Canon PowerShot A2100 IS – Good photo quality to price ratio

Thumbs Up:

Functional feature set; simple usage; 6x optical zoom; good photo quality as per price tag.

Thumbs Down:

Mixed Performance.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Canon PowerShot A2100 IS is 12.1-megapixel point-and-shot digital camera. It has CCD optical sensor of 12,400,000 pixels resolution and effective sensor resolution is 12,100,000 pixels. The PowerShot A2100 IS features Optical Image Stabilizer, 4x digital zoom, 6x optical zoom, and frame movie shooting mode. The digital camera has 32MB internal flash memory and SD card slot for additional storage.

3 inches LCD display has a resolution of 230,000 pixels. It is based on TFT active matrix technology. Canon PowerShot A2100 IS has inbuilt microphone and flash featuring AF illuminator. The effective flash range is 1-11.5 ft. The flash modes are Red-eye reduction, Flash OFF mode, Slow synchro, Fill-in mode and Auto mode.

Canon’s UA lens (Ultra High Refractive Index Aspherical Lens) has a foal length of 6.4-38.4mm with an aperture of F/3.2-5.9 that features 6x optical zoom. The focal length equivalent to 35mm camera is 36-216mm. Minimum focus range is 19.7 inch and macro focus range is 1-50cm. Canon PowerShot A2100 IS has TTL contrast detection auto focus and inbuilt lens shield. Zoom adjustment is Motorized drive and focus adjustment is Automatic.

Shooting programs include High sensitivity, Night snapshot, Portrait mode, Slow shutter, Night scene, Kids & Pets, Landscape, Fireworks, Aquarium, Foliage, Sunset, Indoor, Beach and Snow. The special effects are Black & White, Vivid and Sepia.

Maximum shutter speed is 1/1600 second and minimum is 15 seconds. Exposure compensation is ±2EV range in 1/3 EV steps with two exposure modes: Automatic and Program. The exposure metering are Center-weighted, Evaluative and Spot.

ISO sensitivity levels are ISO Auto, ISO 3200, ISO 1600, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 100 and ISO 80. White-balance is of three types: Automatic, Presets and Custom. White balance presets include Tungsten light, Fluorescent, Daylight and Cloudy.

The still image format is JPEG and video format is AVI. The image storage resolution options are JPEG 4000×2248, JPEG 640×480, JPEG 1600×1200, JPEG 2592×1944, JPEG 3264×2448, Fine JPEG 4000×3000 and Normal. The video capture resolution options are AVI 320×420 and AVI 640×480.

Canon PowerShot A2100 IS has self timer delay function of 2 seconds and 10 seconds. The additional feature of the A2100 IS are Intelligent Contrast Correction System, Automatic face tracking technology, Camera orientation detection, Motion Detection Technology, Scene Detection Technology, Face Detection WB/FE/AE/AF, Face Detection, RGB primary color filter, Digital noise reduction, Digital image rotation, USB 2.0 compatibility, In-camera red-eye fix, PictBridge support, Exif Print Support, Resizing an image, Histogram display, inbuilt speaker, Direct print, DPOF support, FE lock and AE lock.

Canon PowerShot A2100 IS has two connectors: 1×composite video/audio output and 1×USB. Canon PowerShot A2100 IS has 2 AA alkaline batteries and two other AA NiMH rechargeable batteries are also supplied. Software contained inside the CD are Canon ZoomBrowser EX, drivers & utilities, Canon ImageBrowser and Canon PhotoStitch. Supported operating systems are Microsoft Windows XP/Vista and Apple Mac OSX 10.4-10.5.

Accessories inside the package are A/V cable, USB cable, two batteries, drivers & utilities disc, wrist strap, and two separate rechargeable batteries.

Razzle Dazzle:

Canon PowerShot A2100 IS is identical to its predecessor the A2000 IS. The black wedge like shaped body gives much nobler look to the A2100 IS than bland silver and gray look of the A2000 IS. Most of the wedge’s part on right side provides comfortable and thick grip. The PowerShot A2100 IS is 2.5 inches tall, 4 inches wide and 1.3 inches deep. It weighs around 6.5 ounces, which might be little heavier due to two AA batteries and 6x zoom lens.

Inside Dope:

3x and 4x optical zoom on some digital cameras are completely useless. Most of the frequent users of point-and-shot cameras will agree with this. Canon PowerShot A2100 IS comes with a 6x optical zoom which promises better quality. The camera features 12-megapixel resolution and Canon Digic 4 Image Processor to provide impressive photo quality. The PowerShot A2100 IS costs $249.99.

Canon PowerShot A2100 IS has Mode dial, shutter release with zoom ring and power button on its top. The Mode dial has 10 different shooting options. This adjustment is quite similar to that on the PowerShot A1100 IS, which we have reviewed earlier. You will find four modes on the dial: Movie, Easy, Auto and Program. It also has view popular scene options such as Indoor, Landscape, Portrait and a SCN selection for Aquarium, Snow and Sunset. Despite of looking crowded, the Mode dial is very easy to use. Directional pad and six buttons are located on the back. The buttons labeled in blue are for playback options and white for shooting options.

The menu system of Canon PowerShot A2100 IS is not quick responsive and some times seems busy. You will not found manual controls of Canon’s earlier A-series. Only the PowerShot A590 IS provides Manual options, Shutter-priority and Aperture-priority. The Program mode of the PowerShot A2100 IS allows controlling color effects, light metering, auto-focus type, white balance and ISO. The PowerShot A2100 IS is simply designed for point-and-shoot usage and it performs better in its class.

The shooting performance of Canon PowerShot A2100 IS is more strong than Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS1, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 and Kodak EasyShare Z1085 IS. The time from power off to first shot is 1.9 seconds. Shot-to-shot time is 2 seconds and 6.9 seconds with flash. The shutter lag is 0.9 sec in dim lighting and 0.6 sec in bright light. Like Canon PowerShot A1100 IS, the A2100 IS does not have burst mode. However, it offers unlimited continuous shooting speed at 1fps.

Nikon Coolpix S630 performs better shooting than Canon PowerShot A2100 IS. On the contrary, the Nikon S630 has 0.8fps continuous shooting speed that is less than 1fps of the A2100 IS.

Moreover, the continuous shooting speed (1fps) of Canon PowerShot A2100 IS is less than 1.3 fps of Kodak EasyShare Z1085 IS, 2 fps of Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS1 and 2.1 fps of Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290.

Canon PowerShot A2100 IS delivers good picture quality and high resolutions allow taking advantages. The white balance, contrast and colors are well-defined. The A2100 IS provides best results below ISO 200. Little noise and graininess will be visible at ISO 400, but it still remain most of the details. The pictures are only usable for small sizes up to ISO 800. The center sharpness softens on the edges of picture frame. You will notice the purple fringe and barrel distortion, which is normal in the camera at this price range.

Nitty Gritty:

Canon PowerShot A2100 IS is a better deal than other point-and-shot cameras. It features 6x optical zoom, optical image stabilization and good picture quality. If you have a limited budget and cannot afford extensive cameras, then you can buy this PowerShot A2100 IS. However, we will recommend you to check other digital cameras as well in the same price range.