The Canon Powershot S80 stands out among compact cameras by its complete and advanced feature set, lacking only in the ability to store RAW images. The Canon S80 has many external controls which help users avoid the slower menu system. Among these is an innovative rotating 4-way controller which gives access to a multitude of functions in a compact form-factor. Even though its a bit difficult to use, the rotating controller serves its purpose well. This digital camera also distinguishes itself by its superior movie mode capable of recording at 1024x768 of resolutions, thus surpassing the previous movie mode champion - the Konica-Minolta A200.

Most major problems of the Canon Powershot S80 are all related to its lens: vignetting, corner softness, chromatic aberrations and a slow maximum aperture at telephoto. Just like its predecessor, its image quality keeps this model away from excellence. Noise is also higher than average, but this is also true of most 8 megapixel fixed-lens digital cameras. In practice, ISO 200 images will be usable up to 8x10 but ISO 400 images may not be usable at any size.

For better quality in a high-resolution compact digital camera, see the Canon Powershot A620 and the Fuji Finepix E550. These cameras are significantly cheaper and feature much better battery life but compromise on movie mode, external controls and advanced features compared to the S80.