Canon S100

Canon S100 is Canon's Small Sensor Compact camera initially introduced on December of 2011. The camera features a 12MP, CMOS 1/1.7" sized sensor and has a full resolution of 4000 x 3000.

Canon introduced this camera in an effort to replace the previous Canon S95 (Read Full Comparison) and subsequently brought out the newer Canon S110 (Read Full Comparison) in an effort to update this model.

The S100 is placed #28 out of 261 in Small Sensor Compact cameras and overall #669 out of 1465 for digital cameras in our database. Please check out our Advanced camera finder to see camera ratings based on your customized factors.

Below is a chart of different factors used in the rating system.

The Canon S100 is part of a family of digital cameras. You can view the full range underneath.

You can check the S100 from various angles in the gallery underneath.

Below is a shortlist of upsides and downsides of the Canon S100 based on factors which are oftentimes regarded as crucial in a camera.

The Canon S100 is run by the Digic 5 processor chip. The sensor specification in the Canon S100 is 7.44mm x 5.58mm (1/1.7"). The 42 mm² sensor can capture 4000 x 3000 pixels and aspect ratios of 1:1, 5:4, 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9. The camera boasts Image Stabilization (Optical). In body stabilization is more desirable than digital stabilization as the latter may cause cropping.

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The CMOS sensor boasts 12 megapixels and includes a native ISO range of 80 - 6400. RAW files are saved so the user has wider margin for error.

The picture underneath displays the S100's sensor dimensions when compared to other common sizes. The S100 sensor comes with a crop factor of 4.8 and is outlined in green.

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To get a sense of various aspect ratios, you should refer to the visual below.

Canon S100 weighs about 0.44 lbs (198 grams / 6.98 oz) and the volume of the camera is 99mm x 60mm x 28mm (3.9" x 2.4" x 1.1"). The weight of average Small Sensor Compact camera is 174 grams so the Canon S100 is weightier in comparison with various rivals.

Photography Glossary

Underneath is a shot of the Canon S100 next to a soda to help you to have a sense of its scale.

The top view under will show you the button layout on the S100.

The S100 has got an inbuilt lens and it has a focal range of 24-120mm making it a 5.0 x zoom which may not be perfect but it can be invaluable in a few scenarios.

At the widest 24mm, the lens will have an aperture of f2.0 making it great in low light conditions and getting a shallow depth of field. It would also allow you to go with a lower ISO to have more clean photographs. On the tele end, 120mm comes to f5.9 which is pretty slow and you will need to go with slow shutter speeds.

The S100 has the following connectivity:

• USB Yes
• Wireless Yes
• HDMI Yes
• GPS Yes

Digital cameras with NFC and / or Bluetooth support can easily be controlled wirelessly with smartphones. You can copy pictures and usually adjust settings without the hassle of connecting physically to the camera.

Some applications even enable a Liveview and release the shutter in case you are not near the camera. If the camera features a HDMI out, it could be hooked up to an external display. Most cameras enable you to recharge the battery pack using the USB socket.

The highest possible video quality in the Canon S100 is 1920 x 1080 and it can shoot in H.264 and Motion JPEG format. 1080p quality offers a decent balance for quality and file sizes but 1080p is not going to give you much room to crop. The camera does not offer a mic and / or headphone jack so you have little control over your audio. It is perhaps a better idea to have a look at a different model if you need good audio in your video clips.

Canon S100 does not include environment sealing so wet conditions can easily ruin the camera.

The Canon S100 features a 3 inch fixed display supporting a resolution of 461 thousand dots.

Sadly the display is not a touch screen.

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The ViewFinder specs regarding Canon S100 are the following:

• ViewFinder None

In those sunny outdoor conditions which make the camera displays washed out and difficult to view, viewfinders are quite useful.

Canon S100 continuous shooting rate is 2.0 fps. The highest shutter speed is 1/2000 seconds.

Canon S100 boasts only in-built flash without external flash support. The max flash sync is 1/2000 seconds.

Canon S100 boasts just Contrast Detect Auto Focus and does not have Phase Detect Auto Focus. Phase Detection focusing is more faster & precise in comparison with Contrast Detect focusing. The camera features Face detect making it useful for portraits.

The AF system features 9 focus points to select from. It also includes Tracking Auto Focus for moving subjects. Canon S100 supports manual focus if required for low light scenarios or you want more precise control on focus.

The battery life (NB-5L) for the Canon S100 is built to last for 200 clicks with respect to the CIPA standards which is lower compared with its competition. The average Small Sensor Compact camera battery life is 241. Fujifilm X30 features the best (470) battery life for this range of cameras.

Underneath is a listing of Small Sensor Compact cameras that come with the best battery life:

ModelVisualizeBattery LifeRAWNFCBluetooth

Fujifilm X30
S100 vs Fujifilm X30470 yesnono

Casio EX-10
S100 vs EX-10455 yesnono

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Ricoh GR Digital IV
S100 vs GR Digital IV390 yesnono

Canon G12
S100 vs G12370 yesnono

Canon G16
S100 vs G16360 yesnono

The following diagram displays a summary of the Canon S100 for different kinds of photography. To look at more, have a look at the specific section underneath.

The Canon S100 gets a rating of 45 which is horrible, meaning that it is not acceptable for portrait photos. Taking portraits leans heavily to sensor resolution, RAW support & capability to work with external flash.

With a above average score of 65, the Canon S100 is a respectable fit to buy for street photography. A good street photography camera features a good balance of image quality and portability.

A horrible sports photography points tally of 32 indicates the Canon S100 is not acceptable for shooting sports. A camera should have good focusing and shutter speeds for sports photography.

Size is super important when picking a camera for travel. On the whole, the Canon S100 gets a very good 61 as a travel camera which is a fine option to take on your trips.

When you are planning to choose a camera for landscape photographs, the most vital aspect will be image quality. The Canon S100 and it's modest score of 51 as a landscape camera is fairly adequate within the current market.

A camera for vlogging should come with a moving screen, microphone port and ideally IBIS. Taking everything into account, the Canon S100 is not acceptable as a vlog camera as it comes to a horrible rating of 36.

If you want replacements to the S100, here is a selection of the highest scored cameras which fall under the category of Small Sensor Compact.

The chart here provides you a bird's eye view of the S100 versus it's top ranked rivals suggested above.

Here are a handful of other cameras you might take into account as alternative options. To check out a full comparison, simply click on the "compare" link.