Picked up the S5 today.

[downtrodden]

Well today I was camera shopping. went out looking for an EOS 1D Mark III. Not to buy, but to put into lay-a-way or something of that nature. Well anyway, I expect to get a MarkIII shortly after Christmas... my little chirstmas gift to me for being blind. :D

However i decided to pick up the S5 while I was out. I don't know why.. just... impulse I guess.

Anyway.. I will get my biggest gripe out of the way right away... WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING!? Putting the MEMORY CARD SLOT IN THE BATTERY COMPARTMENT!? it's a pain in the ARSE! Especially since i usually leave the tripod thing on my camera at all times and it's habit for me to put the memory card directly into the memory card slot of the computer. I generally don't use the USB cable because I have my 120 gig portable hardrive hooked up there.

Just makes my workflow go slower.

Now I was pleasantly surprised at the noise levels. Iso's 80-400 were slightly cleaner or even in my opinion and ISO 800 i think would be usable for a small print if you run it through noiseware and ISO 1600 was pretty useeless as expected.

Here we have a scary Halloween picture taken at ISO 400, 1/13 F3.5.
S3:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b196/KillaFrosty513/S5%20Pix/IMG_7059.jpg
and the S5
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b196/KillaFrosty513/S5%20Pix/IMG_0169.jpg

So the picture quality from S3 to S5 appears to be the same. The extra two megapixels obviously allows for more cropping to de done, which is handy.

but for some reason, it seems as though the S5 takes softer pictures, despite carrying my S3 colors settings over to the S5. I'm not sure yet, I was losing daylight and couldn't find any good small macro test subjects.

The buttons all feel a lot nicer and are easier to press, but harder to accidentally press (if that makes any sense). And the dedicated ISO button no longer changes the ISO with one press. Press the ISO button once and it brings up a scroll bar of ISO options. You can then either A. Cycle forward using the ISO button or B. Cycle lower or higher using the directional pad you adjust shutter speed with. the Self timer/ continuous shooting mode button works the same way too, with the options being as follows: Single, Continuous, Continuous AF, 10 sec. timer, 2 sec. timer and Custom Timer.

But for me, the LCD is *awesome* it's so much easier for me to see than the S3 LCD. With the S3's screen I sometimes can't tell what shutter speed i'm at or what F stop i'm on... half an inch doesn't sound like it would make a lot of difference, but it really does- especially when composing macro shots. I cannot wait to see what the Mark III's 3 inch LCD looks like.

Anyway.. enough rambling, here are some more pictures at different ISO levels. I will have better pictures posted here soon.. as soon as i find more cooperative subject matter.

ISO 100... 50% crop:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b196/KillaFrosty513/S5%20Pix/IMG_0007-100.jpg

ISO 200... 50% crop
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b196/KillaFrosty513/S5%20Pix/IMG_0033-200.jpg

ISO 400... 50% crop
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b196/KillaFrosty513/S5%20Pix/IMG_0035-400.jpg

ISO 800
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b196/KillaFrosty513/S5%20Pix/IMG_0041.jpg

Now i don't know though whether to keep the S5 or not.. i'm thinking about taking it back and shelling out some more dough for the 30D. The only problem is, I may not use it as much because I have difficulty seeing through viewfinders. Haha.. also.. i cannot for the life of me figure out how tochange the shutter speed or aperture :X SHH!! That's a secret, don't tell anyone!

For anyone curious as to why (other than 3" live LCD) i want to buy the 1D Mark III... here's a 6400 ISO shot from it. 1/80 F1.8: http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=540173896&size=l

Enjoy!

[lantern]

Did you write a review on Amazon?

Its funny because I read your post and then thought "hmm...I wonder if more people have posted reviews on Amazon?". So I went and looked and the latest review has almost the same frustration with the memory card placement. With good reason BTW. I don't know why I never noticed the lack of a card slot when I have been snooping around lately.

I wonder if Best Buy or Circuit City would cover the door with their extra coverage plan? I bet they would call it "user abuse".:)

[downtrodden]

Haha.. nope.. i haven't wrote an amazon review. I just posted my preliminary review.. I didn't get to play around with the camera during the day yesterday. by the time i got it home it was already dusk . Gonna play around with it more today.

