Performance 

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Olympus XZ-1	Nikon P7100	Canon Powershot S100
Notice the detailing in the images from the three high-end point and shoot cameras.

The high sensitivity sensor in the Canon S100 gave impressive results. Around ISO 1600 most of the high end point and shoot cameras start getting noisy. We noticed at Canon S100's output at ISO 1600 was comparable to the output from Nikon P7100 and Olympus XZ-1 at ISO 800. We got really good images with S100 at ISO 1600 and usable ones at ISO 3200, but with prominent noise at 100 percent crops. As you notice in the images above at 100 per cent crop, the image quality is comparitively better with S100 than the P7100  and XZ1.

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Canon S100 Powershot

In the sharpness and detail test shot the Canon S100 gave a brilliant performance with every strand of the thread visible perfectly including in the black and dark brown threads, where it is difficult to separate out the threads. At ISO 400 also we could disstinguish between individual threads. Also the colours on the threads appear natural and crisp.

The other object used in the sharpness test was a sound card where we tried focussing on the IC numbers and the fine soldered pins of the IC. As is visible in the image, the sharpness is quite good. IC numbers on the soundcard on the left hand side are clearly legible.

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Canon S100	Nikon P7100

In the studio macro test, we shot a portion of an LCD screen to see how well the pixel clarity was. We noticed that the Nikon P7100 had a better pixel clarity than the S100. Outdoor Macro shooting was quite good though but make sure your focus in on Manual, as you dont want the camera to keep hunting for focus.

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ISO 400	Low Light Mode
In the low light mode, due to the overshooting of the ISO above 1600, we noticed that the detailing in the edges is lost.

In the low light mode, Canon S100 shoots terribly in the Auto mode, but we noted at ISO 400 and on a tripod, it gave decent quality image. In the low light mode, due to the overshooting of the ISO above 1600, we noticed that the detailing in the edges is lost.

In the video shooting mode Canon S100 was quite better than the competing cameras despite the minor shakes while panning horizontally. Focussing wasn't an issue even while zooming onto the subject. Colours and details were quite good. There is a slow motion mode in the camera which shoots video in real time, but can play it back at a crazy 240 fps giving a really great slo-mo effect. But you can only get that at a moderate resolution of 640x480 pixels. Indoor shooting did result a bit noisy as compared to the outdoor mode. 

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Before HDR	After HDR
Before HDR, you will notice the blown out sky and darker foreground. With HDR on, you notice that you have a more balanced sky and fairly detailed foreground.

We really liked the HDR mode of the camera which shoots a series of three images and gives you a well exposed image finally. But you need to make sure that your hands are rock steady, else make use of a tripod. The battery output is around 200 shots, but if you use functions such as RAW mode, GPS, Low light mode, HDR mode, full HD video mode then the battery is sipped much faster. You will most likely want to invest in another battery pack, as with this camera, you will really want to go all out and make more than 200 photographs on a single outing.    

Verdict

On evaluating the scores for each of our tests, we found that Canon Powershot S100, dethroned our last year's best performing camera – the Olympus XZ1. This is the best high end compact in the market today. You will never fall short of any features including the battery sipping GPS. Pricing is definitely on the steeper side as at Rs. 26,999 you can easily get the Canon EOS 1100D. But then this camera is for the discerning photographer, who wants excellent quality in the compact body.