Canon PowerShot S80

Reviewed January 2006

Characteristics

The PowerShot S80 uses an 8.3 million pixel, 1/1.8 inch CCD of which 8.0 million pixels are effective to capture a maximum image size of 3264 x 2448 pixels. The CCD's sensitivity starts at 50 ISO, but can be increased to 100, 200 or 400 ISO. In addition the S80 offers an Auto ISO mode that allows the camera to increase the sensitivity as required.

A 3.6X zoom with a focal length of 5.8 to 20.7 mm — equivalent of a 28 to 100 mm on a 35 mm camera — is used with the S80. The zoom lens has an aperture of f2.8 at the wide angle end, becoming f5.3 at the telephoto end.

This aperture range is combined with a shutter speed range that covers from 1/2000 second down to 15 seconds, but which varies according to the shooting mode, and the focal length of the zoom. However, whatever the shooting mode, noise reduction is applied to all exposures over 1.3 second long.

The S80 offers 5 image sizes:

While the PowerShot S80 offers no RAW or uncompressed image formats, it does provide 3 JPEG compression levels:

The image quality and compression settings are amongst the most commonly needed settings, and are therefore part of the settings offered in the Function menu, a group of options that are displayed superimposed on the LCD monitor's image when the FUNC./SET button at the centre of the Multi-control Dial is pressed:

• White Balance: Auto, Day light, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent (cool white or warm white), Fluorescent H (daylight fluorescent), Flash, Underwater (for use with the optional WP-DC1 waterproof case), Custom (to set the white balance according to a white surface under ambient light conditions).
• My Colours (only shown when the camera is set to the My Colour shooting mode or to the Movie Mode) serves to select the specific My Colour mode: Positive film, Lighter skin tone, Darker skin tone, Vivid blue, Vivid green, Vivid red, Colour accent, Colour Swap, Custom Colour.
• Photo Effect allows changing the way colours are recorded: Effect Off, Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Sepia, Black and White, Custom Effect (provides controls over contrast, sharpness, saturation.

• Bracket provides for Exposure Bracketing (±2 EV in 1/3 EV increments), or Focus Bracketing which works when the camera is set to Manual Focus, and which captures one shot at the focused position, one nearer, and the third farther.
• Flash Exposure Compensation: offers a range of ±2EV in 1/3 EV increments when the Flash Adjust option in the Rec. Menu is set to Auto for the TV and Av modes. (Note that this option is not available with the Manual shooting mode.)

• Flash Output: is an option available when the camera is set to the Manual mode, and also the Tv and Av modes if the Rec. Menu option Flash Adjust is set to Manual. It allows adjusting the output of the flash in thirds (1/3, 2/3, or Full).
• Metering serves to select the metering pattern: Evaluative (default), Centre-weighted, or Spot which can be set to always meter the centre of the frame, or follow the focus point.
• Compression: Super fine, Fine, or Normal (see above).
• Resolution: as explained above.
• Resolution (Movie mode only): 640 or 320 (the other resolutions such as 1024, are selected using the Multi-control Dial when the movie mode is in use. See the Ergonomic section of the review for more information about the Movie mode).
• Frame Rate (Movie mode only): 15 or 30 frames per second.

Worth noting, depending on the shooting mode in use, some of the options shown above are inaccessible, and for instance, when the S80 is set to capture a movie, the only options are for white balance and the movie resolution and frame rate.

The remaining user selectable options for the still image capture mode are found in the Rec. Menu, the first part of the 3-part menu:

• Flash Sync: 1st Curtain (the flash fires at the beginning of the exposure) or Second Curtain (the flash fires just before the end of the exposure).
• Slow Synchro: On or Off. Starts the Slow Synch flash mode which can be set to fire at the beginning or just before the end of the flash exposure (see above).
• Flash Adjust: Auto or Manual (see above). Decides whether the flash is adjusted through Flash Exposure Compensation or Flash Output in the Tv and Av modes.
• Red-Eye: On or Off. Decides whether or not the red-eye red reduction lamp — which also serves as the self-timer lamp and the AF assist lamp — fires before the flash.
• Self-Timer: provides a choice of 10 seconds, 2 seconds, or Custom which can be configured to shoot from 1 to 10 shots, with a delay from 0 to 30 seconds.
• Spot AE Point: has two options, Centre which forces the spot metering to take place at the centre of the frame, or AF Point, which forces the spot meter to take place wherever the focus point is in the frame.
• Safety Shift: On or Off. When On, the camera will automatically adjust the user selected exposure settings (aperture and/or shutter speed) if the selection would result in an under- or over-exposed image.
• MF-Point Zoom: On or Off. Decides whether or not the focus point is magnified during manual focusing.

• AF Assist Beam: On or Off. Decides whether or not the AF-assist lamp comes on to help the camera focus when the ambient light is insufficient for the auto focus system to operate by itself.
• Digital Zoom: On or Off. Decides whether or not the 4X digital zoom is available once the maximum setting of the optical zoom is reached. The digitally zoomed image is interpolated to the currently selected image size, and the greater the digital magnification of the image, the lower the image quality becomes.

• Review: determines the length of time a just captured image is shown on the monitor (Off, 2 through 10 seconds, or Hold which displays the image until another control or button is touched).
• Save Original: On or Off. Selects whether or not the original image is saved along with the image altered by the My Colour mode.
• Grid Lines: On or Off. Serves to superimpose fine black lines in a grid pattern on the monitor to assist during image composition.
• Histogram: On or Off. Decides whether or not a real-time histogram is included when the display is set to Detailed View.
• Intervalometer: allows the camera to shoot automatically at set intervals, from 1 to 60 minutes, and from 2 to 100 shots.
• Set Shortcut Button: makes it possible to configure the button to immediately access: (see the Ergonomic section of the review for more information).
• Save Settings: saves the current camera settings so that they can be recalled when the Mode Dial is turned to the C position.

With the S80 set to the Playback mode, the first part of the menu changes, presenting options that are related to the display and printing of the captured images. As always, the other two sections, Setup (see the Interface and Software section of the review) and My Camera (see further below) are the same as those shown in the capture menu:

• Protect: serves to mark images so that they cannot be erased accidentally. Images can be protected one at a time, or using the index view to select more than one at a time.
• Rotate: makes it possible to change the image orientation by 90° or 270°.
• Erase All: erases all images on the memory card, except for protected images.
• Slide Show: a slide show can be created using All Images, or those selected by a specific Date, or those in a specific Folder, or Movies only, or Still Images only, or using any 1 of 3 custom settings using DPOF tags.

• Print Order: serves to select images that will be printed (DPOF). Index pages can be selected for printing, or single images can be chosen for printing one at a time. In addition one or more copies of an image can be made and the date can be superimposed on the photo. The PowerShot S80 is PictBridge compatible and can be used to print directly to PictBridge compatible printers via USB, as well as Canon printers that are Direct Print or Bubble Jet compatible.
• Transfer Order: provides a way to select images for direct and automatic transfer to a computer once the camera is connected to a computer that has the included software installed and running.
• Transition: provides a transition effect between images as the right and left arrows are used to go from one image to another in playback. Three transition effects are available, a down-up fade of the image, a cross which expands revealing the image, or a mail slot effect which grows to reveal the image.

As with all current Canon digital cameras, the third part of both the Rec. and Playback menus is the My Camera section, and it offers a means to "personalize" the camera. A start-up image can be selected, and so can sounds to accompany various camera activities.

Moreover, the software supplied with the S80 contains a large quantity of ready-to use themes which can be uploaded to the camera and used whole, or broken up as desired.

In North America, Canon includes a 32MB SD (Secure Digital) memory card with the PowerShot S80, but the camera is compatible with both SD and MultiMedia cards although the best performance is obtained when SD cards are used. The memory card is housed in a slot underneath the camera, and close to the back. The Lithium-ion battery is nearby.

The chart below lists approximate capacities using the supplied 32MB card and an optional 512 MB SD card:

Still Images:

Movies:

A rechargeable Lithium Ion (NB-2LH) battery powers the S80. As noted above, the battery is located in a slot next to the memory card. The battery is held in place by an orange plastic spring loaded clamp that prevents it from sliding out when the door to the compartment is opened.

The battery is recharged using the CB-2LW/CB-2lWE battery charger which is included with the camera, and a full charge takes approximately 90 minutes.

At the top is the USB 2.0 Hi-speed connection, which serves to connect the camera to a computer or to a printer.

At the bottom is the A/V (Audio/Video) out jack, which is used to connect the S80 to a television.

Cables for both are included with the camera.