B Bretz
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Regular Member
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Posts: 403
S100 photos & some thoughts
Nov 21, 2011
I've been reading many of the threads here and scouring the web since the announcement of the S100 for all information, thoughts, test, etc..
Ever since the S90 was announced we've wanted to get one of the new Canon compacts. We've had several Canon compacts over the years and although many were good for most situations, none had the low-light prowess we desired at times and that the new series of cameras seemed to deliver. So seeing that the S100 had improved low-light capability, even over the s95, had me intrigued. I was planning on getting the S95 once the price dropped after the s100 launch but I gave in and ordered the s100 over a week ago.
It's been mostly positive and as others here have mentioned, in most situations, it does an admirable job. The videos look good, even in low light and the controls and handling are nice as other have mentioned as well. Since the s100 has a 5x zoom and starts at 24mm, it does exhibit soft edges at the corners, especially wide open. I think these are to be expected on a compact with this zoom range and are not the anomalies seen in the several decentered lens test shots here and elsewhere.
Also, there is keystoning when angling the camera up or down at such wide angles and depending on the focal length used, there seems to be some chromatic aberrations as well. Again, symptoms of a large focal range in a small compact lens design? Perhaps. Overall it seems to be a very capable camera and I'm sure many will like this camera and overlook some of the inherent design limitations.
But...I have to say, I'm torn.
While I love the video quality, the handling, button layout and many other features that have been added. I'm still wondering in the back of my mind if the s95 has the slight advantage where it matters most in a camera, image quality.
I guess i'll have to make that decision for myself and I do have the rest of this week to decide whether or not the S100 is the camera to fill our needs. I'd really like to keep the s100 and not worry but I'd hate to think we settled for a camera when what we originally wanted, the s95, would serve us better. I hope everyone in the same situation gets the best camera for their needs and takes some great photos!
Here's a few photos from the last week with the s100. The only changes to the photos were slight sharpening, saturation & small crops on a few. No distortion correction or other corrections were made. You can see all of the photos on Flickr at this link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradbretz/sets/72157628073372937/with/6373152707/







