Canon PowerShot S2 IS review

Performance
Thanks to the company's Digic II processing, Canon's PowerShot S2 IS performs admirably. Start-up to first shot -- including the time allotted for the lens to extend -- was just over 2 seconds. The lens moved smoothly and quietly, except for minor groaning at start-up. We noticed little distortion at either extreme. Shot-to-shot time without flash was fast at 1.3 seconds, although flash recycling added almost 3 seconds of waiting. There was minimal shutter lag and autofocus worked well even in low light, thanks to the addition of an AF illuminator lamp.

Continuous shooting was only about average at about 1.6fps at high resolution, but the S2 IS was able to capture an impressive 17 frames at that speed before slowing. Dropping the resolution allowed the camera to keep going for more than 57 frames.

Both the LCD and the EVF gain up in low light, making it easier to see what you're shooting. Bright sunlight, on the other hand, often made LCD viewing difficult.

Shooting speed in seconds
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Shutter lag (typical)

Time to first shot

Typical shot-to-shot time

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-H1

0.4

2.0

1.3

Canon PowerShot S2 IS

0.6

2.1

1.3

Kodak EasyShare Z740

0.7

3.9

1.6

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20

0.9

4.4

2.0

Continuous-shooting speed in frames per second
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Typical continuous-shooting speed

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20

2.9

Kodak EasyShare Z740

2.3

Canon PowerShot S2 IS

1.6

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-H1

1.2

Image quality
As expected, our test shots were generally very good, with appropriately saturated colours, accurate exposures and sharp focus -- the latter thanks to the Canon PowerShot S2 IS's excellent image stabiliser.

While the S2's macro mode worked very well, delivering nicely detailed subjects, we had less luck when we tried to take advantage of the S2 IS's Super Macro mode, which allegedly focuses down to 0.0 centimetres.

The S2 IS showed little image noise at light sensitivities below ISO 200. At ISO 200, noise became noticeable, and things got worse from there. Auto white balance when shooting indoors delivered overly warm images, which is common among Canon cameras, as is the purple fringing we discovered along high-contrast edges. The latter, however, did not seem quite as nasty as we've seen in other Canon models.

Edited by Lori Grunin
Additional editing by Nick Hide