The Canon S series which was made new again about 3 years ago with the S90 happens to be my favorite digital camera series ever. These cameras fit in your front pocket, have impressive optical zoom (for the form factor), contain ultra-fast f/2.0 lenses, revolutionary controls and button layout and can shoot HD video. The S series is hands-down the best lineup of digital cameras. Even the first Canon S90 will still hold its own today as a fantastic and versatile pocket camera.
A quick search of my blog and I’ve talked about the S series a LOT.
Recently, The S110 was announced as a follow-up to last year’s S100 (S95 and S90 came before it). I’m having a hard time finding anything remarkable about the latest model. The camera is identical in the glass, zoom and size of the sensor. The camera’s megapixel resolution remains unchanged and the only difference (which could be just a tweak in software) is that the max ISO has been doubled. However, this is a camera with a small sensor so I wouldn’t recommend setting the ISO that high anyway. 640 ISO was the most I’d do on my Canon S95.
The S110 lost the very cool GPS functionality that added geo-data to every photo taken and added WiFi functionality. My assumption is that the WiFi feature will upload the photos to your computer or Flickr automatically? Photographers don’t want this because they want to review photos and possibly make edits before uploading. Also, while WiFi is enabled, the S110’s battery only lasts 10 minutes. So, WiFi is more novelty and I find GPS to be much cooler to know exactly where you were when taking a photo.
The S110 also receives a feature a lot of consumer cameras are getting which is a touchscreen. I consider these novelty as well. Once you’ve used an iOS device from Apple, all touch screens feel cheap and, this being a small screen means big fingers may have issues. I’m not interested in touch screens which is why I’ve kept my current Olympus E-PL2 body. Future versions have touch screens and I don’t see the point in those.
So, what is the BEST feature of the Canon S110?
It’s that the Canon S100 is now $150 cheaper at $350 while the S110 is $500. My advice to friends and readers is that you skip over the S110 and if you want a camera upgrade for 2012 or a gift for family, get the S100. It’s a fantastic camera and the S110 added a bigger price tag with very few new features.
You can compare both models here and there are handy Amazon links to buy now.