Review on 💡 Canon PowerShot S100 Silver: 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom - Expert Review & Best Price by Brandie Zhang

I recently bought a Canon S100 compact camera to take with me when birdwatching. I usually use a Canon SLR (50D, 7D ), 500mm f/4L IS USM and a 1.4x teleconverter Since this rig is quite big and heavy, I tried to find a good solution for shooting non-bird subjects like landscapes/paintings/habitats , people, buildings and whatever else I come across and that the 500mm lens is not good for taking pictures. I started buying an EF-s 10-22mm lens for it but found that I really like the wide angle capabilities of this lens, but I really wanted a longer focal length than this lens offered, so I ended up buying the EF-s 15-85mm IS lens. This lens was still wide enough to capture most of the photos I wanted to take and gave me the extra focal length I wanted. Both lenses are excellent in my opinion. But after using them for a few years, I still miss loads of photos I would love to take because each of these lenses is still more than I want to carry around when birding. Different options I ended up buying a used Canon S90 compact. I liked the idea that it could be used by hand, it had pretty good image quality and most importantly that it was small enough to fit in my pocket so I could take it anywhere. The S90 was that the performance was a little sluggish (compared to the SLR I'm used to), the lens could only handle a 28mm field of view and the image quality wasn't exactly what I really wanted. I know it's unreasonable to expect mirror image quality from a small compact camera, but I'm trying to find a compromise I'm happy with and the S90 isn't quite there. A problem I didn't expect from the S90. was that when I was carrying the camera in my bag, the rear LCD screen was badly scratched and more importantly, a lot of dust had accumulated inside the camera. The dust eventually started to affect the image quality and I was never able to clean it completely, despite taking the camera apart and cleaning the sensor and most of the inside of the lens that I could get to. When the Canon S100 was announced I was thrilled to see the focal range expanded to the equivalent of 24mm at the wide angle and the addition of GPS. Before I bought the S100, I carried a GPS recorder in my pocket, and the S100's GPS feature eliminated one more thing I had to carry around and charge every night. I waited a while for the reviews and was very disappointed with early reports of reduced image quality (compared to the S90/S95) and lens issues. Despite initial reports, curiosity got the better of me and I ordered the S100. He was just in time to go to California for the birding I had just completed. Below are my reactions to 10 days of using the S100 in the field and post-processing my images. At the beginning of the trip I turned on the GPS function but left the GPS logger function off. Every time I took the camera out to take a picture, it took a long time for the camera to acquire the GPS signal. Even outside under a clear blue sky it sometimes took longer than 10 minutes. I've read the manual to see if I'm doing something wrong and tried the steps listed there, but nothing helped. It quickly became clear to me that for really practical use of the GPS function, the logger function had to be activated. The upside was that the camera picked up the signal almost immediately and recorded GPS data on photos, but leaving the GPS function on all day would drain the battery badly. I'm still not sure if the S100's GPS feature will replace my GPS logger or not, but I think it's possible. A pleasant surprise I noticed when I first started using the new camera was that the work seems to be much faster than it really is. with C90. Focus seems more reliable, and almost every camera function feels more responsive. I am very happy with the overall functionality of the S100. To avoid the dust and damage to the LCD that I experienced with the S90, I carry the S100 in a thin case that seems to protect the screen well and keep dust out. The S100's autofocus appears to be a definite improvement over the S90. With the S90, I often had problems with the focus lock when taking wide-angle landscape shots. This rarely happens with the S100, but every now and then. As for the image quality, I'm not quite sure what to think of it yet. The weather conditions weren't the best for landscape photography for most of my trip, but I think the image quality is pretty close to the old S90. In other words, not bad, but not great either. I think it will be acceptable for my needs (mainly web browsing and small prints no larger than 8x10). There seems to be a lot of distortion at the widest settings, which is a little tiring. So far I've been shooting in JPEG format because I haven't been able to get RAW Therapee to work with S100 RAW files yet. I know I liked the S90 a lot better when I shot RAW and processed the files in RAW Therapee, so I won't make any final judgments when it comes to image quality. Overall I'd say I'm pretty happy with the S100 and think it will suit me and others in my situation. Some photos from my first trip with a camera here:[.]