Canon PowerShot S95 10 MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD

The Canon S95 takes stunning pictures that are way beyond my expectations, just like most other owners have reported. In the basic mode I use, I simply can't believe how good the picture look. I take a lot of landscapes, gardens, street scenes and detail closeups and am strictly amateur. I could gush all day, but people are probably more interested in the few flaws I can perceive at my non-professional level. First is the instructions, which are only available on a disk. This camera is fortunately fairly intuitive but to use any of the higher features you need to be reading the manual which I'm not willing to print out and lug everywhere. I also don't like that they use vocabulary appropriate for professional/advanced photographers, who wouldn't need to use the manual much anyway. Ultimately, I may or may not advance beyond the basic level. The camera tends to make things very colorful, which I happen to like, but when adjusting the pics (very few need adjusting compared with my old old Olympus digital) I once in a while have to turn the color saturation down. I'd rather have it be this way than have the pics come out too drab. I'm amazed at the quality of pics I can get outdoors in the middle of the day under blazing sun. Speaking of adjusting pics, I am very pleased with the Digital Photo Professional editing program that comes with the camera. You can resize, tilt, adjust all aspects of color, hue, contrast, sharpness, etc. I'm not interested in the complications of Photo Shop and there's really no need. In fact, I frequently find after diddling with the adjustments I prefer the shot exactly as the camera took it. Probably the most common adjustment I make after re-sizing and cropping is to up the contrast on overcast outdoor shots a small tick or two. One reason I chose this model is because you can set it to focus manually. I thought I needed this because my old camera took so many out-of-focus shots and there was no manual focus. The S95 is so good with focus, I never even bother with the manual focus. The viewfinder shows you what the camera is focusing on, and if that's not what you want, you just half-depress the shutter button again for a different focus option. Very cool. Even in non-macro mode, and without a tripod, I get very close up shots of flowers that are startling in their clear detail when blown up. Some have said the camera body is slippery or flimsy. I think it feels very substantial for something so small, and the grip feels quite secure. Of course, you need to get used to how to hold it. Others have rightly said that a LCD viewfinder is impossible to use outdoors on a very bright day. I did get used to not looking through a real viewfinder pretty quickly, but the LCD screen on this camera requires an act of faith when shooting on a bright sunny day. Have to say that usually the faith is rewarded. I can't say much that's helpful about indoor shots, because I don't take many, but when I do they look fine. Outdoor shots at twilight are very beautiful. I don't use the video mode. For my last nit-pick, I signed up for the Emails to customers, and have been pretty disappointed. I was hoping for good tips and info about using the camera better. Instead, it's just routine marketing. Well, maybe with a camera this good they can coast on the non-essential stuff. I'd buy this camera again in an instant and be grateful for the opportunity.

First off, no camera is perfect. This camera isnt perfect but its the best "pocket camera" you can buy. Period. A lot of people compare this camera to the Panasonic Lumix LX5. The LX5 is an awesome camera but I dont consider that a "pocket" camera. It is bigger and bulkier and doesnt fit in your pocket very well. I would almost compare that camera to the Canon G11 or G12. The Canon S95 is simply the best camera if you are looking for something very portable and you can take anywhere with you. I have owned the S90 and now the S95 and its the only camera I use. I take it everywhere to capture my 4 year old in all his activities. I used to lug around a DSLR camera but didnt like it because it was so big and bulky (but it took awesome photos) I looked into this camera (S90 initially) and fell in love with it and its all I use now. The S95 is basically the same but basically three things got better. Video which was good just got better because its now in HD. The sound which I thought was very good just got better because video is now in Stereo. (two very tiny speakers are now visable on the front of the camera) The S90 was very sleek and some said too sleek because when you held it, some compared it to holding a bar of soap in the bathroom. It was very slick. The