The Canon PowerShot S100 is a Pocket Digital Camera!
Written: Nov 25 '01 (Updated May 24 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use and produces excellent photos!
Cons: The CompactFlash card is too small!
The Bottom Line: Looking for a small digital camera that you can take with you anywhere, then this maybe what you are looking for.
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| surferdude7's Full Review: Canon PowerShot S100 Digital Camera |
This is truly a pocket camera about the size of a credit card just thicker in size than a credit card. It measures 3.4 inches wide x 2.2 inches in height x 1.1 inches thick.
This is a 2.11-megapixel (2.11 million-pixel) digital camera that can take photos as large as 1600 x 1200 of resolution. It has a 2x optical zoom lens and can take as many as two photos per second.
The camera can be a simple point and shoot camera or you can make manual adjustments.
Retail price for the Canon PowerShot S100 use to be around $599 and if you shop the Internet you can find it as low as $299.
The Lens
The lens comes out when the camera is turned on and it recesses back in when the power is off.
It is an all-glass f/2.8-4.0 aspherical 2x optical zoom lens that is equivalent to 35-70mm in a 35mm lens. It is an auto-focus lens.
Standard photos (Normal Shooting Mode) can be taken from 22 inches to infinity.
In the Macro mode the shots are from 4 to 22 inches in wide-angle and 11 to 22 inches in telephoto.
The Flash
The Canon PowerShot S100 has a built-in flash that can take photos from 11 inches to 10 feet in the wide-angle and 11 inches to 7 feet in the telephoto.
The flash offers you the following settings, On, Off, Auto, Red-Eye Reduction and Slow-Synchro modes.
Viewfinder
The Canon PowerShot S100 has two ways to view how you want to take your photos.
First you have an optical viewfinder which is very handy in bright sun light conditions. It will also save you on battery power if the LCD if off and you use the optical viewfinder.
Second you have a 1.5-inch color TFT LCD. The LCD is also use for you menu and camera settings. You can bring up your photos to view one by one or use the thumbnail index.
The Resolutions
There are only two resolutions available for the PowerShot S100 and that is 1600 x 1200 and 640 x 480. All are saved in the JPEG format.
The 1600 x 1200 has a choice of Super Fine or Fine quality while the 640 x 480 only has a Fine quality.
Storage
The PowerShot S100 uses a Type I CompactFlash card for storage of the photos. It comes with a 8MB CF card.
The 8MB card can store approximately 4 photos in the Super-Fine mode of 1600 x 1200.
In the Fine mode of 1600 x 1200 it can store approximately 12 photos.
In the Fine Mode of 640 x 480 it can store approximately 46 photos.
So if you plan to take a lot of photos in the 1600 x 1200 resolution then I would highly recommend in investing in a larger CompactFlash card.
What powers the S100?
Since this is such a small and thin camera it takes a smaller battery. A lot of digital cameras today take your basic AA and AAA batteries, the S100 is too small for these.
Canon had the good since to provide the Battery Pack NB-1L Compact Power Adapter CA-PS300. The NB-1L is a lithium rechargeable battery that charges up in about two hours. It is a 3.7v 680mAh lithium that will give you from 50 to 100 shots before you need to recharge it. The amount of shots depends on your personal use of the camera mainly due to how much you use the LCD.
I highly recommend buying an extra battery so you have one charged at all times.
Other Specifications
Self-Timer of 10 seconds
Video Out for TV connection
USB data connections
Tripod mount on the bottom
Sensitivity is equivalent to ISO 100
Focusing Method is TTL 3 point AiAF
Auto Exposure Mode is TTL program AE
Shutter Speed 1 - 1/1500 sec.
Shutter is Mechanical and Electronic
DPOF (Digital Print Order Format)
Overall
The camera takes excellent photos with or without the flash. It is easy to use and you can navigate the menu on the LCD fairly easy.
My main drawbacks for the camera are I personally think it is too small and that they should have included a larger CompactFlash card of at least 32MB.
The size if the camera is very handy for a person with small hands or someone who wants to carry a digital camera with him or her most of the time. It fits easily in a shirt pocket or a purse.
Using the Super Fine mode will produce an excellent 8 x 10 inch photo on photo paper.
This is a really small camera that takes a really large photo!
Thank you for reading my review!
Interested in great photo printing printers then check out my reviews listed.
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Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 349
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surferdude7
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