review sites should be honest, and what you are suggesting is the opposite. If they test ten cameras and only one of them is producing great images, and they publish that without any mention of what happened, now THAT would be irresponsible.
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gail
Guest
I am not at all suggesting review sites be dishonest. I'm suggesting that there is an obvious problem with some S100 cameras. dpreview is obviously trying to get to the bottom of it by requesting a third camera, so why compare photos from the s100 with other cameras until things gets sorted out?
In the right hand column of dpreview:
Latest news: This week
Studio comparison samples from the Canon Powershot S100 delayed
Accompanying article includes explanation with few sample photos.
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gail ~ http://www.pbase.com/gailb
My Canon S100 Blog: http://www.digicamhelp.com/topics/camera-logs/canon-s100/
You all seem to condemn the S100 lens. Is it correct? Take as the observation point the picture of the lady in the middle, and especially the left ear (seen in the picture on the right). Start with 100 ASA and go through the different ASA values.
Look at the very short lines just above the ear, and also the end of the needle. In every comparison the S100 gives the sharpest picture. Those lines above the ear disappear very quickly with other cameras. With Nikon even the end of the needle nearly disappears!
My (very unprofessional) conclusion is that S100 is very sharp in the middle of the picture, but nearly terrible in the corners. S100 also produces the cleanest pictures.
Look at the very short lines just above the ear, and also the end of the needle. In every comparison the S100 gives the sharpest picture. Those lines above the ear disappear very quickly with other cameras. With Nikon even the end of the needle nearly disappears!
My (very unprofessional) conclusion is that S100 is very sharp in the middle of the picture, but nearly terrible in the corners. S100 also produces the cleanest pictures.
Sheld
Veteran Member
this isn't the full review yet, just the image comparison tool. Dpreview has not posted their opinion/review of the S100 yet (as far as I know), just their studio sample images, from which others may draw their own conclusions. They apparently tried two cameras. That should be enough. At any rate, Canon has time to send Dpreview a decent sample before Dpreview's official opinion/review is published, and the image comparison updated (if a better camera is found).
as a side note: my own opinion would be that the S100 lens has soft corners at 80mm film equivalent focal length, which is somewhat zoomed in for this camera. Or else maybe its a manufacturing defect, in which case Canon should have made an announcement pulling the camera from the market until the manufacturing defect is fixed, and offering existing owners an exchange.
Meanwhile, I'm considering the Nikon P300 instead.
as a side note: my own opinion would be that the S100 lens has soft corners at 80mm film equivalent focal length, which is somewhat zoomed in for this camera. Or else maybe its a manufacturing defect, in which case Canon should have made an announcement pulling the camera from the market until the manufacturing defect is fixed, and offering existing owners an exchange.
Meanwhile, I'm considering the Nikon P300 instead.
- Shel
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- Shel, my photos, http://www.sheltx.com/
Obviously there is something wrong, probably a decentered lens (just in case: that means that part of the image, usually one of the corners or left/right side, is far more blurry). But it's also obvious that this isn't an exception, there are more examples of the same problem on other review sites.
And my impression is that there also is a problem with the sensor in the review sample
the interesting thing is that you can see the same (or similar) problem in the Imaging Resource studio shots (house poster). They also published their images, without a final conclusion. Most of the other online reviews are totally lacking in anything one could check (for some I even doubt that they actually had the camera in hands), or they post some very low resolution shots that tell you nothing about actual image quality.
This type of lenses (with large zoom range for the sensor size, covering both WA and tele) often has some decentering issues, but not this bad. Could be that the S100 lens has problems only in certain part of the range. Decentering problems usually are most obvious at the WA end of the range (wide open of course), but who knows ...
Alan2dpreview
Well-known member
DPR should post pictures they're getting from the camera(s) they tested. If Canon is shipping some cameras that stink, then they should get the bad press. If you buy half a dozen apples, and two have worms in them, you don't tell people, well, it's not so bad because the other four are OK. Frankly, I was looking to get the S100 but have been disappointed in most of the pictures I've seen posted on different sites. They seem to be very soft. I look at my old P&S Canon Powershot SD1000 and S400 and S230 pictures and those cameras have sharper results. To me, IQ is the most important "feature" in a camera. All the bells and whistles aren't worth anything if you can't get a sharp, clear picture.
I've been waiting to buy a new camera thinking that the "new s95" would be the one. I almost pre-ordered it when it was announced. I'm glad I waited as a comparison of these images has eliminated it from consideration. Not even close. Now it's between the "old" s95 that now has a substantial drop in price, or something else. I think I'll wait a bit longer for something else.
Or, they are just people who don't know how to accurately and objectively test a camera. It's not as easy as people think. I'm not saying that it isn't a QC problem but I wouldn't go as far as to state that it is.
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pics: http://www.pbase.com/arn
Using the comparometer over at Imaging Resource yields the same results. S95 noticeably better than S100 in many aspects, especially lens edge sharpness. It's quite bad on the S100.
Rick
Rick
It's irresponsible to keep swapping cameras until they finally get one that works. I mean, if Canon can't even give the largest review site a good camera, what's the chance that the camera you buy in Best Buy is going to be a good camera?
Canon deserves to be dinged for poor quality control.
Juri D
Forum Enthusiast
Wow, they really dropped the ball with S100. Probably because of the CMOS sensor:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/studiocompare.asp#baseDir=%2Freviews_data&cameraDataSubdir=boxshot&indexFileName=boxshotindex.xml&presetsFileName=boxshotpresets.xml&showDescriptions=false&headerTitle=Studio%20scene&headerSubTitle=Standard%20studio%20scene%20comparison&masterCamera=canon_s100&masterSample=img_0058.acr&slotsCount=4&slot0Camera=canon_s100&slot0Sample=img_0058.acr&slot0DisableCameraSelection=true&slot0DisableSampleSelection=true&slot0LinkWithMaster=true&slot1Camera=canon_s95&slot1Sample=img_2251.acr&slot2Camera=panasonic_dmcfz150&slot2Sample=p1040106.acr&slot3Camera=oly_xz1&slot3Sample=p1170578.acr&x=0.6359838991417938&y=-1.3192340526057875
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gail
Guest
I don't disagree with your statement at all.
What I disagree with is the format in which the information was presented. I've explained why elsewhere in this thread so won't repeat myself.
If the second camera was good enough to post images for comparison with other cameras (which is the crux of my issue) , then it's good enough for a full review. Why send it back for another?
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gail ~ http://www.pbase.com/gailb
My Canon S100 Blog: http://www.digicamhelp.com/topics/camera-logs/canon-s100/
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