body of the S95 has a texture to it now that is better and not as "slick" to the touch. One thing I also like about this camera is it takes action photos a little better. The S90 "sports" mode took photos at a snails pace of about 1 photo every second basically. (DSLR's take about 4-5 per second and are very fast) The S95 does a little better at about 2 shots every second. This still is not very good but is acceptable for a camera like this and does help if you are taking photos of action, etc. Again, no camera is perfect but this is about as close as you can get until something new comes out next year. However, if you want an awesome "pocket" camera that can take great photos (especially in low light), has a very fast lens (aperture 2.0), can be used fully manual if you want and takes very good video clips, this is the camera to buy. I am sure next year there will be some more improvements with this camera or features added and maybe Nikon or someone else will come out with something comparable to this Canon S95 but it doesnt exist right now. This little camera is the best right now. You wont be disappointed and quit looking around for something comparable because it doesnt exist. The only other camera that I looked at is the Panasonic Lumix LX5. It is a very, very good camera also (maybe a little better then this camera) but it is bigger and bulkier and really doesnt slip into your pocket very well. It also takes photos very well in low light (aperture of 2.0 also) and has a lens that is wider 24mm compared to Canon's 28mm and takes photos at around 3 shots per second compared to the S95 2 shots per second but its a little bigger and about $50 more. I encourage you to look at the Panasonic but the Canon wins for me!! Good luck and quit worrying and buy this camera!!! Update: Here is a really neat "letter" that was written and posted on Yahoo the other day from an editor with the NY Times....I copied and pasted it into this review. Its good! Dear Canon S95, I don't often write love letters to gadgets. But you, you're something special. Truth is, I've been searching for someone like you for years. See, I love the huge light sensor that's inside an SLR. It can take sharp low-light shots without the flash. It can blur the background the way professionals do. I just don't like how an SLR is big and heavy and obtrusive. What I've always wanted is a little camera with a big sensor. Is that so hard? Apparently, yes. The problem is covering a rectangular sensor chip with a circle of light from the lens. Bigger sensor? You need a bigger camera. Those are the simple bylaws of physics. But you, oh, cute little Canon PowerShot S95! I love that you're a pocket camera, only 3.9 by 2.3 by 1.2 inches. I love your big, bright, three-inch screen, your built-in flash, your H.D.M.I. output for hi-def TV sets. I love that you turn on directly into Playback mode, without having to extend the lens. I love the unique control ring around the dial, which I can quickly program to adjust whatever feature I want: focus, zoom, exposure, light sensitivity (ISO), aperture, even degree of color saturation (all the way to black-and-white). I've had fun with your special modes, like the tilt-shift-lens simulator and fake fisheye. I love the wink-driven self-timer. Yes, I set up the camera, walk into the scene, and then wink-the picture is taken two seconds later. Beats hunting around for a remote control. (Or I can ask you to wait two seconds after a new person-that would be me, joining the group-enters the frame.) But above all, I love your enormous sensor. It's 0.59 inches diagonally-88 percent more area than most pocket cameras' sensors. And I love that you have an f/2.0 lens, a rarity among pocket cameras, meaning that you let in a lot more light. And all of this means that you, little S95, can take amazing, sharp pictures in low light without the flash. Your designers have shrewdly dropped the ludicrous quest for more megapixels-you have 10 megapixels, just right-in favor of something that really matters, like better photos. So many times I've used you for pictures at night, indoors, in shadow. Cathedrals, restaurants, parties. No, the results aren't as good as an SLR's-you still manage to blur a shot, especially in very dark situations when the subject is moving-but they're light-years better than any other pocket camera can do. I love to show off your photo samples. You're even better than my last love, your predecessor, the S90. Because you're slimmer. And now you take hi-def videos-with stereo sound. You have a high-dynamic-range mode, where you combine three tripod shots at different exposures into a single photo with a really great range of darks and lights. Your controls are refined in size and