Canon PowerShot S95 10 Megapixel Compact Camera, Black

Last year I bought a Canon S95 because I wanted a camera I could keep in my purse and always have with me. I thought I was spending a lot of money for a camera but it has proved it's worth. I just got back from a week in London and Paris where I shot 540 pictures, each one perfect, even when I was shooting out the window of a moving bus or indoors without a flash. I couldn't have been more pleased with the quality and ease of use.

So I take a lot of pictures and I have been playing with digital cameras since the first ones came out in around 1995 (and man, were they horrible). This is probably my 18th digital camera I've owned and by far my favorite. Pretty much every other day someone asks me what camera I have because they are so impressed with the pictures. So after recommending this camera to friends and strangers a few hundred times I figured I'd put my feedback here. I think at this point Canon should just give me a camera for all the advertising I've done for them. It's a little bigger than most snapshot cameras and that's my only negative comment. I carry my camera in my pocket ALL the time so I notice things like this. But It's small enough to still take everywhere - and if you don't take the camera with you, you'll miss the shot. I've only dropped it four times with no issues and hopefully I don't drop it again. It's gotten wet in the rain, sand at the beach with no issues as well. The auto modes on the camera are very nice, capturing many different light settings are very impressive and it excels in low light conditions (dinner, at a club, etc.) The color balance is much better than previous Canons (which was pretty good to begin with). My girlfriend has the same camera and she is always in auto mode and still always showing me pictures and saying "This is the best camera in the world" The manual modes can be a bit daunting as it has so much versatility. If you are professional who wants total control of everything this is your best bet and you can do some amazing things on manual mode. I'm on manual about 1/2 the time and after 4 months I'm still taking amazing shots that I didn't think were possible. The flash control lets me take very nice shots with subjects that are far away as when I crank up the flash power it really delivers. I've always been skeptical of digital zoom as it's just garbage, but I have to say the digital zoom on this has converted me. This is the first camera I haven't disabled the digital zoom because the pictures with it are actually pretty good. Setting all the manual settings is a little tricky as sometimes you use the front ring, sometimes the back and sometimes the thumb pad but considering this thing is the size of a pack of cigarettes it's completely understandable that you just don't have enough real estate to put too many knobs. Overall navigating is good. Battery life is okay, not as good as the smaller point and shoot cameras but I can get through about 500 pictures on a charge. The video seems to eat up the battery pretty quickly but not any more than other similar cameras, that's just the problem with video on a compact camera. The logic of the menus and the display of what's going on is where the camera (and all Canons) shine. You can set things quickly and change them quickly and everything is very intuitive. I do a lot of action shots so changing a lot of settings very quickly is important to me. Bottom line is that Either I have suddenly become an amazing photographer in the last four months or it's the camera. I'm pretty sure it's the camera.

S95 is the best compact camera I ever owned. It's perfect for low light conditions with it's large sensor and F2 lens. With flash off, ISO set at 800, aperture at F2.0 and 28mm wide angle and you will appreciate the quality of the images taken indoor or under low light conditions. They are sharp and natural looking.

I bought the S95 at Samys March 2011. Tell you the truth, I wasn't quite happy with the price from the beginning, but after I took it home and started playing with it...WOW. the picture quality is amazing for pocket size camera. It's so much easy to carry around. I took my daughter to Disneyland - we took boat ride into SmallWorld, the low light condition shooting amazed me. Pictures came out more than what I expected. S95 has geat features. It allows user to set Av and Tv plus much more... Another feature that I like about the S95 is 720p video. Over all. I think this is a SUPER pocket size camera. I'm using S95 so much now a day, I'm thinking selling my SLR system (70-200mm IS f2.8 lens & 24-70mm f2.8 lens, 580EX flash) - Will See. Here is what I quite not happy with S95: zoom is limited 4x and battery is doesn't last long as compared to other canon compact size cameras.

Coming from a Canon S80 that I loved so much, this camera is a huge improvement. The S95's stats on paper did not impress me, but I was forced to upgrade to the S95. This camera is much faster and has much more features than the S80. F2.0 aperture, expanded ISO range from 80-3200 w/ a boost up to 12,800, 10% image sensor and picture stabilization makes it impossible to come away with a blurry picture. The O ring function is a god send; No more fumbling through the Menu for the O ring allows me to adjust shutter speed on the spot. In camera HDR, Miniature Effect, Color Accent & Fish Eye are all features that either require Photoshop or another specialty lense with DSLRs, but come standard on this camera. Don't let the size fool you, this camera is very advanced. If I had to do it all again, I would have upgraded sooner.