Canon PowerShot S300Canon makes a major update to their original S100 "Digital ELPH": More zoom, more controls, and better photos. Hard to beat!<<Video, Power, Software :(Previous) | (Next): Reference: Datasheet>> Page 12:Test Results & ConclusionReview First Posted: 4/5/2001 |
Test Results
In keeping with our standard policy, our comments here are rather condensed, summarizing our key findings: For a full commentary on each of the test images, see the PowerShot S300's "pictures" page.
As with all Imaging Resource camera tests, we encourage you to let your own eyes be the judge of how well the devices performed. Explore the images on the pictures page, to see how well the S300 performed, and how its images compare to other cameras you may be considering buying.
We have to say at the outset that we were quite impressed with the image quality produced by the PowerShot S300. The earlier S100 did fine in its own right, but we felt that some compromises had to be made to squeeze everything into such a tiny package. We're happy to report that the S300 seems to have eliminated any such compromise in any aspect of image quality: Our test shots were clear and sharp, with very little distortion, low noise, and excellent color. Here are the details:
Overall, the S300's white balance system performed nicely, interpreting most of our light sources accurately. The household incandescent lighting of our Indoor Portrait did trick the S300 a little, as it produced a somewhat warm cast in the photos shot under it. Still, the automatic white balance setting produced accurate results throughout the remainder of our tests. Color looked great during the majority of our testing, a significant improvement over the previous S100 model. Although the S100 performed reasonably well, the S300 produces much more accurate color, and its white balance system seems to be slightly more sensitive to varying illumination. We did notice slightly bright red values, particularly in the red flower of the Outdoor Portrait, and a slight tendency to produce purplish tints in the blue flowers of the bouquet (in both the Outdoor and Indoor portraits). Still, the large color blocks of the Davebox test target look about right, with good saturation. (We noticed small, glowing halos around the outside edges of the bright red and blue blocks, and a brighter pixel outline inside the brighter yellow and bluish blocks.) The S300 has no trouble with the bright red and magenta color blocks on the middle, horizontal color chart (commonly confused by digicams), though the black separator line has a reddish tint, and the subtle tonal variations of the Q60 chart are faintly visible in the "B" range (another common problem area for digicams).
The S300's lens appears to be of unusually high optical quality: It produces very sharp, clear images, losing very little sharpness even in the corners of the frame. We begin to see aliasing in the test patterns at about 575 lines per picture height in both the horizontal and vertical directions, although detail is clearly visible all the way out to 700-800 lines. Significantly though, there's virtually no color aliasing present anywhere.
Optical distortion on the S300 is moderate at the wide angle end, where we measured an approximate 0.57 percent barrel distortion. The telephoto setting produced much better results, with no visible pincushion distortion. Chromatic aberration is low: We can see about four of five pixels of coloration on each side of the black target lines at the wide angle setting, which would normally rate low marks. The saving grace though, is that the degree of coloration is quite slight, making the distortion pretty inconspicuous in most shots. At the telephoto setting, there are only about two pixels of even the faint color visible. (This distortion is visible as a very slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.)
Perhaps the camera's biggest weakness, we found the S300's optical viewfinder to be quite tight, showing approximately 79.4 percent of the image area at wide angle. Frame accuracy was approximately 84.25 percent at the telephoto setting. Shots framed with the optical viewfinder were shifted toward the lower right corner of the frame. The LCD monitor was much more accurate, showing about 99.3 percent of the image area at wide angle, and about 99.1 percent of the image area at telephoto. Since we normally prefer to see LCD monitors as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible, the S300 does an excellent job. Flash distribution looks nice and even at the telephoto setting, with a small hot spot on the center target lines. At the wide angle setting, flash distribution is brightest in the center of the target, with slight but not severe fall off around the edges and fairly pronounced fall off in the corners. (Overall, the S300's flash system doesn't get particularly strong marks.)
The S300 comes in somewhat below average in the macro category, capturing a minimum area of 7.81 x 5.86 inches (198.47 x 148.86mm). Although really not very close, at least the resolution is good, with a lot of fine detail visible in the coins and on the brooch. Details are reasonably crisp, though just a hair soft. Color looks reasonably accurate as well, though slightly magenta. We picked up a hint of barrel distortion across the dollar bill from the wide angle lens setting. Noise is low, and only noticeable in the gray background. The S300's built-in flash does a good job of throttling down for the macro area, producing a slightly more accurate color balance (though greenish). The large coin produces a bright reflection, but maintains detail. Flash power falls off around the corners of the image fairly severely this close, but manages to light the main subject area pretty well.
The S300 was only average in terms of its low-light category, as we were only able to obtain bright, usable images as low as one foot-candle (11 lux). The target was still visible at the 1/2 of a foot-candle (5.5 lux) light level, but with a dim, pink cast. Even at the 1/16 of a foot-candle (0.67 lux) light level the target was visible, though the image appeared almost black and white. From the 1/2 of a foot-candle light level on down, the exposure compensation adjustments seemed to make little difference in the resulting images. However, from one foot-candle on up to eight foot-candles, the exposure adjustments were much more noticeable. Noise remains very low in all the images, and is barely noticeable at the higher light levels (from one foot-candle on up). To put the S300's low-light performance into perspective, an average city night scene under modern street lighting corresponds to a light level of about one foot-candle, so the camera should be able to handle most night city shots. Anything darker will require the use of the built-in flash.
Overall, we were definitely pleased with the S300's performance throughout our testing. Improved color performance, great image quality, and nice, sharp details make the S300 a worthy contender for its 2.1 megapixel class. Despite limitations in the macro and low-light areas, the S300 does a great job in most average shooting conditions, with a reasonably accurate white balance system that adeptly assesses most light sources. The S300 is a much improved update to the previous S100 model. With the S300, there seems to be no sign of tradeoffs made to achieve the tiny body size: It holds up well against the entire field of 2 megapixel digicams, regardless of their size or price point.
Conclusion
A welcome addition to the Digital ELPH line, the S300 combines the best of what most digicam consumers are searching for: A tiny camera that takes great pictures. As one of the smallest digicams we've seen, the S300 is ready to go anywhere, its "elfish" size makes it very pocket-friendly. The S300's point & shoot design provides hassle-free operation, though users can opt to select features like exposure compensation and white balance. Movie and Stitch Assist (panorama) modes provide flexible shooting options, and a nice complement of software provides more creative utilities. Image quality is first rate: It consistently turned out sharp images with excellent color and very low noise. Despite its slight price premium to larger 2 megapixel cameras, we think it will prove to be a very popular model. Highly recommended.
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