Canon PowerShot S20

Anyone familiar with Canon's 2.1 megapixel PowerShot S10 will immediately feel at home with the new S20 - it's essentially the same camera, apart from a champagne gold finish and the small matter of it being the first 3.3 megapixel model we've tested.

While 2.1 megapixel cameras produce 1600 x 1200 pixels, a 3.3 megapixel model gives you 2048 x 1536 to play with. In real terms, this lets you make inkjet prints about two inches bigger and you'll certainly get a great-looking 10 x 8in photo.

Higher-resolution images, however, take up more room. Like its predecessor, the S20 employs a mild compression ratio at its best 'Superfine' quality, producing files measuring just over 2Mb each. Fortunately, Canon supplies the S20 with a 16Mb CompactFlash card, which is good for around six images in Superfine, 16 in Fine and 31 in Normal. Lower-resolution 1024 x 768 and 640 x 480 pixel modes are also available. The S20's card slot is CF-II compliant and happy to swallow an IBM MicroDrive hard disk.

Measuring 105 x 69 x 34mm and weighing 270g excluding card and battery, the S20 may be bigger than, say, Canon's tiny IXUS APS cameras, but in digital camera terms, it's still very small. Canon supplies a lithium-ion battery that charges in 90 minutes and squeezes out around 55 shots using the bright 1.8in TFT screen, or 230 shots with the optical viewfinder. You can also use a disposable 2CR5 lithium battery.

In a body this size, you're only getting a 2x optical zoom lens, equivalent in coverage to a 32-64mm f2.9/4.0 35mm lens. It will focus as close as 12cm in macro mode, and while you can lock the focus, there's no manual focus mode. Exposures range from two seconds to 1/1000 second, but again, there's no manual control over either shutter speed or aperture. In fact, apart from adjusting white balance and exposure compensation from +/- 2EV (exposure value) in 1/3 stops, it's pretty much an automatic affair. You can lock the exposure and choose from centre-weighted or spot metering, though.

Various shooting modes are selected using the top dial, and can be adjusted using the small LCD panel on the top. Image mode offers optimised settings for landscape, fast shutter, slow shutter, night scene and black and white. Fast shutter and landscape modes imply the use of wide open and closed apertures respectively, but in our tests we measured little difference in the depth of field.

Slow shutter and night scene set the camera to longer exposures, the latter with a flash to illuminate foreground subjects; we managed to capture trailing car headlights at night, which is quite an achievement for a mostly automatic digital camera. There's also a neat stitch mode that guides you through taking multiple pictures that are automatically joined together later using software - great for panoramic shots.

Images are replayed on the screen and can be zoomed in by two times for closer inspection. There's also a slide show option and composite video output to a TV or VCR. Connection to your PC is through a serial or USB cable, and unsurprisingly the latter is infinitely preferable, transferring images in less than six seconds. Canon's image transfer software is a doddle to use, and a copy of Adobe PhotoDeluxe 3.0 is also bundled.

In our tests, the S20 without a doubt resolved more detail than the S10 and other 2.1 megapixel models; it's not a massive difference, but a noticeable one. Images taken with the S20 under a variety of conditions also look great, but even with the mildest compression there are still slight JPEG artefacts if you look closely, and sadly no uncompressed TIFF mode to completely avoid them.

At £699, there are cheaper digital cameras around, but none at the time of writing that offer true 3.3 megapixel resolution. Nikon, Epson and Sony are on the verge of launching their 3.3 megapixel models, and while all offer greater manual control, none will be as small or cute as the S20. Fujifilm's FinePix 4700 Zoom, however, shares the same dimensions and price, and boasts 3x optical zoom, video recording and a 2in screen, but its over-compression didn't quite match the S20 in our quality tests. If you're happy with the minimum of gadgets and manual control, but demand a small, top-quality body, then the S20 is the way to go.

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