Latest – Review by PCWorld (added 12 June’08)
Canon PowerShot S5 IS features:
- 8 megapixels
- Optically image stabilized 12x zoom lens
- 2.5 inch vari-angle LCD
- Face detection
- 30 fps VGA or 60 fps QVGA video
- 1.5 fps continuous shooting
- Flash hot shoe
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Read More Reviews – (updated 12 June’08)
PCWorld reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes -
“Despite a handy function menu for the most commonly used options, the S5 IS has an overabundance of hey-let’s-just-throw-it-in features that can clog menus (a wolf-howl sound effect for the self-timer? Really?). This feels indicative of the uneasy balance Canon has struck between the consumer and professional markets: For every great feature the S5 has (image stabilization, stereo microphones), another is missing (so-so optics, no RAW file support). Overall, though, the good outweighs the bad, and the S5 is a solid camera for aspiring amateurs.”
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CameraLabs – 21 February’08 – reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and thinks it’s one of the best super zooms on the market. Here’s a summary of their review -
“Here’s a great zoom but it also has an above average macro capability and offers some of the best video features available on any still camera. Image quality is good however, high contrast areas have a tendency to display purple fringing. No RAW capability and visible ISO noise are a couple of other negatives. Last but not least is the limited wide angle coverage which is limited to 36mm.”
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PCAdvisor – 27 December’07 – reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and notes the camera produces very flattering skin tones. Here’s an excerpt from their review conclusion -
“With a little care and attention, the Canon PowerShot S5 IS delivers the goods. It has a 12x zoom, a flip and twist screen, and is fast, intuitive, light and compact. Unfortunately, you get image noise on shots taken above ISO400, plus occasional pixel fringing.”
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Imaging-Resource – 30 October’07 – reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and suggests this is a lot of camera for the money. Here’s an excerpt from their review conclusion -
“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.”
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CNET.co.uk – 10 October’07 – reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and notes that for the person who does not want a full on DSLR this camera is the perfect alternative. Here’s their final conclusion -
“The S5 IS is decently priced at around £230. The main advantage of it is that you get a huge zoom within a reasonably compact body that, at a push, you can shoot single-handedly. Not only that, but the vari-angle LCD proves useful for those otherwise tricky low or high angle shots, while the ability to use the zoom in video capture mode another plus.”
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ePhotozine – 28 September’07 – reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes;
“I really like this camera. The results that I got are very good which I have to admit is not just my amazing talent. I am a little undecided on Canon’s decision to make the video mode so high profile as this is specifically a still imaging machine and even with the upgrade to the video clip limit, it is not designed for video. I’m still not a great believer in a high performance cameras taking AA batteries, but there are many batteries about that have high capacity these days, so cannot really deride the camera because of it.”
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TrustedReviews – 25 September’07 – reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and offers the following verdict;
“The Canon PowerShot S5 IS is unquestionably the most versatile digital camera on the market, with a powerful high quality zoom lens, superb image stabilization, 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.”
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PhotographyBlog – 19 September’07 – 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).”
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Cameras.co.uk – 17 September’07 – 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.”
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DigitalCameraInfo reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes;
“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.”
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Luminous Landscape reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes;
“If you can’t tell yet, then I’ll just say it: 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. The creative modes, compensations settings, and hot shoe open doors to solid lessons in photography, and the long zoom with image stabilization presents situational versatility that’s hard to beat. One job of professional photographers is to help encourage new artists; the S5 IS is an economical vector for such people.”
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Good Gear Guide reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and likes the rotating and multi directional LCD screen. One of the things they thought slowed the camera down was the fact that on power up the lens needed to fully extend which adds to the startup time.
Bottom Line: Nice camera but new super zooms are offering better feature sets and increased zoom capabilities.
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PopPhoto reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and appreciated the how sharp the optical image stabilization made images. They also liked the design and thought it was first class. On the downside they were not thrilled with image quality above ISO 400. Digital noise was excessive and they felt that a camera of this caliber should have done better, particularly for a camera in this class.
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Megapixel reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and thought the image quality and color were very good. The evaluative metering and 12x stabilized zoom lens also impressed them. What they did not like was the placement of the memory card in the same compartment as the batteries, silly and inefficient idea.
Bottom line: Fast reliable camera that delivers very good results, no RAW format and stupid memory card placement. Highly recommended.
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DP Review reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and thinks that it’s the pick of the litter of the current super zooms. It’s dependable, easy to operate, and offers a nice set of features.
Bottom line: It’s a nice camera, however, it really does need a larger sensor, separate the SD slot and battery compartment and a wider lens wouldn’t hurt. But as the reviewer indicated he would rather shoot pack the S% over the Sony, Olympus or Fuji alternatives.
