I've had my (second) PowerShot S95 for about a month now, and at this point I'm pretty used to it. The combination a 28mm FoV (and 6mm DoF) at F/2 is nice after working with APS-C and 50mm for so long. Since there is basically no need to stop down, I use the second control dial to adjust ISO and shoot in full manual. The controls on the S95 do feel painfully slow to me. I know it's fast for its class, but I'm spoiled by the physical controls of an SLR. I've shot with my 30D for 5 1/2 years now and it's essentially an extension of my hands. I rarely I have to think about what I'm doing. Not so for the poor S95. I am forever waiting for it to catch up with what I want to do.
Likewise, the S95 kind sucks at autofocusing in low light, especially when the brightest light source in the room is pointed at the camera (as is usually the case in my nightclub photos.) Again, I'm spoiled by my 30D and more to the point my 580EX's AF assist beam. I've experimented with manual focus on the S95 (leaving it set to infinity focus, which is more or less always what I want.) Unfortunately, it has a bad habit of going back to AF if I power it down or change modes. The fastest technique I've founds is to focus on a distant, but well-lit object then recompose on what I want to shoot. Since I'm shooting full manual, exposure is not an issue.
Even though it has a comparitively diminutive sensor, the S95 has arguably better high ISO performance than the ancient 30D. Also, it autodetects tungsten and corrents for it, which blew my little photographer mind when I first discovered that feature. So anyway, some pix: Late last month I helped run lights for Steve Aoki who is apparently a big deal right now. I'd never heard of him before and wasn't overly impressed. That didn't matter though, as the younger generation of club kids who attended this show (in droves) loved him. It was a great opportunity to test out the S95 again.
As is often the case, the best photo of the evening was taken with my 50mm (on the 30D, of course.)
I have two other shows to post photos from, but they'll have to wait for another post. The software gets ornery if one puts too many images in a post.