Canon S5 IS

#1 CARL HAMILTON

hey CANON ,
seems like your industriial designers have once again hit rock bottom when you have conceived the lines for this camera.
the whole rig looks like a veritable joke.
did your design director just graduate from kindergarten school ?
his infantile yearnings are indelibly written
all over this camera's body shape .
is this what you offer your loyal customers in return for reaping a bumper harvest ?
no harm consulting the aesthetic stewardship of Luigi Colani's studio
F. A . PORSCHE design or perhaps
Giorgetto Giugiaro's atelier.
not that I work for these design consultancies , but ,
this camera definitely has a face
that only its mother could love.
croak... !

8:51 pm - Tuesday, May 8, 2007

#2 John

It's just a camera Carl. You buy it for the features.

1:44 am - Thursday, May 10, 2007

#3 Malcolm Chant

Hello Canon,

I've had the S3 IS since it's conception,
& cannot fault it at all, if there is one change i'd like it would be a R.A.W. feature.
Still think Canon is the best there is, had the foirst EOS5 & couldn't fault that model either.

10:37 am - Friday, May 11, 2007

#4 Min Thu

It is going to be a great camera. I've been using S2 IS for more than one and half years and so far so good.

5:00 am - Sunday, May 13, 2007

#5 CARL HAMILTON

you are certainly entitled to your opinions
ladies and gentlemen !
by the way
just where did you park
your guide dogs ?

8:04 am - Monday, May 14, 2007

#6 zeniu

Very nice aesthetic and what seems to be a functional design. I just hope enough effort was put into the lens to eliminate purple fringing, corner softness, and vigneting, which all have been present in large amounts in most canon models lately.
Ultra zoom is nice, but only if it comes with good picture quality. I guess it's to be seen.

12:57 pm - Tuesday, May 15, 2007

#7 Malcolm

Well Carl, my Guide Dog is tied up next to your yapping little scruff bag of noise.

1:06 pm - Tuesday, May 15, 2007

#8 CARL HAMILTON

and that'l be next to your walking stick too , eh , Malcolm ?

8:12 pm - Tuesday, May 15, 2007

#9 Malcolm

Yep Reckon so carl!


Where'd you keep your walking FRAME?????

6:16 am - Wednesday, May 16, 2007

#10 CARL HAMILTON

don't know about you , Malcolm
but I'm certainly not the one who's visually impaired here when it comes to differentiating between a duckling
and a swan.
i'm also not linguistically challenged here
as I spell the word FIRST as f-i-r-s-t
not f-o-i-r-s-t
is your vision finally getting into focus by now ?
is your tongue beginning to straighten too ?
or has Canon got you bamboozled
lock , stock and barrel
that you have difficulty figuring out
which is what
my conclusion is that you must be on this company's payoff list
to blindly turn you eyes outside in
laugh your way to the bank
at the expense of your ripped off customers .
now isn't that so , M a l c o l m ?

7:05 pm - Wednesday, May 16, 2007

#11 Mark Goldstein

I'd like to remind everyone that this is an article about the Canon S5 IS. Please keep your comments on-topic.

8:30 am - Thursday, May 17, 2007

#12 AC

The S5 IS still only shoots at 1.5 fps continuous - this is unusably slow! It needs to be a MINIMUM for 5fps, and should maintain 5fps for at *least* five or six seconds on continuous shooting. It still uses crappy SD cards (too bad for Linux users, I guess), which is probably why the continuous shooting is so very slow. On the plus side, it does use AA batteries. On balance, this is a camera I will not buy. If it had an acceptable continuous frame rate, and used Compact Flash cards, it would have been a dSLR killer. As it is, the S5 IS is just another bad camera.

7:52 pm - Saturday, May 19, 2007

#13 Peter May

Reading Mr Hamilton's comments lead me to believe that, for him, a camera is a fashion accessory.
Doea he ever take any photograhs or does he just like to look good?

11:24 pm - Monday, May 21, 2007

#14 Tootie

Can the s3 and s5 print date a time on pix?

8:13 am - Monday, May 28, 2007

#15 Liza

I am thinking of buying this camera Carl. Perhaps you could tell me what you use and I can compare? I am a bit new at this so forgive my ignorance, AC what is wrong with SD cards?

