After getting my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5, I started having doubts if maybe Canon PowerShot S2 IS was the way to go. The only way to find out was to buy the Canon S2 IS and compare it with my Panasonic FZ5. So I purchased the Canon S2 IS and after using and comparing the two, I chose to keep the Panasonic and sell the Canon. Even though the Canon S2 IS is an excellent camera, its flaws kept me from keeping it.

Pictures

You can see the pictures of the camera (front, rear and what is in the box) by clicking below:

Click here to see Canon S2 IS (front, rear and what's in the box)

An Improvement Over the Canon S1 IS

A replacement for the last year's hugely successful Canon S1 IS, the Canon PowerShot S2 IS is a digital camera with optical image stabilization that has been upgraded to 12x zoom versus last year's S1's 10x, 5 Megapixels vs. 3.2, USB 2.0 vs. USB 1.1, 1.8-inch LCD vs. 1.5-inch, SD card storage vs. Compact Flash. It also adds a focus assist light to aid low-light focusing and features improved DIGIC II processor - the same generation that is used in new Canon digital SLR cameras like Canon 20D or Digital Rebel XT (350D).

The Canon S1 IS was an impressive camera in its own right, but, inexplicably, it only had 10x optical zoom, 3.2-Megapixel resolution and no focus-assist light. At the same time, Panasonic FZ line of cameras had 12x stabilized optical zooms in resolutions ranging from 2 to 5 megapixels with most cameras having focus-assist lights. Now, the Canon S2 IS delivers much anticipated improvements in important areas of resolution, zoom range and low-light focusing performance.

The monster 12x optical zoom and optical image stabilization work together to give you sharp pictures when shooting handheld and/or at long distances. Only a handful of digital cameras have 12x optical zoom and even less have optical image stabilization that makes 12x optical zoom usable without introducing blurriness when shooting handheld. In addition to Canon S2 IS, I can mention Panasonic DMC-FZ5 (which I currently have), FZ4, FZ20, FZ15 and FZ3.

About Canon PowerShot S2 IS

The Canon S2 IS is a 5-Megapixel digital camera with 12x optical zoom (36-432mm in 35-mm equivalent), optical image stabilization with maximum apertures of f/2.7 at wide angle and f/3.5 at full telephoto. It stores images on an SD card in JPEG format.

The S2 IS is only available in silver color and weighs 14.3 oz without batteries. It has a 1.8-inch fully-articulated LCD screen, which is on its rear panel. The camera is relatively compact and feels solid (except for its flash and the lens cap), features USB 2.0 connectivity that is fast.

The 12x optical zoom optics features ultra-low dispersion (UD) lens and ultrasonic motor (USM) for fast and silent zooming. In addition to digital still photographs, the camera can record video clips with stereo sound. You can output video and sound to your TV (be it your pictures or video clips) using the supplied audio/video cable.

In addition to the aforementioned improvements over the S1 IS, the camera is also faster in operation (focusing is faster, especially in dimly-lit environments).

Features

The S2 IS lets you shoot at the following resolutions: 2592 x 1944; 2048 x 1536; 1600 x 1200; 640 x 480. The highest resolution corresponds to 5 Megapixels and lets you print enlargements or crop the part of the picture and print it with excellent results. And, of course, it is more than enough for the standard 6x4 prints.

The camera features selectable ISO between 50, 100, 200 and 400 as well as Auto. It also has manual focus (with focus bracketing) in addition to automatic 1-spot focus (the focus spot in auto mode can be moved to any position on the screen by using [SET] and arrow buttons).

The camera has an autofocus assist light for better and faster focusing in low-light conditions. It works well in dim light - the S2 focuses much better than the S1 did.

The white balance can be set to TTL auto, pre-set (available settings: Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash) or Custom.

Metering and Exposure

The exposure modes include Program AE, Aperture and Shutter Priority mode, and even full Manual mode. The shutter speed can be set between 15 and 1/3,200 sec with speeds slower than 1.3 sec available in Shutter Priority or Manual mode and operating with noise reduction.

The light metering can be selected between Evaluative, Center-Weighted and Spot (center or AF point). I find Spot and Center-Weighted modes useful when taking pictures of people at distances where the flash doesn't reach in backlight. In Evaluative metering mode, the faces might turn out underexposed, unless you dial some exposure compensation.

