The first micro digital camera I ever used was the nifty little Canon S10, which I really liked, so I was really excited when the S100 was introduced almost two years ago. Despite its diminutive size, the little digital elph was a superb image-maker. The S100’s excellent performance, superb feature set and tiny jewel like stainless steel body made it an immediate hit with critics, photographers, and casual picture takers.

I wasn’t able to recommend the Powershot S110 when I reviewed it, because on balance, there was very little improvement over the S100 and the S110’s high price made it a poor choice for most casual picture takers. Differences between the S110 and the third generation S200 are subtle, but the new Powershot offers some nifty added features and the price has really come down. The S200 is a perfect example of how small refinements and simple improvements can make a good digital camera even better.

The S200 is the ultimate “shirt-pocket” camera. It has a “clamshell” sliding lens cover and retracting lens, so you can easily carry it with you, anywhere you go. The tiny elph also has an improved control layout that makes taking pictures easier than it was with earlier “S” models. Battery life has been improved and there’s a new sensor (Intelligent Orientation) that can detect if an image was shot horizontally or vertically, and during image playback, the camera automatically presents the image in its proper orientation. The PowerShot S200 can record video clips (with sound) @ 640X480 and 20 fps (up to 4 seconds at the highest quality setting). This all adds up to a pretty impressive image making package with a bargain street price (currently running between $300 and $350).


If you are interested in doing serious creative photography then the Canon Powershot S200 isn’t going to meet your needs at all. However, if you're looking for a tiny user friendly 2 megapixel digital camera with auto-everything operation (and some manual capability) then the S200 should end up at the top of your short list. The S100 and S110 were both very popular digital cameras and both sold in huge numbers, I predict that the S200 is going to easily eclipse both of them in sales and popularity.

FEATURES

Lens

The S200 features a good quality f2.8-f4.0/35-70 (35mm equivalent) retractable 2X zoom with a built-in lens cover. There’s no thread for add-on lenses or filters

LCD

The S200’s 1.5" LCD is about average for micro digi-cams, the images are sharp and bright. It features a glare reducing anti-reflective coating and is easily read even in moderately bright outdoor light. The LCD screen is more accurate (for framing and composition) than the small optical view finder. The S200’s LCD can be set to display a wide variety of information including long shutter mode, shooting mode, exposure compensation setting, white balance setting, photo effects mode, ISO setting, flash setting, macro/infinity lens setting, metering option choice, resolution setting, compression setting, and a histogram to help evaluate dynamic range.


Auto mode

In the auto mode, the S200 functions as an auto everything “point’n’shoot” digital camera. The default evaluative metering system consistently produces good exposures in full auto.

Manual Options for Creative Shooting

The S200 has a "manual" mode that allows limited user input into ISO, exposure compensation, white balance, and metering. Users can select shutter speeds but the lens aperture remains automatic at all times. The S200 also features separate exposure and focus lock functions, genuinely unusual creative photography features in a point & shoot camera. Users can lock exposure or focus for an off-center subject, and then re-compose the image for a more artistic picture. The exposure lock function works for flash exposures as well.

Auto Focus

One of the most noticeable differences between the S110 and the S200 is the improved auto focus function. Instead of the single AF bracket (in the center of the screen) on the S110, the S200 has three AF brackets lined up horizontally across the screen. The S200 features an improved AiAF (artificial intelligence autofocus) function that allows the cameras metering system to calculate camera to subject distance more accurately. The camera will then focus on whichever of the three brackets it selects as best for the overall scene. The three point AF allows better composition because the camera will usually select the focus point that corresponds with the closest element of the scene. Users can easily select which of the focus points to line up with the closest element of the scene and achieve a level of compositional freedom not usually found in “point and shoot” cameras. The AiAF can be turned off, if desired, and focus will revert to the center bracket.

Exposure

The S200 does a good job with exposure; the evaluative metering system consistently renders accurate exposures in all but the most difficult lighting situations.

Shooting Action

The Continuous Shooting Mode can capture a series of up to four consecutive images very quickly. Canon says the capture rate is 2.5 fps (large/fine resolution, LCD off), but in bright lighting with a fresh battery I was never able to do any better than 1- 1.5 fps, you must pre-focus to maximize this option.

MAXIMIZING YOUR IMAGING OPTIONS

Ergonomics & Controls

The S200’s button layout is excellent and features some significant improvements over the S110. The mode switch allows users to quickly switch between Replay, Movie, and Still modes. There is also a new four button compass (arranged in a circle) switch designed for easily navigating menus. All buttons on the S200 are larger and easier to use than those on the S110. The S200’s user interface is simple and intuitive. Menus are straightforward and access is uncomplicated. Ergonomically the S200 is well designed and operation is easy. On the cameras top deck is the power button and the shutter release. To turn on the camera users must hold the power button down for about two seconds. Turning the camera off only requires a quick push. The zoom control button encircles the shutter release button, which makes it easy to follow and shoot rapidly unfolding action.

Photo Effects

Photo Effects is a nifty creative option (first seen on the more expensive Canon G2) that allows users to select spot metering, exposure compensation, vivid or neutral color saturation, contrast levels, low sharpening, and sepia or B&W tonal effects. You can accomplish the same effects in Paint Shop Pro or Adobe PhotoShop, but in-camera is usually easier than post-exposure

White Balance

The S200’s White balance options are fairly standard: Auto, daylight, cloudy, tungsten, and two fluorescent modes.

Night/Low Light Photography

The S200 doesn’t fare as well in night/low light situations. Low light images are noisy and dull

Macro

The S200’s macro capabilities are adequate. The camera can shoot acceptable e-bay images, but for artistic compositions with bugs and flowers, up close and personal, the S200’s performance is disappointing.


Shutter Lag/Cycle/Start-Up Times

Just a bit slower than average for two megapixel digital cameras. Pre-focus and shutter lag times are reasonable, but the start-up cycle is slow (camera on/lens extension/auto focus/shutter) in the 2 second range. Expect about 2-3 seconds write to card cycle times between shots at the maximum resolution setting.

Battery Life

Micro cameras have certain inherent limitations, among the most important of these is short battery life. Tiny cameras use tiny batteries and tiny batteries can’t store as much power as larger batteries. There is no way to get around this except by carrying a fully charged back up battery. The S200 is good for about forty-fifty minutes of heavy shooting with continuous LCD use. The S200’s battery life is improved marginally over that of the S110. You can use the older NB-1L battery designed for the S110, but you’ll do better with Canon’s newly designed NB-1LH. Canon’s new Li-ion rechargeable needs about two hours for a full charge. Plan to spend about $60.00 for a back-up NB-1LH, or if you already have one, the older NB-1L will work great as a back-up.

Image Quality

The Canon Powershot S200 does a great job in the image quality department. Very good 4X6 and 5X7 printed images are easy with the S200 and a good photo printer (with photo paper) 8X10’s look fine when viewed at eye level with the naked eye but show obvious pixelation under magnification. If image quality is your number one camera requirement, then buy a Powershot A40.

Technical Specifications

Resolution: 2 Megapixels (1600X1200)
Lens: f2.8-f4.0/35-70 (35mm equivalent) 2X zoom. No lens thread for add-on lenses or filters
Viewfinder : Real-image optical zoom viewfinder
LCD: 1.5” TFT color LCD
Autofocus: TTL 3 point AiAF (artificial intelligence auto focus)
Macro: Minimum Focus Distance 3.9 in
Shutter: Electro-Mechanical
Shutter Speeds: 15 seconds to 1/1500th of a second
Noise Reduction: Yes—automatic on long exposures
Metering: Evaluative and Spot metering
Exposure: Auto/Manual
Exposure Compensation: +/-2 EV in 1/3 stop increments
Sensitivity: ISO 50/ 100/ 200/ 400 (35mm equivalent) and Auto
White Balance: TTL auto and presets for daylight, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, fluorescent H, and custom
Flash: Built-in with Auto, Red-eye reduction, on, off, and slow-synchro modes (no provision for external flash units)
Memory Storage Media: CompactFlash (Type I)
Image File Format: JPEG
Movies: AVI @ 20 fps (640X480)
Connectivity: Universal Serial Bus (USB)
Audio/ Video Out: Yes (NTSC or PAL)
Power: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery (type: NB-1LH/ NB-1L)
Street Price Range: $290.00--$360.00

