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Canon PowerShot S300 Canon makes a major update to their original S100 "Digital ELPH": More zoom, more controls, and better photos. Hard to beat! Select a topic Reference: Datasheet PowerShot S300 Sample Images --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Executive Overview 3. Design 4. Viewfinder 5. Optics 6. Exposure & Flash 7. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 8. Operation & User Interface 9. Camera Modes & Menus 10. Image Storage & Interface 11. Video, Power, Software 12. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments on PowerShot S300 Review --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Viewfinder :(Previous) | (Next): Exposure & Flash>> Page 5:Optics Review First Posted: 4/5/2001

Optics
The S300 features a 3x, 5.4-16.2mm zoom lens (equivalent to a 35-105mm lens on a 35mm camera) with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 at full wide angle and f/4.7 at full telephoto. The AiAF (artificial intelligence autofocus) function uses a broad active area in the center of the image to calculate the focal distance and is very precise, especially with subjects slightly off center. (Which might be missed by more conventional autofocus designs.) In normal mode, focus ranges from 2.5 feet (76cm) to infinity, and from 6.3 inches to 2.5 feet (16-76cm) in macro mode. A bright LED autofocus assist light on the front of the camera helps the camera focus in low-light shooting situations, and we found it worked very well during our testing. (The camera can focus reasonably well, if not perfectly, in total darkness.) The bright, bluish-white light illuminates the subject briefly, allowing the camera to judge focus. Unlike some cameras with AF assist lights though, there's no option to disable the light on the S300. Given that there's no manual focus option on the S300, it may be immaterial whether the AF light can be disabled or not: With it turned off (for candid shots for instance), your only option would be poorly focused photos.

The lens on the S300 telescopes into position very quickly when the camera is turned on, but the overall time from power off to first shot captured is still about 4.2 seconds: The lens itself telescopes out in only just over a second, but there's about a one-second delay between pressing (and holding down) the power switch before the camera wakes up. (This was doubtless a deliberate design decision, to prevent the camera from being accidentally turned on by a brief impact in a pocket or purse.) After the lens has telescoped out, it seems to take the camera another two seconds or so to fully wake up, and snap the picture. The 4.2 second power-on time is still quite fast, but not nearly approaching the 1.1 seconds some reviewers have reported. (Which just corresponds to the actual lens-extension time.)

The S300's optical zoom is controlled by the Zoom rocker button on the camera's back panel, and provides a smooth zoom actuation, although the S300's lens seems to favor a number of specific focal lengths. This "preferred zoom" behavior is fairly common among cameras we've tested, and slightly annoying when you're trying for very precise framing. On the other hand, you can usually just step forward or back slightly to get things exactly right, so it isn't an insuperable obstacle. A digital telephoto feature enlarges images up to 7.5x, and is enabled by zooming past the optical zoom range with the Zoom rocker button activates the digital enlargement. The amount of digital enlargement is reported in the LCD display. As with any digital zoom function, remember that image quality suffers somewhat from the enlargement, with sharpness decreasing in direct proportion to the degree of digital zoom.

Macro mode is controlled by the Macro/Infinity Focus button on the back panel. One press sets the camera for macro photography and a second press sets the focus at infinity for far away subjects and panoramic shots. The third press puts the camera back into normal photography mode. The Infinity Focus mode is a nice plus, allowing a little faster shooting since the camera isn't having to determine focus. Infinity Focus is only available in the camera's "Manual" exposure mode.

In our testing, the S300's Canon-designed zoom lens seemed to be of very high optical quality, surprising in light of it's being shoehorned into such a tiny package. Geometric distortion was lower than average, showing 0.57% barrel distortion at the widest angle setting, and essentially no pincushion distortion at telephoto. Chromatic aberration is fairly low, although in an interesting way: The colored fringes around the black patterns on our resolution target extend for four or five pixels in the corners of the image. That broad a fringe would normally cause us to judge a lens poorly. What's different about the S300's optics 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. In our resolution tests, the S300's lens produced 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. All in all, the S300's lens does better than those of most full-sized digicams. Very impressive!