In Spot mode, you can set metering to properly expose the face. Also, the Spot metering mode can help you figure out the proper exposure in difficult lighting conditions be metering off the object with known tonal characteristics and then dialing some exposure compensation. For example, in summer, pine leaves are normally 2/3 EV darker than 18% gray tone so you can meter off them and enter minus 2/3 EV compensation.

Movie Mode

The camera has a built-in stereo microphone for recording sounds while filming video clips and a speaker, which can be used for operational sounds or to play back the sounds recorded. The camera can record AVI movie clips at high resolution of 640x480 pixels at 30 or 15 fps with stereo sound. This is very impressive resolution! Also available the 320x240 mode at 30 fps. The movie length is limited by file size of 1 GB or 1 hour of playing time.

Shooting Modes

The shooting modes include:

Auto
Creative zone: Program, Shutter-speed priority, Aperture priority, Manual, Custom
Image zone: Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene
Special Scene: (Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Indoor, Night Snapshot)
Stitch assist and Movie

Focusing

The camera has a Macro mode as well as Super Macro mode, in which it can focus as close as 0 inches. That's right - zero inches!

Focus Range:

Normal: 50 cm (1.6 ft.) - infinity (W)/ 90 cm (3.0 ft.) - infinity (T)
Macro: 10 - 50 cm (3.9 in. to 1.6 ft.)
Super Macro: 0 - 10 cm ( 0 to 3.9 in.)

LCD and Viewfinder

The camera has a fully articulated 1.8-inch LCD with about 115,000 pixels that covers 100% of the view. In addition to the LCD, there is an electronic viewfinder (EVF). Since it is difficult (and expensive) to make a 12x zooming optical viewfinder and impossible to easily confirm focus in a non-SLR optical viewfinder, the Canon S2 IS has an EVF.

The electronic viewfinder (EVF) has a diopter adjustment and good resolution. Both the LCD and EVF are fluid, has pleasing colors and good resolution.

I found that the LCD is well-visible in regular conditions, but in sunlight, visibility decreases and you have to use the EVF, which works well in sunlight. In dark conditions, the LCD "gains-up" for better visibility and easier focus confirmation.

Power

The power is supplied by 4 AA-sized batteries. Canon includes four alkaline batteries with the camera, but obviously you have to get your rechargeable batteries, preferably NiMH of high capacity and a charger if you plan to use the camera at all as the alkaline batteries that are included don't last long and cannot be recharged.

I personally dislike cameras that don't come with rechargeable batteries, unless they are inexpensive. The advantage of using AA batteries is the ease of finding replacement rechargeable or disposable batteries. Also, if you use high-capacity rechargeable NiMH batteries, you can get 550 shots out of the S2 (according to Canon, in reality the number is much lower), comparing to about 300 shots I get from my Panasonic FZ5 on one battery charge.

The disadvantage is the price of batteries and the charger, the weight and inconvenience of having to deal with 4 batteries instead of one. The S2 IS was already heavier than my Panasonic FZ5 and got even heavier when batteries were loaded in both of them. It is also more expensive without the batteries than my FZ5 with its rechargeable battery and a charger.

On Resolution

After using a 2-MP camera I grew dissatisfied with resulting prints. Theoretically, 2MP should be sufficient for 6x4 prints, providing about 267dpi of resolution (1600 pixels / 6 inches = 267 dpi). However, I find that I need at least 4 megapixels. Let me explain why.

Although 6x4 prints from a 2-Megapixel camera (Panasonic FZ1) compare favorably with prints from an inexpensive film-based point-and-shoot camera, they seem to be not as sharp and detailed as either photos taken by my Nikon N55 SLR with a Nikkor 28-80 f/3.3-5.6 G lens using Fujicolor Superia Reala ISO 100 or photos taken with an old Chinon 35EE-II rangefinder using Fujicolor Superia ISO 400 film.

If you don't look closely or have poor eyesight, the 2-Megapixel prints look as good. You can make them look even better if you use Photoshop and/or are careful with composition and exposure. But if you pay attention, you see that they don't look as detailed, no matter what you do to them in Photoshop (Unsharp Mask, Levels, Curves, etc.). The very finest detail that is present in my film prints is missing.

And they actually have sub-2MP resolution, since you have to crop them to remove either the top or the bottom of the frame, since they don't have the 3/2 aspect ratio, required for 6x4 prints.

The bottom line here is although 2MP is sufficient for 6x4 prints if you are not picky, it is not sufficient if you are and if you see that an old rangefinder camera bought on eBay for $20 loaded with regular $2 color negative film can provide better sharpness. It cannot provide other features of FZ1, however. Neither it nor Nikon N55 with my zoom lens are as compact, light, provide more than 600 pictures of storage capacity on one small memory card, provide instant preview, 35-420 mm zoom with optical image stabilization or have rechargeable batteries or ability to use Photoshop for fine picture adjustments.

Searching for Replacement

The first step was to list my FZ1 on eBay. And off I went to get a similar camera but with higher resolution but similar optics and performance. And my first attempt was Panasonic DMC-FZ4 - a camera similar to my previous FZ1, but with 4 Megapixels, flash output compensation and TIFF storage capability. You can read my review of the Panasonic DMC-FZ4 here. In the end, I ended up returning the FZ4 and getting myself a Panasonic DMC-FZ5 (you can read my review of Panasonic DMC-FZ5 here). I also bought the Canon S2 IS (the subject of this review).

Operation

I found the camera to be well built and have a solid feel. The lens cap is on the flimsy side, however. It has no retaining mechanism and is held by friction (the inside surface of the lens cap has felt rim that helps it stay on the lens barrel). I had several instances when the lens cap would just fall off the lens. Good thing there is a little strap that keeps it from being lost.

Also, the flash is opened and closed manually and is not sprung or has fixed position (there is no mechanism that holds it in place).

The camera is convenient to hold with controls located conveniently where you would expect them. Upon arrival, I loaded my four (relatively wimpy) 1600 mAh Panasonic NiMH batteries in the camera, inserted my 512 MB SD card (although the S2 IS comes with a 16-MB SD card, it is too small to be usable) and was ready to shoot.

In the Box

The camera comes with 4 AA-sized disposable batteries, a neck strap, a stereo video cable, USB cable, a lens cap, a 16-MB SD memory card, CD-ROM and manuals.

Performance

The camera's operation is fast. The power-up takes less than 2 seconds (mostly taken by the lens extension) and is silent. The camera focuses very fast as well (under a second), although not as fast as my Panasonic FZ5.

The zooming is the most impressive aspect of this camera. It is silent, precise and can be very fast. Unlike my Panasoinc, which has only one zooming speed, this S2 IS has variable speed zoom (2 speeds) with faster speed being very fast - you can zoom from wide to full telephoto in about a second. Viva Canon USM (ultra-sonic motor)!

I would prefer that the zoom rocker had more resistance, however. The shutter lag when pre-focused is virtually absent and the picture is taken almost instantaneously. The shot-to-shot delay is a bit more than one second. In high-speed shooting modes, the images were captured at about 2 fps.

Shooting with flash is slower since the flash needs time to recharge. Depending on battery condition and distance to the subject, you can expect the flash recharge time of 2-7 seconds.

The flash has red-eye reduction modes, which still don't eliminate the red eye completely. No worries - I can fix that in Photoshop.

Battery Life

The image stabilization has several modes: Off, Continuous, Shoot Only, Panning.

I haven't used the continuous image stabilization as it reduces battery life and, more importantly, produces slightly more motion blur in images in comparison to the image stabilization during the shutter release only. I got good pictures, but still not so good battery life.

Despite the weight of my rechargeable batteries (and despite my expectations regarding their life), they only allowed me to take less than 200 pictures, which is worse than my Panasonic FZ5 with its lighter rechargeable battery. Granted you can get 2500 mAh (instead of my 1600 mAh), but it is still hardly impressive - enough for a couple of days but not enough for a vacation. On my last vacation, I took about 1,000 pictures (about 300 were deleted before returning home). With my rechargeable battery and a charger that works in any country, I feel confident I will not run out of power. With Canon S2 IS, you either have to carry 2-3 sets of batteries, a charger that hopefully works in the country where you are going or buy batteries on location.

I liked the manual focus ability. When focusing manually, you see the focus area enlarged to help you fine-tune your focus and you also see the distance markings. There is also a useful focus bracketing more, where the camera takes several pictures with slightly different focus. Truth be told, I find manual focus rarely needed as the automatic focus works really well.

Picture Quality

You can see sample photos that I took by clicking on the link below:

Click to see sample photos taken with Canon PowerShot S2 IS

I was disappointed to see that Canon did not include RAW or even TIFF recording (Panasonic FZ5 has TIFF capability) - you can only shoot in JPEG format. Nonetheless, the S2 IS produces excellent pictures, although some of them were slightly overexposed in Evaluative mode and most were slightly too sharp for my liking (but this can be adjusted).

