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| Brand: Canon
Category: Photography
List Price: $449.99
Buy Used: $250.00
You Save: $199.99 (44%)
New (18) Used (13) Refurbished (4)
Avg. Customer Rating:  401 reviews
Sales Rank: 2437
Color: BLACK
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: Yes
Optical Zoom: 12
Display Size: 2.5
Battery: 4 AA
Maximum Focal Length: 72
Minimum Focal Length: 6
Maximum Resolution: 8
Has Red Eye Reduction: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 3.1 x 4.6 x 3.2
MPN: S5
Model: S5
UPC: 013803079616
EAN: 0013803079616
ASIN: B000Q3043Y
Release Date: May 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 If you are not ready for a DSLR but want the best, get this! August 13, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I bought this camera to replace my expensive ($[...] new) but out-of-date Olympus Camedia C-5050. The "typical" current price of the S5 IS camera is $[...] but many places are now selling it for $[...]. I got mine at Circuit City (local) for that price.
This camera does extremely well right out of the box, but with just a little tweaking (as in, "read the manual" or purchase a digital photography book) it produces outstanding photographs! I bought this book Canon PowerShot Digital Field Guide, which is a good general reference with specific information about this camera as well.
I also purchased the lens adapter set, which amazon has for a great price Canon LAH-DC20 Conversion Lens Adapter (LA-DC58E) and Hood (LH-DC40) Set for the S5 IS, S3 IS & S2 IS Digital Camera and Hoya HMC UV and circular polarizer filters Hoya HMC - Filter - circular polarizer - 58 mm. These work great and do not add much bulk to the camera. Your zoom mechanism is well-protected as is your lens if you add the lens adapter and a filter and keep it on at all times (I keep the UV filter on at all times).
Furthermore, you can get additional "converter lenses" that attach to the adapter (personally I do not think you need them, but they are available for this camera)--these include the telephoto converter (as if 12x optical were not enough!), the wide-angle converter, and the macro lenses (again, as if the camera's macro and super macro weren't enough!). Amazon just happens to have very good prices on these accessories Canon TC-DC58B Tele Converter Lens for S5 IS, S3 IS & S2 IS Digital Camera. Canon Powershots have, as a rule, won many awards for image quality and the Canon brand typically comes out on top when this is the major criterion. As far as I am concerned, these additional lenses are just icing on the cake.
Additional considerations:
(1) Being a Canon, it connects directly to my Canon PIXMA printer for incredible prints.
(2) Some reviewers' star ratings are lowered because the "lens cap comes off easily." I do not think this is a major flaw--I think this is to protect the camera's automatic lens extension mechanism when you turn on the camera. If you turn on the camera and the lens cap is still on, it will pop off when the lens extends. This is a safety feature. If you really can't stand it, just get the adapter and UV filter and put a new 58mm lens cap on the filter (it will not pop off nor does it need to, because the lens extends within the adapter tube) and you are all set. Alternatively, just get a new lens cap if you will never forget to take it off prior to turning on the camera.
(3) This camera is out of stock from many vendors. I think the S6 is going to come out soon. However, it will probably be several hundred dollars more. I would get the S5 while it is still available, especially at this price (price has dropped about $150-$170 dollars since it came out in 2007).
What about the G9? Well, I chose this over the G9 because I prefer the 12x zoom and 8 megapixel combination for my personal picture-taking needs. 8 megapixels is plenty for me and in my opinion additional megapixels add more time for saving the picture and also add a bit of noise on the point-and-shoots. The G9 shoots in RAW but I don't need that when the images I get are so uniformly excellent (they do not need a lot of editing). The G9 does have an optical viewfinder (the S5 has a digital viewfinder that is 100% accurate, unlike some cameras, but it low resolution, which is annoying at first but does not affect the quality of the pictures). The G9 does not have the swing-out LCD screen. This feature is very useful as it can be turned/rotated toward the camera and the screen is protected when not in use, and the screen can also can be turned a tilted for hard-to-get shots at graduations, with pets, etc. where you can't aim the camera directly.
I think the best way to decide about this camera is to go to the flickr users' group (one of them, there are several) and look at the pictures that people have taken with this camera. The url is http://www.flickr.com/groups/canonpowershots5is/ and you can see not only photos people (even newbies) have uploaded, but also read discussions about this camera. You might find this thread of particular interest: http://www.flickr.com/groups/canonpowershots5is/discuss/72157606698907976/.
I am a person who usually experiences "post-decision regret" ("shoulda, coulda, woulda. . .") but I am completely satisfied with this camera. I originally wanted the Canon EOS 40D (DSLR) but got this one due to price (and they actually share much of the same technology). Now I even think this was the better choice for me overall (regardless of price) due to its compact size and the fact that I can take it everywhere with me. Even when I am driving I can just hold up this camera and snap it and get terrific pictures of scenery that catches my fancy (optical stabilization is fabulous).
This is just about the most perfect combination of features and image quality I can imagine. You do not need more megapixels. You do not need more zoom. You do not need RAW. You do not need a DSLR (if you did you would not be reading this). You need to get this camera for yourself before it is out of stock everywhere. Buy it. You will NOT be sorry!
[I do NOT work for Canon nor does anyone in my family! I usually do not write reviews. However, there are so many choices out there and so many bells and whistles that it is hard to figure out what camera to buy. I thought I would post my comments because it might help someone else.]
Cannon PowerShot S5 IS August 10, 2008
This is a great product. The pictures and videos are at a professional level. It is simple to use and with Cannons track record I don't know how you can go wrong.
Purchased for father August 4, 2008
Purchased this camera for my father after my son had purchased an earlier model. I had an opportunity to use it while visiting this past week. I wasn't dissappointed with the functionality or picture quality. I was very impressed with the response time of the camera. It powered up instantaniously. I also liked the feature that allowed you to review photos in the playback mode and immediately switch to taking pictures by depressing the shutter button. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to play with all the features, but liked the functionality, clarity, speed and ease of use. Even my father was impressed and that's not always an easy task.
Love this camera! August 2, 2008
This is my second Canon camera. I had an SD500 which I gave to my husband recently when his camera broke. I didn't want to part with that one because it took such great pictures but I wanted a camera with a bigger zoom lense. I went with another Canon not only because I knew the quality but also because I figured my learning curve would be shorter since I would already be familiar with a lot of the settings. You can take this camera out of the box and immediately start to use it. It takes great pictures. Quick, fast focus, the outdoor shots are amazing. Indoor shots with the flash are also great. So far I have no complaints. It is a little bigger, it won't fit in your pocket. My only complaint is the lense cap... it doesn't stay on. I see lots of reviewers have mentioned that. I don't know how that got past Canon quality control.
It's very good July 27, 2008
I purchased this for $299 and feel like its worth the price. I experimented different settings in the manual mode and I got very good pictures with it. It has good focal length settings starting from f/2.4 to f/8.0 and a variable shutter speed from 1/1600 of a sec to more than 5 sec. Also the variable ISO settings gives you flexibility in getting good pictures under different lighting conditions... I have not yet tried the video mode in this and so no comment on that front. Also the "Stitch pictures" mode along with the software provided in the cd help you make good pictures which cannot be taken in one shot. I like that feature as well. Overall, it is a very good camera and I recommend it.
-Uresh Kuruhuri
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