Canon G1x Mark II Press Release

Concept: 2 out of 5
Execution: 3 out of 5
Yeah, but: I don't even mention the Advanced Star Mode.

The Long Version: In the same way that movie trailers are an art all to themselves – and are often better than the movies that they foreshadow – I have a fondness for camera press releases. I wanted to share my thoughts on the newly-announced G1X Mark II announcement, but fair warning: this may turn into one of those "I read it so that you don't have to" series.

Being Canadian I'll be quoting the release as it appears on canon.ca; it's also published on the American site and on DPreview. All of the product images are from the Canon press kit as I haven't yet had a chance to photograph the camera myself, although I am genuinely looking forward to the opportunity.

We begin: Building upon the success of the PowerShot G1 X digital camera…

This press release comes out swinging right from the opening sentence. The original G1X was a dud, an uncommonly lousy camera, slow and with none of the G-series charm. It never lived up to its expectations, either photographically or in market appeal. I suppose it's possible to build on the success of a failure, but it's setting the bar fairly low. Still, full points to Canon for their shameless revisionist hype.

Boasting a sensor that is 4.5x larger than a 1/1.7” sensor found in professional level point-and-shoot cameras…

I'm not sure what's more alarming: that Canon still thinks that a 1/1.7” sensor is the benchmark for an advanced compact, which suggests that they've never heard of Sony or Fujifilm, or that they think that there's such a thing as a "professional level point-and-shoot camera". But now we know that the new G1X model is 4.5x better than a pro point-and-shoot, which simply boggles the imagination with all of the possibilities that must entail.

Incidentally, having a paid and accredited Canon Professional Services membership isn't grounds for getting a discount when buying the EOS 5D Mark III, so I can only conclude that Canon doesn't consider anything below the 1D-series to be a professional camera when it's their own money on the line.

This sensor, combined with the DIGIC 6 Image Processor, comprises the Canon HS SYSTEM resulting in faster autofocusing speeds over the PowerShot G1 X camera…

We're still in the second paragraph and we've already reached the inevitable "It doesn't suck as much as the _________" part of the press release; in this case the G1X2 is triumphing over the camera that was called a 'success' just one paragraph ago. For what it's worth, the HS SYSTEM that's presented as the saviour of the G1X2 is a Meaningless Marketing TERM™ that was also included with the now-admittedly-inferior original G1X.

Featuring a newly-developed f/2.0 – f/3.9, 5x optical zoom lens (equivalent 24-120mm zoom range)…

Typically for a compact camera announcement from Canon, at no point in the press release do they say what the actual focal length of the lens is. Thankfully it's printed right on the front of the camera: 12.5-62.5mm. Carefully parsing the numbers shows that the G1XII actually has a slightly smaller effective sensor area than the G1XI, although it turns out that there's a really good reason for this.

For those keeping score, 62.5/3.9 = 16.025 and 62.5/4 = 15.625. I applaud the tireless and diligent efforts of the engineers who fought to attain that extra 0.4mm difference between f/3.9 and f/4 at 62.5mm. Sure, the practical gain is probably less than the light that's lost to the extra glass needed for the in-lens IS system, but it keeps the G1XII from admitting to a sales-killing f/4.0 aperture at the long end.

… advanced wireless capabilities such as NFC and enhanced low-light shooting and autofocusing…

There's that autofocus improvement being touted again. On the other hand, better autofocus and low-light shooting are two of the many improvements that have been claimed for nearly every digital camera released in the past decade. Similarly, wifi is the new mandatory standard feature, so a passing reference here doesn't hurt.

I do have to admire the restraint that stopped the G1X2 press release from claiming that it has the World's Fastest Autofocus, a title that has recently been self-awarded to the Olympus E-M10, Sony A6000, and the Fujifilms XQ1, XE2, X100s, and F1000EXR. Sure, The World's Whateverest™ is a moving target with ample sub-categories, but come on now. Even the people at derpreview are starting to notice.

… the G1 X Mark II is a well-rounded professional-level camera that allows photographers to get creative.

This is my favourite part of every new camera press release: buy it because it contains creativity!

To be fair this press release is considerably more modest than the Built-In Art claims of many point-and-shoots, but remember that this is a professional camera – the press release says so six times – so it needs to have a certain gravitas.

… equipped with a new type of Canon-made, 1.5-inch CMOS sensor to help achieve optimal performance from low to high ISO speeds.

Canon mentions that they made the sensor in the G1XII in two different paragraphs, just in case someone reviewing the press release skips it the first time. A bespoke sensor shows off their impressive manufacturing prowess but says nothing about its quality. The good news is that this new sensor is optimized for the entire amplification range without any weakness anywhere.

It has a default aspect ratio of 3:2 which is the same ratio the advanced user has come to expect…

This would be a dig at Micro Four Thirds, which started the whole 'mirrorless' thing that the original G1X was begrudgingly and belatedly intended to compete against. Canon hates all mirrorless interchangeable-lens format cameras, and does everything it can to avoid making them. The original G1X, incidentally, has a 4:3 aspect ratio.

If the photographer wants to switch to a 4:3 ratio, it can be done without impacting the field of view.

And this is called "burying the lede". Having a multi-aspect sensor is a first for Canon, and might be the most remarkable thing about the camera, but it's hidden in the fifth paragraph in the press release. Nobody voluntarily reads that far in; it's the press kit equivalent of releasing a Parliamentary Committee report at 5:30 on a Friday afternoon. But this multi-aspect feature is the reason why the G1X2's effective sensor size is a bit smaller than the G1X1, and personally I approve. It's too bad that they didn't do the full Panasonic and include a native 16:9 ratio as well, but clearly we can't have everything.

The new PowerShot G1 X Mark II camera uses 31 Auto Focus (AF) points, compared to the PowerShot G1 X camera that uses nine AF points, resulting in improved autofocus capabilities…

Not to sound like a broken record on this one – funny how that expression outlasted skipping CDs – but is anyone getting the impression that autofocus wasn't a strength for the G1X?

It's worth noting that the G1X2's press release makes absolutely no mention of the new camera's close-focusing performance, which was another significant non-strength of the G1X1. The early word is that this has improved significantly, and while it could hardly get any worse than the original, if it really is as good as those reports say then it deserves to be mentioned. Perhaps the memory of the G1X "macro mode" is still too painful for Canon to bear?

Utilizing the bright, capacitive touch, three-inch tilt LCD on the PowerShot G1 X Mark II camera helps provide flexibility in shooting by tilting 180 degrees up and 45 degrees down.

