Compared to... Panasonic DMC-FZ8

Below you will find a studio comparison between the Canon S5 IS and the Panasonic DMC-FZ8 at ISO 400.

Studio scene comparison ( @ ISO 400)

• Canon PowerShot S5 IS : Aperture Priority mode, ISO 400, Default Image Parameters,
  Manual white balance, +0.67 EV compensation

• Panasonic DMC-FZ8: Aperture Priority mode (F5.0), ISO 400, Default Image Parameters, Manual (preset) white balance, +0.33 EV compensation
  

• Lighting: Daylight simulation, >98% CRI

Canon PowerShot S5 IS	Panasonic DMC-FZ8
ISO 400, 1/202 sec, F5.0	ISO 400, 1/320 sec, F5.0
3,785 KB JPEG	1,862 KB JPEG

Here you can see clearly the very different approach taken by Canon and Panasonic to the inevitable problem of noise in such densely-packed sensors. Panasonic still has some issues with its Venus III processor that cause bleeding of colors, particularly reds, but the end result is comparatively noise-free. Canon's approach keeps things a lot sharper but also a lot noisier, which is marginally better since it gives you more post-processing options. Here again the Canon 'ISO 400' is slightly less sensitive than the Panasonic's.