|
Even so, it does offer moderately good stills along with decent video clips. We had problems, however, with certain features. For example, there is the relatively poor unification of a small LCD (a paltry inches, while we're now living in a world of LCDs of inches or-larger), which isn't viewable at all in rich sunlight, and a bad electronic viewfinder which is grainy and hard to see. The poor LCD/EVF also presents problems when you need to use the menus. This does not bode well unless you're okay with shooting blind.
It is good to see a 5-megapixel camera with 12X optical hum (the longest zoom now for sale in a digital camera, until the Samsung 815 hits the market with 15X in September) and effigy stabilization. TheS2 IS's prototype, the principle PowerShot S1 IS has 10X optical hum. The hum runs from to mm (a 35-mm equivalent of 36 to 432 mm) with a comprehensive aperture setting from f/ to f/ over the zoom range. With such a long zoom, it would have been nice to see a bit more on the roomy-outlook side.
The camera includes a nature of landscape modes, including a stitch-assist perspective custom that works quite well. Another specialized feature, included in a number of other Canon PowerShot cameras, is the My Colors feature, which allows you to do post-fabrication effects in-camera, such as emphasizing special colors in an image or accenting one color while transforming the rest of the notion to squalid-and-spotless. (For more on the My Color feature, go to our review of the PowerShot SD500). The camera also allows for manual settings. As with fresh ordinance cameras, however, the menus are a bit too utilitarian and aren't as user-friendly, streamlined, or helpful as they could be.
The criterion S2 IS has a tremendous burst mode, which in our testing allowed us to shoot continuously for more than 100 shots (on a 1GB SD card). You can't emit in this way using the very highest Superfine mode, so the files are somewhat more compressed, but we suppose the feature will be quite useful.
In our PC Labs testing, simulated-day shots revealed just a little bit of noise and could acquire been a bit sharper. Still, they had very good color saturation and authoritative color corresponding. There was some fringing in the impression, but overall we found a pleasant exposure, with a good vital range that included a strong, deep black.
With our flash test missile, the likeness was partially underexposed but displayed very little noise (even less than the daylight shot). As with the day bullet, colors had very good saturation and color veracity. Still, we noticed some fringing. Overall, the image had good contrast and a deep black (no true whites, though, due to underexposure).
The camera scored an average of 1,350 lines of decision, which is fine for a 5MP camera. It booted up very quickly, in just seconds, but performed quite poorly on our recycle test, clocking in at 6 seconds flat—not very good if you're hoping to catch all the engagement. The camera showed hardly any shutter lag, and we saw just a little barrel distortion and no pincushion distortion at all. We tested likewise all three types of statue stabilization (continuous, hurtle only, and panning) available in the camera and found that all worked well in both low and hopeful gentle (the panning mode was the most effective).
Video clips are saved as rather broad Motion JPEG files (as conflicting to MPEG-4, which takes up less space on a memory calendar), and provided clear, smooth video with decent sound.
Although the precept PowerShot S2 IS's picture quality was very good, we still recommend the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20, which likewise has a 12X optical hum and offers a quicker recycle time and even better images.
Compare the Canon PowerShot S2 IS with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 side by side in our comparison table, and see their benchmark test results
More digital camera reviews:
|
Site
of the day: