So I needed a new hiking camera after my old Panasonic p+s started giving me all kinds of errors on our last hike. I need something really small and light, of course, with good image stabilization. It would be nice to have raw files and a decent lens, because my old p+s produced pretty terrible photos.
The large-sensor compacts are out of my price range. I took a look at the new Canon S120, which is tiny and shoots raw with a decent lens, but it's $450. The previous S110 is only $250 new, which is pretty good, but then I found an S100 refurb at B&H for $175. Looking at some reviews, it appears that Canon upgraded the sensor with the S100, then the two newer models have cool hip new features like a touch screen and wi-fi, neither of which is on my wish list :)
It just arrived, and it's quite tiny – 198g with a card and battery. Raw files are decent – sure, they have some noise at higher ISOs, meaning anything ISO320 or above, but it's very fixable in Lightroom. I just printed an 11×14 inch print from an ISO 800 test shot, and it's fine – sharp, clean, etc. I'm sure I could print a 16×20 and be happy. Heck, I've shot with plenty of professional DSLRs that had worse image quality than this little thing.
The lens has a range of 24-120mm equivalent, and an f/2.0 max at 24mm. It has a built in ND filter which will come in handy sometimes. Of course it has no real controls – just a couple of buttons and a menu – but for my purposes, it looks just about perfect.
It's not a bad choice for a photo enthusiast or pro who needs a tiny pocket camera for hiking or everyday carry.
