Canon PowerShot S110 Digital Camera Review

Recording Options

The S110 lets you record video in full HD, standard definition, as well several high-speed video record modes. The camera records videos using H.264 compression, kept in a .MOV container in the same folder as captured still images. When shooting in full HD you can record video for up to 29 minutes and 39 seconds before filling up an 8GB card. Find out how the performed in our video image quality test./r:link_to_content

Video Controls

There's simply not much in the way of manual control when you're capturing video on the S110. You can set shutter speed and aperture in the manual mode before beginning a recording, but there's no guarantee the exposure settings won't change as soon as you begin recording. You can adjust exposure compensation, but only to adjust brightness in the shot.

Auto Controls

The S110 has a dedicated video record setting on the mode dial, but you can begin recording video in any of the other modes, including scene modes. This lets you capture some creative shots on video, as just about any digital effect or color mode you can apply to a still image can be applied to video capture.

Zoom

One piece of control that is available while recording video is zoom. The lens is engaged with the same zoom toggle that you normally use, and the full 5x optical zoom range can be used when capturing a video.

Focus

Continuous autofocus takes over when using the S110 to capture video, and it's a nice gradual pull when transitioning from different focal points. Our biggest issue here would be that you can't really force the autofocus to pull in or our on a subject, but rather you have to wait for the camera to decide to adjust focus.

Audio Features

The S110 has a built-in stereo microphone, but not much in the way of actual audio control. The only option that even affects audio in the menu is the wind cut filter, with no control over levels available. While the video quality on the S110 is quite good, it's clear Canon didn't intend it for use beyond a few small clips when on the go.