3:46 am - Wednesday, May 30, 2007

#16 Ali

I was waiting to upgrade my Olympus C-765 to this new Canon but changed my mind when I saw the sample photos on Canon's website and realizing that the images are too soft and dull for my liking and which was my concern about the previous model as well. I got used to sharp, well saturated and bright images from my Olympus. I thought if those images are the best this camera can do since they're coming from the manufacturer, then I better stick to my older olympus and buy a telephoto lens converter to increase the zoom from 10-17x.

2:31 pm - Saturday, June 2, 2007

#17 Ali

You can check out some of images at
http://gallery.photographyreview.com/showgallery.php?ppuser=257353&cat=500
and tell me that Canon can compare.

5:40 pm - Saturday, June 2, 2007

#18 Tootie

Can it print the time and date on picture

7:30 am - Sunday, June 3, 2007

#19 bill duree

The S3 is my first digital after a long relationship with Nikon film cameras. I am very pleased with it and will probably buy the S5 for the 8 mp. I take alot of fast action shots like auto racing. The only thing I would change is more fps and f-stop in the 11 to 22 range so I can slow the shutter speed down for the action blurs. It's hard to get the shutter speed down near a 30th on a sunny day even at ISO 80. Otherwise, love this little "ugly" camera. It's not professional, but it's fast, almost "point & shoot", and the video is very fun.

9:05 pm - Monday, June 4, 2007

#20 Norm

I am interested in the Canon PowerShot S5 IS. I like some of the features of the older G5, but do not like the fairly slow shutter lag time of that latter camera. What is the shutter lag time like in this new model (or for that matter, in the older S3 model)? Can anyone give me some info about this aspect of the camera that is missing from the official specification releases? Cheers

7:10 am - Thursday, June 7, 2007

#21 Chris K

Traded my S3 IS in for Sony's H9. BIG MISTAKE!! It's going back to the store tomorrow and traded for the S5. I too mostly disagree with Carl. The tongue lashing your giving Canon regarding it's design seems heavy handed. I'll admit it's not pretty, but when did I ever buy a camera for it's looks. NEVER!!

Liza,

After using Sony's cards I can safely say there is nothing wrong with SD cards, especially at today's prices. There were no apparent differences between my Memory stick Pro Duo(Sony) and my Kingston SD card (for Canon).

1:59 am - Sunday, June 10, 2007

#22 shootfirst

I also have a G5 and would really like to know how the S5 compares. In particular, the G5 focused very slowly in low light. I presume the S5 will be similar to the S3. How quickly does the S3 focus in low light?

10:30 pm - Tuesday, June 19, 2007

#23 Adriaan

I initially wanted to buy the Canon S3, already owning a Canon Powershot A60 and realized its time for an upgrade. Then, I looked at the awesome Panasonic Lumix FZ8. Then the S5 was launched.... My final choice...The Panasonic. Better lens and image quality, only 7.2MP though, same size Opt zoom 12x, LCD 2.5 with 207'000 pixels...comes with rechargeable Li-ION battery AND RAW!!!!! All for about 30% cheaper...makes you think

8:31 pm - Wednesday, June 20, 2007

#24 shootFirst

I was looking at the Panasonic FZ50. It has the swivel view finder but it hinges on the bottom. So when you want to set the caera down on a table for a moment, you might snap off the view finder. It also feels very light for a big camera whereas the Canon feels more solid.

2:34 am - Thursday, June 21, 2007

#25 Munna Bhai

Hi everybody, Hope All of you are fine and happy, Well my friends, I wanted to know whether with Canon S5 you are able to pause and resume recording, or like other digital cameras where you have to rely on clips only, I very much want this feature in a camera that it should be able to pause and resume recording in a single video like professional cameras and Handycams do. THanks a lot, Take care Bye

6:14 am - Thursday, June 21, 2007

#26 Brian the Lion

The Panasonic is very noisy at low light levels and uses over-aggressive noise reduction that result in loss of fine detail. Otherwise, it's a good camera.
Rgarding the Canon's aesthetics, anyone judging a camera purely on that bases is clearly a fashion junky, rather than a photographer. 2 years with a Zenit E should
sort them out.

8:34 pm - Wednesday, June 27, 2007

#27 Garry Macdonald

How does this camera compare to the Olympus 550? I mainly take landscapes and outdoor sports (mountain biking and kayaking) photos.

11:49 am - Wednesday, July 4, 2007

#28 zeniu17

Hi Munna Bhai

Just so you know, it is not possible to do a "pause and resume" recording like on a regular camcorder. You still end up with separate clips when you stop recording.

