Canon S100 or Nikon P300?

[linlinlee]

Hi all. I've been searching for a good upgrade to my daily use compact camera, Canon S100 vs Nikon P300, which image quality is better?

Canon Powershot S100
12.1 MP CMOS Sensor
5x (24-120 mm) f/2.0-5.9 Fast Optical Zoom Lens
3.0-inch PureColor LCD scree
DIGIC 5 Image Processor
1920 x 1080p HD Video with Stereo Sound
High-Speed Burst HQ allows for continuous capture at a maximum of 8 frames
Control Ring for Easy Manual Control
Intelligent IS Image Stabilization
ISO Up to 6400
33 Shooting Modes for Better Control
Built-in GPS Receiver

Nikon Coolpix P300
Fast, f/1.8 lens, High refractive-index lens for a more compact body
4.2x wide-angle zoom lens with built-in lens-shift vibration reduction (VR)
These Nikon optical technologies for stunning landscapes and night landscapes
Backside illumination CMOS sensor enables capture of images exhibiting little noise at the high sensitivities required for night landscapes and pictures taken indoors under dim lighting
A variety of shooting functions that enable capture of photos as intended
Bright and clear 3-inch, approximately 921k-dot TFT LCD monitor with wide viewing angle
Recording of full HD movies for which exposure and color settings, as well as optical zoom, can be applied

 

[R32-Simon]

Bump

 

[cmonkey]

The S100 has a larger sensor - 1/1.7 CMOS vs 1/2.3 CMOS (which features in most compacts). Larger pixels generally mean better light gathering efficiency - better low light performance and dynamic range. There's some good comparisons made on DPReview so take a look:

Noise comparisons:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons100/page11.asp

JPEG:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons100/page10.asp

When looking at the P300 to my eyes the S100 looks better imho.

 

[R32-Simon]

Thank you for the links. I'll take a look at them.