A well-written release will only talk about what has been added, leaving us to decipher what was taken away. The tilting screen is a downgrade from the flip-out screen that the G1X and other G-series cameras have used in the past, although this new style matches the Sony RX100M2 and many others. Not that Canon considers them to be 'competition', of course, but it proves what the market is willing to accept.

The PowerShot G1 X Mark II camera is also compatible with Canon’s new optional electronic viewfinder that mounts to the hot shoe.

The optical viewfinder has always been a staple of the G-series, making the G1XII the first one in over a decade to omit it. That said their OVFs are pretty bad, and always have been – more of an aiming device than a compositional tool. Removing it lets the camera be smaller, and removing most of the top-deck dials and physical controls in favour of the Dual Control Rings pushes it even farther from the G-Family. I'm actually waiting for people to realize that the G1X2 is really a big-sensor S-series rather than a Super-G.

I do like the way the phrasing here makes it sound as if the EVF will work across multiple cameras, rather than being a $300 dedicated accessory; perhaps other cameras will use it in the future, but other brands have shown that these expensive devices can have remarkably short life cycles.

… the camera’s Background Defocus mode softens the background behind a subject to help users create professional-looking portraits.

Yet elsewhere the press release says "With this wide of an aperture, photographers have the ability to isolate their subjects by separating them from a background that is blurred.… The new lens also features a nine-blade aperture to provide beautiful, blurred backgrounds even at full-zoom range." Safety through redundancy, in the belt-and-suspenders style? Regardless, it's nice to know that there's a Professional-Looking Portraits mode built in, which is vitally important in a professional-level point-and-shoot.

And yes, the release mentions other whizbang modes and scene innovations, but even I eventually exceed my tolerance threshold and need to skip to the end.

The PowerShot G1 X Mark II digital camera will be available starting in April for a retail price of $849.99.

That $850 MSRP (dealers may sell for less) happens to be the street price of a Rebel T5i with an 18-135 STM lens. There's a massive premium for petite cameras these days – a 'petimium'? – and the market is far from proven. We're six weeks away from the G1X2's arrival, so there's still time for the camera market to completely change, but as it stands the X2 won't help Canon's reputation for pricing their cameras above their (frequently more capable) competition.

last updated 18 feb 2014

Canon Rebel SL1 / EOS 100D

Concept: 3 out of 5
Execution: 2 out of 5
Yeah, but: 18Mpx, 9-point AF, etc.

Counter Opinion: Someone recently requested that I say something nice about Canon. The diminutive Rebel SL1 / EOS 100D might not seem like a natural choice for that brief, but the fact is that I've had a certain affection for the smallest SLR on the market ever since it came out. No, there's no chance that I'd actually buy one, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate it.

I've never owned a Canon SLR, or any camera with a touch screen, but I had no trouble disabling the SL1's autofocus beep. And despite its diminutive size, the somewhat unconventional grip is surprisingly comfortable and natural for my average-sized hands. This remains an enduring fascination of mine: Canon just knows how to make camera grips, especially recognizing the importance of thumb rests, in a way that Nikon, Fujifilm, Panasonic, and others just don't seem to understand. While I wouldn't endorse the SL1 for everyone, it's certainly not only for the petite among us.

While the Parisian sun certainly hasn't been shining on Canon's sensor scores lately, their lens team have been making up for it. I'd feel compelled to match the SL1 with the new 24/2.8IS and 40/2.8, which mimics my D800 with Sigma 35/1.4A and Nikon 60/2.8G.

Now, the head-to-head DxO perceptual resolution scores for the Nikon-Sigma combination are about double what the Canon kit can manage, but I score that as a win for the smaller camera. Doubling the resolution actually doesn't make as much of a difference as the numbers suggest; it doesn't make a photo twice as compelling, for example, or an artist twice as accomplished. And quite frankly, if camera-geeks are the intended audience for your photos, then you're doing something wrong.

Some might point out the size disparity between my different two-prime camera kits, but here I don't think there's actually much of a difference. Given the massive price difference between the two setups, the extra bulk and weight of carrying around $2800 in small bills should be factored in to keep the comparison fair. By my math that would make for a stack of American dollar bills more than a foot high weighing six pounds, which pales in comparison to the 17 kilograms of dollar coins that I'd have to carry around in Canada. Advantage: Nikon.

Canon is trying to shrink the kind of camera that they want to sell – EF-mount SLRs – until is appeals to people who want a different kind of camera altogether. However, the SL1 is still much bigger than the EOS-M, not to mention other mirrorless cameras, so the size distinction remains a significant differentiator between the styles. Given how much Canon clearly resents mirrorless cameras, I'd say that they haven't achieved their mirrorless-killer goal.

There are absolutely times when I would carry a camera the size of an EOS-M but leave a camera with a prism hump at home. What I can't decide is when in my life I'd be willing to carry a camera the size of an SL1 but not be willing to carry a camera the size of a T5i. The difference between the two tiers of Rebel just doesn't seem to be decisive, but others may disagree.

Moving to the SL1 from the bigger T5i means giving up the flip-out LCD screen and accepting a smaller, and less common, battery. But if those two limitations don't matter, or if its smaller size and different grip style does, then it's worth serious consideration. The SL1 is a decent little machine that deserves to be respected for its own merits, rather than being viewed as a compromised second choice between a 'full sized' Rebel or a smaller mirrorless camera.

Counter Opinions are quick "sales counter" product reviews.
As always, viewer discretion is advised.
Last updated 9 aug 2012

The Canon T5i Rebel

Concept: 1 out of 5
Execution: 2 out of 5
Yeah, but: Canon T5i Rebel don't care.

Counter Opinion: This is the Canon T5i Rebel. Watch it run in slow motion. It's pretty bad-ass.

Look, it runs all over the place. "Woah, watch out!" says that Pentax. Ew it's got a Nikon? Oh, it's chasing a Sony? Oh my gosh! Oh the Canon T5i Rebels are just flippy!

The Canon T5i Rebel's been referred to by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most fearless camera in all the camera kingdom. It really doesn't give a shit. If it's hungry, it's hungry – ew what's that in its mouth? Oh it's got a Nikon? Oh it runs backwards? Now watch this, look, a Nikon's up in a tree. Canon T5i Rebel don't care. Canon T5i Rebel don't give a shit, it just takes what it wants. Whenever it's hungry it just – ew! And it eats Nikons?

Oh my God watch it dig. Look at that digging. The Canon T5i Rebel's really pretty bad-ass. They have no regard for any other camera whatsoever. Look at him just grunting and – ew! Eating Nikons! Ew what's that, a Fujifilm? Oh that's nasty. Oh, they're so nasty! Oo look! It's chasing things, and eating them.