placement. Look, S95-I know you're not perfect. Your battery takes only 200 shots on a charge, which is very low. You won't let me use the optical zoom while I'm shooting video; in fact, you can't refocus while shooting video, either. (Your arch-rival, the Panasonic LX5, can zoom during video. Then again, it's porkier and requires fussing with a detached lens cap.) And, of course, you cost twice what most pocket cams cost. You're $400. But you are the best pocket camera on the market. I have carried you for many weeks, in many situations, and I have been thrilled by the sharpness, color, control and photographic success rate that you give me. Yes, Canon S95, I think you and I have a long, happy future ahead of us. Heck, you may remain state-of-the-art for several months at least! Love, David

I bought this camera to accompany my aging Canon dSLR for my trip to France for a few months for school. What follows are general impressions from someone who shoots for fun, but seriously, and expects his camera to be able to perform to the vision in his head. First, the body of the camera is great. As others have said the grip is a little funky sometimes because your hand just doesn't want to quite stay where it's supposed to, but the finish on the paint helps alleviate that. The shutter button is easy to find without looking in it's recessed little area within the zoom knob, and the half-press is responsive to the touch. The scroll wheel on the back is lovely, with just enough grab at intervals to click into place without being over controlling or too loose, as was the case with the s90. I absolutely love the wheel on the front that surrounds the lens; because I shoot mostly in Av mode I can adjust the aperture on the fly with one hand and the ISO via the shortcut button and wheel on the back almost instantaneously, not to mention the satisfyingly old-school clicking it makes. Two body complaints One: If you are holding the camera with both hands, you may be surprised by the flash which is motorized straight up out of the body and will most likely be impeded by your finger. The solution, of course, is to avoid the flash as much as possible simply out of the problems of on-camera flash. Two: The mode selection wheel can be a little tricky, especially if trying to go in/out of movie mode which has a large gap between itself and the nearest manual mode, because it is rather recessed into the body and stiff to begin with. Except under the most perfect conditions I have to use m fingernail to turn it, which is more or less an inconvenience. Performance is what I really came here to talk about. There are plenty of reviews that rave over the great photos that come out of this camera, and they're all very true. What bothered me however was the intense barrel distortion that came out of the 6m wide-end of the lens. I first noticed it in my architectural pictures around Paris, where none of the features quite lined up right, and as time went on it started to drive me crazy. I started either using the barreling artistically as a slight fisheye lens or zooming to an (almost 50mm) 49mm equivalent, which kicks my max aperture to f/3.2, nullifying the beautiful f/2.0 real max aperture. After some research, I found CHDK, a program that non-invasively allows you to squeeze that extra bit from your Canon point-and-shoot. The s95 has many of the CHDK functions built-in, but one interesting discovery was the ability to write RAW files as DNG (Digital NeGative) files. When I shot a few DNGs at 6mm and viewed them on my computer, the barreling was absolutely horrendous. I discovered that the s95 does quite a bit of barrel distortion correction when writing JPGs to memory, though evidently not enough. The fix? Lightroom, my editing program of choice, has support for the Canon s95 starting at version 3.4 which allows one to apply lens-specific calibrations to any photo. In order to use this you must shoot in the default RAW mode, which involves more memory and time to write to the card when shooting, but the correction is absolutely unbelievable, and even editable after the calibration default is applied. Moreover, the noise correction that one can apply to RAW files in LR3 is far superior to the in-camera processing, with much smoother textures and crisper detail resolution. For this reason I give it a 4; if Lightroom is out of reach for you (student discount anyone?) or if CHDK is incomprehensible (which it shouldn't be with some work), then the camera performs great in and of itself. If you have these tools it is nearly perfect, with support for scripting via CHDK and much clearer high-ISO shots thanks to LR3 and RAW. It definitely beats lugging my dSLR around pickpocket-infested tourist locations just to get a unique photo.

