Canon’s S95 was our favourite pocket camera. Um, it’s probably not anymore. Meet the S100. What’s new? Oh, Canon’s first Digic V processor. A wider 24mm zoom lens. A 12-megapixel CMOS sensor (up from a 10MP CCD). 1080p video. And GPS built-in.
The Digic V processor is a lot of the magic here: It’s why the S100 can pull out 1080p video and shoot 10 frames a second. Canon is bumping the megapixelage slightly from the S90/S95, to 12 megapixels, but maybe more importantly it’s also switching from a CCD sensor to a CMOS chip. (An old, but valid primer on CCD vs CMOS.) The Digic V image processor is also gonna kick in more advanced noise reduction, along with smarter auto-white balance (which I’ll believe when I see).
The new lens is wider and zoomier, starting at 24mm with a 5x zoom (vs the 28mm 3.8x zoom of the S90/S95). It’s just as fast though, starting at F2. Lastly, it’s got some built-in GPS powers. Missing? The stark, simple beauty of the S95. The S100 might be more ergonomic. But I’d rather look at my old, nicked and scuffed S90. Oh well. It’ll be $US430 when it drops soonish.