Included

8MB CompactFlash card
NB-1LH Li-ion battery (rechargeable) w/charger
Wrist strap
USB & A/V cables
144 page (printed) users manual and separate software manual
Canon Digital Camera Solution Disk v. 9.0 plus ArcSoft Camera Suite


Optional

Back-up NB-1LH Li-ion battery ($58.00)
Underwater Housing WP-DC600 ($240.00)
Compact Power Adapter CA-PS500
Car Battery Charger CBC-NB1


In the Field/Handling & Operation

I love to play with cameras (digital and analog) it’s an affliction I’ve suffered from for almost thirty years. Fortunately, my wife is very understanding and I have a good friend who shares my addiction. He works in the business (he sells new and used photographic equipment) so he functions not only as good company on my camera testing jaunts, but also as an enabler (he furnishes the digital and analog cameras and other photographic goodies we play with).

We had breakfast together the other day and discussed all the new digital cameras just hitting the market. We had just tested Nikon’s nifty new CP2500 and my friend said he’d like to compare/contrast two of the newest models from Canon. Either the Powershot S330 or the S200 and the new Powershot A40. I reminded him of how much I had liked the Canon Powershot A20 and he said, “OK, here’s what we’ll do, you shoot with the A40 and I will shoot with whichever one of the “S” models I can shake loose. We’ll shoot pretty much the same stuff and then we’ll compare the results, side by side.” We ended up spending a couple of days with a Canon Powershot A40 and the tiny little Canon Powershot S200.

For our first test with the new Canon Powershot S200 we shot some color tests. We always use a home-made macro stage (a card board box with the top and front panels cut off. The box is lined with white photographic background paper, and lit from above with a simple studio lighting set-up. We use the same set of colorful plastic beach toys so that results are comparable from camera to camera) The S200’s color was bright, well saturated, and accurate. The auto White balance setting did a very good job overall and the standard pre-sets handled specialized lighting situations quite well. Both cameras performed well, but in terms of subjective color accuracy and brightness the A40 did a slightly better job.


After finishing the color tests we drove to Paul’s Fruit & Vegetable Market on Taylorsville Road so that I could buy a couple of Rosemary Plants for my wife’s herb garden. Paul’s has been a Louisville landmark since World War II. The family run business sells fresh fruits and vegetables, nursery plants, flowers, gourmet groceries, and delicious deli items. While I was shopping for Rosemary plants, my friend went inside and shot some of the fruit and vegetable displays (the interior of Paul’s is dim and cool). The available light is from small overhead fluorescents. My friend shot everything twice, once with the A40 and once with the S200. When we looked at the shots from the S200 and compared them with the shots from the A40 we understood just how well the A40 does in night/low light situations. The A40 images were very good with sharp resolution, little or no noise, and very bright accurate colors, while the images from the neat looking little S200 basically, sucked.

The following morning we took both cameras to the Falls of the Ohio State Park (just across the Ohio River in Clarksville, Indiana) the Park is the only place where you can actually see the 380 million-year-old Devonian fossil beds that made Louisville the perfect site for a town. During the Revolutionary War, the fossil beds (actually the exposed remains of huge ancient reef) formed a falls that impeded navigation on the Ohio River.

George Rogers Clark (the founder of Louisville and a Revolutionary War hero) built a fort on Sand Island to protect Kentucky (then a county in Virginia) from attack by the British in Vincennes and Kaskaskia. That primitive little fort eventually became the city of Louisville. The park is popular with fishermen, birdwatchers, hikers, and picnickers. We wandered around for a couple of hours taking photos with both cameras. The Falls of the Ohio State Park is located at exit 0 on Interstate 65 (North). Both cameras performed very well. Digital Images shot with the A40 and the S200 printed out very well (on my favorite Epson Stylus Photo 785 EPX) up to 5X7, colors were accurate and resolution was very good. 8X10 enlargements were very good when viewed with the naked eye, but showed noticeable pixelation and highlight burnout under a 4X Mamiya Loupe. Overall the A40 produced sharper resolution and better color than the tiny S200, probably due to the larger imager and slightly better lens on the A40.