I've always wanted SLR quality in a compact digital camera, and this baby comes very close. For daytime, good light photography, it's probably as good as many SLR's out there, and in low light, it's far and away better than any compact I've ever used. The range of manual controls is impressive, yet the camera remains relatively easy to learn. I especially like the programmable "S" button on the back, which can be programmed to 20 different functions. I personally keep mine on AE lock (exposure lock). With many other cameras, you have to move it around the scene until you find the right exposure, then half-press the shutter (which also locks focus), then recompose while keeping the button half-pressed, and shoot. Kind of a hassle, and of course the focus is locked on whatever you locked exposure on. With the s95, I simply find the exposure level I want, then press the "S" button, which locks the exposure. Then I can freely move the camera and refocus on what I intend to photograph without having to hold down the shutter button, or lock in the focus. And there are many other uses for the "S" button if you choose! The front control ring is also programmable, being able to select from many options, including a custom option to create your own specific use. The camera is highly customizable, but without being overwhelming. It's fantastic! As far as performance goes, I have never gotten such quality images before. The daytime photographs are incredibly clean and sharp, and the in-camera adjustments and IQ are great. The light metering is generally good, as is the white balance. And if you aren't satisfied with the white balance, there is a custom white balance mode, which renders indoor evening shots under lights perfectly, once the custom white balance is applied. Apertures run from a fast f2.0 to f8.0, which can be used creatively in creating decent DOF photographs. You aren't going to get SLR DOF performance with the s95, but you can create very interesting images at f2.0. Shutter speed runs from 1/1600 to 15 seconds, perfect from getting fast action sports to perfect night time exposures. And speaking of night time exposures, this camera produces outstanding images in very low light. Using manual mode, you can create essentially grain-free long exposures, using a low ISO and slow shutter speed. I have NEVER seen such clean night images in any compact digital camera before (assuming you can find one with manual controls!). Even indoors, the camera produces very nice images, even with ISO's up to 1600. I've noticed graininess starting around ISO 400, but that's at 100% view and nitpicking the shot. Most family photos and indoor people shots are not highly scrutinized, so even ISO 800 and 1600 shots are usable. WAY better than any other small camera's ability indoors at night, that's for sure! There is also a completely customizable mode, interestingly enough called "C". You can program this to be set up any way you like it...so if you do a lot of specific shooting (night time, indoor family photos, lets say), you could set it up to have the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, etc, the way you like it. That way, you don't have to enter manual mode or semi-manual and fiddle with the settings each time. You have one full-time dedicated mode for shooting the way you like! And for those who just like to point and shoot, the auto mode is acceptable. I personally use "P" mode most of the time, which is pretty much auto, with some control over settings. But if you just want to turn on the camera and shoot, auto will still render high quality images, though sometimes I have noticed with auto mode the autofocus can give me trouble. Using P-mode will still make it easy, but with some more reliable focusing. Besides, hopefully you are buying this camera with SOME intention on learning how to manually create better shots...but again, even if you just want to use the auto mode, you will get photos much nicer than any other pocket camera, a reason to buy this in and of itself. There are so many more outstanding features to list...I could go on forever. Autofocus tracking, 1.9 shot-per-second continuous mode (with AF servo!), low light mode (with ISO's up to 12,800(!!)), scene mode with countless scene choices (including HDR which does remarkably well), and of course HD video mode. Let me mention one thing about the HD video however. It's not that great, in my opinion. I also have the Canon SD940IS, and it takes beautiful HD video. This camera does not. There is a lot of "judder" when filming moving objects, or when panning the camera. It's not smooth at all when moving. The 940 is very smooth, even when walking and filming. The s95 struggles to maintain a clear video, unless filming stationary objects. Not good if you intend on making videos of your children running or playing! I think it has something to do with the type of sensors in each camera. I don't know anything about this technical stuff, but it appears this camera's sensor is more geared for still photographs and not HD video. However, there are two mics on the front of the camera, for STEREO sound! If you are buying this solely for the HD video, you may want to look elsewhere (you can get HD video in products much cheaper than this now). Still, the video is probably passable to most, and should not be a hinderance from buying this great little package! EDIT: When I first wrote the review, I did not know why the HD video was subpar to the smaller, cheaper SD940IS. The reason is that the s95 only shoots 24 frams per second of video (FPS), whereas the 940 shoots 30 FPS. The s95's video is clealy choppy, but you can change the video settings to shoot 30 FPS (but will not be true HD).

