Canon PowerShot S80

Canon's PowerShot S80 is designed for people who want a high-performance camera that's not too big or awkwardly shaped for pockets and handbags. The lens has an unexceptional 3.6x zoom range, which helps keep the dimensions down, but its 28-100mm focal length (35mm equivalent) allows for wider-angle photography than the 35-105mm ranges of most 3x zoom lenses. This isn't an ultra-compact camera, though, and it weighs 225g.

Canon PowerShot S80
Canon's PowerShot S80 is designed for people who want a high-performance camera that's not too big or awkwardly shaped for pockets and handbags. The lens has an unexceptional 3.6x zoom range, which helps keep the dimensions down, but its 28-100mm focal length (35mm equivalent) allows for wider-angle photography than the 35-105mm ranges of most 3x zoom lenses. This isn't an ultra-compact camera, though, and it weighs 225g. The lithium battery's 720mAh capacity is surprisingly low considering its bulk, but it still managed to give us 422 shots on a single charge.

At the back, a 2.5" LCD screen is accompanied by a generous assortment of physical controls, including dedicated ISO and manual focus buttons and one that you can assign to white balance, resolution or a range of other options. The five-way pad doubles as a wheel for adjusting the selected setting and, along with clear information onscreen, the camera is fast and satisfying to use.

There are plenty of features that remind you this is no ordinary camera. The S80 captures video at up to 1,024x768 pixels and 15fps. This is an impressive feat, although to our eyes the limited frame rate is just as noticeable as the increased resolution when compared with the more usual movie mode of 640x480 pixels (VGA) at 30fps. Reviewing photos on the camera has an air of class about it: pictures rotate automatically depending on which way up the camera is held, the wheel facilitates quick browsing and there's even a choice of transitions. The camera readies itself for a shot reasonably quickly, taking two seconds from startup or between shots, and four seconds with the flash enabled.

The S80's manual exposure mode is one of the best we've seen, as the preview image's brightness and a histogram display react continuously to shutter speed, aperture, ISO and flash settings. These previews are extremely accurate, too, showing an exposure that closely matches the resulting picture. The only thing missing is an Exposure Value (EV) readout, although this information appears once the shutter button is half-pressed.

The 8-megapixel sensor produced stunningly sharp images that were on a par with those from Olympus's SP-350, but for colour accuracy the performance was more varied. Canon's automatic white balance coped better with artificial light, but the SP-350 gave much more consistent exposures and showed less image noise at higher ISO settings. In low light without the flash, the S80 invariably underexposed shots, and we had to use exposure compensation or switch to manual mode to get usable results. The flash performed well at close range, but subjects three metres away appeared gloomy. Even in daylight, some pictures were woefully underexposed, although giving the camera a second chance at a shot was usually enough to remedy the situation.

With most other things between the Canon S80 and Olympus SP-350 being equal, the Canon camera is the faster performer. However, the trade-off is less reliability from the automatic settings. As such, its performance is somewhat wasted, as it's often necessary to adjust settings or take a couple of shots to get a good picture. The Olympus SP-350 costs £80 less, too, making it a much better deal.

System Specifications
8 megapixels (3,264x2,448 pixels), 3.6x optical zoom, 32MB SD card, 720mAh li-ion battery
Author: Ben Pitt
Computer Shopper Online



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