2:01 pm - Thursday, July 5, 2007

#29 zeniu17

It seems like I finally got a good sample of the S5 IS which I most likely will keep. Had the camera for couple of weeks now and also got a chance to compare it to SD850 IS, and G7. All three cameras are very similar in terms of picture quality, although my comparisons showed that the S5 took the nicest pictures. SD850 is cleaner in terms of noise but also softer in terms of low contrast detail. The G7 was identical to the S5 in terms of photo detail, but it had a slight issue with "whites" - it seemed like the adjacent colours would bleed into the white areas of the photo, making them "off-white". This phenomenon was noticed under different white balance settings, and especially visible when using flash. One awful thing about the G7 is its ergonomics. Back to S5 now, I very much like its feature set, and consider its photo qulity pretty decent, although I think Canon is taking a wrong turn with the new DigicIII by relying too much on overagressive software noise reduction, and not enough on making CCD's with better SNR. Build quality is also decent, but far from Olympus' or Nikon's solidity. In terms of feature set and overall performance and usefulness, I must say it doesn't have a competitor at this point in time.

2:21 pm - Thursday, July 5, 2007

#30 Ali

AS A RULE OF A THUMB, when a camera makes the WHITE BEIGE, ITS NO GOOD no matter what else it has to offer. When I used the S3, when I focused and saw sharp clean images in the LCD screen, was not what I got when I downloaded them to my computer, images were soft, washed out, lack details, and were not sharp at all. Canon made a fortune out of a bad camera because some professional reviewers are on Canon's pay role and many people need to see eye doctor.

1:50 pm - Saturday, July 7, 2007

#31 Chris

I know this is a Canon review etc, but I'm not thrilled with my S5 (noise issues) and would love to hear any comments on the Lumix LZ-50 by comparison. I've seen a few of my friedns recent images and I'd have to say they very impressive.

Chris

9:00 pm - Saturday, July 7, 2007

#32 zeniu17

Hi Chris

Don't you mean DMC-FZ50? When you said, you've seen some images from that camera, did you see those images at their full resolution (not just maximized to fit the screen), and did you also get a chance to see some pics taken at ISO200 or ISO400?
I agree, the S5 has noise issues, and it does not have such a good quality lens like the FZ50, but Panasonics have more serious noise issues, and what's worse their NR processing is absolutely horrible. I personally would love to see FZ50's lens on the S5 camera, to address the rather bad chromatic aberration that S5 exhibits.

6:32 am - Monday, July 9, 2007

#33 Elango

Is buying a good camera soo tough????

I would like to take crops out of a large image. So detail is important to me. I understand that all superzooms start looosing detail with ISO above 200( am I correct??) Evaluated Panasonic FZ50, Sony H9 and Olympus 550. Founf Sony H9 to be a better package. Photographs from the compact Sony W70 offers decent detail (my standards) if I get more compared to that in H9... but this noise reduction being taked about in confusing me... wat ya people say

10:49 am - Monday, July 9, 2007

#34 Elango

This for Chris...

Can you tell why you think going in for H9 was a mistake. Your answer will help a lot.

10:51 am - Monday, July 9, 2007

#35 Elango

My photographs with W70 sony, keepin these as refference can you tell me the level detail(plz see the white flower) I can expect in H9 and others

http://focusring.blogspot.com/

If I get more than these I woul be happy.

11:02 am - Monday, July 9, 2007

#36 Chris

zeniu17,

Yes. My mistake I did mean the DMC-FZ50. Not at full res or 400 ISO. I did see images at 100 and some at 200. I'll go back and make a more thorough investigation.

Elango,

All my images looked great on the 3" LCD. When transferred to my PC what was viewed at full res was anything but pleasing. It made the noise issues I'm concerned about with the S5 pale by comparison. I used it for almost 30 days before returning it. From viewing your images I'm not certain you would get an appreciable level of detail to warrant the stitch IMO.

Chris

11:54 pm - Monday, July 9, 2007

#37 zeniu17

Elango,

If you're so concerned about detail, then by the same merrit you should be concerned about noise, that being the second biggest detail killer (badly implemented noise reduction algorithms being the first). Honestly I can tell you from experience that no point-and-shoot comes close to a decent SLR like the Rebel Xti attached to a good lens. The "good lens" of course is the key, and a costly one too. That's the way to go if you're looking for lots of detail and very little noise even at ISO 400. For example my comparative test results showed that the Xti's noise level at ISO400 is equivalent to the noise level of Digital Elph S400 at ISO100.

