The whole point of a compact digital camera, especially the point-and-shoot genre, is to be ready to take a good picture anytime, anywhere. And with the exponential increase in the number of photos shared online, the need to produce pictures that stun everyone in our social networks is paramount.

Canon’s S series of advanced point-and-shoots have always been good at what they are intended to do – whip out, take a good picture, and move on. So we lay our hands on the latest entrant in this series, ironically named after one of the oldest compact digital cameras, the S200. And it’s cheaper than the PowerShot S110 by a whole Rs 10,000. So where’s the compromise? We find out.

What’s it got? To begin with, really compact dimensions. 99.8 x 59.0 x 26.3 mm is what the official spec sheet says. That’s more or less your average soap’s size. It’s light too, at 160 grams. Rest assured, it’ll fit most pockets without causing any discomfort. Moreover, if you’re worried that a camera this small may get lost or get dropped, there’s a small wrist strap in the box. That said, we would’ve wanted to see a textured grip on the body, for the panel is too glossy hence a bit slippery.

So does the small size skimp on controls and their placement? In a word, no. The familiar S-series multi-control ring is present at the front, and there are just about enough buttons that you’d need on a point-and-shoot. The shutter release is nicely placed, and even people with bigger hands will find it easy to operate. At the rear, the 3-inch screen has a decent 461,000-dot resolution and is bright enough for sunny afternoons. There’s a pop-up flash, but it has to be popped-out manually every time you need it.

It’s when you look at the innards of the S200 that you realise how it has managed to be less expensive. To start with, the S200 is fitted with a 10.1 megapixel high-sensitivity CCD sensor, instead of the usual CMOS sensors that we see everywhere. For image processing, it’s got the standard DIGIC 5 processor. Also, there is no RAW mode, but on the upside you get user-friendly WiFi connectivity.

There’s 5x optical zoom available onboard, and a little more digital zoom if you want to get even closer. The aperture starts off at a bright f/2.0 and but it goes down up to f/8 as you extend the focal length. Also, the ISO range is from ISO 80 to ISO 6400. The S110 offers up to 12,800.

How does it fare? When you start clicking on the Auto mode, you’ll see typical Canon compacts’ results – the colours stand out, and the blues and greens are more vibrant than reds and yellows. There’s a hint of oversaturation, but that actually works in favour of the camera, as it gives a slightly vivid touch to even the most ordinary photos. You can, of course, set the colour balance and white balance as you like, but even at stock settings we liked the colour reproduction of the S200.

Exposures were generally accurate, with a good balance of highlights and details. However, it did tend to over-expose a few pictures where a lot of contrast between the subject and the bright background existed. There’s also a slight problem with sharpness. While the images turned out to be generally sharp and rich in details, in some images the busy areas got smudged. This smearing may not be good for detail-rich macros.

The Autofocus is quick to respond, but it has a few bugs with focus locking. Say you’ve locked on to a subject, and for some reason you’ve had to move just a tiny bit, the camera has to readjust the focus. It takes some time to focus in dimly lit conditions, which is very typical for a compact camera.

The images tend to stay noise free up to ISO 400, again an acceptable number for a sensor of this size. A slight amount of noise becomes visible after that point, and goes on increasing up to the maximum ISO, which is 6400. That said, the results are not too bad and even with mild amounts of noise the images are still acceptable.

For video, you get up to 720p HD recording. Indeed, 1080p recording would’ve been great, but 720p is quite ideal for quick uploads to social networks.

Verdict The S200 has a few flaws, but none too serious to stop it from being an absolutely fun camera. For a point-and-shoot, it has enough to keep you happy, if you love taking photos on the go and sharing them instantly. The not-so-high specs actually turn out to be an advantage, because even with good image quality the files are not too big and can be shared almost instantly, and uploaded to the Internet if you’re carrying a tablet or a smartphone. You can get a bit creative with it too, with its manual controls. But not too much.

Rs 19,995

Love – Good colour reproduction, compact

and WiFi enabled

Hate – Minor smudging in busy photos, noise

kicks in early

sabyasachi.b@thehindu.co.in