Executive Overview
Canon's new PowerShot S100 Digital Elph camera is definitely deserving of its
"ELPH" name. Its tiny size and extremely light weight easily make it
the most portable digicam we've seen to date (June, 2000). The sleek, silvery
body design recalls the PowerShot S10 and S20 body styles, but on a much smaller
scale, of course. The S100 features a well designed, retractable lens with a sliding
lens cover built in (no lens cap hassles!). When the lens is fully retracted,
there are virtually no protrusions on the camera and it easily glides into just
about any pocket. All the main controls are on the back panel of the camera, with
the exception of the zoom lever, power and shutter buttons, and a small, notched
thumb grip on the back gives you a nice, firm hold.
An optical and LCD viewfinder are both located on the back of the camera. The
optical viewfinder features a pair of LEDs that inform you of the camera's status,
while a central autofocus target inside the viewfinder helps you line up shots.
The LCD viewfinder can be turned on and off with an adjacent button and features
a 1.5 inch screen with a low temperature polysilicon, TFT color display. (Gobbledygook
that means it's a very sharp little LCD.)
The Canon 5.4 to 10.8 mm zoom lens (equivalent to a 35-70 mm lens on a 35mm camera)
offers a maximum aperture ranging from f/2.8 to f/4.0, depending on the zoom setting.
Focus ranges from 22 inches (57 cm) to infinity in normal mode and from four to
22 inches (10 to 57 cm) in Macro mode. A TTL autofocus function utilizes an efficient
AiAF (artificial intelligence autofocus) system which evaluates a broad field
in the center of the image for more accurate focusing. There's also an Infinity
Focus mode (controlled by the Macro/Infinity button) that quickly sets focus at
infinity for fast shooting. The optical zoom lens is controlled by the Zoom lever
on top of the camera, and an optional 2x/4x "digital zoom" function
can be engaged by zooming past the optical telephoto range.
A sliding switch places the camera in Record or Playback mode. In Record mode,
you can leave the camera in charge of the exposure by selecting Automatic exposure
control through the Record menu, or you can select Manual mode and adjust things
such as white balance, flash and exposure compensation (EV) through a menu system
employing the LCD screen and rear-panel controls. There's also Black & White
and Stitch Assist (panoramic) modes. Aperture and shutter speed are controlled
automatically in all modes. The Self-Timer and Continuous shooting options are
available in most exposure modes, via the back-panel buttons. The built-in flash
offers five settings (Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Forced On, Forced Off and Slow-Sync).
White balance also offers five settings (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten and
Fluorescent light), all controlled through the Record Menu. Exposure Compensation
(EV) can be adjusted from 2 to +2 in 0.3 EV (f-stop) units, also through
the Record Menu.
The Self-Timer gives a 10 second delay with a flashing LED countdown before the
shutter fires and the Continuous Shooting mode allows you to shoot approximately
two frames per second, depending on available memory and image quality. The two
Stitch Assist modes (one for left to right and one for right to left) allow you
to capture up to 26 images in sequence, to be "stitched" together with
the accompanying software.
Images are stored on CompactFlash type I cards (an 8MB card comes with the camera)
with quality choices of SuperFine and Fine, and image sizes of 1600 x 1200 and
640 x 480.
An included Video Out cable allows you to connect to a television set for image
playback and composition and utilizes the same interface connector on the side
of the camera as does the USB digital output. A software CD comes with the camera
and provides Canon's Solution Disk software for image downloading and stitching
together panoramic images. Additionally, a copy of Adobe PhotoDeluxe comes with
the camera for image correction, manipulation and a variety of fun templates and
filters. Both software packages are compatible with both Windows and Macintosh
operating systems.