This is exactly the kind of scene I’ve shot over and over using this camera, with lovely results. I was surprised and disappointed by this photo from the S95.
The Pentax K10D handled the shadows much better.
At this cemetery gate, the S95 struggled to navigate the shadows, and I had to bring out the details in Photoshop. All I did was tweak the basic settings a tiny bit.įrom here on out I’ll show just the RAW-processed photos. In contrast, the K10D gave me usable in-camera JPEGs in every shot.Ī tiny bit of work in the Photoshop RAW editor brought out what is, to my eye, more natural warmth and color, and helped un-wash-out the sky. I finally use the built-in lens profile to correct distortion, because the S95 doesn’t go far enough to correct it in camera. Then I click “Auto” above all the basic settings (exposure, contrast, etc.) and then tweak them. First I manually adjust color temperature until I’m satisfied. Here’s what this photo looks like after one minute of work in the Photoshop RAW processor. This photo shows both common S95 faults: how white balance runs cold, and muted colors (typical of all Canon digital cameras, I hear). The photo below might be the first time I’ve shown you a JPEG straight from the camera. I’ve written several times how I wish the S95 returned usable in-camera JPEGs. All other settings were whatever they happened to be, which is essentially camera default.
I meant to set both cameras for automatic ISO selection as well, but it looks like I inadvertently left the K10D set at ISO 400. For this comparison I used my 28-80mm f/3.5-4.7 SMC PENTAX-FA lens, which offers a zoom range close enough to the S95’s 28-105mm (35mm film equivalent) range to make the comparison useful.įor the comparison I set both cameras to set white balance automatically. I’ve yet to fully figure out my large, heavy Pentax K10D DSLR, but I do respect that it can use all of my manual-focus Pentax lenses. So I shoot RAW all the time and use Photoshop to do a handful of adjustments that give the results I want. But I’m not impressed with the JPEGs the camera generates. I’ve loved my compact Canon PowerShot S95 from the moment I got it. But these are the two good-quality digital cameras that I own. Welcome to probably the least likely camera comparison on the entire Internet.