The Canon T5i Rebels have a fairly long body, but a distinctly thick set, broad shoulders, and you know, their, their skin is loose, allowing them to move about freely, they twist around. Now look, here's a house full of Panasonics. You think the Canon T5i Rebel cares? It doesn't give a shit. It goes right into the house of Panasonics to get some Olympus.

How disgusting is that? It eats Olympus. Ew, that's so nasty.

But look, the Canon T5i Rebel doesn't care, it's getting stung like a thousand times. It doesn't give a shit, it just, it's hungry. It doesn't care about being stung by Panasonics. Nothing can stop the Canon T5i Rebel when it's hungry.

Oh what a nasty fuck! Look! Ew, it's eating Olympus, that's disgusting. There it is running in slow motion again. See?

Now what's interesting is that other, other cameras like these Pentax here, they just like to wait around until the Canon T5i Rebel's done eating and then it swoops in to pick up the scraps. It says, "You do all the work for us Canon T5i Rebel and we'll just eat whatever you find, how's that? What do you say, stupid?"

Look at this Pentax. "Thanks for the treat, stupid!" "Hey, come back here" says the Canon T5i Rebel. Pentaxes don't care, and you know what, the Sonys do it, too. Look at these little Cybershots. They're like, "Thanks, Stupid! Thanks for the Fujifilm! See ya later!" The Canon T5i Rebel does all the work while these other cameras just pick up the scraps.

At night time, the Canon T5i Rebel goes hunting, cuz it's hungry. Look! Here comes a fierce battle between a Nikon and a Canon T5i Rebel. I wonder what will happen? Look at this, there's the Canon T5i Rebel just eating a Fujifilm. And then look. "Get away from me!" says the Nikon, "Get away from me!"

Canon T5i Rebel don't care. Canon T5i Rebel smacks the shit out of it. The Nikon comes back and it lashes right at the Canon T5i Rebel. Oh! Little does the Canon T5i Rebel know, FYI, it's been stung! It's been bitten by the Nikon, so while it's eating the Nikon – ew, that's disgusting – meanwhile the poisonous venom is seeping through the Canon T5i Rebel's body, and it passes out.

Look at that sleepy fuck.

Now the Canon T5i Rebel's just gonna pass out for a few minutes and then it's gonna get right back up and start eating all over again, cuz it's a hungry little bastard. Look at this! Like nothing happened, the Canon T5i Rebel gets right back up and continues eating the Nikon! How disgusting. And of course, what does a Canon T5i Rebel have to eat for the next few weeks? Nikon.

The Canon T5i Rebel.

Counter Opinions are quick "sales counter" product reviews.

As always, viewer discretion is advised.

Last updated 22 apr 2013

Canon Powershot G15

Concept: 2 out of 5
Execution: 2 out of 5
Yeah, but: Warranty honoured – crisis averted.

Counter Opinion: I had a scare a couple of weeks ago – my Canon S100 stopped working, leaving me without a decent compact camera in the middle of a vacation. I immediately started an emergency round of camera-shopping, and thought a lot about what I had learned in over eighteen months of carrying and using a compact camera every day. While I wasn't too fond of Canon at the time, the Canon G15 was simply too good to ignore.

The G15 – pronounced G-one-five in honour of the G-one-x – is a smaller camera than the G11/12 was, mostly because it has lost the flip-out LCD screen. While I do like that the camera is now almost slim enough to put in a pocket, I really hate that the flippy screen is gone.

Let's be honest: Canon's G1x experiment has been a failure. It's big, clunky, and slow; the improved image quality has proven insufficient to overcome its limitations and price. But it has a flip-out screen. Removing the flippy screen from the G15 feels churlish – the marketing equivalent of Canon taking their ball and sulking home. We've already seen Canon intentionally stripping away features to create a cheaper counterpart for their entry-level SLRs, but doing it to their once-premium compact camera is just plain mean.

But there's a practical and objectively sensible reason to resent the removal of the flippy screen from the G-One-Five as well: this camera is legitimately good at 'macro' photography. (Which, incidentally, is a huge shortcoming with the G-One-X.) Canon's G-series has long been known for their touching-the-lens focusing ability, but the reproduction ratios on earlier models would quickly fall off as the focal length gets longer. Shooting close-ups at wide angles is great for special effects, with wildly exaggerated perspective and proportions, but a more realistic look needed close-up filters on an adapter.

The G15 mostly solves this problem, keeping a good close-focusing ability through most of its zoom range. This makes for photos of small subjects with a much more realistic sense of proportion, and lets them be taken from a more reasonable working distance. A flip-out screen would make the G15 an automatic purchase for anyone who does tabletop small-product photography, but instead I'm left with the prospect of recommending the Nikon P7700. A Coolpix. I can't believe the world has come to this.

Aside from that one huge and glaringly massive shortcoming, there's a lot to like about the G15. It's not actually all that much bigger than the S110, and it doesn't have a touch screen, which is enough of a reason to pick it over its smaller cousin all on its own. Interestingly, the G15 also lacks antennas for GPS and WiFi, so the short list of features that will appear with the next model is pretty clear.

The G15 retains the lousy optical viewfinder that has graced every G-series camera since the sequence began, which remains slightly better than nothing even as it's one of the last cameras that includes one at all. Canon isn't winning a lot of innovation awards recently, but there's a lot to be said for reassuring predictability.

The other signature of the G-series, and larger advanced compact cameras that follow its lead, is ample exterior controls. These are useful and appreciated, although dedicating a button to changing the metering mode seems like an odd choice. And for the life of me I can't figure out why nobody – not Canon, Fuji, or Nikon – has thought to put a stronger detent under the "0" position on their exposure compensation dials. Sadly, the G15 remains a compact camera to be looked at and worked around rather than a photographic tool that can be used seamlessly and reflexively.

One positive trait about the G15 that really stands out is its speed. It's not going to replace an SLR, but there's a definite snappiness to it that my S100 lacks. The lens is also a huge improvement over the status quo: even it its full extension it's a relatively bright f/2.8, but it still escapes the need for a lens cap that hobbles its bright-lensed competitors from Panasonic and Olympus. This keeps the G15 in the realm of one-handed pocket cameras, which is why I would consider it as a worthy replacement for my S100.

The other reason why I'd stay with Canon for a pocketable camera is its "Safety Shift" over-exposure protection. It's one of those little things that barely merits a mention elsewhere, but coupled with the built-in neutral density filter, it opened up a whole new range of long exposure photography options for me. Since I don't expect a pocket camera to be able to do high-quality work, and the G15 is no exception, it might as well be fun.

But my flirting with the G15 came to nothing. Canon decided that my faulty S100 was covered under warranty, so I won't be needing a new point-and-shoot after all. With my pocketable camera needs covered for the foreseeable future I've found myself thinking about the Panasonic GX1 – about the same size as the G15, and the body is actually cheaper, but with substantially better image quality. Maybe there is going to be a new daily-carry camera in my future after all.

