Canon PowerShot A2100 IS

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http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/digitalcameras/0,39030233,49302842,00.htm

Reviewed 1 July 2009

Reviewed by Joshua Goldman

Let's be honest: a 3x or 4x optical zoom isn't much help. Yes, it gets you a little closer if there's a fence or restraining order in the way, but you'll always want more. Stepping up to a 5x or 6x zoom, such as the one in the Canon PowerShot A2100 IS, makes a noticeable difference. Add in the camera's very good photo quality, its 12.1-megapixel resolution and Canon's Digic 4 image processor and you're in a much better position to get the shot you really want. As long as your target isn't moving too fast, that is.

The A2100 is available for around £200.

Design
The A2100 is almost identical in design to last year's PowerShot A2000 IS. The A2100's black wedge-shaped body is statelier looking than the A2000's bland grey and silver, however. The wide part of the wedge is on the right side, giving you a comfortably thick grip. Sticking it in a trouser or jacket pocket won't be a problem, although its weight won't let you forget it's there.

Considering the A2100 has a 6x zoom lens and is powered by two AA batteries, the weight is forgivable. Worth noting, though, is how fast it'll chomp through batteries. You'll want to invest in a pair of NiMH rechargeables, which will also bring the shot count up significantly.

The A2100 offers reasonably good centre sharpness. The camera's auto ISO selected ISO 160 for this shot, keeping fine details intact (click image to enlarge)

At first glance, it seems as if there's a great deal of controls for the A2100. On top are a power button, a shutter release with a zoom ring, and a mode dial with no fewer than 10 shooting options. Why so many for such a basic camera? Well, along with its program, auto, easy (auto without options) and movie modes, Canon has added five popular scene selections (such as portrait, landscape and indoor), and an 'SCN' choice for accessing lesser-used scene settings, like sunset, snow and aquarium. While the mode dial looks quite busy, it's actually simple.

Likewise, the back of the camera is loaded up with a directional pad and six buttons labelled in white (for shooting functions) and blue (for playback functions), but even novice users should get up to speed quickly.

Regardless of the controls, there's little reason to spend much time hanging out in the menu system. For those times when it's necessary -- for example, to change the autofocus priority, adjust the LCD brightness, or switch when the image stabilisation is engaged -- navigation is straightforward.

If you're expecting to find the manual controls of earlier Canon A-series models, you'll be disappointed with the A2100. The PowerShot A590 IS is the only model in the current lineup that has aperture-priority, shutter-priority, and manual options. The A2100's program mode does give you control over ISO, white balance, autofocus type, light metering and colour effects, though.

Performance
Plain and simple, the A2100 is designed for point-and-shoot use, and it performs that role extremely well. We wish it were slightly faster though. From off to first shot takes an acceptable 1.9 seconds. The camera's 2-second shot-to-shot time is also comparatively decent for its class. But, turn on the flash, and you'll be waiting an average of 6.9 seconds between shots. Shutter lag feels long. In our tests it was 0.6 seconds in bright conditions and 0.9 seconds in dim light. There's no proper burst shooting mode, but the A2100 has unlimited continuous shooting, capable of a good 1 frame per second.

The A2100 offers very good photo quality. Colour, contrast and white balance are particularly good. As is the norm for this class of camera, the A2100 produces its best results at light sensitivities below ISO 200. Although there's some graininess/noise at all ISOs, it becomes readily noticeable at ISO 400, but, for the most part, detail remains good. You can get up to ISO 800 and still have a usable photo at smaller sizes, as long as you're okay with the reduced detail and clarity.

Centre sharpness is good, but softens as you go out to the sides of the frame. There's some typical barrel distortion and purple fringing, but the amounts are in line with other cameras at this price point.

Shooting speed (in frames per second)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Time to first shot

Typical shot-to-shot time (flash)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Shutter lag (dim)

Shutter lag (typical)

Kodak EasyShare Z1085 IS

2.9 

3.2 

2.6 

0.7 

0.4 

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290

1.3 

2.7 

2.3 

0.7 

0.4 

Nikon Coolpix S630

3.9 

6.9 

2 

0.8 

0.5 

Canon PowerShot A2100 IS

1.9 

6 

2.7 

0.9 

0.6 

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ6

2.3 

2.8 

2.5 

1.1 

0.9 

Conclusion
For a pure point-and-shoot camera, the Canon PowerShot A2100 IS represents a good deal, providing very good photo quality with the benefits of some extra zoom range and optical image stabilisation. You'll just have to overlook its rather slow performance.

Additional editing by Charles Kloet