Canon Powershot S300 How Much is “Cool” Worth to You?
Written: Apr 14 '02 (Updated Apr 14 '02)
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Pros: Tiny, feature rich, excellent 3X zoom, cool & stylish
Cons: Expensive, no manual options, and poor macro capability.
The Bottom Line: Buy the Canon Powershot S300 if you really need the “Cool” factor, otherwise save over two hundred bucks and get comparable features and performance with the Canon Powershot A20.
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| Howard_Creech's Full Review: Canon PowerShot S300 / IXUS 300 Digital Camera |
The Canon Powershot S300 is the updated version of Canon’s very popular Powershot S100 Digital Elf camera. The tiny S300 is not for everyone. Canon has been introducing new digital cameras at an amazing pace and all of them are well designed and well built and aimed squarely at specific niche markets. The S300 is an upscale ultra compact digital camera designed for those who like to have a camera with them at all times. The tiny jewel like S300 is easily pocketable and functions well in a wide variety of photographic situations.
Photography has always been a science of compromises. There is no such thing as a perfect camera; each model is designed to function as well as possible within the limitations of physical and technical reality. Tiny cameras are going to have certain inherent limitations that cannot be overcome, such as short battery life and reduced lens versatility (small physical size limits battery capacity and lens length). The key to how well a camera does its job relates directly to how well the engineers and designers were able to balance features with reality. The Canon Powershot S300 does its job very well, but it is expensive and the compromises required may put off some potential purchasers.
For general photography applications, digital cameras that cost significantly less than the S300 can easily best the little Digital Elf. Simply put the S300’s 2.1 megapixel digital images are quite good, but color saturation is a bit flat, and macro capabilities are mediocre at best. The camera’s white balance system is easily fooled by artificial lighting. Low light performance is poor because the S300’s maximum lens aperture is limited to f2.7.
The metering system functions well in most situations but is not versatile enough to overcome backlighting or strong frontal light. The Canon Powershot S300 does not allow manual focusing and does not support filter use or add on lenses. The S300 really shines as a travel camera but doesn’t work well for “street” images or in situations where action subjects like sports or candid kiddie shots are the goal. Finally, The S300 provides few options for user input into the exposure process.
Who was the Canon Powershot S300 designed for? Folks who love tiny precision built techno toys, and those who insist on carrying a camera with them at all times. Photographers who want to amaze and entertain their friends, and those who adore style and cool. The S300’s tiny stainless steel body looks like something that “Q” might have handed to James Bond at the start of one of his adventures. The excellent (retractable) 3X zoom has superb resolution with no detectable distortion at the telephoto end and barely visible distortion at the wide-angle end. The tiny built-in flash does a great job at parties and in bars for shooting small groups of friends (as long as the photographer stays within 6-8 feet of his/her subject) and the camera’s auto everything “point’n’shoot” mode will cover just about any situation that most amateur shooters are likely to encounter. Overall, the S300 is an excellent photographic tool in the hands of the niche group for whom it was designed.
Features
The S300 features a new 3X (35-105/f/2.7-4.7 all-glass) zoom lens. When the camera is turned off the lens retracts into the body.
White Balance(the S100 had some white balance problems---which seem to have been corrected on the S300) the sunny, and fluorescent presets work well, but the indoor (incandescent) setting produces warm toned images. The Auto white balance setting works best outdoors (natural light).
Built in flash: Auto, On, Off, Red-Eye Reduction and Slow-Synch modes. Canon claims flash range is 2.5 to 11.5 ft. but you’ll do best if you stay within 6-8 feet of you subject. The flash is under-powered and there is no provision for external flash.
Mode Dial: Canon listens to consumers and has added a mode dial (which the S100 lacked) for better control of camera functions
Performance
Battery Life: Canon’s NB-1L 3.7v 680mAh lithium rechargeable battery pack is good for 60-80 minutes (depending on LCD usage) and requires a bit more than two hours for a full charge with the included 110/240V CB-2LS rapid charger which plugs directly into an electrical outlet (good for travel) a second battery is highly recommended.
Shutter Lag/Cycle Times: The Canon Powershot S300 is relatively quick. Start up/cycle times are a bit above average and shutter lag/write times are a bit slower than average. Over all about average for a two megapixel compact digital camera.
Image Quality: Lens resolution is very good and so is white balance (in natural light). Images show very little noise. Color saturation is a bit flat but color accuracy is very good. Over all image quality is very good.
Video: 20 frames-per-second (with audio) up to 640x480
Technical Specifications
Street Price: $500-$600
Resolution: 1600 x 1200 (2.1 Megapixels)
Viewfinder: Optical
LCD: 1.5” TFT
Lens: f2.7-f4.7/35-105 (7 elements in 5 groups) 3X Zoom (no filter/accessory thread)
Metering: Center-weighted (Evaluative) 64-zone TTL
Exposure Compensation: +2/-2EV in 1/3EV steps
Sensitivity/ISO: Auto (100 - 150)
Shutter Speeds: 1 second to 1/1500th of a second
White Balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent
Flash: Built-in (Auto, Anti Red-Eye Auto, Flash On, Flash Off, Slow Sync) no provision for external flash
Storage Media: CF type I
Image Files: Jpeg
Connectivity: USB
Power: Canon NB-1L Lithium-Ion, 3.7 volt, 680 mAh battery
Included
8MB CompactFlash card
NB-1L Li-ion battery and CB-2LS rapid charger
Wrist strap
USB cable
A/V cable
CD-ROM (Canon Digital Camera Solutions and ArcSoft Camera Suite)
100 page (printed) manual
Optional
AC Adapter ACK500 (Power Adapter CA-PS500, DC Coupler DR-500, and an AC Power Cord).
