Canon S120 vs Panasonic FH5

The following is a comprehensive assessment of the Canon S120 versus Panasonic FH5, both Small Sensor Compact digital cameras by competitors Canon and Panasonic. There exists a crucial gap between the image resolutions of the S120 (12MP) and FH5 (16MP) and the S120 (1/1.7") and FH5 (1/2.3") use different sensor sizing.

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The S120 was announced 2 years after the FH5 which is quite a serious gap as far as technology is concerned. Both the cameras offer the identical body type (Compact).

Before getting straight into a detailed comparison, below is a simple synopsis of how the S120 matches up against the FH5 in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

This is a preview of the gallery images for Canon PowerShot S120 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH5. The whole galleries are viewable at Canon S120 Gallery and Panasonic FH5 Gallery.

If you're intending to travel with your camera often, you need to think about its weight and proportions. The Canon S120 offers outside dimensions of 100mm x 59mm x 29mm (3.9" x 2.3" x 1.1") and a weight of 217 grams (0.48 lbs) and the Panasonic FH5 has measurements of 94mm x 54mm x 19mm (3.7" x 2.1" x 0.7") with a weight of 121 grams (0.27 lbs).

See the Canon S120 versus Panasonic FH5 in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary based on the lens you are utilising during that time. Below is the front view size comparison of the S120 vs the FH5.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the S120 and FH5 is 92 and 96 respectively.

Sometimes, it is hard to visualize the gap between sensor dimensions purely by reading through a spec sheet. The picture below will help give you a far better sense of the sensor sizes in the S120 and FH5.

As you can see, both of these cameras offer different resolutions and different sensor dimensions. The S120 using its bigger sensor is going to make shooting shallow DOF less difficult and the Panasonic FH5 will give more detail with its extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also enable you to crop pictures a little more aggressively. The fresher S120 provides an advantage when it comes to sensor technology.