A Few Concerns

The S200’s lens exhibits very slight chromatic aberration and minor distortion at the wide-angle end of the 2X zoom. The tiny built in flash is very weak and isn’t much help except under optimum conditions. Noisy low light images

Conclusion

Is Canon’s newest digital elph as good (or better) than its predecessors? Casual shooters/vacation photographers/family snapshooters will be able to figure out the S200’s basic auto operation without cracking open the manual. Photographers who want a tiny “tough as nails” digital camera will find Canon’s new S200 tough to beat. The S200 is almost perfect for bikers, hikers, and backpackers because its small profile allows it to be taken (and used) virtually anywhere. Unlike most “micro” cameras the S200 has a wide variety of creative features and allows considerable user input into the picture making process. Just over a year ago the popular Powershot S110 cost five hundred bucks, with the new S200 you can actually get the same two megapixel images and tiny size with more features, better functionality, and pay $150 to $200 less. The new Canon Powershot S200 retained all the features that made the S100 and S110 exceptional, and added almost everything that users of the first two cameras had been asking for, the result is a tiny digital camera that really delivers.

I can recommend this neat little image-maker enthusiastically. If you need a bit more zoom, spring for the extra fifty bucks and buy the S200’s slightly larger (and virtually identical) sibling, the Powershot S330, which has a three X zoom.

Are you considering spreading your imaging wings and setting up a home digital darkroom? Check out my reviews of a pair 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 definitive advice on How to Choose a Digital Camera please see my review:

http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-2E46-17B174E2-39A418E3-prod1

For information about specific Digital Camera models you may find my Digital Camera reviews informative:

Nikon Digital Cameras

Nikon Coolpix 2500
http://www.epinions.com/content_65176440452


Nikon Coolpix 5000
http://www.epinions.com/content_52720406148

Nikon Coolpix 885
http://www.epinions.com/content_46290931332

Nikon Coolpix 995
http://www.epinions.com/content_40256769668

Nikon D1X
http://www.epinions.com/content_36023996036

Nikon D1
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-4868-E2433E5-38737CF8-prod2/tk_~CB003.1.78

Nikon Coolpix 880
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-2DA8-DF21E52-39E118CA-prod5

Nikon Coolpix 990
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-3B78-3C431D90-3A345313-prod3

Canon Digital Cameras

Canon Powershot A40
http://www.epinions.com/content_65832652420

Canon Powershot S110
http://www.epinions.com/content_63100784260

Canon Powershot S300
http://www.epinions.com/content_61364211332

Canon Powershot S40
http://www.epinions.com/content_59617087108

Canon Powershot S30
http://www.epinions.com/content_59041746564

Canon Powershot A20
http://www.epinions.com/content_56389701252

Canon Powershot G2
http://www.epinions.com/content_47646084740

Canon Powershot S10
http://www.epinions.com/content_7563808388/tk_~CB003.1.74

Canon EOS D30
http://www.epinions.com/content_11625991812/tk_~CB003.1.58

Canon Powershot PRO 90IS
http://www.epinions.com/content_30440001156/tk_~CB005.1.9

Canon Powershot G1
http://www.epinions.com/content_8768294532/tk_~CB003.1.70

Canon Powershot PRO 70
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-6496-25768DA-38C3E01A-prod9/tk_~CB003.1.70


Sony Digital Cameras

Sony DSC-F707
http://www.epinions.com/content_60512439940

Sony DSC S85
http://www.epinions.com/content_51957567108

Sony MVC-CD 300
http://www.epinions.com/content_45591793284

Sony DSC-S50
http:http://www.epinions.com/content_15885897348

Sony Mavica MVC-CD1000
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-5F01-365BA12-3980602C-prod3/tk_~CB003.1.14

Olympus Digital Cameras

Olympus Camedia C3020
http://www.epinions.com/content_57190944388

Olymous Camedia E 20N
http://www.epinions.com/content_54953348740

Olympus Camedia C3040
http://www.epinions.com/content_42675179140

Olympus Camedia C3000
http://www.epinions.com/content_26106105476/tk_~CB003.1.30

Olympus Camedia E10
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-59FB-183DFC73-3A17388F-prod2/tk_~CB003.1.42

Fuji Digital Cameras

Fuji Finepix 2600 Zoom
http://www.epinions.com/content_58485149316

Fuji Finepix S1 “PRO”
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-5591-16816C34-39047A87-prod5/tk_~CB003.1.18

Minolta Digital Cameras

Minolta Dimage 5
http://www.epinions.com/content_49104522884

Just “cut’n’paste” the URL into your browser’s address window.



















Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 300.00