Canon PowerShot S110Canon updates their Digital ELPH with improved color, movie capture, and direct print capabilities!<<Viewfinder :(Previous) | (Next): Exposure & Flash>> Page 5:OpticsReview First Posted: 5/24/2001 |
OpticsThe PowerShot S110 features a high-quality, seven-element, all-glass aspherical 2x zoom lens, with a focal range of 5.4-10.8mm, equivalent to a 35-70mm lens on a 35mm camera, and maximum aperture settings between f/2.8 at the wide-angle setting and f/4.8 at the maximum telephoto range. Aperture and shutter speed settings are automatically controlled, with no values reported on the LCD display. (A feature we really miss with the Canon PowerShot digicams.) The closest focusing distance is 1.9 feet (57 cm) in Normal mode, and 3.9 inches (10 cm) in Macro mode. In Macro mode, the total focus range extends from 3.9 inches to 1.9 feet (10 to 57 cm) at the wide-angle setting, and from 10.6 inches to 1.9 feet (27 to 57 cm) at the telephoto setting. Focus is automatically determined using a three-point, through-the-lens Artificial Intelligence Auto Focus (AiAF) system, which gauges focus from three points in the center of the subject, even if it is slightly off-center of the viewfinder.
The Macro / Infinity button switches between Normal (default) and Macro (close-up) focus in Auto mode, and adds an Infinity focus in Manual mode. The Infinity mode presets the aperture for the best possible depth of field under existing light conditions, which is good for shooting fast-moving subjects from a distance, and decreases shooting time, as you don't have to wait for the camera to set focus for each exposure.
For low-light focusing situations, the S110 uses an autofocus (AF) Assist Light that emits a bright blue light during the pre-capture process, to more accurately focus on the subject. We found that the AF Assist worked very well, as we obtained clearly focused images in our low-light testing, even at the lowest light level. The S110 doesn't offer an adjustable focus lock, but you can manually lock focus by framing the portion of the subject you want to be sharp in the center of the frame, halfway depressing the Shutter button, then recomposing the shot (while continuing to depress the Shutter button halfway), and firing the shutter.
In addition to the 2x optical zoom, the S110 also offers a 2.5x digital telephoto (not available in Stitch-Assist or Movie modes) that is automatically enabled by zooming past the camera's optical zoom range when the LCD monitor is active. The amount of digital zoom is reported in blue numbers on the right side of the LCD display (combining the optical and digital zoom values, for a maximum value of 5x). Keep in mind that digital zoom results in increased noise levels or grainier image quality, because it is simply cropping and enlarging data from the center of the image.
In our testing, the lens appeared to be of good quality, showing better than average sharpness in the corners, and very little chromatic aberration. (Chromatic aberration is visible as colored fringes around light/dark boundaries in the corners of the images.) Optical distortion on the S110 is a good bit lower than average at the wide angle end of the lens' range, where we measured an 0.48 percent barrel distortion. The telephoto end fared better yet, as we didn't find even a pixel's worth of pincushion distortion. Overall, a surprisingly good performance from such a compact lens design.
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