I am totally smitten by this camera. It's very portable and takes great shots. I used to rely on my Nikon D90 12.3MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens to get the best possible shots but I don't have to lug that thing around anymore. I'm an amateur photographer but I have taken a few classes so I think I have a pretty good idea of what a "good" picture looks like and until now I would have said you could not get one from an ultra-compact. Boy have I had to change my tune. I love all the manual controls and the control ring on the front of the camera. This camera is also very easy to customize to make it work best for you. You have the ability to choose what the control ring on the front of the camera does and there is a custom setting you can set on the dial ring on the top of the camera to remember your favorite camera settings. There is also shutter priority and aperture priority mode, low light mode and manual exposure mode. The camera has manual or automatic focus and many different scene modes. There are also some fun features on this camera for the hobbyist or artistic photographer. I've been have a great time with the fisheye and miniature effects, which can also be used in video. The fisheye is pretty self explanatory for what it does and the miniature gives you a tilt-shift look to your pictures in camera. It's almost like getting a set of Lensbaby The Composer for Canon EF mount Digital SLR Cameras lenses for your camera thrown in for free, which is great because this camera would not be able to accept the mount anyway. I would suggest buying a few accessories for this camera, all of which I have outfitted my setup with. First an lcd protector, I bought the GGS Glass LCD Screen Protector for Canon PowerShot S95 and it fits perfectly. You can purchase the GGS Optical Glass LCD Screen Protector 3" for Digital Cameras for cheaper but it is a smidge smaller than the lcd on the camera. I also bought the Deluxe Leather Case PSC-3200 (for SX210IS, also compatible for S90) because it fits my camera with the custom grip from Richard Franiec attached (which can be purchased at lensmate .com). I also bought the custom lens adapter from lensmate so that I can use filters with this camera which opens up even more opportunities for creativity. I would also suggest buying another wrist strap as the one that comes with the camera is a little too long for my comfort, I'm afraid it will slip off. I'm still searching for the perfect wrist strap though, if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them. I believe that you can take great pictures with any camera because you can fix quite a bit in post processing these day, but I also don't want to give up the ability to manually control the cameras settings in order to have a small camera. With the canon s95 I get the best of both worlds, I'm able to manually configure the camera in all the ways that please me AND I can fit it in my pocket. Oh, and did I mention that this camera shoots RAW? Awesome! While there is no one camera that is perfect for everyone I think this is close to my perfect camera. Sometimes I wish it had more optical zoom but other than that I really have no complaints. Besides, you really should move closer to your subject if you want to get a great pic rather than zooming in. This camera is also great for street photography because it is easily palmed if you want to take some stealth shots. You can set your camera to your custom settings and just shoot away! So what are you waiting for, if you're reading this review you are considering this camera. Stop. Go buy it. You'll love it just like I do.

This camera is advertised and promoted by Canon as a compact camera with manual mode "loaded with all a serious photographer's must-haves"...it isn't. I contacted Canon customer service and they verified all of the following problems; (1) Most disappointing is the fact that this camera has no light meter. For those of us who understand how to use manual operation this means that even if you can control the f Stop and shutter speed separately, you will have no way of knowing if you exposure is correct. So, it is almost impossible to use manual mode and alter the depth of field or do any kind of exposure variations. Canon confirmed this. (2) This camera's highest F stop is f5.6 in telephoto and f8 in wide. This seriously limits your ability to gain long distance depth of field, so landscape photography or travel pics in which you want a large area to be in focus are out of the question. It basically works within the same range that a point and shoot camera works; at 3 to 4 times the price. (3) The operating manual is almost useless. It is nothing but an exercise in putting in the battery, turning it on and snapping a picture. It has almost no instructions about mode variations and nothing on the use of manual mode (now I know why). I spent hours working through the menus and was still having trouble using it. I got so frustrated that I called Canon; their tech support person couldn't explain it's use and had to get a supervisor to tell me that I was correct about points 1 and 2 above. (4) The zoom lever (at least on the one I received) is not smooth at all; it zooms too fast and sometimes it is slow to start. This causes a bunch of back and forth zooming to get the composition that you want. I realize that this is a compact camera but most of the controls are hard to manipulate and I have small hands. (5) It has no viewfinder. For some this will not be a problem but for me; I like looking through a viewfinder not an LCD screen. This camera has serious limitations. I didn't expect it to be the same as my SLR but it does not even come close to an SLRs manual operation and for $425, and the way Canon promotes it, it should. If you understand how to use a camera in manual mode,coupled with a light meter and this is how you want to use this camera, you will be very disappointed. If you just want to shoot pictures of the friends and family etc, then you would be much better off spending $100-$150 on a good point and shoot and using it in auto mode.