Counter Opinions are quick "sales counter" product reviews.
As always, viewer discretion is advised.
Last updated 12 nov 2012

Canon S100: Lens Error Update

Concept: 2 out of 5
Execution: 2 out of 5
Yeah, but: Poop happens.

The Long Version: Of course I wanted to think that it would never happen to me. One hundred and seventy-five days after I bought my little S100 compact camera Canon put up a notice that some may "encounter a lens error caused by a disconnected part inside the camera". (Here's the full announcement for both Americans and Canadians.) After 296 days of owning this camera, it was my turn.

With 4823 photos to its credit, my S100 became the first camera I've ever owned to actually stop working.

But at least it didn't fail on a Saturday afternoon, half-way through the trip to New York City that marked my two-year wedding anniversary, leaving me without a decent small camera as the city prepared for hurricane Sandy and using my iPhone to take photos to document my travails as I travelled home by bus, right? But of course that was exactly what happened, and I wasn't overly impressed by the experience.

In almost three hundred days of use my S100 has picked up a few battle scars. The silver finish on the flash housing is wearing away from being put in and out of its case – and the occasional pocket – although I don't think I've ever actually used the flash to take a photo. The white duct tape that covers the self-timer lamp is showing its age, but the white reflector tape on the side of the camera, which both increases my night-time safety and smooths over a badly set screw, still looks pretty good. I can only imagine that these adhesives are going to give the Canon Service techs fits.

My time with my S100 has taught me two things. One is that I really do enjoy having a good-quality small camera that can be used with one hand – sorry, Fuji. The other is that the combination of a tiny sensor with a compromised zoom lens means that I won't be printing anything sizeable from its files. Knowing those two things is liberating – it really means that I'm looking for controls and design, not Seriousness Of Purpose. I have enough of that elsewhere in my life.

My biggest complaint about the S100 is its f/5.9 aperture at the long end of its lens range. Somewhat perversely, my favourite thing about the camera is how easily it does long exposures without needing me to fuss with its exposure settings. I keep my long exposure setting saved as my program preset – ND filter on, two-second self timer, fifteen second exposure, minus one-third EV, zoom in slightly – although I wish it had additional 'custom' mode dial positions so that I could program in different options as well. The new Canon S110 improves on none of that. I'll have more to say about the Canon G15 in a few days, but the short version is that it's what I'll be looking at if my S100 needs to be replaced.

The service advisory makes it clear that this repair is covered even after the camera is out of warranty, as long as they don't discover some reason why it shouldn't be. And indeed they fixed at no charge – but tell that to the $14.25 that I gave to Canada Post. When I sent my Panasonic GH1 in for warranty service, which was also for a known manufacturing fault, they had the decency to cover shipping. And no, they didn't actually fix the problem, but nobody's perfect.

If my enthusiasm for the S100 helped persuade anyone to purchase one, and the first and second digits of the camera’s serial number are any number from "29" through "41", I'm sorry. But the good news is that there still aren't really any cameras that are better than the S100 for anything close to the same price or size. Even with its faults, I'm pretty sure I would have ended up with one anyway.

last updated 10 nov 2012

Canon Powershot S110

Concept: 2 out of 5
Execution: 2 out of 5
Yeah, but: The S100 was the series apex so far.

Counter Opinion: Today I met the Canon Powershot S110 for the first time. I own and really enjoy the S100 – my full S100 review is here – so I'll jump straight to my executive summary: assuming the slower f/2.0~5.9 lens can be tolerated then the S110 remains an excellent choice despite its modest differences, and even fewer improvements, from the S100.

Feel free to stop reading now if you like, but as always, I do have some subjective opinions as well.

First, the paper changes: A Wi-Fi antenna replaces the built-in GPS. The geo-tagging feature is one that I've left enabled on my S100, but fewer than 600 out of my 4300 photos show any location data, and I know some of it is wildly incorrect. On the other hand, wifi connectivity is something that I had with my eye-fi SD card, but I stopped using it because its power draw was unsustainable with the little NB-5L battery that the S100 and S110 both use. I'll call that change between the models a draw, pending word on how well Canon's engineers have handled the power management problem, but for now I'd keep that card reader handy. (Having a second battery is just good hygiene.)

The touch screen is well done. I like that it's a consistent and natural interface that lets menu items be selected directly through the screen as well as with buttons, while the menu structure and options still remain essentially unchanged across the past decade. That's a huge plus. The touch-to-focus feature was fun the first time, but by the fifth time it was frustrating: every time I picked the camera up I would change the focus zone. That would be the second thing I'd want to disable if I ever bought this camera – right after the sounds, but before the AF Assist lamp – but that's not an option. The touch-screen and touch-to-focus appears to be a mandatory feature.

I also suspect that the autofocus is just a smidge faster than it is on the S100, but I can't prove it; unfortunately I haven't been able to test the S110 in low light, where the S100 tends to embarrass itself.

Physical changes: People must have really loved the handling of the S90 and S95, because the finger grip that Canon added to the S100 is gone again with the S110. The black version at least has a grippy finish, but the new-for-2012 white option is slick paint. Counteracting that is a better thumb rest, but it shouldn't be an either/or choice. Richard Franiec is going to love this camera.

Another ergonomic problem that must have plagued the S100 was the easy-to-find power button, because it has been moved slightly and made smaller. The back panel functions have remained the same, but the domed buttons of the S100 have been replaced by flat buttons that are harder to find by feel. The S110's profile is also slightly boxier than the 90/95/100, and it has had the jimping ridges along the ring control and mode dial replaced with some industrial-style knurling. This provides something of a stylistic tie-in to the Canon G1x, which is an odd choice considering its sales success. Or lack thereof. Overall, I have to say that the S110 avoids the slightly luxurious feel of the S100.

My two biggest complaints about my S100 haven't been resolved. The ring control is still laggy – the camera isn't able to 'stack' commands, so if it can't call up the on-screen indicator for what the ring controls, then turning it has no effect. The other problem is the f/5.9 aperture at the telephoto end of its lens range. With those two hanging over it the S110 remains a camera to be anticipated and compensated for, and no matter how good it is, it doesn't overcome being a point-and-shoot.

And the world changes: Canon pulled off a cute trick with the S100: they snuck in an extra generation that Olympus and Panasonic didn't have an answer to. That newness made the S100 better than the XZ1 and LX5, and its smallness ensured that it appealed strongly to a market all on its own. Today the Olympus XZ2 remains big, Panasonic has gone the wrong direction with the LX7, and Nikon – never a serious competitor with its compacts – has chosen this moment to G7-ify its P310 and remove its raw mode. The G15 and X10 are both much bigger cameras, and don't really play in the same space as the S-series.

