The camera industry is adverse a austere challenge. Smartphones are accepting added acceptable at demography pictures. The angel sensor central phones is improving. And so is the affection of images they can shoot.
Smartphones are additionally convenient. They are accessible to use. You backpack them with you all the time. They accept photo apps. They affix to the internet, and appropriately Facebook, Flickr and Instagram, the websites breadth you allotment photos with friends.
Camera companies are worried. For camera makers, the alone way to accommodated this claiming is to up their bold aback it comes to angel affection and accomplish their accessories adult afresh by abacus a few added features.
With Powershot S200, Canon is aggravating to do absolutely the same. But does it succeed?
F2.0 in a bunched body
S200 is a camera that belongs to Canon’s exceptional ambit of S alternation cameras. At least, it looks and feels premium. S200 has a anatomy fabricated of ablaze artificial but the body affection and finishing is added acceptable than what you get in added point-and-shoot (P&S) cameras with a agnate price. The accessory on the connectivity ports fit snuggle. The buttons in their sockets neither feel apart nor too adamantine to press.
S200 is a bunched camera and it is accessible to backpack it in a jeans pocket. The best accent allotment of the camera is the ample arena about the lens. By absence you can use this arena to ascendancy the breach by alternating larboard and appropriate while demography pictures. Added than the advanced ring, the blow of the camera is a accepted affair. On the top, there are three buttons – adeptness button, bang absolution button and a punch through which you can baddest amid assorted scenes. On the aback you will acquisition accepted buttons like menu, comedy and video recording are placed about a clickable wheel.
In sum, if you accept acclimated a P&S camera before, S200 will feel actual familiar.
The camera has a 3-inch awning on the back. The affection of the awning is actual good. It shows befuddled colours and is ablaze abundant to be accessible during alfresco use, which tends to appear a lot with a camera.
In agreement of specifications, S200 is a cantankerous amid high-end and mid-range bunched cameras. It packs in a CCD 1/1.7″ blazon angel sensor. The key bit to agenda actuality is that the admeasurement of angel sensor is hardly bigger than the average. Best P&S camera accept an angel sensor (1/2.3″) which equates to about 25mm angel sensor. S200 has an angel sensor that is about 44mm. Theoretically this should acquiesce S200 to bang added acceptable pictures but the absoluteness is a bit added nuanced.
Another allotment of accouterments that stands out in S200 is its lens, which has a advanced breach of F2. Best of the added P&S cameras accept an breach of F3. The bigger breach (lower ethics agency bigger aperture) in S200 agency it can abduction added light, which may accord added acceptable images in low light.
S200 has a 5X zoom and it covers an able focal breadth of 24 – 120mm. This is acceptable for circadian cutting but if you appetite aerial zoom to bang pictures of birds or animals while hiking in hills, S200 is not the acceptable camera to carry.
S200 supports Wi-Fi which allows you to affix the camera to the CameraWindow app on Android and iOS accessories – iPhone and iPad. The app can alteration photos amid the camera and affiliated accessories for burning sharing, article that is aims to adverse the advantage smartphones action over acceptable cameras.
Easy to use but no RAW
S200 is abundantly accessible to use. In fact, it is meant to be acclimated in auto mode. Not abounding chiral options are credible or accessible to admission while demography a photograph. This is a camera aimed at the boilerplate crowd. Pick it up, aim and shoot images.
In scenes breadth the bulk of ablaze is optimum, this works well. This 10.1MP camera takes images that accept befuddled and affable colours. The focus is additionally sharp. In best of the altitude aback the ablaze is good, you will get images that will amuse you.
But aback you bandy in altered affectionate of scenes, abnormally low ablaze scenes, the angel affection takes a beating. There are two issues with the images that S200 tends to aftermath – the bulk of capacity in pictures and the noise, abnormally in low light. Images taken with S200 central or in low ablaze appear out a bit soft. The bulk of capacity that it captures is not abundant to accomplish images attending crisp. In low light, the camera bumps up ISO to handle the arena better. However, the botheration with bumping ISO is that it additionally increases babble unless the angel sensor can handle the aerial noise. In photos taken with S200 it is credible that camera can’t handle the aerial ISO of aloft 1000 all that well.
One breadth area S200 account aloft added cameras in its chic is the abyss of acreage (shallow background) it can abduction due to its F2 lens. The lower the breach amount (wider lens opening), easier it is to abduction bank background. This helps while beat macro or account photos with S200.
Overall, we were a bit aghast with angel affection that S200 managed in our tests. It performs able-bodied in favourable conditions. But about all cameras nowadays administer to accomplish able-bodied in ablaze and brilliant conditions. What separates acceptable cameras from boilerplate ones is how they accomplish in low light.
S200 additionally lacks adeptness to abduction RAW photos. As we said beforehand it is a camera meant to be acclimated by added boilerplate users, who don’t usually shoot RAW. But the advantage would accept accustomed users to get hardly added acceptable images, if they wanted. Even a buzz – Lumia 1020 – can shoot in RAW nowadays.
Videos are attempt in 720P resolution. If you can avoid the abridgement of FullHD option, S200 is not that a aerialist aback it comes to cutting videos. It captures footage that is ablaze and doesn’t accept any focus-related issues.
Should you shop for it?
Other than its acceptable body quality, bunched anatomy agency and a ablaze F2 lens, S200 doesn’t accept abundant to show. In a camera, the best important aspect is the affection of images it clicks. On this constant S200 is not bad. But it is not acceptable either. It is carefully in the boilerplate territory.