This is my first Amazon product review. I have just never felt the need to comment before but with this camera I just had to. A little background - I am an amateur photographer; meaning that I just do it for fun, not to make a living. I have a Canon DSLR and several lenses that I use all the time. But something was missing in my photographic arsenal. Sometimes it was inconvenient to carry the SLR and I was missing potentially great images that I would happen upon just during everyday life. A solution would be a pocket "carry around" camera and a month ago I started looking around for one. After 4 weeks of research and reading copious reviews the Canon S95 emerged as the best because it had the most features that I desired and looked to be the best value for the money. Here is my summary: Pros: - Amazing image quality - Easy to learn controls (especially if you have other Canon cameras) - Solid construction (metal, not plastic - wow!) - Fits nicely into my shirt pocket (important for me) - An astonishing range of capabilities - Great low light performance - Wheel and ring work wonderfully to change settings Cons: (these are very minor) - Price! (I paid 399.99 I now see it is down to 388.83 but you are getting a lot for your money) - The pop up flash has caught me a few times even though I knew of this issue before I bought the camera (Old habits of holding cameras this size die hard) - OK, I admit I am old school - I like a printed operations manual that I can carry with me. Canon (probably to save money) provides the manual on a CD with this camera. The S95 does so many things I need the manual to reference when I need it during this learning curve. So only getting the manual on a CD is a negative to me (Are you listening Canon? If you can't provide it with the camera maybe you could sell the printed manual as an extra? I would buy one!). Overall I am extremely pleased with this camera. It has fit the "bill" perfectly for what I wanted and I would recommend it to anyone who has a DSLR but is looking for a "carry around" camera or even to those who do not. It would be a great "step up" for those moving toward the DSLR world. Buy it, you won't be disappointed.

I have been waiting for this camera for several months and the anticipation was more than I could handle waiting for it to come in the mail. The picture quality is amazing and everyone knows that, that is not why I am here to review this little guy. Video is one main selling points for me as I like to shoot when interesting things happen around me when I am never expecting it. The portability and the HD video seemed like this camera would be a match made in heaven for me. But, the video issues ended up being the deal breakers for me. I knew of the problems before purchasing the S95, but I did not realize how much of an issue it was. I have several older P&S models that can AF and optically zoom while shooting, why can't Canon figure this out? It's almost like that just want to save something for next year's model so people will have reason toupgrade. Also the macro is not on par with even budget P&Ss, I have to be at least 5cm away to focus in on very small objects. This seems like a minor gripe, but I love to shoot macro. I have taken hundreds of photos with this camera and I just cannot get as close as I would like. So I kept looking around for other options and I think the LX5 has all of the things that I have complaints with from the S95, so I purchased it and it should be here in a couple days right before I leave for the Bahamas. I will do extensive testing comparing both models for my needs. I really am in love with the portability of the S95 and I see myself taking it out more and getting greater photo ops than I would with my larger cameras. I know that the LX5 is $100 more expensive, but when already dropping $40, another $100 isn't going to make a huge difference over the few years I plan on owning it. I will update when I get back from vacation and make my decision on which camera has won me over.

Fast shipping, item as described. This is the best digital camera I have never had. I love it!

I gave it as a gift and they like it a lot. It is complicated to start for someone who is just learning photography. But you can learn with it eventually.