Canon PowerShot S50

Opinion: As a professional photograpger image quality is of prime importance, size second. I considered this camera to be one of Canon's best kept secrets. I owned a Powershot S45 and wore it out ( I must have put over 200,000 shots through it) before buying an S50. The image quality is outstanding for a point and shoot. Colors are vivid but not unreal. 16x20's are no problem. The camera has a host of features suited to the professional. It can shoot in manual (easy f/stop and shutter speed chages) and in RAW. The metering system is unusually accurate, even more than my Canon 5D !!!! It can also adjust flash power for perect fill flash. Shutter speed can go to 30 seconds. I bought a new Canon Powershot 1100IS, to replace the S45, but it's junk, so tossed it. I bought a brand new, in the box, S50 although it is six years old. I will keep and repair my S45.

Opinion: I was impressed at first, but images always looked more grainy than my old Sanyo .8 MP digicam. I finally fell victim to the lens cover breaking, as others had reported. I can only say that when I read the others report on the hinged sliding door 'just breaking' I smiled, and though BS. Well the hinged door just gave out on my camera, and I was being very careful, due to the reported problems some had. I only had like 3500 pictures taken ... I did not use it much because of the graininess ... I used the old .8 MP Sanyo more often. Anyway, the breakage gave me an excuse to buy the Fuji E900, at half the price. I expected better of a Canon product. Bummer.

Opinion: Although some users said disadvantages of S50, I still get a second hand one for regular use.
controlled RAW file, which admire me the best, since another DC that I want to buy is RAW file cannot be edit in PS CS, that is a huge mess(Fujifilm E550/F810)
for NB-2L,there is many third party company comes out with inexpensive solutions rather than pricey Canon original ones.
better built than A80, even A95
easily can carry with small back pack, light for travel usage

Opinion: As a once serious amateur photographer some years ago, I decided it was time to buy a digital camera. Read over 100 reveiws of the Canon S-50 on this site and decided it was the camera for me, mainly due to many touting it's manual features. This camera delivers some very nice looking pictures. Colors look accurate with no real noticeable purple tinging in the sky. My main gripes with this camera (and probably most all other's in this price range) is the inconvenient settings and small readouts of shutter speed, aperture in the lcd screen. And of course the lcd screen is often useless outdoors because of washout. There are no readouts in the small viewfinder. I greatly miss the simplicity of operation and large viewfinders of my past Nikon SLR's and Leica M3. The easy to read and set shutter speeds and aperture of film SLR's far surpass the gimmcks that we see today. I find all the bells and whistles on this camera only get in the way of making a good photograph. After over a year of ownership I can still not figure out all the time how to erase all images, and the manual is of no help to me. The pictures do download very simply (to Canon's credit) but there is a problem with not being able to close out the pictures. After viewing about 8 of them I get a reading that tells me I have too many windows open, and then of course problems. Using the lcd screen to compose and take pictures is awkard, having to hold the camera away from your face, not condusive to holding the camera steady. If you are a point and shoot photographer, the Canon S-50 wil do the trick. But if you want to compose your pics through a large viewfinder with readouts of aperture and shutter speed, I would recommend saving up for a digital slr, or another camera with a large viewfinder and readouts, and manual control of course.

Opinion: Bought this camera 6 months ago now with 512MB CF card for £380 from cameras2u.com. I really wanted something with a wide angle lens but that was out of my price range then (wouldn't be now though - how fast things move..)

The camera has a good lcd screen, and although at first I found the selector switch a bit awkward to use, I soon got used to it.

The menus are very intuitive and you can either use the camera to point and shoot or you can have control over all the settings yourself, which is ideal.

The build of this camera feels reassuringly solid - a lovely small silver brick (silver in my case, which I prefer) neither too big nor too small.

I have noticed a few chromatic aberrations - not very many though - it hasn't been a problem.

Opinion: 09/19/07 update: This is the final euloge on my beloved S50, it just plain stop working over the Labor Day weekend. Didn't drop it, or got too hot/ cold.. it just all of a sudden died.. (hate that when it happens)

I looked over my 2004 review and it still holds true, even today. I have used the RAW in this camera and gotten very good pictures out of it, the meter is right on in most situations.

So now I am over this camera, and got a good excuse to shop for another P/S. I have decided on a Panasonic LX2. Again, an older model that is priced from $500 when it first came out to now $375!
-------------------------posted oct/04
I waited for this camera to drop from $899 to $399 to buy it last year. I have read all the good things about it and just want to joint in on the praise! A great camera to have when you're out with the family and still want to bring home good quality files. (while tending the wife and 3 young kids.. really can't be hauling your full gear..lol)

Opinion: This was my 3rd digital in 3 months .There was such a big difference between the hp and the fugi.It had a solid feel and a the construction is great.I have moved up to a digital slr ,a d20 but I still keep this baby around for simple or quick shots.

Opinion: DP Review had some pretty negative views of the S50, and I ordinarily respect their findings. I have owned and extensively used my Sony DSC-F717, and so, I believed I could appreciate some of the subtle deficiencies in image quality that the reviewer(s) made on the S50. At the time, it was the most compact 5mp with a generally good rating and CF storage media -- and so, I decided to buck the DP Review and buy it anyway.

I have not been disappointed. The images are ever so slightly less sharp than the ones with my Sony -- but I can never tell if it is the result of the +1 sharpening I set in my Sony. The sensitivity of the CCD at ISO 50 is, as rated, about the same as 100 on the Sony -- but noticeably less noisy.

One major difference is the lower mass = harder to hand-hold than a bigger camera. However, it's mini-brick shape makes it easy to brace it against doorways, lamp posts, etc. It's night performance is absolutely stunning. I have taken some great images in Paris, Boston and New York at night -- it is so easy to take great night images, and the quality is so high, you find yourself seeking night shot possibilities.

The zoom on the post-view is extraordinary -- fast and very high magnification. Amazing!

Perhaps the reviewer got a bad one

Opinion: After seven months and some 3500 photos, it is time to rate the S50. What a
solid, well-built camera, loaded with manual features and automatic functions!
The lack of a hot shoe bothers me, but that seems an engineering problem for
such a compact camera. All in all, the S50 is an excellent photographic tool.

Best features: 1) Solid, all-metal body and convenient, compact size
2) Very good image quality possible (use a tripod)
3) RAW format photos in a 5MP compact camera
4) Good white balance out of the box offers excellent control
using RAW format
5) Exceptional features, manual control, and custom settings