powershot

Review: Canon PowerShot S95 Review

Jeff's Rating: 4/5

tl;dr: A great pocketable camera that shoots RAW, gets pretty good low-light results, and has a sharp new HD video recording mode.

Canon PowerShot S95 on Table

After having used an excellent RAW-capable point and shoot, the Canon PowerShot G11, for about 6 months, I sold it on eBay and bought the new Canon PowerShot S95, the G11's smaller sibling. I had originally been looking into buying the S90 (another excellent camera), but thought the G11's flip-screen and handling would be worthwhile assets.

Unfortunately, I had bought the G11 to be my pocketable 'vacation-cam,' and though it worked pretty well, it wasn't quite pocketable. I had to keep it in its case, and it was another item of luggage to carry around wherever I took it.

The S95's form factor allows me to truly pocket this camera, and not sacrifice the quality of image I can get with it too much. It's a heck of a lot better than my iPhone 4's camera, but still nowhere near as amazing as my D90 SLR paired with a good lens. To better convey a sense of how the S95 works in my life, I'll break down this review into a few relevant categories.

Review: Canon PowerShot G11 - Digital Camera

Jeff's Rating: 5/5

tl;dr: Is this the SLR owner's dream pocket camera? Almost! It will do for now, but a tiny bit better lens and image sensor would make it perfect.

Canon Powershot G11

The Canon PowerShot G11 comes from a long line of G-series advanced-amateur digital cameras, and is very much like the most recent PowerShot G10 in all the best ways, but differs a little bit by improving on one of the G10's greatest weaknesses: the image sensor. Another major win for the G11 is the fold-out swivel screen, which comes in very handy at many of the events at which I (and many other SLR owners) will be using the camera.

Relevant Features

Let's start with a brief overview:

Canon PowerShot G11 Arrives (Plus Link to Review)

[UPDATE: For a full review of the camera, please visit the Canon PowerShot G11 Review on MidwesternMac.com]

After a few weeks of phone calls, store visits, etc., I've finally found a Canon PowerShot G11. And none too soon, as I'm leaving for Rome in less than three days, and really wanted to get this camera as a 'pocket' camera for walking the streets of Rome!

Canon PowerShot G11

RIP - Canon PowerShot S2 IS

Two weeks ago, my Canon PowerShot S2 IS died (the shutter would no longer open, even after I performed about six different resuscitation methods). After discovering the cost of repair was a little too high (almost $200!), I thought to myself, "Well, why don't you take a crack at seeing what's wrong?"

Bad idea.

Canon PowerShot S2 IS Disassembly

As you may surmise from the above picture, I was able to take apart practically every part of the S2 IS. However, I think I finally decided there was no chance of my repairing the camera, or even putting it back together, after I accidentally broke the itty-bitty microphone wires, then dropped two microscopic screws (until that time, I was carefully documenting where all the screws went...).