The only real competition that I see in the pocketable high-IQ category is the unreleased Fuji XF1. I've been able to use one and was impressed, and it's certainly an upcoming camera to watch for, although it will be hard to justify its launch price. Finally, there's also the Sony RX100, but calling that 'competition' to the S110 is being kind – it's in its own class as far as both quality and cost is concerned, even though it's only slightly larger than the S110. If the price isn't an issue, then the RX100 is an easy call; if it is an issue, then the S110 is also an easy call. That's not a bad way to solve a dilemma.

I can't say that the S110 is the best on the market any more, but if you can't find an S100, it's not a bad substitute.

Counter Opinions are quick "sales counter" product reviews.
As always, viewer discretion is advised.
Last updated 5 oct 2012

Canon 5D Mark III: The Ultimate DSLR

Concept: 4 out of 5
Execution: 1 out of 5
Yeah, but: Inconceivable!

The Long Version: It's official. Canon has ceded the high-end SLR market to Nikon. It's not surprising, given the seven-month-and-counting wait for the thrice-delayed 1Dx flagship, and the tepid market response to their modest 5D refresh effort, but I still would never have expected their concession announcement to take the form of a poster in a marketing campaign.

Ultimate: last, furthest or farthest, ending a process or series; being last in a series, process, or progression; final.

It's sad to see the quarter-century EOS legacy end this way, but like I always say: "ah, well." Nikon makes good cameras, and hopefully they'll continue to innovate and push forward even without the major-brand competition. And for those of you with a good investment in Canon lenses, don't worry, it looks like the Rebel line will still continue.

last updated 7 may 2012

Canon E2 Hand Strap

Concept: 2 out of 5
Execution: 2 out of 5
Yeah, but: It's a lateral move.

The Long Version: Camera hand straps are an odd thing. I looked at the Canon E1 strap three years ago, which requires a battery grip with an available strap lug to work. The Canon E2 is different in that it attaches to the tripod socket, so it will work on any camera with or without a battery grip attached. That's not without its own compromises, but at least it's a huge win for compatibility.

A grip strap distributes some of the cameras' weight across the back of the holder's right hand, and I do find a big difference in how tightly I need to squeeze the handgrip of the camera that it's attached to. It's not that holding a camera is an inherently difficult task – although hand strength and mobility can be a barrier to this hobby – but an easier grip leads to less fatigue and smoother action. In an entirely subjective opinion, I would say that having a grip strap improves my handheld slow-shutter photographs – technically, at least.

But there's no such thing as a free lunch, and the E2 certainly isn't cheap. In addition to the $60 MSRP, locking in your right hand can make it difficult to reach some of the camera controls; by attaching to the bottom of the camera it prevents the camera from sitting naturally on its base. It does have a second tripod socket built into it, but I'm still not sure that I would be happy daisy-chaining it to a tripod or one of those fashionable hip-slapper sling straps. The former is a matter of stability, in that adding extra height and another linkage detracts from it, and the latter is just a simple matter of good sense.

The Canon E2 Hand Strap – not to be confused with the Canon ST-E2 Speedlight Transmitter – is an excellent match for larger cameras that don't have vertical grips. The Canon 7D and 5D Mark Whichever, Nikon Dx00 series, and the occasional Fujifilm GA645 are all good candidates. Smaller cameras that don't have a grip tall enough to accomodate the entire hand won't benefit as much, while it will block the portrait grip on any camera so equipped. For those dual-orientation cameras with built-in strap lugs the Canon E1 remains the best option: it's just a pity that they've discontinued it.

last updated 10 feb 2012

Canon Powershot S100

Concept: 4 out of 5
Execution: 4 out of 5
Yeah, but: I never say "Highly Recommended"…

The Long Version: I've never been a stickler for image quality from a compact camera. I simply categorize them as acceptable or unacceptable, and to a large extent that also takes their other abilities into consideration. Everything in photography is a compromise. It's normally enough that a little camera is small, because it's easy to find bigger cameras that are significantly better.

The Canon S100 has challenged that. Its image quality is genuinely good.

Photos are generally detailed and well-exposed, and Canon has clearly targeted sensor noise as a priority. At iso400 artifacts are non-existent and grain is trivial; iso1600 and 3200 are surprisingly usable, and iso6400 isn't appalling. Unusually low light can cause some blotchiness, and shadows can appear as simply denser areas of grain, but at the end of the day I wish my GH1 was this good.

Now, there's no reason to be overly excitable; TANSTAAFL always applies. The tiny sensor that enables the camera to be so small still has its price to pay, and the S100 has modest dynamic range and can suffer some blooming from high-contrast subjects. But its jpegs are good, and its raw files are better: there might be some point to this whole "advanced compact camera" idea after all.

I never thought I'd say this about a little camera, but the S100 is actually a viable choice for low-light photography. The photo above is a quarter of the original frame, although still massively downsized; here is a version that's about 50%. It clearly has some issues, but it was taken at iso6400. That's ridiculous. I'll also admit that this had a 1/200 shutter speed at f/4.5, the maximum at the 15mm (70mm-e) focal length. I could have dropped to iso3200 without any problem, but I was specifically pushing to see what the little beast could do.

But all is not perfect: I've been surprised by how much difficulty the S100 has in autofocusing at night. I would have thought that the car headlights would be enough of a target, but the camera only locked on for the third attempt. Other night-time outings have borne this out, and I actually think that my Panasonic TS3 is better at focusing in low light. That's pretty embarrassing, even though the S100 stomps it in every other photographic comparison.

It's not commonly known – because it's trivial and irrelevant – but Canon compacts were both my first film and first digital cameras. So having another pocketable Canon feels a little like coming home, which wasn't the case when I had a short-lived fling with an SX20 superzoom. Canon makes good cameras, and compacts are something that they just do right. It continues to amaze me that every new generation of Elph has the same basic menu structure and controls. They haven't fundamentally changed from my Powershot S400, which I bought in 2003 for $675, and they were already well established back then.

Canon may release new models with clockwork punctuality, but there's a core maturity to their compact cameras that upstarts like Panasonic or Samsung lack. The divergent little nightmares that Nikon calls Coolpix just emphasize how successful Canon has been at creating a consistent user experience and aesthetic. The SLR wars are occasionally characterized as "Coke and Pepsi", but for their compact cameras it's more like Coke versus fourteen different store-brand colas.

