12, Jan, 2025
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Canon PowerShot S20

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Based on the successful A Series compact digitals, Canon’s new S Series has the same smooth brushed alloy casing, top-mounted mode dial, top-panel LCD and rearmounted toggle switch as its predecessors. If it wasn’t for the badge, it would be easy to mistake this camera for an A5 or A50.
However, the new series has much more go than its predecessors. It has a 3.3 megapixel CCD, a 2x zoom lens with digital 4x on top of that, a USB connector and a Type II CompactFlash slot. The camera comes with a 16M card, but the Type II capability means It’s happy to take IBM’s Microdrive with up to 34OM capacity. That’s plenty of pics, even at 2,048 by 1,536 resolution.
Although it has plenty of control buttons, the PowerShot 520’s image options aren’t much more extensive than those of the Canon IXUS. The top-panel controls are backed up by six scattered buttons and a toggle/zoom dial which all make adjustments rather laborious. One useful extra is the Image option on the mode dial. This extends the plain auto or manual modes, and programs the camera for best results when shooting at night, or when using fast action, landscape, slow shutter or mono options. It also complements the ‘stitch’ mode which offers multi-shot panorama shooting.
The clarity and brightness of the 1.8in LCD viewer was well above I average. The PowerShot S20 can use either the supplied 2CR5 NiMH battery or a disposable lithium battery, and the bundle includes a direct power supply as well as the charger — invaluable for slideshow evenings. Output Is achieved via a combined USB/seria) socket or through a separate TV-out socket.
Canon obviously likes fast cameras. Like the IXUS, it sprang into life in two seconds, and was ready for a second shot 2.3 seconds after the first. Downloading was even zippier, at a little over 1.5 seconds for a 7SOK image.
Canon has included Adobe PhotoDeluxe as well the ZoomBrowser download utility with the S20, and the resulting images are great. It provided very high detail and minimal jaggies at up to 200% zoom. Il had better shadow detail than the Nikon Coolpix 990, but slightly less high light accuracy and some associated bleaching. Nonetheless, the overall image quality was excellent, and indoor flash shots happily took 300% enlargement with no jaggies or colour cast. At $200 less than the Nikon Coolpix 990, it’s a steal.

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