Canon PowerShot S5 IS

Canon-Powershot-S5-Is The 8.0 megapixel Canon PowerShot S5 IS digital camera is the latest new release from Canon. It features a lovely 12x optical zoom lens with image stabilization, 1/2.5 inch CCD sensor and face detection technology (for focussing, exposure and flash).

The Canon PowerShot S5 IS features a 2.5 inch LCD, flash hotshoe, DIGIC III and Long-Play VGA movies.

It has an ISO range of up to 1600 and all the normal range of shooting modes as well as red eye correction in playback.

Get a price on the Canon PowerShot Pro Series S5 IS

Canon PowerShot S5 IS News Release

Canon PowerShot S5 IS: Zoom is just the beginning

Canon today announces the launch of the 12x optical zoom, 8.0 Megapixel PowerShot S5 IS. The new compact inherits optical Image Stabilizer (IS) technology, professional-grade optics and extensive movie functions while introducing a host of new features designed to increase the photographer’s success rate.

Get a price on the Canon PowerShot Pro Series S5 IS

Powered by Canon's DIGIC III image processor, Face Detection Technology improves focus, exposure and flash output for people shots while the new Red-Eye Correction feature effectively solves red-eye problems in captured photos. An increased sensitivity range of ISO 80-1600 complements the optical IS system for extended low light performance.

Other key advancements include a larger, higher resolution 2.5” vari-angle LCD, additional shooting modes and extended video recording. The compact design incorporates a new hot shoe that provides compatibility with selected Canon EX Speedlite external flashes, adding to an accessory list that includes Wide, Tele and Close-up converter lenses.

Canon PowerShot S5 IS Features at a glance:

• 12x optical zoom lens with Ultrasonic Motor (USM) and UD lens
• Optical Image Stabilizer
• 8.0 Megapixel CCD
• DIGIC III with advanced Noise Reduction technology and Face Detection for stills and movies
• Red-Eye Correction in playback
• 2.5” high-resolution vari-angle LCD
• Long-play VGA movies with stereo sound and Photo in Movie
• 22 shooting modes including full manual control and 0cm Super Macro
• High ISO 1600 and Auto ISO Shift
• Compatible with Wide/Tele/Close-up converter lenses and Canon EX Speedlite flashes

Precision Optics

Benefiting from Canon’s 70 year heritage in optics, the 12x optical zoom lens (f/2.7 – f/3.5, 36-432mm) incorporates the same leading technologies used in professional EF lenses:

Optical Image Stabilizer (IS) technology suppresses blur when taking stills and minimises image shake when shooting video footage. Canon’s lens-shift type IS allows photographers to shoot at shutter speeds up to 3 stops slower with no perceptible increase in image blur.
An 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.
An Ultra-low Dispersion (UD) lens element curbs chromatic aberrations at longer focal lengths to ensure faithful colour reproduction and sharp definition.

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.

New technologies for better photos

Canon’s DIGIC III processor introduces several new features engineered to return better photos, more easily. Face Detection AF/AE/FE automatically detects up to nine faces within a scene and optimises focus, exposure and flash output accordingly. The system performs accurately with large groups and when subjects are distant or move within the frame. Unique to the PowerShot S5 IS, Face Detection AF/AE can also be activated when recording movies, with focus and exposure continuously adjusted for moving subjects. Because the technology is hardware-based, it operates at the same rapid speed as Canon's standard AiAF.

As well as flash-based Red-Eye Reduction during shooting, the PowerShot S5 IS includes Red-Eye Correction for captured images, reducing the need for post-shoot processing on a computer. When enabled in playback mode, Red-Eye Correction uses Face Detection Technology to analyse the selected image and remove any red-eye it detects. Users can also remove red-eye manually.

Photographic versatility

Responding to user feedback, the vari-angle LCD has been increased from 2.0” to 2.5” while screen resolution is sharper at 207k pixels. The LCD can be twisted in any direction to allow shooting from awkward positions – such as waist height or with the camera held above the head.
Improved low light shooting at high ISO settings (up to ISO 1600) is assured through the combination of optical Image Stabilizer and DIGIC III’s advanced Noise Reduction Technology. A new Auto ISO Shift function prevents blur by giving users the option to boost the ISO setting – and consequently shutter speed – with a single button press whenever the camera predicts camera shake.