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Steve’s Digicams – 7/25/2007 – reviews the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and was impressed with its performance. All of the features on S5 IS add up to a prosumer camera worth your consideration. They noted the camera was not only fast, its image quality was excellent.
Bottom Line: In the competitive super zoom category this camera is tough to beat. Factor in the reasonable price tag and terrific performance Canon has a winner.
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CNET Asia – 7/17/2007 – has reviewed the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes, “Retailing at S$799 (package price), this camera certainly delivers on most of its promises. By today’s standards, it could do with more improvements than the ones mentioned above, but it is still a good camera although they’re not quite enough reasons to upgrade if you already own a previous model.”
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Digital Camera Review – 7/13/2007 – has reviewed the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes, “Does the S5 IS measure up to Canon’s self-proclaimed “creative performance of a professional digital SLR camera and the compact convenience of a point and shoot”? In large measure, yes, it does.
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.”
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DC Resource – 7/11/2007 – has reviewed the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes, “While not perfect, the Canon PowerShot S5 IS is still one of the best ultra zooms on the market. It offers a nice blend of photo quality, performance, and features that appeal to both beginners and enthusiasts. I can recommend the S5 to just about anyone interested in an ultra zoom camera. If you’re a PowerShot S3 owner wondering if you should upgrade, I would only say “yes” if you need the hot shoe and longer movie recording times. Otherwise, stick with what you have!”
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Photo Review – 7/9/2007 – has reviewed the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes, “It’s a pity Canon didn’t provide raw file capture as an option in the S5 IS because this camera offers most of the controls and functions that keen photographers require.
Although not outstanding, image quality from the test camera was on a par with, if not slightly ahead of most competing long-zoom cameras but we feel a better sensor size/resolution ratio (i.e. a larger sensor for the same resolution) would put this camera in the lead. We would also like to see a better designed battery compartment (especially the lid) and a return to the separate card slot of earlier models.”
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DP Expert – 7/8/2007 – has reviewed the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes, “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.”
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DP Interface – 7/3/2007 – has reviewed 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.”
CNET – 6/12/2007 – has reviewed the Canon PowerShot S5 IS and writes, “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.”
Sample Photos
[Sample Test Photos at CameraLabs]
[Sample Test Photos at Imaging-Resource]
[Sample Full Resolution Test Photos at TrustedReviews]
[Sample Test Photos at PhotographyBlog]
[Sample Test Photos at Cameras.co.uk]
[Sample Test Photos at DigitalCameraInfo]
[Sample Photos at PopPhoto]
[Sample Photos at Megapixel]
[Sample Photos at DP Review]
[Sample Photos at Steve's Digicams]
[Sample Photos at DC Resource]
[Sample Photos at DP Interface]
[Sample Test Photos at flickr]
[Sample Test Photos at Canon]
Videos
Specifications
[Official Canon Specifications]
Owners Manual
Competitive Cameras
Other cameras that compete with the S5 IS are:
| Camera | Specifications |
| Fuji FinePix S6000fd | 6.3-megapixel, 10.7x wide-angle image-stabilized optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD, face detection |
| Fuji FinePix S9100 | 9 megapixel, 10.7x optical zoom, 2.0 inch LCD |
| Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS | 7.1 megapixels, optical image stabilized, a 2.5 in. (6.4 cm) LCD, 12X SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH VARIOGON Optical Zoom Lens, 32 MB internal memory, and has an ISO range up to 1600. |
| Olympus SP-550 Ultra Zoom | 7.1 megapixels, 18x wide angle zoom, 15FPS & Pre-Capture, full manual control, dual image stabilization, ISO 5000, and bright capture. |
| Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 | 7.2 megapixels, 12x (equivalent to 36-432mm on a 35mm film camera) Leica lens, image stabilization, 20 scene modes, 2.5 inch LCD and 27 MB of built-in memory. |
| Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9 | 8.1 megapixels, HDTV output, 15x stabilized zoom, NightShot technology for shooting in total darkness, automatic face detection, ISO range up to 3200, optical image stabilization and a 3 inch LCD. |
Press Release
LAKE SUCCESS, NY., May 7, 2007 – Canon today introduced the new Powershot S5 IS, which will replace the Powershot S3 IS in Canon’s line-up. The S5 IS offers a huge 12x (36-432mm equivalent) optical zoom lens with optical image stabilization, DIGIC III processor which adds face detection technology, improved auto focus, auto exposure, and flash, a vari-angle 2.5″ LCD screen, and a hot-shoe that will accept Canon’s EX Speedlite flashes. The Powershot S5 IS will also feature an Ultra-Low Dispersion (UD) lens to reduce chromatic abberations at telephoto, and an Ultra-Sonic Motor (USM) for fast, silent zoom operation. The Powershot S5 IS will be available in July with an estimated selling price of $499.99 (U.S.).
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