On that theme, it's refreshing that the S100 comes in two different flavours. The black model has a grippy texture to it, which adds a functional element to the finish. But despite being an enduring fan of that treatment on Canon's Elph line, ultimately I had to choose the silver. It's almost a pewter colour, which looks very handsome, and the Canon logo is more subtle than it is with the white lettering of the black model. Believe it or not, picking the colour was the hardest part of the purchasing decision.

The "ring func" button is a highlight of the S100. The S90/95 had it in a bad position on the top deck, where it was hard to reach and mimicked the power button. Canon has solved that problem with the S100 by assigning it to the top-left position on the rear control panel. This is the easiest button position to press, and it's well chosen because it can be reassigned to do other functions. What stops this from being a complete win for the S100 is that the S9x already had a customizable button in that spot.

My cameras live in aperture priority whenever possible, so I'm using the custom ring configuration to make the front ring control the exposure compensation and the back dial control the aperture. Initially I wanted those roles to be switched, but apparently that's still asking too much; with a little more experience I've actually come to prefer the mandatory arrangement.

Since I have no need to change what the control ring does, I've assigned its function button to select the iso value, which works out brilliantly. Pressing the ring button a second time puts the camera into auto-iso mode, and a third time dismisses the control. Alternatively, from the auto position it's just one button-press (left) to reach iso6400 or iso80 (right), which are the two specific values that I'm most likely to want. No more than four button presses to call up the control, select any of the three most likely positions, and then clear the menu. That's excellent.

The display button has been moved to the four-way controller to make room for a movie record button. This is buzzword-compliant, and saves the need to change the mode dial for impromptu acts of citizen journalism. If I ever want to record a movie this could be an advantage, but sometimes I activate it accidentally even though the button is protected by a raised surround. Sure, memory cards are cheap these days, but batteries aren't.

Moving the Display button to the four-way demotes the self timer to the function menu. This is absolutely a loss. The only saving grace is that the func/set button usually returns to the last item used, so switching the timer off again is easy. And unlike my Panasonic TS3, the self timer remains active after the shutter fires. This is the way it should be.

The S100 also has Canon's customizable self timer. The delay can be set from nothing to thirty seconds, and it can take up to ten photos. Setting a quicker eight-second delay and taking three shots instead of one is an excellent way to take family photos – less time for the smiles to freeze, and then two follow-up shots of everyone looking relieved and happy.

The S100 is a little long exposure monster. One significant new feature is a built-in optical three-stop neutral density filter, which was formerly reserved for the G-series. This is an awesome inclusion for a camera that can't accept screw-on filters. The S100 can be persuaded to take as much as fifteen seconds for an exposure, but it gets even better than that.

Enabling the "Safety Shift" menu option gives the camera permission to over-ride the user's settings in Aperture Value or Time Value – shutter-speed priority – modes for under/over-exposure protection that still respects the exposure compensation settings. Using it at night guarantees the longest possible exposure without photographer intervention as conditions change. That's exceptional for night-time city photos, among other things.

Set the Tv exposure for its maximum of fifteen seconds, and the camera will work its little heart out to make it last that long. Sensitivity will be reduced to iso 80, the aperture will close down, and only if that's not enough will the shutter speed be increased to create an exposure that's not a blown-out white mess. Of course, if you like blown-out white messes, the camera can still do that manually even when Safety Shift is turned on.

The S100's lens has moved to a 24-120mm equivalent; it's f/2.0 at its best and hits a mighty f/5.9 at the telephoto end. But with all of the numbers that are used to market cameras, it's easy to forget that a lens aperture is an actual thing that takes up room. An f/number is a ratio where "f" is the focal length in millimetres, so math is our friend.

The physical aperture in the S100 is about 1mm across throughout the room range, while something like the Olympus XZ-1 is 3.3mm at its wide angle and 9.6mm at the telephoto end. A similar f/2.5 aperture at the S100's 120mm-e setting would need to be about the same size as the front element.

The lens specifications on the S100 are about right for a standard point-and-shoot. That's obviously not the price point or feature set that the S100 wants to play with, but it's not unreasonable to judge the lens based on cameras of similar size. In exchange, the S100 doesn't need a lens cap and is considerably more 'pocketable' than the other raw-capturing compacts. Life's a barter.

Cushioning the lens design somewhat is in-camera distortion and shading correction for jpegs, and Adobe has a profile for the S100 in its latest Lightroom / Camera Raw software. It's not quite perfect, but this is something that I'm very picky about, so saying that I'm satisfied with the S100 goes far beyond the level that even fairly hard-core photographers will care about.

The lens has six aperture blades, which hardly matters because the whole issue of background defocus is essentially moot. From photographic tests I'll say that the same depth of field from the S100 at 24mm-e and f/2.0 looks like my GH1 at 24mm-e and f/5.6. Extrapolating, that's the same as a 1.5 crop at f/8, or a 35mm camera at f/11. The S100's f/2 aperture lets in a lot of light, but it's not much of a creative control.

It's nice that the camera has fully manual over-rides, but my advice is to just leave the camera in Av mode with the aperture wide open. The S100 is still basically a point-and-shoot, just one that can be guided in its decisions.

The S100's user interface still has some quirks; the one that I keep tripping over is how the exposure bracketing is enabled. When working in the Function menu any additional choices – like setting up exposure bracketing – is done by pressing the Menu botton. But adjusting the exposure compensation while taking photos also brings up the option to set up exposure bracketing, and this time it's selected by pressing the Display button.

Pressing the four-way controller's button for the flash also brings up the option for a submenu to adjust its settings. This one is activated by pressing the Menu botton.

The exposure compensation can be set to plus or minus three stops. The camera takes three shots, with a compensation range that's plus and minus from one third to two full stops. Using them in combination can make the camera under or over-expose by five stops, which is pretty nifty. I'm sure someone out there will find a great use for it – after all, who would predict that the S100's Safety Shift and ND filter would be perfect for my passion of taking long exposure photos on escalators?

Something that disappoints me with the generally-snappy S100 is the need to wait for the on-screen menus to appear. It's not possible to stack commands – to press buttons in the right sequence and let the camera to catch up. That's a pity. Instead of using the camera transparently, I find myself interrupted by the need to look at it and think about what it's doing.

There's also a certain inconsistency in how selections are remembered. When the camera is turned on it will remember if the neutral density filter was enabled, but not the self timer. Also, using different scene modes will change what the ring function does and otherwise alters the behaviour of the camera. While that's a blessing with my TS3, it's a distraction with the S100. I just don't see the need to choose landscape or portrait modes with the S100; I know what the aperture control does (not much in this case, admittedly) and I'm happy to use it. While the handheld night mode uses the cool blend-three-photos trick, it takes time to process, creates a jpeg file, and hardly seems necessary when the auto iso runs up to 1600. The Night Shot mode does produce a good-looking file, but it's smoother and with less detail than a single raw capture.

