Canon PowerShot S50 Review, Phil Askey, August 2003

Review based on a production PowerShot S50

Just before PMA 2003 Canon announced the five megapixel PowerShot S50. This camera is virtually identical to the four megapixel S45. Indeed other than the five megapixel sensor, case cover, silk screen labels and embossed chrome '5.0 mega pixels' strap eyelet it really is the same camera. Thanks to Sony's 1/1.8" five megapixel CCD sensor the S50 becomes 'yet another' digital camera originally designed for the 1/1.8" four megapixel sensor and quickly upgraded to continue to compete in the (ever more ridiculous) megapixel race.

Because this camera is virtually identical to the S45 the first half of this review is based on that camera's review, people who have previously read the S45 may want to skip to the timing and performance page, from there onwards will be the meat of what the upgrade from four to five megapixels has meant for this camera.

Black is best?

In my opinion the S50 looks best in Black. This is the standard body color in the US, the rest of the world get Silver. However Canon Europe has recently announced that they will be making the black version available in a 'Microdrive bundle'.

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this review (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (normally 960 x 720 or smaller if cropped) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can see the difference between all of the grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

This review is Copyright 2003 Phil Askey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact: Phil Askey.