Value & Verdict

Canon PowerShot S100 review – Value

While the £439 launch price undoubtedly made the S100 an
expensive option when it first arrived, the S100’s street price has since fallen to around £300, which
makes it a much more attractive proposition.
Compared to its rivals at the time of its launch, the S100 has held its
value slightly better and is therefore remains a slightly more expensive option than say
the Panasonic Lumix LX5 (£250), the Nikon P7100 (£300), or the Olympus XZ-1
(£260).

Compared to the latest generation of advanced compacts,
however, the S100 offers very good value – just so long as you’re not overly
concerned with having either the very latest model or the largest sensor
possible. For example, as a new release you can expect the Canon S110 to set
you back around £430, while the Lumix LX7 presently costs around £390. The Fuji
X10, meanwhile, has seen its price drop quite considerably since its launch,
with current street prices hovering around the £330 mark. Elsewhere, the
Olympus XZ-2 costs around £480, and the recently launched Nikon P7700 is around
£450.

Canon PowerShot S100 review – Verdict

Canon’s PowerShot S100 may not look all too different from its S95 predecessor, but plenty has changed for the better. The latest model is small yet powerful: its body feels robust and the wide-angle 24-120mm f/2.0-5.9 lens is impressive from a camera of such a size.

If there’s anything to try and make a fuss about then the lack of flash control, hit-and-miss HDR and that a little too much menu digging needed for single AF-point adjustment would be our shortlist. Plus the price isn’t too easy on the wallet – but if you want the best then you’ll have to pay out for it.

However, overall the S100 has almost everything right: It provides full manual control that high-end users demand; the front lens ring design makes for quick and easy use; fuller control of the autofocus point rectifies the S95’s single biggest feature omission; pictures are decent thanks to the large (for a compact) 1/1.7in sensor; 1080p movie is great in use; and the bags of other features such as GPS don’t fail to deliver.

If you want a small compact that has it all then look no further than the S100.