For me the new Digic 6 alone is worth the upgrade. It's a veritable SPEED demon compared to the S95. The touchscreen is also an awesome upgrade, and I already find myself using it to tap on areas I want to focus on using 1-point focus in P mode.
I'm amazed that in spite of all the changes, I still have to set the AE down -1/3 or -2/3s in P mode, exactly how I had it set on the S95 because of its tendency to blow out highlights. Although, the dynamic correction setting seems to do a better job of correcting this than the iContrast setting I used to try on the S95. This is my one gripe about auto mode, which I might use more often if it allowed us to adjust AE.
The My Colors settings also seem about the same in quality, and like how they organized and beefed up the different scene modes (though sad they removed color accents).
I can't make up my mind which suits me better, digital zoom or digital teleconverter, but test shots show the results to be about the same in quality (unless I max out the digital zoom, then the results are more distorted and grainy). The IQ here is also much better than the S95.
The vast improvement in focus speed means I can use this camera to take pictures of objects that actually move. YAY!
I'm also waiting for an opportunity to try out the built in neutral density filter (also new to me coming from the S95) and to play around with the noise reduction settings at high ISO. There's Low, Standard and High. On the S95 I would cap my ISO at 800 as anything higher was too noisy for my tastes, but it seems like I can easily go to 1600 here with the same results. I'll have to take a few shots for comparison and see what NR and Max ISO settings I ultimately prefer.
Does anyone have sample shots of noise reduction at different settings, and using the neutral density filter? I'm curious to see how they look in the meantime.
Finally, not sure why they removed Stitch Assist. This strikes me as a camera that could have performed very well taking panoramic shots, so this removal seemed wholly unnecessary. I use DoubleTake on my MacBook for stitching together shots, so I'm going to see how well I can still accomplish that without the benefit of Stitch Assist. Still, for those who are avid panorama shooters, this may not be the camera for you.
Overall though, I'm very happy with this upgrade, love that there's new night scene options to play with, the blazing speed of the camera functions and the focus, and the IQ of low light shots that still remains on par or better than the S95. I had been tempted by the IQ of Sony's RX100, but in the end I appreciate the convenience of being able to use the same batteries, accessories and the same Canon menu system I've always been familiar with, plus the smaller form factor (the RX100 is just a little too bulky for my tastes).
I'm amazed that in spite of all the changes, I still have to set the AE down -1/3 or -2/3s in P mode, exactly how I had it set on the S95 because of its tendency to blow out highlights. Although, the dynamic correction setting seems to do a better job of correcting this than the iContrast setting I used to try on the S95. This is my one gripe about auto mode, which I might use more often if it allowed us to adjust AE.
The My Colors settings also seem about the same in quality, and like how they organized and beefed up the different scene modes (though sad they removed color accents).
I can't make up my mind which suits me better, digital zoom or digital teleconverter, but test shots show the results to be about the same in quality (unless I max out the digital zoom, then the results are more distorted and grainy). The IQ here is also much better than the S95.
The vast improvement in focus speed means I can use this camera to take pictures of objects that actually move. YAY!
I'm also waiting for an opportunity to try out the built in neutral density filter (also new to me coming from the S95) and to play around with the noise reduction settings at high ISO. There's Low, Standard and High. On the S95 I would cap my ISO at 800 as anything higher was too noisy for my tastes, but it seems like I can easily go to 1600 here with the same results. I'll have to take a few shots for comparison and see what NR and Max ISO settings I ultimately prefer.
Does anyone have sample shots of noise reduction at different settings, and using the neutral density filter? I'm curious to see how they look in the meantime.
Finally, not sure why they removed Stitch Assist. This strikes me as a camera that could have performed very well taking panoramic shots, so this removal seemed wholly unnecessary. I use DoubleTake on my MacBook for stitching together shots, so I'm going to see how well I can still accomplish that without the benefit of Stitch Assist. Still, for those who are avid panorama shooters, this may not be the camera for you.
Overall though, I'm very happy with this upgrade, love that there's new night scene options to play with, the blazing speed of the camera functions and the focus, and the IQ of low light shots that still remains on par or better than the S95. I had been tempted by the IQ of Sony's RX100, but in the end I appreciate the convenience of being able to use the same batteries, accessories and the same Canon menu system I've always been familiar with, plus the smaller form factor (the RX100 is just a little too bulky for my tastes).
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