It's no surprise that the S100's battery life is pretty bad. Why should it be any different from other small cameras? The S100 has switched to the older but slightly higher capacity NB-5L battery from the 6L model that the S9x used, which might be a reason for S95 owners to stay away. I have to assume Canon had a good reason for the change.

(But it could be worse: the Canon SD4500, which is the Powershot equivalent of a Zeiss lens cap – inexplicably lousy from a company that should know better – has a battery that no other camera uses. You might as well just leave that baby in a bassinet on someone's doorstep now, because it's going to be orphaned in record time.)

A second battery is always a good idea, which I know because I don't have one. I've been using the S100 fairly intensively, and with the eye-fi SD card also taking its toll, sometimes I'll recharge it in the middle of the day just to make sure that the camera's ready to go at night. I appreciate that the S100 is aware of the eye-fi card and won't automatically turn itself off while the card is transmitting, but sending more than a couple of 10-20MB raw files over such a flaky connection is unreasonably masochistic.

But that's a story for another day.

With the announcement of the G1 X Canon seems intent on driving the G-series seriously up-market. That's a nice change, but it opens a huge gap between it and the S-series. Time will tell if there will be an "G13" to fill that gap, but until that happens, it makes the S100 an even clearer choice. Half the price, half the size; I'm sure the G1X will have excellent image quality, but the S100 will be good enough for a lot of uses that don't need interchangeable lenses.

Currently the newest raw-capable compact on the market, the S100 also has a generational advantage over the LX5 and XZ-1; naturally that won't last, but even when Panasonic and/or Olympus update their lines size and lens speed will still serve to divide the market. Nikon's last effort, the P300, targets the same form-factor as the S-series, but the Coolpix is Samsung to the Powershot's Apple, and isn't worth serious consideration.

The number of digital cameras on the market is completely ridiculous, but there are still two basic questions: how big and how much money. That does a wonderful job of narrowing down the options. After that it's a question of features, which includes image quality, which is what the S100 emphasizes. Cameras that have image quality better than the S100 are going to be bigger; cameras that offer features like waterproofing or long zoom lenses aren't going to be as good.

The theme for the S100 seems to be that little fixes add up to a much better camera. Looked at in isolation, none of the changes from earlier models, or differences from other cameras, are all that significant. But Canon has made a camera where things just work better. It's hard not to recommend – at least not for anyone who wants the best photos that a camera of its size and price can produce.

Added November 2012: don't miss my Lens Error Update to this review.

last updated 3 nov 2012

Canon PIXMA Pro9000mkII

Concept: 3 out of 5
Execution: 2 out of 5
Yeah, but: It's meant to be low-end.

The Long Version: First of all, I'd love to meet the person who came up with the name "PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II". It's a gem. And naturally there's another printer that takes completely different inks but with a name that's only different by one character. For the purpose of this review, I'll simply be calling it the "9000", which is not to be confused with the Canon 9000F, which is the flatbed scanner that I use for documents and medium format negatives. They sit side-by-side next to my desk and make a cute couple.

The 9000 is a 13" photo printer, able to handle cut sheets of paper 19" long. It uses high-end dye inks, which are supposed to offer the same longevity as midrange pigments. I have no way of testing that, but there are a couple of lingering dye-printer problems that the ChromaLife100 inks don't solve. One is that the ink needs time to dry: prints stacking up in the printer's output tray can stick together, and they shouldn't be judged for colour accuracy for a solid day. Handy. The other problem is that, once they dry, they really don't like getting wet. The fizz from an open can of soda can cause them to spot, and forget about handling a print with damp hands. For framed photos that stay in the house this isn't a big deal, but I'd never consider selling a print with that kind of weakness. Barnett Newman may get away with applying paint directly on top of masking tape, but I am not Barnett Newman.

The shame of it is that the Pro9000 is actually a very good photo printer. The output is visibly better than the Epson R1800 that mine replaced, with very good colour output, and I've been satisfied with its ability to slowly produce monochrome prints using only its black tank. It even has the ability to print in black when a colour cartridge has run out, so even though I'm currently out of everything except for black and cyan, it continues to print email confirmations without complaint.

I have to admit that I find the 9000 quite endearing. Canon's website, and many sympathetic reviews, have mentioned how quiet the printer is when it's working. They're absolutely right – often I won't realize when the print job is finished. It's harder to miss the beginning of the run, though, since it feeds paper with a pronounced "whirrr-THWACK!" It'll make me jump if I'm not expecting it.

With the exception of the logistical issues around ink drying, I've been very happy with my 9000; it has done what I wanted it for and should have many good years of service ahead of it. It will need to find somewhere else to do it, though, since I've decided to move on to the Canon PIXMA Pro-1 when it's released. What can I say? I like its simpler name.

last updated 11 nov 2011

Canon Powershot SX30 IS

Concept: 2 out of 5
Execution: 1 out of 5
Yeah, but: A lot can change in a year.

The Long Version: I reviewed the SX20 almost exactly a year ago, and there are a few differences this time around. For one thing, I don't own the SX30, and I never will. I also don't own the SX20 any more, having sold it after getting the GH1 which is a superzoom done right. Of course, the SX30IS has the spiffy new 35x 24-840mm-e lens with an image-stabilization system that really does work, which will be the reason why people buy it. Maybe the rest won't matter.

The other big change from the SX20 is the battery. Gone are the four AA batteries, replaced by the same proprietary rechargeable batteries that are used in the G11/G12. The lens is also lighter, making for a camera with very different handling than the previous models. For most people this will be a good thing, good enough that they'll overlook the memory card moving back into the battery compartment. That's the way most compact cameras work, and even a bad design can benefit from the comfort of familiarity.

But man, is this camera ever ugly.

The hand grip is awkward, being simultaneously angular and hard to hold. The SX20 had a substantial grip, partly thanks to the jumbo battery compartment, but the SX30 is too small for my hands without the benefit of it being a diminutive camera. While Canon's SLR's have all been borrowing from the swoopy-slabby stealth-fighter aesthetic recently, this long-zoom plastic case looks like an F22 that's crashed into the ocean, been eaten by a shark, and pooped out the far end. The mode dial is dished out in a way that's unique to the SX30, and there's a red detailing to it that adds to its disco points. And just in case you forget what camera you own, the SX30 has added another branding location on top of the flash, facing backwards, so that there's no escaping this camera at all.

Someone once said that the best the best thing about driving a Pontiac Aztek is that you can't see the cars' exterior. That gives the automotive horror a real advantage over the Canon, because looking through the SX30IS is actually worse than looking at it. It has a mediocre-average 230K 2.8" LCD screen, and the worst electronic viewfinder I've seen in years.

