AtlantaGreg's Full Review: Canon PowerShot® S5 IS Digital Camera
A ZOOM FOR ALL PEOPLE?
The Canon S1 IS (IS standing for "image stabilization"), hits the market perhaps a little late in the game considering it's resolution of only 3 megapixels. Panasonic offers a 12X IS zoom camera at 4 megapixels, and for only a little more money, you can get 5-8 megapixel cameras with IS features, too. So does the S1 offer anything innovative to justify a $500 price tag?
WHAT YOU GET
Along with the camera, you get a neck strap, lens cap, a 32 meg compact flash memory card, alkaline AA batteries, a printed manual, and Canon photo software. The lens cap simply slips onto the front of the lens and some are reported to be either a bit tight or a bit loose. Mine is loose and falls off too easily, so keep an eye on this to avoid the risk of damaging your lens when not in use.
I applaud Canon for printing their manuals. Many makers are switching to CD manuals to save a buck, and it's really nice that Canon continues to print very easy to read manuals for their cameras.
The camera is plastic, but solid. It's larger than a compact, but not as large as a SLR camera. You have dedicated buttons for zoom, exposure, flash, menu functions, display functions, and more. A 1.5 inch color LCD helps you compose the images, while a color electronic viewfinder works for bright conditions. A pop-up flash is available for low light conditions.
WHAT IS "IS"?
The IS feature on the camera steadies the image when you're using a long zoom, much in the same way camcorders with an image stabilization feature work. When you're dealing with big zooms (6X - 12X), any movement you make is highly exaggerated (called "camera shake") which can easily result in a blurry image. An IS feature will not guarantee this won't happen, but it does steady the image enough that in decent to good light, you're much more likely to catch a sharp image than when using a camera without it. The S1s IS feature DOES work.
OTHER FEATURES
The S1 offers a swivel LCD on the back which can flip out and twist. You can twist it and put it back flush against the camera back, or flip it around so it's not exposed when not in use. Flip it out camcorder style and tilt, so you can hold the camera above a crowds heads or at waist level, and still compose an image.
Want movies? The S1 does offer what many feel is the best movie mode right now out there. At a size of 640 x 480 pixels and 30 frames per second, it's easily "TV quality". While other cameras offer this feature now as well, the S1 takes it one step further by offering a "fine" setting on the movies. This compresses the movies less than the competitors, giving very sharp and clear results. The downside? At this setting, you're using up close to 2 megs of memory space PER SECOND on your memory card. If you plan on taking many movie clips, you want to definately buy a 512 meg or even 1 gig memory card. A dedicated button on the back of the camera records and pauses the video, as opposed to you having to use the shutter button as other cameras force you to.
The pop-up flash works well... almost TOO well. I found it to be a bit too strong for portrait work, but fortunately you can adjust the output via the menus.
IMAGE QUALITY
I found the overall image quality of the S1 to be good. Images are generally sharp, saturated, and exposed well. I did notice a bit of blowing out in brightly lit scenes, however. In terms of other 3 megapixel cameras on the market today, I'd give the S1 images a 7.5 out of 10. Not "outstanding", but well above average, too.
At the best quality setting at 3 megapixels (2048 x 1536 pixels), you can produce very good prints at 4 x 6 and 5 x 7 in size. For "film quality" 8 x 10 prints however, you do need more resolution than the S1 offers. If you use a good printer and paper, you can still produce pleasing 8 x 10 prints, but they simply won't be film quality at closer inspections unless you have more pixels. I really have to question Canon for not releasing this as a 4 or 5 megapixel camera in this day and age of digicams.
COMPLAINTS?
A few things. First, the 1.5 inch LCD is simply too small. Sure, I can swivel it out and hold it high above my head to take shots over a crowd of folks, but at 3 feet away, 1.5 inches doesn't show a lot, and I have 20/20 vision. A 2 inch LCD would have been much better considering the use a LCD like this will get.
Battery life isn't very good. Using a fully charged set of Ni-MH rechargeable batteries rated at 2000 mah, I only got about 40 shots before the camera drained. This was using the LCD and zoom, but no flash. Now, I've heard from people who say they get a lot more out of a charge than I did, and a couple who had similar results, so I'll leave the jury open on this one. Either some of the models are defective in the way they handle power, or I had defective batteries. Just a heads-up on this part.
The 10X zoom is great, but it's too FAST. You can zoom from zero to 10X in literally 1 second. Great if you need to catch a photo quick at full zoom, but not good if you need to use it halfway. Makes it very hard to be precise when using the zoom at anything except at full. While we're on it, it would have been nice to have the zoom range from 28mm to 280mm for good wide angle capabilities, as opposed to the roughly 38mm to 380mm it offers.
WHO IS THIS FOR?
The S1 would be a good camera for a family who's budget doesn't allow for the purchase of more than one camera for each family member. It's easy to use in full "auto" mode, but has manual controls for shutter speed, aperture, exposure, and white balance, so a more experienced user can fiddle with the setting and be more creative as well. The movie mode lets mom take pics of baby's first steps, and the kids take movies of the family pet. The zoom is great for wildlife and trips to the zoo.
If you're more of a semi pro who wants huge enlargements, you will need to look elsewhere.
WORTH THE PRICE?
The S1 overall is a very good camera, with it's only shortfall being the price. At a standard price of $499.00 U.S. in most retail stores, it's not cheap, and even though it has some nice features, is not a great deal for a 3 megapixel camera.
Panasonic offers a 4 megapixel 12X IS zoom for only a little more, and other makers are working on their versions of similar IS zooms with higher resolutions at a lower or similar price. If you can find the S1 on sale for $400 or less, I say snatch it up. If not.. shop around for better offerings.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 429 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
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