The S95 features the same controls as the S90 in much the same places but, importantly, the rear control dial now has detents at roughly every 30 degrees. The Control Ring itself rotates in a pleasingly smooth manner and has 36 gentle click stops.
Arguably, Canon has compromised the S95's handling for size and style with its mostly metal body combined with the smooth surface, lacking any real grip. Given that the S95 has clearly been designed to be as small as possible, it is rather difficult to take a truly 'firm' grip on the camera with one hand although the finish of its body shell is slightly rougher compared to its predecessor the S90.
The S95 is practically perfect for point-and-shoot full auto photography that you'd use any compact camera for. But when you start shooting more manually, you'd need to take care not to accidentally change settings as you handle the camera between shots. Regarding to this, the rear control dial's detents would come in handy in day to day use.
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| The S95's 3.8x zoom lens starts off fast at the long end (f/2) but by 105mm (equiv) the maximum aperture is f/4.9. The lens is optically stabilized using Canon's 'Hybrid' IS system, in principle making it more effective when shooting close-ups. |
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| The S95 features a pop-up flash which when retracted. The flash pops up when required or when requested in the flash mode menu (activated with the right arrow on the rear 4-way controller). |
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| The S95's Control Ring provides a second input for key shooting settings. In addition to the default (which varies by mode - aperture in Av mode, for example), it is highly customizable and can be set to control the zoom, white balance, manual focus, AE compensation, aspect ratio and ISO. |
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| The RING FUNC button, to the left of the on/off button on the S95's top plate, brings up the menu which allows you to assign different functions to the ring. |
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| On the rear of the S95 is a more conventional control dial, which surrounds a 4-way controller. The 'Fn' button at its center activates a filleted shooting menu which allows quick adjustment to often-used settings like ISO, white balance and image quality. This dial has detents at roughly 30 degrees. |
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| The 'S' button to the left of the playback button can be customized to do more than just initiate direct printing. You have the choice of assigning one of 19 possible custom options, which range from ISO, white balance and image quality to bracketing, metering and drive modes. |
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| The S95's exposure mode dial is recessed into the top plate, and turned on its rear edge, which extends slightly from the rear of the camera. There are detents at every exposure mode icon, and the wheel is pleasantly stiff and not hard to rotate. |
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| A mini-USB and AV/Out socket nestles next to a mini HDMI socket in a small compartment in the side of the S95, concealed by a stiff rubber flap. |
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| On the bottom of the S95 its NB-6L battery shares a compartment with an SD/SDHC/SDHX memory card. This helps to keep the camera's body small, but can be frustrating if you need to change memory cards with the camera on a tripod. |
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