New Canon Compacts: Powershot S95 & Ixus 1000HS

Not long ago Canon announced a few new cameras for their compact range, two being the Powershot S95 and the Ixus 1000HS. These cameras are aimed at two different markets - if you are an everyday happy snapper who likes pointing and shooting the 1000hs is made for you. On the other hand if you're someone who likes more control and better results then the Powershot range is the one your eyes should be on.

Anyone who loves their cameras, be it big DSLR's, Mirror-less Micro 4/3's or Compact's will have heard about Canon's Powershot S90. It really was a giant leap forward as far as compact cameras go… 10mega pixel sensor with amazing low light capabilities, full manual control with RAW Shooting and a very friendly rotating front ring. I don't think I need to go on for you to know it was a lovely camera... then they announced the S95.

As far as resolution and sensitivity goes not a lot has changed for the S 95, it still features the same 28mm wide angle, 3.8x optical zoom lens with a very bright f2.0 aperture which makes shooting in low light situations even easier. This also eliminates the need for flash in all your photos. Built in HDR was added and a pretty impressive 720p HD video mode with stereo sound.

So, lets talk HDR… or High Dynamic Range for those in the know.

Shoot 3-5-7-Whatever images. Slightly underexpose/balance/overexpose each of them and blend the images together using imaging software. This allows you to capture a lot more detail throughout your shadow, midtone, and highlight areas instead of exposing for a subject and sacrificing detail somewhere… Sounds difficult? Well… Canon has created a feature which now does this for you. Pretty impressive huh?

It also features an all new Hybrid Image Stabilisation (the S95 is the first in Canon's new lineup to be fitted with this) which improves overall stability and particularly when shooting macro or smaller subjects. The video on the S95 has been upgraded from standard VGA to 720p HD which records at 24 frames per second and supports a number of file formats. If you take a look at some sample videos it's pretty impressive.

Another great thing about the S90 that's still there on the S95 is the rotating front ring, which can be set to Zoom/Aperture/ISO Sensitivity/Manual Focus/Exposure Compensation/White Balance or Aspect Ratio giving you the freedom to tailor the S95 exactly to how you personally like to shoot. Available now. 

After 10 years of Canon Ixus Range, the new leader of the pack is the 1000HS. According to Canon it's the "Worlds slimmest camera to feature a 10x optical zoom" and at only 22.3mm it's pretty slim. If you're a person who likes having a pocket-able compact camera but still wants features such as a super zoom lens, full HD video recording with slow motion and an insanely fast frame rate then the Ixus 1000HS could be at the top of your wishlist this Christmas.

So lets get back to basics... The Ixus range has always been known for its simplicity and its high image quality.. After all it is Canon so why expect anything less? The 1000HS features include a 10 megapixel sensor with Canon's new HS System (High Sensitivity), this makes shooting in low light situations even easier with less noise. With an improved image stabilisation it assists in helping you shoot sharp clean images even at full zoom. 

Video modes on compact cameras are pretty common these days, but very few can offer full HD 1080p video, the 1000HS is one of these. But that's not all, it also has the ability to shoot video at 240 frames per second, and play back at about 6 times slower than standard video. With other features such as best image selections which shoots a burst of 5 images and then selects the best, and a pretty cool wink timer which will automatically shoot a photo 2 seconds after a wink is detected. If you're someone who wants to pick up a camera, shoot effortlessly amazing images, then slip it back into your pocket and keep on going then the 1000HS could just be what you're looking for. Available soon at Camera Electronic.