Canon PowerShot S2 IS review

Weighing just over half a kilo, Canon's 5-megapixel PowerShot S2 IS is a hefty camera.

Its large silver body feels robust and the protruding textured grip makes the camera comfortable to use. The zoom rocker and shutter button are perfectly positioned under your index finger, and your right thumb falls naturally on the directional control pad at the rear.

Most of the S2's weight seems to be concentrated in the lens barrel, which houses a two-speed, 11-element, 12x zoom lens equivalent to 36-432mm in a 35mm film camera. Canon supplements this impressive zoom range with an optical image stabilising mechanism. This has two operating modes, one for continuous stabilisation and one that kicks in only when the shutter is released. The latter is the more effective of the two. It allows you to shoot at the full extent of the zoom and in low light with slow shutter speeds without resorting to a tripod.

The lens barrel has two buttons. One activates the manual focus, which you have to operate using the direction pad on the rear. This is fiddly and imprecise and we'd much prefer a barrel ring. The other button activates the stunning two-stage macro mode, which allows you to focus even when the subject is literally touching the lens. Although it's difficult to light anything so close to the lens, it makes for some impressive close-up photographs.

You can frame shots using either the LCD viewfinder or the 1.8" fold-out LCD screen. The latter rotates 90 downward, enabling you to take accurate photos with the camera above your head, and around by 180 so you can take self-portraits without resorting to guesswork.

A large mode dial on the top of the camera body switches between the main shooting modes. The Auto mode limits your options to image size, but Program mode gives you free reign over the full gamut of ISO, exposure compensation, flash adjust, image effect, white balance and bracketing options. You can bracket for either focus or exposure. The S2 IS also offers Aperture and Shutter priority modes as well as full Manual, Custom, Portrait, Landscape and Night Scene settings and a bi-directional stitch assist tool.

You can access the Movie mode at any time in any mode by pressing the dedicated movie record button. The S2 IS records AVI movies at up to 640x480 at 30fps and with stereo sound, although it saves them as combined AVI and WAV files rather than MPEG-4. You can use the full zoom range with image stabilisation while shooting, and you can even take a full-resolution still photograph in mid-flow, although this interrupts the video recording.

The S2 IS takes superb photos. Although it records at only 2,560x 1,920 pixels, its zoom lens lets you fill the frame with your subject. It also captures scenes in rich, living colour. Noise starts to creep in at ISOs above 200, though, so try to use longer shutter speeds and set the ISO manually instead. Exposure and white balance are usually gauged to perfection, and the DIGIC II processor makes the camera very responsive, writing your photos to the memory card very quickly.

There is no doubting the quality of the PowerShot S2 IS. It takes wonderfully rich pictures, has a bright 12x zoom lens with image stabilisation and is a joy to use. Panasonic's DMC-FZ5 has an equally effective sensor and stabilised lens but a smaller range of features. For sheer versatility, the S2 IS wins our Best Buy award.

Author: David McKinnon