As far as the battery/card door... i don't think the door would necassarily fall off... it's just a huge pain.. because normally I don't use the USB cable, my hard drive is plugged into my USB port so i just take the mem. card out and use the card slot. I also usually keep my tripod mount on camera all th time, which covers the battery door. arrrgh! just a minor annoyance.

[downtrodden]

Well I actually had time to take the S5 out for a spin today. As expected, the 2.5" LCD helped so much with focusing on tiny macro subjects

I still feel, after reviewing all my images i took, that the image quality between the S3 and S5 are nearly identical- so 'upgrading' for image quality would be a waste of money.

Something i noticed about the S5, the histogram has been moved to the top left corner of the lcd and the digital zoom function works a lot differently now.

Also, the S5 seems to deliver slightly more accurate color. Take the halloween mask picture above. Both cameras used the same shutter speed and aperture. both at ISO 400 and both white balances were set to tungsten. Both cameras were used in M mode. The s3 shot seems to have a reddish/brownish tint to it.. look just below the mouth in both pictures and you'll see hwat i mean..

Anywho.. here are some pictures I took today from the S5.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1254/686946077_79ebb02355.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1055/686994001_2052e3b747.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1351/687122101_de6806d993.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1187/688004188_1be80802f2.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1022/688034540_0c2bdebe7a.jpg

[danielg]

WOW Congrats on the S5is :)

[Visual Reality]

Macro photos aren't going to show much noise. Give that camera a real test :cool:

[lantern]

Since my S3 was crushed ironically by the UPS truck delivering some filters and a crumpler bag I bought for it I was waiting for the reviews for the S5.

My biggest concern was the internal processing that the digic III may have on the images. So it seems that you don't see much difference which is good.

Would you say that the positives of the S5(lcd, brighter EVF, speed of focus) warrant a purchase over the S3 if you didn't already own one? I personally liked the way it felt in the store, but hands-on is a little different from just goofing around in the store.

[downtrodden]

Lantern: I can't comment on the EVF, because i don't use it unless the LCD becomes washed out.. cloudy day today, so no worries there. And i didn't notice any change on the focus speeds.

Another user messaged me and asked if i'd recommend the S5 over the S3. And I cannot. I still think the S3 is a much better value and would advice any of my friends to opt for the S3- Unless your situation is such that you have a hard time seeing the LCD screen. In which case, the S5 would be a worthy upgrade. The S5 didn't cost me 500 bucks. Best buy had it on sale for 475 AND a friend gave me a 12 percent off coupn. In addition, I already promised my girlfriend my S3. So it came to either me buyinng another S3 or splurging the extra 80 bucks to spring for a bigger LCD that i could see more easily.

I know it's not the answer you're looking for.. but hey, if you've got the extra dough to walk around with.. the Screen is nice and the camera does feel a lot nicer in hand than the S3..

Sorry i cannot be much more help than that : (

[ale_g]

Have you compared both on the focus lock problem?. Could you try both machines focusing on a single vertical/horizontal line and see the results?.

I think that the focus lock on the S3 is a real pain sometimes.


B. Regards
Ale_g:)

[FLiPMaRC]

:cool: Congrats on your purchase. Thanks for the preliminary review :)

[lantern]

Lantern: I can't comment on the EVF, because i don't use it unless the LCD becomes washed out.. cloudy day today, so no worries there. And i didn't notice any change on the focus speeds.

Another user messaged me and asked if i'd recommend the S5 over the S3. And I cannot. I still think the S3 is a much better value and would advice any of my friends to opt for the S3- Unless your situation is such that you have a hard time seeing the LCD screen. In which case, the S5 would be a worthy upgrade. The S5 didn't cost me 500 bucks. Best buy had it on sale for 475 AND a friend gave me a 12 percent off coupn. In addition, I already promised my girlfriend my S3. So it came to either me buyinng another S3 or splurging the extra 80 bucks to spring for a bigger LCD that i could see more easily.

I know it's not the answer you're looking for.. but hey, if you've got the extra dough to walk around with.. the Screen is nice and the camera does feel a lot nicer in hand than the S3..

Sorry i cannot be much more help than that : (

LOL!! Its OK I was just looking to get somebody to push me on into the purchase.:D

As a matter of fact I'm waiting for just the sweet deal you happened upon!!

