Canon PowerShot S1 IS

With the 3.2-megapixel Canon PowerShot S1 IS, the company takes the appeal of a 10X zoom lens one step further with optical image stabilization. Excellent movie capture, manual exposure control, solid image quality, and a host of other pluses add to its attractiveness. Its design isn't for those who favor simplicity or elegance, though, and advanced photographers may be turned off by its limited resolution and file-type options.The Canon PowerShot S1 IS has a decidedly plastic look and feel, although its silver and gray body is well constructed enough not to be chintzy. Weighing in at about a pound, it feels substantial in the hand, with a large grip that provides good balance regardless of whether you're using the small fold-out-and-swivel LCD or the electronic viewfinder (EVF).


There are a lot of buttons and dials to reckon with on this camera; operating the PowerShot S1 IS takes a little getting used to. To get started, use your right thumb to push a little release button and twist a lever to power up the camera. The same motion switches from recording to playback, and you press a small button on top of the lever to turn off the camera. It's awkward at first but gets easier with practice. The shutter release is in the usual place, encircled by a zoom toggle so that you can operate both with your index finger. There's a separate Record button on the back of the camera for video capture--a somewhat unusual approach. Unfortunately, you can't press it and make a quick video capture while in a photo-capture mode; you still have to turn the mode dial to the video icon first.


Most of the physical controls serve multiple purposes, so the manual will be your best friend until you figure out where all the features live and what pressing different button combinations does. At first, finding the controls on the PowerShot S1 IS can be like a scavenger hunt, but the eventual payoff is quick and easy setting changes while shooting. As with other PowerShot models, there are two menu systems: one for settings you'll need to change quickly while shooting, and one for camera setup, customizable controls, and additional less frequently used functions. This system works well in general, although there are a few settings--such as flash modes--buried in the main menu that we wish were more quickly accessible.Optical image stabilization to keep your zoomed-in shots sharp is the most notable feature on the Canon PowerShot S1 IS; most of its competitors with 10X optical zoom ranges don't offer it. The PowerShot S1 IS favors close shots of distant subjects over wide angles, with a focal-length range from 38mm to 380mm (35mm-camera equivalent). The lens maintains a relatively fast f-stop throughout the focal range, with a maximum aperture of f2.8 to f/3.1.


The PowerShot S1 IS has enough shooting features to satisfy most enthusiasts, as well as a good selection of options for automatic snapshot photography. Exposure options run from fully automatic to fully manual, with plus or minus 2EV exposure and flash compensation, autobracketing, three metering modes, and selectable ISO from 50 to 400. You can select Vivid or Neutral color mode; set white balance manually or choose from a good range of presets; and fine-tune contrast, saturation, and sharpness. The S1 IS also has a few of the less common selections for its class, including focus autobracketing, a spot meter that you can link to the selectable autofocus point, and an intervalometer for capturing 100 pictures with gaps as long as 1 hour. If you want to let the camera do the work, there's a modest but useful selection of scene modes too.

You can choose from four resolution and three JPEG-compression settings, but there are no TIFF or RAW modes. Shooting Motion JPEG movies is a pleasure with the PowerShot S1 IS; there are two resolutions (640x480 and 320x240) and two frame-rate options (15fps and 30fps), and you can record videos of up to 1 hour in length. You can also operate the zoom while shooting, with little sound interference. You'll have to spring for a fast high-capacity CompactFlash card to get the best out of this camera's video capabilities.

This PowerShot supports the PictBridge standard for sending photos directly to a compatible printer, as well as Canon's own direct-printing technologies. Optional accessories include a wireless remote, wide and telephoto accessory lenses, and an underwater housing that works to a depth of 130 feet. There's no shoe or port for connecting an external flash unit, however.The Canon PowerShot S1 IS performed moderately well on rechargeable nickel-metal-hydride batteries, although start-up to first shot took nearly 5 seconds. Shot-to-shot times were slightly less than 2 seconds without flash and extended to more than 3 seconds with flash--pretty average for this camera's class.


Continuous shooting was more impressive, allowing us to capture 14 3-megapixel photos at 1.4fps before the PowerShot S1 IS started to slow. At low resolution, the camera sped along at a consistent 1.8fps and showed no signs of slowing down after 60 shots.

Autofocus was generally accurate and took about 0.6 second to lock on its subject, or a little longer but still less than 1 second in low light. Under very dim conditions--for example, in a small room lit only by a bright computer monitor--the autofocus failed to lock on a subject, and there's no assist lamp to help it out. Unlike some other Canon PowerShot models, the S1 IS has only a single-point focus system, but with a quick press of a button, you can move the focus point with the four-way controller. This is great when your subject isn't centered in the frame. There's no separate macro setting on the camera, but at wide angle, the camera focuses down to about four inches. The zoom lens operates smoothly and quietly. It also runs through its focal-length range at demonic speed, which can be problematic until you get used to it.

The LCD and EVF are both adequately sharp and bright, and the display is reasonably readable in bright light. However, in low light, the image on both viewfinders becomes hard to see. They also freeze momentarily while the focus is locking on a subject. If you do a lot of night or action photography, those are shortcomings you should consider.The Canon PowerShot S1 IS delivered good results for its 3-megapixel class. Colors in our test shots looked natural and maintained saturation even under the harshest noontime sunlight. Indoor images showed, not surprisingly, warm tones when the flash wasn't used or whenever we opted for the automatic white balance. Dynamic range was good too, with rich details in the shadows and only the brightest of highlights clipped.


Thanks to the lens's image stabilization, handheld shots at even the longest focal length were nicely focused. In close-ups, we managed to capture details down to specks of dust. We saw only minimal barrel distortion at the wide end of the zoom range and no other optical distortion. Unfortunately, color fringing worsened with longer focal lengths.

While our test photos suffered from little chromatic aberration at wide angle, zooming in brought on more color fringing. This little black and yellow railroad car was mostly fine from a distance (images at left; bottom shown at 100 percent), but when we zoomed in close, purple, green, and magenta fringes appeared (images at right; bottom shown at 100 percent).

For a still camera, the S1 IS produces surprisingly good video. In 30fps VGA mode, it captures smooth motion and adequate detail for casual viewing on a TV. This PowerShot won't replace your camcorder, but if you just want to take occasional video clips on vacation or at events, the quality will probably suffice.