Canon Powershot S5 IS Features

Megapixels and Zoom
The Canon Powershot S5 IS is an 8 megapixel digital camera with a 12x optical zoom lens.

When shooting at lower resolutions a feature called safety zoom can be enabled. This allows the amount of zoom available to be increased by an extra 2x. 4x Digital zoom is also available, but this will have an effect on picture quality.

The Focal length of the lens is equivalent to 36 - 432mm in 35mm format. The lens is probably the fastest I have tested in terms of zooming in and out. This is probably due to the built in Ultrasonic Motor.

The lens also has image stabilisation. This can make a difference to sharpness of photos for hand held shots, especially in lower light and when the zoom is working at or near to its full extension.

Basics

Special resolution for widescreen television playback
Self timer
Red eye correction after a photo has been taken
60 seconds of commentary or sound can be added to a photo
Stitch Assist for panoramic photos.

Focusing
The Powershot S5 IS offers manual focusing, focus bracketing and also has face detection for portrait shots.

For close up work the camera can focus from more or less next to a subject.

LCD
The LCD screen is 2.5" in size. It can be pulled out and twisted round. This can help to move it away from bright sunlight or help when shooting at awkward angles. The screen is made up of around 207,000 pixels.

There is also an electronic viewfinder. You can focus the viewfinder to suit your own eyesight.

Flash
Flash is one area where the Powershot S5 IS stands out as offering more options then most other super zoom digital cameras.

The flash modes are Automatic, On and Off. Red eye reduction and slow sync speed can also be turned on and off. The power level of the flash can be adjusted.

Also available are Flash Exposure Compensation (+/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments), Flash Exposure Lock and Second Curtain Synchronisation.

The range of the flash unit is 5.2m when the zoom lens is being used and 4m when the zoom is fully extended. If you need greater flash power you can buy an EX series Speedlite (220EX, 430EX, 580EX) or Canon's High Power Flash HF-DC1.

Scene Modes
Compared to other digital cameras the Canon Powershot S5 IS has a more limited set of scene modes. All the main modes are included though. The full list is: Portrait, Landscape, Night Snapshot, Sports, Indoor, Night Scene, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks and Aquarium. When you use a scene mode it helps the camera to select the optimum settings for the shot.

Colour Effects
A wide range of colour options can be used to add different effects to photos. The colour modes are: Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red and Custom Color. Color Accent and Color Swap options are also available.

Movies
TV quality movies can be produced. As well as the standard resolution (640 x 480 pixels) and speed (30 frames per second), there is a special high speed movie mode. This shoots one minute movies that can be played back in slow motion. A standard movie can last up to one hour or 4GB. You can zoom in and out while a movie is being recorded and sound can be captured too.

Advanced Features
Another big attraction of the Powershot S5 IS is the fact it has manual exposure controls (AE, Shutter priority AE, Aperture priority AE, Manual, Custom). These will appeal to the more serious photographer.

Shutter speeds work in the range 15 - 1/3200 seconds while the maximum aperture is f/2.7 - f/3.5.

Other advanced features include:

Metering Modes - Evaluative, Centre-weighted average, Spot
Exposure Compensation - +/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments
Auto Exposure Bracketing - 1/3 - 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments
ISO Sensitivity - AUTO, High ISO Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
White Balance - Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash, Custom
Continuous Shooting - Approx. 1.5fps or Approx. 0.9fps with LCD monitor off.

Computer - Printers - Television
All the necessary cables and software are included to attach the Powershot S5 IS to a computer, compatible printer and a television set.

Extras
You can buy a series of conversion lenses to increase the capabilities of the lens.

These are: