The Canon PowerShot S110 is definitely causing a stir in the compact market. With its small size, it is packed to the brim with features, manual controls, and also the famous HS system for improved low level light performance.
The lens sports a maximum aperture of f/2. Unfortunately due to its size it isn’t the brightest lens I’ve seen on a compact camera, but it is still a huge feature. The widest aperture the camera can reach is f/5.9 on a telephoto setting and can be narrowed to a little as f/8.
The S110 supports a manual ring, at the base of the lens which controls the aperture. It gives it a slight DSLR feel to it. The wheel is also used on its shutter priority mode. It is a great feature, and one that stands out above other compact cameras on the market. You quickly learn the wheel is there and head for it straight away.
The S110 produces 12.1 megapixel photos. Great for blowing up your favourite snaps to poster size. A downfall compared to other cameras priced around this one is its zoom. With a 5x optical zoom, it is extremely low. Although saying that, this camera is not one that’s going to be taken into the woods on a bird spotting session. We found that given the circumstances such as family events, clubbing and holidays, 5x zoom is more than enough to capture those far away subjects.
The colours in everyday life situations are superb and very vivid. The S110 supports a large number of features such as macro mode. This gave this camera a great all around use. The macro mode produced some very clear, very sharp images, and gives the center subject a detail we’ve yet to see in other cameras of this size.
Having built in Wi-Fi gives you complete control of where your photos end up. Whether it is direct to a social networking site, or even to your hard drive of your home computer, the options are there. Also being able to save the photos in a RAW format, it gives you control over photo editing options.
Shutter speed is fully customizable. It ranges from ½,000 to 1 second and can be pushed as far as 15 seconds. Sensitivity starts at ISO 80 and finishes at ISO 12,800. A huge range for such a small camera and once that keeps up with its compact system cousins. There can be some loss of quality on higher sensitivity photos, but this will not ruin a low light level shot.
The S110 is a superb camera which has an extremely good price tag attached. You can find it cheaper if you really searched the internet, but £249 I think is very fair. It has a large number of features for those versatile photographers, and produces as I said some of the sharpest images I’ve seen from a compact so far. This camera is not one that will disappoint easily.