There was a lot to like about the Canon PowerShot S3 IS, and much of it remains in this year's PowerShot S5 IS, including Canon's veteran optical image-stabilisation technology, excellent metering and focusing systems, the signature flip-and-twist LCD display, and a hefty set of manual and semimanual controls. The S5 IS bumps up to 8 megapixels from the S3's 6-megapixel sensor, increases the LCD size from 2 to 2.5 inches, and adds trendy bonus features like face-detection autofocus/autoexposure, maximum sensitivity of ISO 1600, and an ISO-shift mode that lets you jack up the setting with a button press when the camera tells you the shutter speed is too slow. We can thank the upgrade to a Digic III processor for many of the new capabilities.
Design
We liked our description of the S3 IS so much we'll use it again for the S5 IS: its aesthetic seems to be a cross between those of a classic Volkswagen Beetle and a Busy Box. But somehow, it still works. It's gained a few grams over the year, up to a not-so-svelte 450 grams. The larger LCD has also caused some middle-age spread, widening the camera to 117mm. However, it remains comfortable to hold, reasonably fluid to operate -- once you know where everything is -- and feels as solid as the aforementioned classic car.
Features
Canon implements the S5 IS' features quite well. For example, the camera includes a dedicated record button for movie capture, plus stereo microphones, a wind filter, and audio volume adjustment. Unlike most implementations, which force you into a specific face-detect scene mode, Canon makes face detection one of the focus-area-selection options. 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. Using face detection can be a bit confusing -- both to understand and use effectively -- and we're not convinced that either simply focusing on your chosen face and recomposing or setting an off-centre focus point on the face aren't lower-tech but ultimately more efficient solutions. For any camera.
Performance
The S5 IS' performance splits right down the middle. It delivers very good speed for its class. It wakes up and shoots in 1.3 seconds, with a shutter lag of 0.5 and 0.8 second in bright and dim light, respectively. It can shoot consecutive single images 1.6 seconds apart, growing to a reasonable 2.1 seconds with flash enabled. Continuous shooting is fixed at about 1.5 frames per second (fps), regardless of image size, and can run for about 18 shots before it starts to slow.
But the functional aspects of the S5 IS' performance -- lens geometry and sharpness, viewfinder usability, and noise -- are less impressive. The centerpiece of a megazoom camera is the lens, in this case the same 12x zoom, f/2.7-3.5 36mm-to-432mm as that of the S3 IS (And the S2 IS). On one hand, the optical stabiliser, focusing system, and exposure rendering are as good as they've ever been. But the EVF (electronic viewfinder) is kind of coarse for manual focus unless the subject is fairly simple -- think of a rock versus a white, puffy dandelion.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
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Typical shot-to-shot time | |
Time to first shot | |
Shutter lag (typical) |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Furthermore, to maintain the same focal range with the lens across different sensors, Canon has had to keep each sensor size to 1/2.5-inch; unfortunately, the weaknesses of the lens/sensor combo either becomes more evident as resolutions climb, or we're just tired of seeing the same old problems. For the S5 IS, that means asymmetrical vertical distortion on the left side accompanied by ever-present aberration in the form of cyan and magenta fringing -- not just at high-contrast edges, where we expect it, but at medium-contrast boundaries as well.
Image quality
We're also split down the middle on image quality. Colour looks great; it pops but manages to stay shy of oversaturated. White balance is excellent under a variety of conditions. But even at its sharpest, the S5 IS' photos generally look overprocessed and a bit smeary. Some of that fades to obscurity when you print, but if you're planning to crop your photos, it will become quite noticeable.
Canon's VGA 30fps motion-JPEG movie capture continues to be among the best we've seen -- the tradeoff is a file size of about 2MB per second -- though like most, it performs best when there's only some centralised motion. A lot of motion around the scene results in increased motion and compression artifacts.
With competitors like the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9 upping the megazoom ante to 15x -- and more important, opening up the wide angle -- it's past time for Canon to introduce a new lens on its Sn series. The PowerShot S5 IS is still a pretty good megazoom but one that's slowly losing ground to the competition.
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Dannystuff
04/12/2008, 07:17 PM
rating
8/10
I got this camera through insurance after dropping my previous camera (the S5's predecessor, a Canon Powershot S3 IS) in water and though overall it's an excellent camera, a couple of points would make me think twice about buying it over the S3. The lens cap, which was "improved" in the S5 seems to me to be worse, and often falls off as I'm taking the camera out of it's case. Also, it seems to lack the "Intervalometer" feature of the S3 which enabled easy stop motion animation style photographs, and still no RAW capabilities!
Pros: Excellent image quality, good design and layout of controls, optical stabiliser works well
Cons: Lens cap, no "Intervalometer" feature despite there being one on the previous model, electronic viewfinder shows colours a little washed out. Oh, and no RAW.
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David
29/08/2008, 11:57 AM
rating
8/10
Some respondents complain the cap falls off but I like this feature why? Because I often forget to take the cap off before shooting and it falls away without putting unecessary pressure on the lens extension tube or internatal mechanism
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oneofthecrowd
01/12/2007, 12:43 AM
rating
10/10
I use this this with a 20MBp/s card and we love the photos of our first girl. Great video.
Pros: Fast start and easy to use, my wife takes great shots too.
I like the easy off cap, has never come off in the car or bag.
Cons: None yet.
First canon, wont be the last.
Lots of features, takes a while to learn advanced stuff, My fault though.
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KJF
07/11/2007, 09:40 PM
rating
10/10
I upgraded to this camera for the more MP and greater zoom than my previous Powershot. I took this camera on my recent trip to Egypt and have achieved Excellant Photos in Bright Sunlight, at Sunset, Sunrise and in the Dark.
Had many people on my trip comment on how great my photos came out compared to theirs
Pros: Excellant Picture Quality
Easy to Use
Can have some Manual Control
Cons: None that I can think of
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Mustang
23/10/2007, 10:55 PM
rating
9/10
I'm thoroughly happy with this camera. I have none of the artefacts or vignetting described in the main text. Low light performance is excellent and the speedlight will only make it better. A much better quality camera than the Fuji 5700 / 5800 (even at twice the price) and it will soon have the capability to augment it's features using CHDK add on (eg RAW support).
Pros: Flexibility
Cons: None so far
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Tiger
16/08/2007, 11:46 PM
rating
9/10
A first class camera. Canon has excelled again. Super megazoom camera which outclasses it's competitors. Great images and videos. It is hard to find a negative when describing this camera. In one word....AWESOME.
Pros: Great megazoom.
Great images.
Superb videos.
Cons: No RAW....but who needs it anyway?
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Stoka
11/08/2007, 07:00 PM
rating
3/10
The camera has very disappointing low light performance. I was shocked and dismayed to have to pay $72 just for a lens extension tube and lens cap. This is a blatant rip off. The two plastic pieces are worth about $5. I wish I'd bought the Fuji Finepix 6500 fd. Now to improve the lousy low light performance I have to pay about $500 to get some crummy flash. This is grand theft Canon!
Pros: Good macro in broad daylight
Good video with audio
relatively compact
Cons: As above and expensive
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