Canon PowerShot S5 IS’s pros and cons

I don’t really care which label my camera has: Sony, Nikon, Panasonic or Canon. Most modern electronic devices have great quality which is based on the same China components. Therefore the fact that Canon PowerShoot S5's appearance generated considerable publicexcitement surprises me a lot. What of it if so? If Canon gave birth to a new SLR-like digital camera, do all of us take off our pants and run around? In search of any groovy Canon S5 feature, which makes me so happy that I start running with naked ass, I call at some photo stores or go surfing in specialized sites in the Net. Unfortunately there were not many happy Canon S5 owners in the Net and only one shop where I could hold on and test this device pressing, twisting it and shooting with it and get a little information about it. But I can make a compilation of PowerShot S5 IS pros and cons. To tell the truth all my research reassures me that I was right in my previous post, saying: 'Don't look for any brain in the ass. There is shit!' But I am afraid that any Canon's addict can beat me and even my past experiment (look at: 'How to shoot with 10 great Sony Alpha lenses and not to be beaten by salesmen') can't save me. But I can't keep mum: Canon PowerShot S5IS is an ordinary SLR-like with nothing notable. Canon can't work wonders, sorry.
The good:
- 8 megapixel 1/2.5 inch sensor (up from S3's 6 MP)
- Canon's famous optical image-stabilization technology
- Handy 2.5 inch signature flip-and-twist LCD display
- Very good speed for SLR-like camera: it wakes up in 1.3 sec; shutter lag of 0.5 and 0.8 sec in bright light; it can shoot consecutive single images 1.6 seconds apart, growing to a reasonable 2.1 seconds with flash enabled; continuous shooting is abt. 1.5 fps; it can run for abt. 18 shots before it starts to slow
- 12x ultra-zoom (It is more than enough for SLR-like but now we have 18x zoom; for more details look through Compare Fujifilm S8000, Olympus SP550, Panasonic FZ18 - nothing to S9100) or Olympus SP-560 vs SP-550; 18x SLR-like with E410’ processor and 826mm Tele converter, 36 - 432mm f/2.7-3.5 lens with Ultra-Sonic Motor (USM) delivers rapid, responsive zooming with virtually silent operation, reducing the risk of sound interference on movies and or when shooting wildlife subjects
- Face detection technology; you can select a face in a scene and jump back to it with a couple of button presses, or you can let the camera seek out up to three faces in the scene and automatically select the most prominent one. It lets you see the runners-up, but you can't make your own pick in the latter mode.
- High ISO 1600 and Auto ISO Shift that lets you jack up the setting with a button press when the camera tells you the shutter speed is too slow
- Extensive movie functions; in addition to Face Detection in movies, the PowerShot S5 IS retains a dedicated movie button so that users can instantly record without having to switch from stills shooting mode; Long Play mode significantly extends recording time for VGA quality movies while maintaining a smooth 30fps frame rate; stereo sound recording for audio files and movies is now adjustable to 64 levels and includes a wind noise filter; Photo-in-Movie feature enables the capture of full resolution stills during movie recording
- Optional Wide and Tele converter lenses extend the focal length from wide 27mm to super Tele 648mm (35mm film equivalent). A Super Macro mode with 0cm shooting distance and optional Close-Up lens 500D (58mm) allow for detailed macro photography. Safety Zoom allows users to extend the camera's zoom range without interpolation affecting image quality - images can be captured at up to 24x zoom with enough resolution for lab-quality postcard (10 x 15cm) prints. Photographers can also enable the Digital Tele-Converter3 feature for added
telephoto reach (1.6x or 2.0x) on every shot, without the reduction in aperture typically caused by optical Tele-converters.
- against to plastics S3 has solid and comfortable body
The bad:
- Lens aberrations and vignetting; (chromatic aberrations is the shift in color that you might get at the edges of areas in the image due to the shape of the glass not equally dispersing the multiple frequencies of light or quite simply, 'purple fringing' as you may have seen around the edges; zoom lenses, especially the lower end ones, can sometimes suffer from vignetting. The barrel or sides of the lens become visible, resulting in dark corners in the image)
- Some processing artifacts; there are some clear purple fringing and JPEG artifacts even on the Canon website's photos; (artifacts refer to a range of undesirable changes to a digital imag caused by the sensor, optics, and internal image processing algorithms of the camera)
- lacks raw file support
- Redesigned lens cap still pops off too easily; if you power on, the lens cap just drops off, like the S1/2/3. There is no "catch" which will prevent the lens cover from dropping off and it works just likethe previous cap using friction to stay on.