The photos produced by the S2 IS are richly saturated, are sharp from wide angle to telephoto and have pleasing colors. The image stabilization worked well and let me take handheld photos at full telephoto at 1/100 and sometimes at slower speeds. I also could take handheld photos at 1/10 at wide angle.

I mostly used the lowest ISO available (50) and saw no noise. At higher ISO settings, the noise starts to appear. At ISO 100 or 200, you can see noise appear in the shadows/darker areas and ISO 400 has quite detectable noise. Fortunately, you can avoid having to use it in most situations by simply using a slower shutter speed and/or larger apertures (e.g. F2.7 at wide angle). Image stabilization lets you use those slower speeds handheld without fear of motion blur appearing on your pictures.

But if you have to have a faster shutter speed, then you have to use ISO 400 or even higher and if that is what you need, you probably need to get a digital SLR camera. They work much better at higher ISO (400-1600).

The lens exhibits very slight barrel distortion and no noticeable pincushion distortion at telephoto. There is chromatic aberration (CA) to be found in high-contrast scenes, especially at the telephoto end of the zoom. This is despite the UD element in the lens. The Panasonic FZ5 seems to have less CA.

More on Sample Photos

You can see a couple of sample photos below. You can see small amounts of chromatic aberration (on the full-sized image, available by clicking on the images below) at the edges of the walls in the lower left corner and on the left. You can also see that, by default, fair amount of sharpening is applied.

You can see a sample from Canon PowerShot S2 IS taken with Auto White Balance, ISO 50, F4 below (click for larger view).

You can see a sample from Canon PowerShot S2 IS taken with Auto White Balance, ISO 50, F8 below (click for larger view).

Ease of Use

I dislike the menu system of the S2 IS. It is not excessively difficult to use, but it could have been better. Panasonic cameras have much more user-friendly menu systems.

Computer Connectivity

The USB cable that comes with the camera has a label that states that you have to install the software first before attempting to connect the camera to your computer. This is in the worst tradition of Canon - I never had to install any software with my Panasonic cameras.

The USB 2.0 on this Canon is a "real" USB 2.0 High Speed however - the transfer speeds are fast and are faster than the speeds my FZ5 provides.

Why I am Selling My Canon S2 IS

Although the Canon PowerShot S2 IS is an excellent camera in many respects, I decided to sell it and keep my Panasonic DMC-FZ5. The two cameras are very similar. Both have 12x optical zoom with image stabilization (36-432 mm equivalent focal length). Both have 1.8-inch LCD (articulated in Canon, fixed in Panasonic). Both use SD cards and have focus assist lights.

The Canon S2 IS has better movie mode, faster startup time and variable-speed zoom with available faster speed, manual focus and focus bracketing, faster USB 2.0 interface.

The Panasonic DMC-FZ5 focuses slightly faster, has less chromatic aberration, has live histogram, TIFF recording mode, more focusing options, comes with a rechargeable battery and a compact universal charger, comes with a 55-mm filter adaptor and a lens hood.

The Panasonic was also cheaper. Taking into account that I would have to get an adaptor from Canon to be able to use filters with the S2 IS and the cost and inconvenience of four rechargeable AA batteries, the lack of live histogram and the TIFF mode, I decided to keep the Panasonic. And the fact that I like Panasonic's menu system and black color better and already have 55-mm filters only reinforced my decision. If you want a practically brand-new Canon S2 IS, let me know :)

Bottom Line

If you want a 5-Megapixel responsive 12x "monster zoom" camera with optical image stabilization, don't mind the price, want a camera that uses AA batteries and don't care that it doesn't come with a lens hood or filter/lens adaptor, check out the Canon S2 IS.

If you want a camera that comes in black or silver color, comes with a rechargeable battery pack and a charger, has live histogram, TIFF, lens hood and filter adaptor, the Panasonic DMC-FZ5 is an excellent choice, for less money.

And if you can settle for a 4-Megapixel resolution and slightly smaller LCD, silver color, no sound recording or playback, the Panasonic FZ4 is a good choice for even less.

Recommended
Yes

Product Rating

This review is also available at Epinions.com: Canon PowerShot S2 IS Review on Epinions.com

My Reviews of Other Digital Cameras