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If you want landscapes don't shoot JPEGs with this camera

Started Nov 24, 2014 | User reviews thread
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Ianto New Member • Posts: 13
If you want landscapes don't shoot JPEGs with this camera

I bought this camera to replace my wife's Ixus 960 which was falling apart after years in her handbag. She uses her Nikon D40x for more serious photography but likes to carry a small camera at all times as a visual notebook. She specified that it must fit easily in her handbag and be light in weight so it ruled out the cameras with bigger sensors. On the face of it the S120 looked ideal and her sister had an S100 which she liked so I went ahead and bought an S120.

I gave the camera a pretty good testing when it arrived and was quite happy with the JPEGs I shot in the house and around the garden although colours were a little too saturated. However when i pointed the camera across the valley and shot the autumn larch trees on the cliffs I was horrified. The JPEGs were far too aggressive and the detail in the larch was replaced by a block of orange colour. It was more like a child's painting. I switched to RAW settings and everything became very acceptable and easily edited in Lightroom. In fact shooting in RAW transforms the camera. Using a 16Gb or 32Gb card means there's no problem with space.

 Ianto's gear list:Ianto's gear list
Nikon D800 Olympus PEN E-PL5 Olympus E-M1 Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR Nikon AF Nikkor 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5D IF ED +5 more
Canon PowerShot S120
12 megapixels • 3 screen • 24 – 120 mm (5×)
Announced: Aug 22, 2013
Ianto's score
3.5
Average community score
3.8
bad for good for
Kids / pets
good
Action / sports
mediocre
Landscapes / scenery
good
Portraits
excellent
Low light (without flash)
okay
Flash photography (social)
great
Studio / still life
great
= community average
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