When flash photography is desired, the new hot shoe gives users the option of using an external EX Speedlite flash or slave flash setup to achieve naturalistic or dramatic lighting effects.

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 – ideal for catching those once-off moments. A new 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 for clear, crisp sound quality. The convenient Photo In Movie feature enables the capture of full resolution stills during movie recording.

Creative shooting

An expanded selection of 22 shooting modes ranges from automatic to full Manual mode and includes Aperture Priority, Shutter Speed Priority and a user-defined Custom mode. The My Category function simplifies image management by automatically tagging images with categories – such as People, Scenery and Events – based on face detection and the shooting mode selected.

The PowerShot S5 IS benefits from a number of features that will be of particular use to advanced photographers. New Continuous Shooting AF keeps a moving subject in focus whilst shooting at 1.5fps. Safety FE automatically reduces the aperture to avoid blown highlights when using the flash close to subjects, while Safety MF helps during manual focusing by performing fine adjustments to focus. The camera also retains AEB (auto exposure bracketing) focus bracketing, and a real-time live histogram display to allow for accurate judging of exposure.

Combining ease of use with advanced functionality, the PowerShot S5 IS offers new and experienced photographers alike a powerful, versatile photographic experience.
Additional Information

Printing

The PowerShot S5 IS features a dedicated Print menu for quick access to direct print options. Full PictBridge support means users can print directly to any PictBridge compatible printer without the need for a PC. A Print/Share button allows one-touch printing and easy uploads to Windows or Mac systems.

Software

The PowerShot S5 IS comes bundled with the following Canon Software:

• ZoomBrowser EX 5.8 (Windows), ImageBrowser 5.8 (Macintosh): For organising and editing images, movies and slideshows.
• RemoteCapture Task 1.7 (Windows and Macintosh) for PC controlled remote shooting.
• PhotoStitch 3.1: For creating panoramic photos from multiple images (Windows and Macintosh).

The bundled software supports Windows 2000 (SP4), XP (SP1-2), Vista and Macintosh OS X v10.3-v10.4. The cameras support PTP for driverless transfer to Windows XP and Macintosh OS X, along with MTP for image and movie transfers to Windows Vista.

Purchasers of the cameras are eligible for membership of CANON iMAGE GATEWAY, 100MB of online ‘personal gallery’ space for sharing images with family and friends.

Accessories for the Canon PowerShot S5 IS

A complete range of optional accessories is available for the PowerShot S5 IS:

• Tele-converter 1.5x lens (TC-DC58B)
• Wide-converter 0.75x lens (WC-DC58A)
• Lens Adapter/Hood Set (LAH-DC20)
• Close-Up Lens 500D (58mm)
• Canon Speedlite flash units (220EX, 430EX, 580EX)
• High Power Flash HF-DC1
• Soft Case (DCC-90)
• Compact AC Power Adapter (CA-PS700)
• Battery and Charger Kit (CBK4-300)

Canon PowerShot S5 IS Reviews

CNET has a review of the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes, "Color 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. ... 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."

DPInterface has a review of the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes, "Image quality is good and on par, if not slightly ahead, of competition with low noise up till ISO 400. But using the same lens as the S3 means the Canon PowerShot S5 IS 'inherits' some of the image quality issues of its predecessor - namely color fringing and flare, the latter exists only in extreme conditions at wide-angle. There's some redeye too but that can be reduced/removed with the built-in redeye correction feature, computer software or an external flash. ... The Canon PowerShot S5 IS is a worthy successor to last year's S3 and it is arguably the flagship Canon PowerShot (though some may disagree) since it has an overall better feature set than the G7. "

DPExpert has a review of the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes, "Focus is reasonably quick, except at the longest extension. Overall construction quality is superb and the swivelling LCD screen is a wonderful feature which is disappearing from other cameras. ... The Canon S5 IS is one of the best of the pseudo SLR super zooms. The lens is outstanding and the company has kept the pixel count to 8 million. That’s about a million more than we consider ideal and images are a bit noisy at ISO speeds above 200, but not so much so that the picture is degraded. This is a good all-purpose camera with a standout macro ability."

