Pro user LOVES IT after s90, s95, etc.

I'll skip all the line resolution junk and get to the meat: how it makes pictures. And the answer is: it makes great pictures (depending on the user, of course).

I had the s80, G7, G8, G10, s90, s95, and now… the s100. Love it. Canon really listened and got a ton of things right on this. Here's the minor upgrades that make a major difference in my opinion.

The grip. I've had to mod the slippery grip on every previous sXX camera. Dropped them in the snow with slippery gloves, etc. Not this one. The little grip on the front is little… but it's enough. The have also added a small rubberized grip on the back where your thumb naturally goes. Together with the front grip, makes is the most solid in the hand 6oz camera I've ever had. Oh, and Canon added a slightly textured finish to the entire camera (at least on my black one) that makes it look, and *feel* great.

The buttons. Subtle, but they have changed the ergonomics of the buttons. The buttons are slightly rounded and inset. You'd think that would make them harder to use than the flat, raised ones on the previous models. I find the opposite is true. These are easier to hit on purpose and harder to hit on accident. Oh, and that pesky control wheel on the back that always got spun accidentally? It's tighter now (in fact, I don't see where this model needs after-market mods at all). AND they took the +/- control of the wheel and it makes you bump the top and THEN spin it -- so it's near impossible to accidentally change. Yes, and the direct to video button (thank you!). The control wheel around the lens is tighter too.

High speed shooting. I remember challenging my brother in law with my s95 and his Lumix LX5. I swore mine could do something like three shots in five seconds. Woo Hoo! His edged mine out. Big deal. The s100 can do an ACTUAL 8 FULL RES IMAGES IN ONE SECOND. Yes. That's ye ol' "8fps" of DSLR fame. Honest. Yes. It can do it. And let me tell you, 8fps is stinkin' awesome for a pocket camera. It begins your shots EXACTLY when you mash the shutter. No delay. I shot a friend's daughter jumping on a snow ramp & snowboarding. The first time she did it, I had finished all 8 frames by the time the nose of her snowboard barely cleared the end of the ramp. Had to adjust and start shooting the split second she hit the air and THEN got a good five or six frames of her mid air every time. My 1DmkIV is jealous, as it sits inside and the s100 goes out to play.

Lens. FINALLY! FINALLY! FINALLY! Yes! Canon, I could hug you! 24mm equiv on the wide end! Yes. Yay. This is huge for me and was the reason I bought it ASAP. I've wanted this feature ever since the Ricoh GX100 (which I had and still is awesome for daylight, not so hot indoors compared to s90+). Wow, I missed 24mm. Now I have it again. And at f/2.0. The longer zoom is nice in full sun, but it's a really dim f/5.9 or so at full length. BUT if I had to choose a bulkier camera (like the LX5) to get a fast f/ at full zoom or this… I'd take this any day. That's me, and your mileage may vary. I can throw a 85mm 1.8 on a 5DmkII any time I want shallow. For a pocket camera… this is totally where it's at.

High ISO. It's still a small chip. It's still got grain. But every generation gets a little better, this is no exception. The biggest change here is the fact that user can now choose one of three noise reduction levels for JPEGs. Sure, RAW is cool, but if you just want to shoot and use, this is great. You like Lumix-like smudgy grain erasure? You got it. You like crispy grain with detail? You got it. And truth be told, the auto-noise reduction on this is as good or better than I can do in RAW, even with extra software. It's hard to beat.

I'll leave the pixel to pixel comparisons to others, as well as the whining and fan-boy stuff. I just like this camera. If Nikon or Pentax or Ricoh made one with better specs at the same size, I'd give it a whirl. But this one is so small, so powerful, so customizable (yes, you can reduce TTL flash output in 1/3 stops!). It's just sweet. Hopefully, other Mfgs. will raise their bars too and force the next crop to be even better than this.

Problems:

Though not a "problem" I take half a star off for just 15 seconds in manual exposure. Really? Only 15 seconds? C'mon! Let us shoot some nice stars at lower ISOs. If someone knows a hack for this… let us know! Heck, even my "old school" Ricoh GX100 could do shots of several minutes!