Digital Cameras, and digital camera reviews
Sections Digital Cameras Other Cameras Camcorders Site Map About Us

Canon Powershot S5 IS Features

Canon Powershot S5 IS

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:

  • Tele-converter 1.5x TC-DC58B
  • Wide-converter 0.75x WC-DC58A
  • Close-up lens 500D (58mm)
  • Lens adapter/Hood set LAH-DC20

Canon Powershot S5 IS





Sections: Digital Cameras Other Cameras Camcorders Site Map

Digital Camera Advice Centre Camera Selector Digital Camera Reviews Specifications Digital Camera Prices Lens Selector Blog Digital SLRs

digital camera reviews
digital camera reviews
Current Section
Digital Cameras
Advice Centre
Camera Selector
Digital Camera Reviews
Digital Camera Video Guides
Specifications
Digital Camera Prices in the U.K.
Lens Selector


Deals of the Day

Cheap Digital Cameras

Digital Cameras Under £50

Digital Cameras Under £100

Memory Card Bargains

Photo Printer Prices


Getting Started

Buying a Digital Camera

Cameras.co.uk Club

Brands

Canon Digital Cameras

Casio Digital Cameras

Fuji Digital Cameras

Kodak Digital Cameras

Nikon Digital Cameras

Olympus Digital Cameras

Panasonic Digital Cameras

Pentax Digital Cameras

Samsung Digital Cameras

Sony Digital Cameras


Top Rated Reviews

Pocket Sized

Canon IXUS 85 IS

Canon IXUS 90 IS

Canon IXUS 80 IS

Canon IXUS 70

Fuji Finepix F50fd

more...


Stylish

Canon IXUS 970 IS

Panasonic DMC FX150

Canon IXUS 860 IS

Canon IXUS 960 IS

more...


Simple and Easy

Canon Powershot A580

Canon Powershot A470

Panasonic DMC LS75

Samsung Digimax S760

Panasonic DMC LS80

more...


Extra Features

Canon Powershot A720 IS

Canon Powershot A570 IS

Canon Powershot A650 IS

Canon Powershot A590 IS

more...


Super Zoom

Panasonic DMC FZ8

Canon Powershot SX100 IS

Olympus SP-570 UZ

Canon Powershot S5 IS

Panasonic DMC FZ18

more...


Advanced

Nikon Coolpix P5100

Canon Powershot G9

Fuji Finepix S9600

Panasonic DMC LX2

more...


All Reviews

Add to My Yahoo!

digital camera reviews
digital camera reviews