1:22 am - Tuesday, July 10, 2007

#38 will davies

I had the S3 and hated the camera from the word go. The only good thing was the IS zoom.

8:51 pm - Sunday, July 15, 2007

#39 adni

I've had the S3 for over an year now, and I must agree that this is no dSLR killer. But for it's price you couldn't even find a decent IS lens for a SLR. I will be upgrading to the S5, not because of the increased MP count (6MP is more than enough for most photographers, even for printing), but because of hte addition of a flash shoe. The pop-up flash is very competent, but charges very slowly, and can't ever compare to a dedicated unit. To those who complain about noise issues on the S3, try not using Auto ISO, using lower ISO settings like 100 or even 50, light allowing. Must agree on the chromatic aberration on the tele end of the lens, but when printed is barely noticeable.
Hope I'll like my new S5 as much as I like my S3.

8:20 pm - Wednesday, July 18, 2007

#40 Jill

I am totalling confused about what camera to buy (bit of a novice)like taking close-up detailed photos and enlarging them can anyone suggest a good camera under £300? It's like looking for a needle in a haystack!!!

1:41 pm - Tuesday, July 24, 2007

#41 Mark Goldstein

Jill, there are LOTS of good cameras in your price range!

Is there anything else that you like taking photos of, besides macro shots?

1:44 pm - Tuesday, July 24, 2007

#42 Jill

Well by profession I am a potter so I need to take good quality photos of my work for advertisiing purposes, sending to galleries etc.

1:48 pm - Tuesday, July 24, 2007

#43 Jill

Has anyone any sugestions? So far I have been looking at the G7, the Ixus 900ti and S5IS, all of them seem to have their good and bad points, any views would be welcome. Have chance for my daughter to bring one home from US at much reduced pirce due to exchange rate, but need to make up my mind soon (been looking for a month!!)as she is due home in two weeks!!

2:06 pm - Tuesday, July 24, 2007

#44 Chris Kitchen

Recently purchased a light box. I have been using my S5IS exclusively for both my wifes jewelry and my custom bracing. Using manual settings to control the variables has made for some great photos even in macro. The variable angle screen makes this much easier on the neck for long sessions.

Chris

7:22 pm - Tuesday, July 24, 2007

#45 Elango

Jill,

I was looking at G7 and S5 and bought S5. I feel we get lots more for just few bucks difference, 12x zoom, the twist LCD screen. Now that G7 too does not have RAW, the only thing that strikes my mind is its sensor size being bigger.
But all boils down to what you intend to do, it would be helpful if you ca tell about that and what you think as plus points of G7.
Will have a look at Ixus 900ti.

cheers

9:11 am - Wednesday, July 25, 2007

#46 Tony

How bad is the chromatic aberration? I really like the look of this camera but a lot of reviews raise this as an an issue. Is it only at the extremes of the zoom as adni suggested?
Anyone had the chance to try this next to the Sony H9 (which seems to suffer worse colour blurring from what I've read) and any of the equivalent Panasonics (FZ8, 30 or 50)?

5:43 pm - Wednesday, August 8, 2007

#47 David Chin

Tigadee posted up a massively useful review of the S5 IS at DPReview.com a while back. It was quite a long forum thread, and I've summarized the gist of it at http://www.dpnotes.com/canon-powershot-s5-is-reviews/ if anyone's interested.

11:43 pm - Thursday, September 13, 2007

#48 Glen

I recently bought a canon s5is and find the manual clear as mud! Can anybody direct me to a tutorial or alternative manual?

Thanks

7:15 pm - Saturday, November 3, 2007

#49 Matt

I just upgraded from a Canon S1 IS to the Canon S5 IS, and got absolutely HORRIBLE "soft" images from pictures taken indoors at highest quality with this camera. I got FAR sharper images from my Canon S1 IS. I am shocked and terribly disappointed.

