The new Ciao layout is S**T.... why do they mess around with things that are working just fine??
The new Ciao layout is S**T.... why do they mess around with things that are working just fine??
Member since:14.03.2007
Reviews:120
Members who trust:194
As many of you will know from reading some of my earlier reviews, I am a very keen amateur photographer. Recently during a very steep learning curve I was given the opportunity to use the Canon Powershot S5 IS for a week and I was so impressed with it I bought one days later.
Although I am very much an amateur there is enough functions on this camera to suit basic professional needs too. The camera is so versatile it can be used for the most basic functions such as making family albums or taking holiday snaps right through to the uses of a semi pro or amateur photographer like myself for doing photo shoots or for photographing sporting events and the likes.
░ The important features░
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
░ The camera explained░
Some of the features many will be familiar with and some many wont have heard of so I will explain some of the cameras main functions. The 12 x optical zoom is very self explanatory it means you can clearly zoom into an object that is a distance from you and still obtain a great image (not to be confused with digital zoom which lowers the value of an image shot at distance)
The
optical image stabilizer is a nifty component which suppresses any blurring when taking stills and also minimizes image shake when shooting video footage.
The ultrasonic motor that drives the optical zoom lens allows for high speed precision zooming and is virtually silent which is very useful when shooting video footage because you obviously don’t want the sound of the lens zooming in and out on your finished movie.
This camera also comes with a creative shooting function for the somewhat more advanced photographer. This function will allow you to shoot stills from either a fully automatic mode for novices, which lets the camera deal with lighting and focussing or you can let loose your creative side by adjusting the camera to every picture you take. There is also an option to save your preferred settings should you take a lot of similar pictures in similar surroundings.
One of my favourite settings is one called continuous shooting which allows you to keep the button depressed and it will take a series of photos so if you are filming wild life for instance you can truly catch their every move (I have some amazing images of birds taking flight and the likes). You can also set the camera to constantly zoom in and out whilst taking the series of pics allowing you a very varied range of images.
This camera also has some very useful recording functions for shooting video clips including the fact that unlike most you do not have to mess about changing from still to video mode then start recording, If you see something that just has to be caught in motion then one click of a button takes you from still mode to recording mode so you need miss nothing.
Along with that you have the new long play mode which allows you to capture more video than ever before on a Canon Powershot camera but still films it in the high quality 30fps that it films in standard play. 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. And the photo in movie function allows you to take full resolution still whilst filming which is a marvellous function to have, I have used it a good few times already during filming my son and daughter so not only do I have marvellous video footage of the two of them I also have beautiful still images to match the film.
This camera also comes with an included hot shoe adapter which allows you to attach Canon Speedlite EX Series external flashes, therefore allowing you to be much more creative should you want to. The camera is top end when it comes to megapixels also. Although no the highest available the 8 megapixel images this camera produces are more than enough for any kind of photographer short of top professionals and lets be clear a top professional camera can set you back thousands rather than a few hundred pounds.
There is also a large amount of software packaged with this camera for those of us who use our digital cameras in conjunction with our pc`s and printers.
░ The 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).
This software allows the photographer to alter and perfect images as well as catalogue them for easy access and storage.
The software supports Windows 2000 (SP4), XP (SP1-2), Vista and Macintosh OS X v10.3-v10.4.
Pictures of Canon PowerShot S5 IS
My son and daughter in black and white
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.I have owned this camera for a little over 1 month and I have used it countless numbers of times for a very varied amount of uses including, filming and photographing my kids, taking landscape pictures, creating a modelling portfolio for an amateur model and taking photos at stock car and touring car events.
The images I have taken have all been as good as perfect including the ones of cars at high speed. When taking high speed photos with lesser cameras they will almost certainly blur or have trails from the movement but with this camera high speed shutter this is no longer a problem. I have not tinkered with every option this camera has as of yet but I have tried out a few in order to become familiar with them and have found most of them to be very easy to understand.
I have taken photography courses and so you might expect me to find them easy to use but my fiancée has also quickly adapted to using this camera and she has no photography experience other than using her old digital camera.
The camera comes with a few extras, the software already mentioned, 4 x AA alkaline batteries, a 32mb memory card, lens cap, neck strap, an Av cable and a USB cable. On the subject of batteries the worst problem with digital cameras especially ones with power zooms is always the battery life. I have had cameras in the past which have given me no longer than 30 minutes continuous shooting before the battery has died. Although this camera is quite hard on batteries it will allow almost 3 hours continuous use before the batteries give in.
As well as the camera itself being fairly easy to get the hang of the other good thing is the ease of connection to the PC and also the ease of the software installation and use. I had the camera software installed to my PC in under 30 minutes and this included reading some tutorials (which I would highly recommend). Then within another ten minutes or so I was uploading my first images to the PC and perfecting them before printing. There is also very useful online help for both the camera and the software should you get a bit stuck.
░ Price and availability░
I purchased mine from a local photography shop at the cost of £319.99, after a bit of looking around I have found it available on line in many places and also in comet and other electrical stores. The least expensive price being £299.99 and the most expensive being £349.99 so take care and shop around. Many places will also give you incentives to buy such as free accessories or photography books and cd roms so see what’s on offer where before buying. Also be aware of what warranty is being offered. The camera comes with one year’s manufacturers warranty but many places are offering up to five years warranty at very reasonable prices.
░ Recommendation░
This camera truly can be recommended to anyone from beginner to expert. No longer is there a need to get a point and shoot digital camera to learn with and slowly move up the rankings to a top of the range camera like this one, just jump straight in at the deep end and learn with this camera that way you will know it inside out by the time you feel equipped to take on serious photography but in the mean time you can snap away happily on automatic mode creating beautiful images by just pointing and clicking.
When you purchase this camera the first thing I would advise is that you get yourself a bigger memory card. This was the one thing that disappointed me; a camera with this type of ability being supplied with only a 32mb card was a bit silly. It allows you to store less than 30 second video footage which is of little use. I immediately got myself a 2 GB card and can now store up to an hour of video footage comfortably. This camera is truly one of the most versatile I have ever used and that is why I think it would be a great purchase for anyone serious about their photography.
Below are some pictures I took with this camera, Have a look and thanks for reading!
(+) Ultra-compact dimensions, fun automatic tools, good performance for the asking price (-) Cluttered menu layout, camera buttons are scarce, specs are almost identical to the Samsung ES15
This is truly an exceptional review. Not only because it's well written but especially because I was going to buy another camera (A590) but I decided to go for this one instead after reading it (tell me if it's a wise choice!!). I already have a Canon camera and I love it, excellent quality. I never abandoned Canon since my first digital one, A30.
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