DCResource has a review of the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes, "The PowerShot S5's image quality is some of the best you'll find on an ultra zoom. The camera takes well-exposed, colorful photos with just the right amount of sharpness. At lower ISO settings, images have an almost D-SLR-like "smooth" appearance to them. Noise doesn't become a problem until ISO 400 in good light, and ISO 200 in low light. ISO 800 is usable (in good light) if you use noise reduction software, but you might as well forget about using ISO 1600. There seemed to be more purple fringing and corner blurriness than on the S3 (but not enough to be concerned about), which tells me that the S5's lens is really being pushed hard. One big problem that remains on the PowerShot S5 is redeye -- it's pretty awful. The good news is that the redeye removal tool in playback mode gets rid of it quickly and easily."

Digital Camera Review has a review of the Canon Powershot S5 IS and writes, "This is a capable and versatile camera, with good shutter and focus performance, great image and color quality and a lens that can range from modest wide angle to long telephoto. The auto and shooting mode options are supplemented by a full set of manual controls, and the camera will provide a fine imaging tool to the novice who never ventures past "auto"; serve as an excellent learning platform for someone contemplating the move to a DSLR and all that entails, or capably produce high quality images for an advanced shooter who doesn’t need or want to be constrained by the bulk of a DSLR. The smaller physical size of the sensor guarantees that noise performance won’t match a DSLR once ISO values start to rise, and the 0.9 fps continuous shooting speed is a bit of a disappointment for a camera that does so many other things so well. But these are truly minor annoyances given the overall excellence of the S5 IS."

DPReview has a review of the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes, "let's get one thing straight; the S5 IS is a great camera, one we really enjoyed using, and one that produces decent output shot after shot thanks to a responsive focus system, accurate exposure, vibrant (but natural) color and a decent image stabilization system. Although the results don't bear close 'pixel level' scrutiny, for the typical user wanting to produce prints at standard sizes (say up to 5x7 inches) there's very little to complain about, and the more you use it the more you learn how to tailor the settings to get the best output. It also offers class-leading movie quality, if that's important to you. ... To conclude, the PowerShot S5 IS is probably, just, the pick of the super zoom bunch at this moment in time, because it offers reliable output, responsive performance and an impressive feature set in an attractive, easy to use package that makes photography fun; not because it offers better IQ."

Steve's Digicams has a review of the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes, "The S5's image quality results were pleasing, both indoors and out. The majority of our outdoors sample images were sharp thanks to the accurate AF system and high-quality Canon lens, and exposure and color saturation are also very nice. You can also adjust the degree of sharpness, contrast, saturation, and color using the Custom My Colors function. Image noise is a very important factor when choosing a Prosumer model like this, where is it likely that you are going to be using higher sensitivity settings. I feel noise levels are very low at sensitivity settings of ISO 80 and 100, becoming more noticeable in shadow areas at ISO 200 - 400. At ISO 800, noise is apparent throughout the image, however it is still usable to produce typical size prints. ... With appealing features like 8-megapixels of resolution, 12x zoom lens with optical IS, 2.5-inch vari-angle LCD, excellent image quality, and blazing fast performance, the S5 IS will be a tuff model to beat in the super-zoom category. Especially with a very reasonable price tag of only US399 or less!"

Megapixel has a review of the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes, "The Canon PowerShot S5 IS is a camera designed for advanced amateurs, and some time is required to tame it and obtain the highest image quality. Nevertheless, it would appear that the 8-megapixel resolution seems to be at the limit of what the lens can support, and with wide angle shots it is not unusual for images to require some post capture sharpening. Similarly, noise is a factor and the S5 IS produces its highest image quality if sensitivity is kept to a maximum of 200 ISO."