6:42 pm - Tuesday, November 6, 2007

#50 Chris

I just brought the S5 IS home today... "upgrading" from my OLYMPUS 740 Ultra zoom... The olympus takes amazing photos, very sharp and rich, but it is a bit too slow in the focusing department for my liking. The Canon is almost instantaneous at focusing and shooting... however the image quality is not even close to the Olympus... the flash is at an ackward angle and flares of the subject during close-ups... also shadows are cast off the lens onto the subject for macros... (which is a bit redundant as you wouldn't normally use a flash for macros anyway... but the old Olympus never had a problem)... In short I'm quite disappointed considering my expectations for this camera were quite low to begin with... I just wanted image quality similar to my old 3.1 Megapixel Olympus but with a faster response time. Considering the S5 IS is about 6 or 7 years newer, you'd think this would be a no-brainer... but apparently not. I'm picking up a new Olympus to try out this evening... to compare, if it's also a let-down, I'll either try Digital SLR's or say screw-it and just keep going with my old reliable (albeit slow) Olympus. Speed is nice but not at the expense of quality... in my opinion anyway. Thanks.

10:58 pm - Sunday, November 25, 2007

#51 Ajay

Can i use any additional lens for canon S5IS

10:02 am - Monday, July 14, 2008

#52 Billie

I love my Canon S5 IS. It has given me nothing less then amasing pictures.

3:37 am - Saturday, November 15, 2008

#53 Steve

Have just bought a pre-owned S5 in mint condition from my local retailer for only £110.00. I want to take it on holiday in March of next year as I don't have to carry my bulky DSLR Nikon D80 with all the lenses. With airlines tightening up on hand luggage weights I always tend to be over and don't fancy risking putting my gear in the hold to get smashed up. Can anyone tell me which of the EX Canon flash units are best compatable with the S5. All I can find out is that it is with some, so I must assume not all units. Any help would be appriciated.

Thanks

6:38 pm - Sunday, November 23, 2008

#54 reckless sharma

Hi

I have Cannon S5 with me Can any one suggest how to print the time and date on picture. Settings specifically.
2nd How to pause and resume in the camera as there is only one button (red color) that just stopped the ongoing recording ?

Thanks,

7:08 am - Tuesday, December 16, 2008

#55 Spike Jones.

I've had my S5 for a little over 6 months now and I'm very happy with it. Our childish troll Carl may be some sort of fashion guru, but when it comes to Value for money, he's away with the fairies.

I also have a Nikon D300 and I find that the Canon is comparable in output and better value for money. The Super Zoom is great for those wanting a good quality all round camera for family use. Possibly some light commercial too.

4:13 am - Sunday, December 28, 2008

#56 mandy

Out of all the camera's I've ever had this has got to be one of the worst. The noise is ridiculous and the image quality is not very good either. The lens cap doesn't even work.

4:51 am - Thursday, December 3, 2009

#57 Spike Jones.

Ahhh, how we all love a photographer who cant see beyond the brand name. I guess that it just goes to show that we're not all useless photographers then, some of us have no difficulty whatsoever in using this camera, and still produce passable work.

No,... it is not a true SLR, nor a Studio camera, and not everyone needs them.

But mine goes everywhere with me.

7:32 am - Thursday, December 3, 2009

#58 Lily

Does anyone know how to get the Canon S5 IS OUT of video mode? I accidentally pushed the Movie button, and turning the camera on and off does not get it out of Movie mode. Now every time I try and take a (still) photo, it starts recording. The only thing I seem to be able to do is push the Movie button again to at least stop it from taking video... Thanks, Lily

1:12 pm - Sunday, January 3, 2010

#59 Spike Jones.

I would say that you have a problem that will require expert help Lily.

If your camera is still in Warranty I would be taking it back to the dealer.

The only thing I might try is to switch the camera on, release the shutter, and when it starts in video mode press the video mode button twice so that it stops recording and starts again. While it is recording in video mode, turn off the power.

If that has no effect, I'd say that the camera has been damaged and will need a Canon technician to have a look.

I am no expert but I'll try anything once

1:33 pm - Sunday, January 3, 2010

#60 last

please help my canon 12x optical zoom is showing a haze picture and like black and white how can i solve it

2:35 pm - Tuesday, June 1, 2010

#61 Spike Jones.

It may be moisture in the lens assembly, in which case you could try leaving your camera on a warm sunny window sill for a few days. If that has no effect, it sounds like a problem with your CCD which would mean that it will have to go back to an authorised dealer for repair.

9:50 pm - Tuesday, June 1, 2010

#62 spidey1211

hi!
been using my s5 is for about 2yrs now and i've been wondering if i can add a bit excitement to it like getting wide angle or tele foto lenses. My question is, should i get the wide angle first or the other?

i was able to find these lenses on ebay and i just need to find out first before getting it(them)

Thanks!

1:54 am - Monday, June 14, 2010