- photos generally look over processed and a bit smeary
- need 1/1.8 sensor like Canon's A640 and G7, the combination 8M and
1/2.5" sensor is just too much
- This camera can disappoint in Canon S3 users because S5 does not have big improvement over S3; for example S5 movie mod: 640x480 30fps 2006KB/s, 640x480 30fps LP 1046KB/s; S3 specs: 640x480 30fps 1980KB/s ,640x480 15fps 990KB/s
Conclusion: I really can't understand so considerable photographer's attention to Canon PowerShot S5. This camera has the same as S3 12x 36 - 432mm ultra-zoom lens which lose to Sony DSC-H9 wide angle 15x zoom lens (look through '7 best SLR-like's specification table; Sony DSC-H5 as a cheap and clever choice'). It has the same as Canon S3 or Sony H9, H7 and H5 small 1/2.5 inch sensor which can't save from image noise even 8 megapixel resolution. Yes, it has a great body. I was quite pleased when holding it in my hands. But I had more enjoyment when hugging my wife (she has a great body too) and she can give me something but it will be not a great photo. May be we were waiting for the new $500's SLR-like Canon for too long. And as a result a lot of cool features based in a small sensor and well-known but old-fashion zoom lens can disappoint even in spite of a really great SLR's body. But a couple of sensor-lenses are the main things in every digital camera. Unfortunately when we have a good sensor-lens in SLR-like cam it looks like a huge 'Better means to get back at neighbors!' Sony DSC-R1 (look at my 'The summary table of the best SLR-like camera specifications') and costs like NikonD80. Though there are other old SLR-like models such as Nikon 8700/8800 which has 2/3 inch 8 megapixel sensors, great lenses and small cozy bodies. But they are models of 2004. Shall we go back to old models or probably face to SLR? To my regret, for many photographers my preferable SLR's advantage as swapping lenses is a trouble for various reasons. There are reasons such as landscape shooting in dry, dusty desert Arizona. Secondly any sporting events do not allow cameras with removable lenses into the stadium without a press pass. But I think that wide angle 28mm f1,4 lens for landscape shooting and 300mm f2,8 Tele for sports shoots are more than enough in order to forget about swapping lenses and take excellent photos. But it's only my opinion because I love my SLR too much. And for those who will get interested in SLR I recomend: 'Canon PowerShot S5 vs EOS350D, Sony H9 vs A100; SLR-like cam never comes to SLR'.
There is some important news at SLR-like cameras tendencies which concerned with large CMOS sensors for new Canon, Sony etc. ultra-zoom cameras in my next posts. But I hope that any new SLR-like cameras will be smaller than well-known Sony DSC-R1.
So far all my claims about SLR-like cameras such as well-known Canon PowerShot S5 IS were based on the small size of a sensor and, as a result, on a big image noise and low sensitivity. But recently I have learned from Reuters that Canon inc. is ready to invest $451 million for building a new CMOS production factory in Japan. The news about the future generation of low-cost Canon digital cameras makes me happy. It’s a progressive method to attack the modern digital market. For more look through Canon PowerShot with CMOS sensor: SLR-like vs. SLR or instead?
I was gratified by Canon’s success SLR-like and HD cams only for a day because now I know that Sony corp. will invest in CMOS sensors 5 billion Yen more than Canon. Beyond dispute, Canon’s SLR and compacts cameras and HD camcorders are well-known, but Sony’s sensors are used in many digital cameras, such as Nikon D200, D80, D40, Pentax SLRs etc. Therefore, appearance of new CMOS sensors by Sony can contribute more to the modern digital market. And maybe we can get new Sony’s SLR-like cameras such as DSC-H7, H9 etc. with large CMOS sensors as well as new great Nikon’s (or other mfrs.’) Coolpix. For more look at Canon vs. Sony: 5 billion more for better ultra-zoom with CMOS sensor.
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