Luminous Landscape has a review of the Canon Powershot S5 IS and writes, "the S5 IS is a very nice little camera with plenty of range and possibilities as a 3rd camera for pros who want something eminently portable when the full-size beasts don’t fit in. Learn the image quality and viewfinder limitations and you’ve got a new sliver bullet for niche problems. I intend to give the S5 IS to my assistant at weddings to shoot candids while I’m taking the money shots. With the right carry bag, I’ll also bring it with me in the car just about wherever I go for those creative moments that I’ve been missing lately. The S5 IS is also, I might add, a great instrument for amateurs looking to step-up in the digital world from a cheesy point-and-shoot, or to ditch that old film SLR and can’t quite face the time and expense commitment of DSLR technology."

Digital Camera Info reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and recommend - 'The Canon PowerShot S5 IS combines a few aged components with some new technology and upgrades. The 8-megapixel ultra-zoom digital camera has a 12x optical zoom lens that has made several appearances on previous S-series models. The 12x lens used to be considered long, but is now one of the shorter lenses on an ultra-zoom camera. Newer cameras have 15x and 18x lenses – and are less expensive.... The S5 is still a great hybrid digital camera. It takes excellent video with stereo audio, and its 12x optical zoom and image stabilization are functional. If only the pictures were as good. The burst mode lags at 1.5 fps, the autofocus isn’t as quick as its DSLR-like body suggests, and noise renders some images nearly unusable.'

PhotographyBLOG reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes - 'In terms of features and handling the more you play with the Canon PowerShot S5 IS, the more you find to like about it, which means that it requires a period of familiarization. Although certain aspects of the control layout might appear slightly compromised or clunky at first you soon learn to live with its foibles. However, it can't be denied that inability to capture any stills file format other than JPEG will be a major turn off for a chunk of its potential ownership. Ultimately the Canon PowerShot S5 IS is something of a jack-of-all-trades – perhaps even a Swiss Army knife of a camera (though it doesn't play MP3s), and there's certainly more of a focus on shooting movies than many enthusiast cameras, with stereo sound (Wave format) offered, a long play option, and a nicely smooth and quiet zoom action thanks to that Ultrasonic Motor (USM). Despite the fact that 12x is looking a little weedy against the likes of the Olympus SP-560UZ or Panasonic FZ18, you do get a lot of zoom for your money compared to what it would cost to equip a DSLR with a similar rage, and yet its stills performance – although perfectly acceptable – is no star turn.'

Cameras.co.uk reviews the Canon Powershot S5 IS and writes - "The Canon Powershot S5 IS has more features than any similar, super zoom digital camera. It is also one of the more expensive models. On the whole picture quality is very good, but it is a concern that my full zoom test showed a noticeable fall off in sharpness away from the centre of the photo.....The Canon Powershot S5 IS is a feature rich super zoom digital camera. In terms of controls and settings it has the edge over all its rivals. Picture quality is very good overall and outstanding in places."

Trusted Reviews has reviewed the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes - 'The Canon PowerShot S5 IS is unquestionably the most versatile digital camera on the market, with a powerful high quality zoom lens, superb image stabilisation, class-leading performance and what may be the best AF system on the market. It has a huge range of features, including a video mode with full zoom lens and stereo audio. It is slightly let down by the small sensor and its inherent noise problems, but it is still an outstanding camera by any standard.'

Imaging Resource reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes - 'The Canon PowerShot's S5 IS extensive feature set combined with its image-stabilized 12x optical zoom lens will please photographers who want a solidly built and capable non-DSLR camera with all the bells and whistles. Aside from the omission of a RAW mode, the Canon S5 IS is one of the more capable megazooms on the market. External controls and easy access to setting changes add to the Canon S5's appeal, as does its excellent movie mode with stereo sound. The Canon S5's automatic and semi-manual functions will be comforting to snapshooters looking to step up and/or develop their photographic skills. Noise and chromatic aberration issues, unfortunately, detract from the camera's otherwise pleasing image quality. Still, the Canon S5 IS serves as both a camcorder and a long zoom, all-purpose event capturing device, and we think it's one of the best on the market.'

Get a price on the Canon PowerShot Pro Series S5 IS

Posted by Darren in our Canon category on May 07, 2007

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