If someone wants to buy a compact digital camera, most of the times it's enough to choose from Canon models.
Canon offers different types of cameras to different people needs.
Let's take a look at them if you don't mind, I will try to give a helping hand for those who just cannot decide.
Basically there are six line of Canon compacts:
1.
The G-series Pros: fast lens, 4x optical zoom, all manual controls, flip-out LCD, hot shoe, optional converters, RAW mode, microdrive support, long battery life (despite of the lithium type!), professional feeling, great hand-grip
Cons: weighty, big size, lithium batteries (from a point of view), pricey
2.
The Sxx-series Pros: wider angle then average (28mm to S60/S70), portability, light, RAW mode, microdrive support, full manual controls, elegant look
Cons: fixed LCD, slow lens, PF (CA), lithium battery
3.
The Sxxx-series Pros: portability (small size), very light, sexy look
Cons: fixed LCD, slow lens, PF (CA), lithium battery, lack of real manual controls
4.
The Axx-series Pros: long battery life (due to AA's), flip-out LCD, great hand-grip, full manual controls, optional converters, many scene modes for beginners (on A70 and now on A95), cheap
Cons: slow lens, PF (CA)
5.
The Axxx-series Pros: cheap, uses AA's, portability
Cons: slow lens, PF (CA), no real manual controls
6.
The NEW Sx-IS series Pros: big zoom, best video, great hand-grip, long battery life (due to AA's), full manual controls
Cons: weighty, slow lens, PF (CA), lack of AF-assist lamp, noisy images
That's it, at least at the date of this quick review.
As you can see from the above
The G-series has the fastest lens and a hot shoe
The Sxx-series has the wider angle zoom (28mm to 100mm)
The Sxxx-series are the more portable ones
The Axx-series has the best value for it's price
The Axxx-series are the cheapest ones that are also very portable
The Sx-IS-series has the biggest zoom and the best video to date
All of them except for the G-series suffer from purple fringing. The G-series has them also, but not much.
All of them has more shutter lag, compared to competition (new Sony and Fuji models).
But pls don't forget the high detail in the images that only CANON compacts can bring. A very important issue for me.
First, it's a question of money.
Second, it's a question of needs.
Lastly, it's a question of taste.
How much can you afford?
What are the most important things you need?
What shape/size do you prefer?
My suggestion is: decide what are the things FOR YOU that are important when choosing a cam. The decision lies beneath your NEEDS:
Need big zoom or best video? Get an Sx-IS cam.
Need portability? Get an Sxxx-series cam.
Need fast lens, a hot shoe and RAW? Get a G-series.
Need wider angle zoom or RAW? Get an Sxx-series cam.
Do you want to print in big size? Get the highest MP one
You are on the budget? Get an Axxx-series cam.
None of the above? Get an Axx-series camera then!
The top of the A-line cameras now is the A95 that is a geat, but not perfect cam. There are no perfect ones. Every of them has it's flaws. Pls don't be a maximalist otherwise you won't enjoy the beauty of your own cam. Choose the right cam for you based on your needs. An IMPORTANT advie: don't let the megapixel drive you if you don't need big size prints. It's only marketing, more megapixels doesn't mean better image quality. Keep this in mind always!
So I got the A95.
I love the LCD, the battery life, full manual controls, shape, hand-grip and the optional converters of the A95.
I miss the fast lens, the wider angle and the hot shoe.
Weight could be less, but it's quite tolerable and the camera is portable enough for me, if there is a belt-case with you then you won't miss the IXUS. Bigger than the Sxxx-series but much smaller than the G-series. I had an IXUS before (S400) but missed the manual controls and the flip-out LCD, so I had to change.
I had an A80 before. The difference is not that much. The A95 has 5 megapixels and a bigger LCD with higher resolution. These are the main differences. They are not much, but enough for me to change, I am one of those people who don't think just buy. :) Do you have an A80? Wait for the next model. Do you have an A60/A70/A75/A85 model? Buy this! That flip-out LCD is a bless.
It has a bit more noise probably due to the more megapixel than the A80. BUT: it has nicer LCD and a bit faster response times. I don't know why because normally it should be slower because of the bigger file sizes (5mp vs 4mp on the A80). But it's not. It's quicker, but not much. Still, another plus for the A95.
The Flexi-zone feature is very useful, ususally found only on higher end cameras. It let's you choose the focus point anywhere in the frame, though I use mine with Center Focus AF most of the time.
The extra scene modes are great, I just don't use them so often. I don't like when the camera sets the ISO above 50 when there is no need to.
The VGA video is quite useless since it records only 30 secs. What a shame, I really miss that unlimited video! But it's not a deal breaker for me, since it's a camera not a camcorder.
The print/share button is not that exciting at least for me. I know I will never use it.
All in all: a great cam. Such as Canon's other models. All of them are great, I started with an A40 and loved that much, that was my first cam. The A95 is the close-to-perfect family cam, I highly recommend it to everyone. It's image quality is top-notch in many ways, it only has a bit higher than average PF that's all, otherwise it takes excellent images out of the cam without any post-processing.
Buy it, it's a CANON.
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