Gadgetory

well look what just dropped out of the sky it's the Holy Grail a point-and-shoot cameras stay tuned from my full review every once in a blue moon a digital camera saunters across my desk that makes me change the way i view digital cameras in general the canon powershot s100 is one of those cameras by far this is the best advanced point-and-shoot digital camera i have ever tested in my years and years of playing with digital cameras compared to last year's s95 the s100 is festooned with upgrades first of all we'll start with the eos inspired 12 megapixel one over one point seven inch CMOS sensor yes this sensor actually has advanced technologies that you could find in canons EOS DSLR lineup the sensor is also coupled with canons new digit 5 processing which makes the camera faster it can record up to 8 frames per second in burst mode at full resolution and this camera is better at noise management we've also got an increase to 1080p video on this camera up from 720p last year at 24 frames per second and 720p video has been upgraded to 30 frames per second on this camera Canon also radically designed the lens we have a 5x optical zoom and 24 millimeter wide angle capability and that's because Canon added more elements to the lens and made it a coin-sized configuration it's some fantastic engineering and the lens the sensor and the processor were all developed in-house so this camera is just built from the ground up Canon goodness I forgot to mention the fact that Canon put GPS on this camera so it can now do GPS logging and it has a Maps utility using Google lastly on the design front you'll notice that this camera is bathed in a sexy matte black finish and it's got a grip on the back and a front grip as well so it was easier to shoot with so now it's the moment you've all been waiting for image quality I am not lying when I tell you this I reviewed several cameras in my time this is the best image quality you can ask for on a point-and-shoot camera Shazaam I could shoot at high ISO levels 1600 even 3200 and still produce impressive images the ISO has also been expanded to 6400 natively at full resolution this camera also retains the F 2.0 lens so it's nice and bright and it helps it in low-light the 1080p HD videos were also fantastic it was the best video quality I've seen from an advanced point-and-shoot as well I could shoot raw and JPEG and I found that raw held just a slight edge over the JPEG the JPEG quality was actually that good so thanks to that iOS DNA and the new digit 5 processor canons retooled lens this camera is the best I just I'm having a moment I'm getting for klimt I also love the design of the s100 Canon carried over the lens ring and this is a fantastic tool this is fully customizable it can control white balance it can control ISO it can control aspect ratios you name it there's also a new ring function button so like a shortcut button and we also have the control dial on the back for manual controls we have a shutter speed that can dip down to 15 seconds we also have a built-in neutral density filter that's for lowering the light so we can use a longer shutter speed in brighter situations now it's interesting to note that anything past 1 second with this shutter the camera will default to an ISO 80 and Canon did that deliberately to reduce noise though this camera is such a great high ISO performer I found that I could use a little extra exposure when I was maxed out at 15 seconds white balance was fantastic we had a four pane color grid selector we also had a quick function warm temp temp slider and manual focus was great because we have a 3-inch 460 1000 that allowed us to attain sharp detail edges lines and contrasts courtesy of the manual focus magnification box there's an electronic pop-up flash that seamlessly pops up when the flash is engaged and it has advanced controls like flash exposure compensation shutter sync with first and second curtain of course we have creative filters like HDR accent and toy camera most of them could be used in video as well the s100 has a fantastic playback system we can view RGB histograms we could see GPS coordinates we get full exif data the menus are fast and intuitive thanks to the Speedy Gonzales and Roadrunner firmware my two minor complaints with this camera battery life was one it's got a thin small pack and I shot side by side with the Powershot SX 4 ths which outlasted it twofold the other thing is the shutter button is kind of small and you have to reach over the mode dial takes a little acclamation but that's not a big problem so just get an extra battery pack and Bob's your uncle there's no doubt about the fact that the canon powershot s 100 is the best advanced point-and-shoot on the market and I'm talking about it over the g12 over last year's s 95 over panasonic's over Sony's I really have not come across the camera that takes such fantastic images and videos and packs in so many manual controls in this sexy matte black frame for the full canon powershot s 100 of you go to TechnoBuffalo comm I've got tons of image samples most of them converted from raw so you can see the highest quality available I also have 1080p samples and further ISO analysis so you can see then ISO chart but this is just I sleep with this at night I love it so much this has been Mike Pearlman for TechnoBuffalo this is the omnipotent Canon Powershot s 100 the best point-and-shoot advanced point-and-shoot I have ever encountered I'm gonna go skip away with glee and capture some more pictures I'll see you guys later