[berniej]

I just don't see the S5 staying at $500US very long. I am positive it will be cheaper online very soon. I would love the better LCD but will have to have other things before I upgrade. A remote will be #1 on my list if there is a next time no matter the brand.

[lantern]

I just don't see the S5 staying at $500US very long. I am positive it will be cheaper online very soon. I would love the better LCD but will have to have other things before I upgrade. A remote will be #1 on my list if there is a next time no matter the brand.

And you are right! Just checked Amazon and they have it for $458.88. No tax and free shipping has me one click away.:D

[Setter Dog]

One interesting feature of the S5 being discussed on another forum is the safety zoom. Essentially, reducing the megapixels from 8 to 5 will increase optical zoom by 25%. The extra zoom when shooting in Yellowstone Park at distant animals seems to be a worthwhile thing to me. Look out, animals,......you're now in range!

[bascom]

From what I've seen, safety zoom is just digital zoom so almost useless. But the red eye fix of the digic III seems more useful.

[jonalta]

I thought the Face Detection feature is very useful in the S5. However, this feature can only be used in Auto modes (inc. portrait and landscape) only. It would be great to be able to use this feature in P, Av and Tv modes :(

[jonalta]

OK. I tried the S5 again today. The Face Detection feature isnt all that useless in semi and manual modes. In P, Tv or Av mode for example, pressing the SET button then MENU would actually detect a face in the frame. pressing MENU again would cycle through other faces within the frame.

[Argelius]

I've been vacillating between the Canon S5 and the Panasonic FZ8 (I currently have the Olympus 550UZ which is good, but has significant focusing problems and is really slow from shot-to-shot).

In comparing the specs between the FZ8 and the S5, it seems like the Panasonic is a hugely better deal. Other than 1 less megapixel (7 vs 8) and no articulating LCD screen, the Pansonic has everything the Canon has for about half the price and in a more compact package.

Guess it's too early for a head-to-head comparison (so the important "image quality" comparison is missing at this point), but curious if anyone has any thoughts on this...

Cost really isn't an issue for me, but wondering what the advantages of the larger S5 is over the FZ8 (other than the forementioned two items)

[lantern]

I was messing around with all the super zooms yesterday and something confused me.


Why did it seem that the S3/S5 zooms in more than the others at the same or even 15X zoom?? Maybe I was doing something wrong.:confused:


As far as the FZ8 and the S5 go it depends on what you plan on doing with them. The RAW mode on the FZ8 is mighty tempting if you plan on doing lots of PP and don't mind taking the hit in the amount of pictures you take. I have gorilla hands that don't agree with the size and controls of the FZ8 or I would have put it higher on my list.

[downtrodden]

Lantern: On the S5 if you have the Digital zoom turned on, it's over the normal zoom. Not meaning once you hit the 12x zoom you hit the zoom button again and it will zoom more digtially. With the S5 you can select 1.5x 2x and so on for digital zoom. When you start up the camera the digital zoom will be applied already to the frame. so at full wide you'll already be zoomed in 1.5x further than with digital zoom off. Get it?

Now i don't know why the S3 would feel that way because it has the old style digital zoom that i actually don't mind having on a camera but whatever. The other superzooms you tried might be wider at the start of it's zoom range? As you'd zoom, your zoom at 12x wouldn't "seem" as long if you started from a wider point. This is of course just conjecture, and I could be wrong.

~Cory

[griptape]

Most lenses on super zooms start at 28mm. Canon starts at 37. So you lose wide angle ability, but get a similar telephoto ability as a 15x camera.

[Visual Reality]

Most lenses on super zooms start at 28mm. Canon starts at 37. So you lose wide angle ability, but get a similar telephoto ability as a 15x camera.
36mm on the S3 ;)

[downtrodden]

: X I don't even use the wide end of my lens I *ALWAYS* zoom in a little bit. Guess i should take that into consideration when selecting lenses for a future DSLR purchase.

[lantern]

Most lenses on super zooms start at 28mm. Canon starts at 37. So you lose wide angle ability, but get a similar telephoto ability as a 15x camera.


I thought that may be it. Then taking in consideration the digital zoom that was probably on.....and there ya have it.

[SpecialK]

Well today I was camera shopping. went out looking for an EOS 1D Mark III....


