Canon PowerShot S5 IS

I have to admit that prior to using the Canon PowerShot S5 IS I’ve never really experienced photography as it should be experienced and this camera has, for the first time, made me very excited about taking photographs.

The Canon S5 features an 8.0 megapixel CCD sensor, 12x Image Stabilized zoom lens and this camera is the perfect bridge between amateur and professional photography. It’s simple to use for any happy-snappers out there yet it offers full control for professional photographers.

Features at a glance:

• 12x optical zoom lens with Ultrasonic Motor (USM) and UD lens
• Optical Image Stabilizer
• 8.0 Megapixel CCD
• DIGIC III with advanced Noise Reduction technology and Face Detection for stills and movies
• Red-Eye Correction in playback
• 2.5” high-resolution vari-angle LCD
• Long-play VGA movies with stereo sound and Photo in Movie
• 22 shooting modes including full manual control and 0cm Super Macro
• High ISO 1600 and Auto ISO Shift
• Compatible with Wide/Tele/Close-up converter lenses and Canon EX Speedlite flashes

View the detailed specifications by clicking here.

LCD Display

Coming from an amateur’s perspective I have to say I really liked the fact that I could still take pictures using the 2.5 inch, high-resolution, vari-angle LCD display. It looks very similar to a digital camcorder’s display which felt familiar to me and I wasn’t threatened or forced to use the rather small Viewfinder.

Viewfinder

The Viewfinder displays 115,000 pixels (versus 207,000 pixels on the LCD display) and as it’s rather small I found it much easier to take pictures through the LCD. The S5’s viewfinder is grainy and very inaccurate which isn’t one of its best features!

Picture Modes

There are 14 different picture modes on the S5 which are programmed with the optimal settings for the environment you’re in. One of the most useful modes I tried out was the Stitch Assist mode which allows you to take multiple pictures of a landscape and stitch them all together.

Added to this you can select between 8 scene modes some of which include indoor, night, snow and fireworks. This brings the total number of picture modes to 22 making it one of the most feature rich cameras in its range.

Flash

The S5 has a great built-in flash which has a range of 50 cm to 5.2 m and the flash modes include:

• Auto
• Manual Flash On / Off
• Slow Synch
• Red eye reduction
• Flash exposure lock
• Flash Exposure Compensation +/- 2EV in 1/3 stop increments
• Manual Power adjustment
• Second Curtain Synch

Processor and ISO

Canon’s DIGIC III processor provides lightning quick responses, superb image quality and advanced noise reduction for cleaner images at high ISO speeds. The camera’s ISO sensitivity is automatically adjusted but you can also select this yourself in a custom mode. The ISO modes range from 80 to 1600.

Face Detection and Red-Eye Reduction

The built in Face Detection automatically detects up to 9 faces in the frame and selects the optimum focus, exposure and flash settings for you while during playback you can quickly and accurately correct red-eye.

12x Digital Zoom

The zoom on the S5 is probably the camera’s best feature. The lens features Canon’s renowned optical Image Stabilizer technology which counteracts camera shake allowing you to take quality photographs without the blur.

There is also an Ultrasonic Motor (USM) which is highly responsive and silent at the same time. Prior to using this camera I’ve been used to waiting a few seconds for my digital zoom to hone in on my subject but with the S5 zooming from 1x to 12x takes a fraction of a second.

I’ve never experienced a zoom like this before and even at 12x zoom the quality of the images are superb. The picture below is one I took of my cat sitting high up on a balcony. I was about 8 meters away from him so I had to zoom in to 12x to take this image. The end result just blew me away.

It Records Video

Being a digital camera you can shoot VGA quality movies with WAVE stereo sound at 30fps or QVGA movies at 60fps. This is a great feature not found in Digital SLR cameras and for people like me this video recording functionality is superb.

Image Sizes, Storage and Power

While there is no RAW image support for the S5 it does offer 5 different picture sizes ranging from 640 x 480 to 3264 x 2448. The camera supports SD, SDHC and MMC memory cards and comes with a 32MB card however, you’ll need to buy a larger one as 32MB will only allow you to take about 10 pictures before it’s full.

One of the downsides to the Canon S5 is that it uses 4x AA Alkaline batteries (supplied) or NiMH rechargeable batteries. This can be a costly affair if you’re using the flash a lot as the batteries run down very quickly.

Conclusion

This is a must have camera for any amateur photographer. I’ve been blown away by the ease of use and professional functionality built into the camera. I have often felt that professional SLR camera’s are wasted on me but the Canon PowerShot S5 IS brings some of the power of the SLR to a cheap, feature-rich camera that is the best I’ve ever used.

Price and Availability

Price: From R4,000 to R4,800 depending on where you shop.
Availability: The Canon PowerShot S5 IS is available from most camera stores as well as from WantItAll for a special reduced price of R4,050.

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(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Filed Under Canon, Digital Cameras, Featured Reviews, Photography