Bad.

Really, really bad.

The rise of mirrorless cameras has created a renaissance for electronic viewfinders. People who swore they'd never use an EVF are coming around, and many cameras have genuinely good ones. This one is nowhere near the Panasonic m4/3 options, and is years behind what Sony has on their upcoming "SLT" A55 camera. In the SX30's own long-zoom class, the arch-rival Panasonic's viewfinder is considerably better than the SX30, and even the Nikon Coolpix P100, which is otherwise an uninspiring little machine, does better. Considering how important the EVF is for controlling and aiming long telephoto lenses, this is a huge problem. Adding additional humiliation, 2003-vintage Sony F828 has a visually larger viewfinder, and it even has 30,000 dots - 15% - more resolution than the 2010 Canon camera. It's appalling. I've never said this about anything before, but from an aesthetic and ergonomic point of view, I'd rather have a Sony Alpha A330. Even people who love Sony don't like that camera - the SX30's viewfinder really is that bad.

As far as the performance goes, there's not much to say. It's a Canon superzoom, so the image quality averages out to a decent but not outstanding result. The big deal is the lens, which is longer than anything else on the market (at the moment). This is something like having a talking dog - it really doesn't matter what it says, its mere existence is remarkable. I can also say that its image stabilization works very well, holding the picture very steady even when at the monstrously long zoom extension. The photo above, of the man with his hand in his pocket as he enters an 'adult entertainment' venue, was taken from the far side of the street and hasn't been cropped at all. The camera handles its primary task as well as anyone could ask, given its intended purpose and market. Those who are able to withstand their first encounter will probably be quite happy with it, or at least grudgingly accept its compromises. But whatever you do, don't even think about buying it without trying it first.

In the immortal words of Opus the Penguin: "Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but Lord, it wasn't good." Time could prove me wrong. Style is personal, and some say that taste can't be taught. But man, that viewfinder stinks.

Canon Powershot SX20 IS

Concept: 3 out of 5
Execution: 4 out of 5
Yeah, but: It's a compact, but it doesn't disappoint.


The Long Version: I've been looking for a compact camera for a while, and not having much luck. Admittedly, there's no shortage of cameras in my life, so I wasn't just looking for a generic happysnap, and a lot of what I want is contradictory. I like small P&S toys, and love the Canon SD780 for its body, but I own three pocketable cameras already. I'd like something durable, but already have the Olympus 770SW. Ultimately I decided that what I was really lacking was quality video recording and a visible-light long zoom. Since I already have the FZ18, I was waiting for its replacement's replacement to hit the store shelf. It arrived, I didn't like it, and after considering just about everything else from Canon and Panasonic, I picked the Powershot SX20 IS.

The SX20 is still a fairly new camera, and like all of the review sites that haven't published their thoughts yet, I haven't had much time for in-depth analysis. Not that it's really worth doing much in-depth analysis: compact cameras are never particularly strong on image quality, and it's certainly not my priority when I can put a lens on an SLR and have a combination that costs ten times what this Powershot does. It's all about the features.


The SX20 replaces the SX10, which replaces the S5, and so on down to the S1 - skipping #4 - that came out in early 2004. In digital camera years, that should earn it a bronze plaque and special municipal protections as a heritage site. It's not surprising that Canon has gotten just about everything right.

The defining feature of the SX20 is the lens. It zooms through its 28-560mm-equivalent range very quickly, and focusing is fast enough that it doesn't annoy me. The lens is decent, reasonably sharp, with some distortion and fringing, but not that much. Again, my standard is simple: it doesn't annoy me. The image quality is pretty good; not SLR-class, but as good as anyone can expect from sRGB jpegs and an itty-bitty sensor that's noisy at its base iso.


The next feature that appeals to me is the flippy LCD screen. I have one on my Olympus E-3, and know just how important it is for Live View shooting. Since the HD video is going to be a major use for this camera, the flip-out screen puts it above cameras of similar quality. Not that there are a lot of similar cameras; the FZ35 would have been a logical choice for me, but its AF speed had already knocked it out of contention.

The final big feature of the SX20 that appealed to me is a little more subjective - I like that it takes AA batteries. My sound recorder also runs on them, so if I'm out to record video and audio, then I only need one type of backups. Handy. It does add some extra weight to an already not-light camera, but given how much weight the lens puts on the front of the camera, I think it actually helps the balance. The AA's also means that rechargeable batteries need to be added to the price of the camera before it can be fairly compared to other long-zoom cameras, and since it's already toward the top of the price bracket, that's not insignificant. At least the SD card slot isn't in the battery compartment the way it was with the S5 IS.

Naturally, there's more to be said for the SX20. It has a hot-shoe, so there's no reason why I couldn't hook it up with a Canon speedlight. It can work in fully manual mode, so I could also run my Olympus flashes or use my Pocket Wizards on it. The built-in flash needs to be moved up to fire, so there's no risk of having it go off without warning. The controls overall are very good for a compact: not quite at the G10 level, but it still has more buttons than some entry-level SLRs. It has the spinning control wheel around the four-way controller, but even it isn't as touchy and annoying as the one on the SX200 or most of the Elph line. The SX20 works just like a Canon camera, and in a good way.

But the Canon still has some odd and inherited quirks. The lens cap has only a tenuous grasp on the camera, which is unchanged from at least the S5 IS. (Updated: I've replaced mine with a lens cap from Nikon, which is the best design out there right now, but any 52mm cap will work.) The lens hood is a nice, slightly flexible plastic, but I've needed to tape it in place. This shouldn't be that difficult. I suppose, since it doesn't have an "L" lens, I should just be happy that Canon includes a lens hood at all.


And finally, I have to say that I'm pleased with the video quality. It's far, far better than the Olympus Stylus 770SW that I've been using, and the audio is passable as well. Not great, but passible, and better than most of the cameras that I've tested. I'd have no problem recommending the SX20 to people who are looking for a long-zoom camera with decent, but not quite HD-Camcorder-level video. It has a few quirks, but overall it's a very well built camera that has had the advantages of experience and time to get the design right. It will never rival the image quality of any of my SLRs, but it doesn't need to. It's perfect for biking, is able to handle just about any (daylight) situation, and it fits into my MEC Pod slingpack along with my audio recorder and gorillapod. Instead of putting this one on a test bench, I just look at the photos it takes, and am happy that I had the SX20 with me to take them.




updated much later: the SX20 proved to me how much I could like a long zoom lens, but I sold it after I bought a Panasonic GH1 with its 14-140 lens. It's not the same range as the Canon, but the better image quality makes up for it.