For anyone curious as to why (other than 3" live LCD) i want to buy the 1D Mark III... here's a 6400 ISO shot from it. 1/80 F1.8: http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=540173896&size=l

Enjoy!

You're gonna fork out that kind of money to take shots of car wheels?

[downtrodden]

Haha.. No. I wish i had some nice car wheels to photograph though (not that a Focus' wheels are NICE) but i was referring to that being a 6400 ISO shot and even in large it looks really clean. : P

[elangossay]

plz see these links of S5 photos the detail is missing big time, but your photos are conveying something totally different??????

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/ca.../gallery.shtml
----------
http://dpinterface.com/reviews/canon...ery/index.html
http://reviews.cnet.com/4326-6501_7-6576673.html

what's your opinion on this review? one thing widely talked about is in bold line- canon going in for heavier NR blah blah...

CNET reviews 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… The bottom line: Though it remains a good megazoom, thanks to continued image and lens artifacts, the Canon PowerShot S5 IS is slowly losing ground to competitors.”

[BruceNB]

I read reviews on the S5 until my eyes popped.

The most misleading was in http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/digitalcameras/0,39001468,40545281p-2,00.htm where the review said:

The S5 IS handles almost identically to its predecessors, with the same menus and interface. One con, though, is that you will need the S5 IS's packaged software to download your photos. Just plugging the memory card into a PC won't get your pictures downloaded, which can be a hassle especially if you're traveling. This almost stopped me buying the camera. However, the review is quite wrong. You can plug the SD card into the PC card reader, no problems.

Reviews all said about the lens cap coming off, and it does. I think it may be a feature as well as a bug however. I often forget it is in place when I power up the camera, and because the fit is loose, it just drops off as the lens extends. Otherwise it might hold the lens from advancing and damage it.

The one thing that baffles me is the battery compartment. Opening and closing - mostly closing it - is a nightmare for me for some reason. Maybe mental block, maybe large fingers. :eek: It just takes an age to do it right.

I did not buy the camera for its macro capability, but just had to try out the macro. Bear in mind the attached image is a picture taken a half hour after opening the box, not reading the manual, just running around testing anything that I could. It is not perfect in any way, but it impressed me. It is a cropped shot. If you are into aphids, enjoy...

[Visual Reality]

plz see these links of S5 photos the detail is missing big time, but your photos are conveying something totally different??????

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/ca.../gallery.shtml
----------
http://dpinterface.com/reviews/canon...ery/index.html
http://reviews.cnet.com/4326-6501_7-6576673.html

what's your opinion on this review? one thing widely talked about is in bold line- canon going in for heavier NR blah blah...

CNET reviews 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… The bottom line: Though it remains a good megazoom, thanks to continued image and lens artifacts, the Canon PowerShot S5 IS is slowly losing ground to competitors.”
I will state again, that I do not agree with this review at all. It sounds like they were not shooting in Superfine, but in a higher compression (lower quality) setting such as Fine or Normal.


I read reviews on the S5 until my eyes popped.

The most misleading was in http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/digitalcameras/0,39001468,40545281p-2,00.htm where the review said:
This almost stopped me buying the camera. However, the review is quite wrong. You can plug the SD card into the PC card reader, no problems.
Right, or just don't take the card out at all. I really do not understand people's obsession with card readers. I have never used one and never will. The less I have to mess with my card the less chance there is to damage it and corrupt data. Nothing is going to happen if it never moves from its compartment. Seen too many corruption posts related to this to convince me.

Anyway, you are correct in that you do not have to install any special programs to get the pictures onto your computer. You can simply open up the camera in Windows XP (it pops up in My Computer) and browse through them there. OR use the automated Windows wizard that pops up (though I never do). Personally though the Camerawindow is the best way to go though that is personal preference, and I never was a fan of programs like that either until I used it.


I did not buy the camera for its macro capability, but just had to try out the macro. Bear in mind the attached image is a picture taken a half hour after opening the box, not reading the manual, just running around testing anything that I could. It is not perfect in any way, but it impressed me. It is a cropped shot. If you are into aphids, enjoy...
Not a bad first try, but the picture is out of focus ;)

[Jim S.]