In the Field/Handling and Operation
Our initial tests (we always shoot a selection of colorful plastic beach toys against a white background, under controlled lighting) showed the S300 to have one of the finest quality 3X zooms available. An amazing accomplishment considering how tiny the lens is. Color accuracy was very good (although saturation was a bit lower than with most digital cameras) and resolution was superb. The lens showed absolutely no barrel distortion at the telephoto end and very little pincushion distortion at the wide-angle end of the focusing spectrum. Virtually no chromatic aberration (purple fringing) and blooming was well controlled
Our weather here in Louisville has been getting progressively better and spring is definitely in the air. Dogwoods and Redbuds are starting to bloom, and the city is gearing up for the annual Kentucky Derby Festival. My friend and I decided that we wanted to check out the Canon Powershot S300 at Louisville’s new Extreme Sports Park on the Ohio River near the Louisville Riverbats “Slugger” field. The brand new 40,000 square foot 24/7 Skate Park is already developing a reputation as one of the finest extreme sports venues in the country. Gen-Y'ers gravitate to the park at all hours of the day and night. Features include a twenty-four foot full pipe, an eleven-foot bowl, and a six-foot quarter pipe. The Park is a photographer’s dream with stunning visual opportunities because the colorfully clad boarders and bladers stand out beautifully against the snow-white concrete. The bowls and pipes are perfectly placed for getting incredible action shots of boarders “catching some air” in gravity defying leaps.
The Canon Powershot S300’s “cool” factor attracted a lot more attention than either of us would have liked. In a couple of cases boarders we were photographing stopped what they were doing to come over and check out the tiny little camera. If Canon is targeting the Gen-Y extreme sports crowd, then I can personally attest to the correctness of their marketing strategy. These “dudes” all thought the S300 was tres cool. When shooting "Street" type images the goal of the photographer is to remain unobtrusive and if at all possible, unseen. The S300 attracted far more attention than either of us felt comfortable with.
Seen strictly in terms of its “cool” factor the S300 is a great camera, unfortunately, in operation the gem like little Digital Elf didn’t do too well shooting “Woodpushers” (the slightly derogatory term used by bikers and in-line skaters to describe skateboarders) hanging and catching air. Really good skateboarders move at incredible speeds and seem to have absolutely no fear and be only marginally affected by gravity. The S300 has just a bit too much shutter lag for optimal effectiveness. It was very hard to time shots when we tried to freeze the boarders in mid air. We did manage to get a few really spectacular shots (due mainly to luck) and when we printed them the detail and color were good as long as we stayed at 5X7 or smaller. 8X10 images showed flat color, a little edge softness, and some pixelation when closely inspected with a Mamiya 4X loupe designed for checking out medium format prints.
We have wildflowers popping up everywhere so we took the S300 to Iroquois Park to check out the latest wildflowers. We’ve been having warm Spring days but with lengthy periods of rain. Usually it rains in the morning and clears up in the afternoon. After waiting out the rain at Iroquois Park, we wandered around in the woods looking for new wildflowers. We found a couple of Trout Lilies, some Bluets, lots of Violets, and a few other early bloomers. The S300’s macro performance is acceptable at best. The camera doesn’t allow shooting close enough to fill the frame with small flowers and flash coverage (up close) is uneven. Over all macro performance with S300 is less than ideal.
A Few Concerns
The Optical viewfinder is on the small side and has no diopter correction (for eyeglass wearers). Color saturation has less depth than comparable 2 megapixel digital cameras. No contrast setting. Underpowered flash, and off-set tripod mount. Auto White balance doesn't work well in artificial light. Prints at sizes larger than 5X7 tend to be flat looking. Prints at 8X10 show pixelation. Prints were made with an Epson Stylus Photo 785 EPX on Epson photo paper
Conclusion
The S300 really is cool, but priced at between five and six hundred bucks it's pretty expensive for a two megapixel digital camera. The Canon Powershot A20 is compact (although larger than the S300) and has comparable features but costs only half as much. The Fuji Finepix 2600 offers similar features and performance and costs less than half what the Canon Powershot S300 will set you back. For five hundred bucks you can get an Olympus C3020 (a 3 megapixel camera) with lots of manual options and a fifty per cent increase in resolution. If you really need an ultra compact digital camera or if the “cool” factor and neat styling is really important to you, then spring for the S300. Otherwise, keep looking there are better performers available for a lot less money.
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Are you considering spreading your imaging wings and setting up a digital darkroom? Check out my reviews of a couple of bargain priced and very capable photo quality ink-jet printers.
Epson Stylus Photo 785 EPX ink-jet printer
http://www.epinions.com/content_60776812164
Epson Stylus Photo 780 ink-jet Printer
http://www.epinions.com/content_54223670916
For information on How to Choose a Digital Camera please see my review:
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-2E46-17B174E2-39A418E3-prod1
For more information about specific Digital Camera models, please see my Digital Camera Reviews:
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Nikon Coolpix 885
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Nikon Coolpix 995
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Nikon D1X
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Nikon D1
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Nikon Coolpix 880
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Nikon Coolpix 990
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Canon Powershot A20
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Canon Powershot G2
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Canon Powershot S10
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Canon EOS D30
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Canon Powershot PRO 90IS
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Canon Powershot G1
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Canon Powershot PRO 70
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Sony Digital Cameras
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Olymous Camedia E 20N
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Olympus Camedia C3000
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Just “cut’n’paste” the URL into your browser’s address window.
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Amount Paid (US$): 600
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Howard_Creech
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Member: Howard Creech
Location: Louisville, KY
Reviews written: 333
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About Me:
Photographer/Writer fascinated by Movies, Music, Books, American Diner Food, History, "Popular Culture", and Travel.
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