Jeff Keller posted his review of the S5. While he found the balance of detail and smoothness appealing, I did not. I looked closely at his image gallery, comparing it to the S3: very similar, very consistent lack of detail and smearing. Compare to Canon's own A710 IS image gallery, and you'll see that the noise reduction is a bit heavy handed in the S series. Things don't seem as 3-D, as clear, as defined. Distance shots show less information. If you zoom in on Jeff's full-sized images, you'll see just how badly formed the details are. What looks like softness from a distance is more obviously poor picture quality up close. I also saw quite a bit of CA, not just purple fringing.

I just don't understand the attention this camera is getting, when the image quality is so compromised. I guess it is the well-thought-out feature set. But it doesn't have what at least one Olympus does: ability to reduce the noise reduction algorithm's effects (plus ability to map out bad pixels, and more). Canon seems to be past their prime, riding on reputation.

I bought the A710, as the S5 was more camera than I need, but less image quality than I want. And, the A710 fits in a pocket.

DCRP Review: Canon PowerShot S5 IS (http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_s5-review/)
DCRP gallery: Canon PowerShot S5 IS (http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_s5-review/gallery.shtml)
DCRP Review: Canon PowerShot A710 IS (http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_a710-review/)
DCRP gallery: Canon PowerShot A710 IS (http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_a710-review/gallery.shtml)
DCRP Review: Canon PowerShot S3 IS (http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_s3-review/)
DCRP gallery: Canon PowerShot S3 IS (http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_s3-review/gallery.shtml)

[BruceNB]

OR use the automated Windows wizard that pops up (though I never do). I found the wizard lost me the timestamping, so i never use it.

I always use the card reader inbuilt in my Dell if I can - I found the USB connections too slow, and I already have a room full of cables of all sorts.

I have 3 PCs in different locations and don't always cart the cables around.
Not a bad first try, but the picture is out of focus Sure it is, but I didn't have lab conditions, it was windy, and my hands are more shaky than they were.... ravages of age! :) Also, I'm a great believer in 'better the picture you managed to take', rather than the one that 'could potentially have been taken'. Doesn't stop me striving to do better, of course.
Camerawindow is the best way to go I'll give it a try...

[Visual Reality]

I don't know...I've always noticed very "unprocessed" results from my S3. I use only Superfine and sharpening set to the lowest so its not doing much at all to the pictures.

Just check the S3 pictures thread, that's all the proof you need of IQ.

[e_dawg]

Jeff Keller posted his review of the S5. While he found the balance of detail and smoothness appealing, I did not. I looked closely at his image gallery, comparing it to the S3: very similar, very consistent lack of detail and smearing. Compare to Canon's own A710 IS image gallery, and you'll see that the noise reduction is a bit heavy handed in the S series. Things don't seem as 3-D, as clear, as defined. Distance shots show less information. If you zoom in on Jeff's full-sized images, you'll see just how badly formed the details are. What looks like softness from a distance is more obviously poor picture quality up close. I also saw quite a bit of CA, not just purple fringing.

[...]

I bought the A710, as the S5 was more camera than I need, but less image quality than I want. And, the A710 fits in a pocket.


Yes, definitely the problems show up more quickly compared to other cameras as you zoom in closer to pixel level. I felt the same way about the S3 IS so I returned it and kept the A710. The lens is not very sharp and high in CA. The sensor is noisy and the NR does a bit of a hatchet job on the pics.

HOWEVER, the wonderful thing about the S3 is that you can shoot in RAW mode (with the CHDK hack). This allows you many benefits that allows you to work around the limitations of the S3:

1. bypass the mediocre NR of the in-camera processing, run it through an NR program like Noise Ninja or equivalent, and control your own noise

2. correct the CA somewhat (you can get rid of some, but not all) in the freeware RAW editor Raw Therapee (that I use to process S3 CRW/DNG files)

3. compensate for some of that lens softness by using deconvolution programs like Unshake and Focus Magic, or using Photoshop's Smart Sharpen (lens blur) filter

If you are willing and able to do the aforementioned post-processing on the S3 pics, they actually turn out pretty decent.

Being able to shoot in RAW mode is a significant advantage the S3 has over the S5 IMO. Unfortunately, the tiny, low-res LCD makes it difficult to use the camera, but I would say that it is capable of better pics than the S5.