interested in S5 IS! i have some questions on it...

hi everyone,

i recently posted a thread in which i already asked for a cam from 200-250€, but i was unable to decide.
i checked the used market and then found the s5, which was released in 2007.
the price is around 200€, perfect!
i would now love to hear some experiences from s5-owners.

i am completely new to photography but want to get used to it(learn it!) and try to avoid bulky and expensive dslr's.

often i read: tell us what you want to do, and we tell you which cam fits best; so here it goes:

• landscape shooting,
• indoor doesnt matter that much,
• night pics don't have to excel,
• sport pictures (for example skateboarding),
• saving in raw (it can with chdk, as i read),
• let me manually set most settings,
• make me learn how to shoot.

a big "THANK YOU" in advance, i do appreciate your time for answering!

ps: alternatives are welcome!

patrick

I have owned both the S3IS and the S5IS. Both are good, but if you don't need the shoe mounted flash, I prefer the S3IS. Noise is a bit lower, there are fewer signs of image processing and noise reduction in the images, and the S3IS is a little smaller and lighter, but with a smaller LCD and lower resolution. I've only had the one S5IS, but it didn't meter as well as the S3IS's I've owned (I've owned three - I keep coming back to it), but it may have been an individual sample issue. I also think, from my own experience, that the S3IS has a little less purple fringing and chromatic aberration.

Don't get me wrong, the S5IS is still a very good camera. I've shot youth ice hockey and soccer games with it, I've taken it to baseball games under the lights, and it went to the Galapagos Islands with us and took some very nice shots of the animals there.

With either camera, you can add a LensMate adapter for filters, close up lenses, and auxiliary lenses (tele or wide) to broaden the range of subjects. And with the S5IS, you can add a flash and do some more sophisticated indoor work.

Given your list of activities, I think either one would do well for you.

Jerry

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Jerry

thanks, that's very interesting for me!

the money i'd save when i buy a s3 (100€) instead of s5 could be well spent into new lenses(...fisheye).

i also think that the additional 2MP aren't that good.
just tell me, is the s3 screen usable in the sun?
can i use sdhc cards?

patrick

While Canon does not specify that SDHC cards will work, it was posted on an S3 website that they do. My son has used them and I haven't heard from him that they don't as he tried them on my advice. I'm certain I would have heard back if they didn't.

The S5IS's screen is better in the sun than the S3IS's. I have had problems with the S3IS with using the EVF when the sun is low and behind me off to the right as that lets the sun shine inbeween my eye and the eyepiece. Otherwise, no problems. With a lens that long, even with IS, you really ought to use the EVF to be able to brace your arms against your body and the camera against your head for better stability. Limit composing with the LCD to shorter focal lengths. That will be easier with the S5IS's bigger sceen.
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Jerry

I used an S3 for about a year and I've had my S5 for about two years now.

The other poster is right. If you don't think you'll get an external flash, save some money and get the S3.

I haven't noticed any difference in quality between the S3 & S5. I love the better/bigger LCD screen on the S5. I also have a 430EX flash for my S5 that works very well with it.

The only other difference is the S5's slightly lower frame rate of 1.5 FPS. It hasn't really bothered me though. I've gotten used to timing my shots of fast action or I shoot video instead. (The video is excellent on the S3 & S5.)

Here's a review of the S5 with some sample pictures.
http://www.paulstravelpictures.com/Canon-S5-IS-Digital-Camera-Review/index.html

..and here's a few pictures from this weekend at the Palm Beach Zoo.







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http://www.PaulsTravelPictures.com

Wow! Those are very impressive shots Paul!! Who needs a DSLR (in good light) when you can get shots like those?!?

I've owned the S3 since it first came out and am still impressed with it quality and versatility.

PS. I don't think I've seen too many members at dpreview that have been here for over 9 years! (or at least ones that still post).
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James

i have to think about the small&dark screen-thing, i would often try to shoot outdoors in summer.
great that you have an experience with sdhc, that helped a lot!

indeed i tend to get the s3 and additional equip(fisheye, tripod, filter...) rather than a none-equipped s5.

maybe anyone can get me some information on which lenses / filters do a good job on this cam.

your shots really impress me paul!
i will have the screen-difference in mind, lets see how i decide.

as posted to GeraldW, maybe you can tell a bit about your use of filters/lenses on this cam or your experiences with it.
thanks in advance!

Have used S2, S3, S5. Along with DSLRs.

You mention landscape. The 35mm lens wide angle equivalent of the S series you may find occasionally not wide enough. True you can add lens tube and wide angle adapter but cost is over $150.

The only minor negative of the S5 is the stupid location of the SD card. We use SDHC, 4gig cards in both S3/5.
In USA you can buy from the Canon on line store a refurbished S5 for $249.

I use S5 for occasional snapshots, DSLR on African Safari with the S5 shooting video. And as back up should both of the DSLRs break.

Just for the h3ll of it, here is photo taken by S2 in Africa, camp MalaMala, South Africa



cary

Thanks for the compliments everyone.

James - I've actually had DSLR users say "hey, that's not fair" when I show them my video of something we're shooting side by side. I still miss my old Nikon D100 DSLR sometimes, but the S3 & S5 are such great do-it-all cameras.

9 Years? I guess I discovered this site in college so that makes sense.

chackachacka - I've been happy using the camera without any filters/lenses. Sometimes at the zoo, I wish I had the telephoto converter to get a sharper picture of the face of a distance animal. But I find that the digital zoom does a decent job of getting the shot. (I know you can crop later for the same effect, but the metering is better on an animal's face in a contrasty situation.)

Cary - Nice shot. I'm envious of your travels. I definitely want to go on an African safari trip. The SD card location is pretty dumb on the S5. Not a big deal though. I find that a 2GB card almost always lasts me an entire outing of shooting 300-500 pictures and a dozen or so short videos.

To capture landscape shots, I like using the panoramic mode and the PhotoStitch software or I just shoot a nice slow panning video clip. I do wish the S5 had 28mm though.

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http://www.PaulsTravelPictures.com

I own the S5IS and have been looking for a worthy upgrade. Not found it as yet even after trying out the SX upgrades. The SX1 does not cut it. The SX10, though slightly better than the SX1, still does not match my S5IS. There are several reasons why I am not impressed with the new SX ultrazooms as I am with my S5IS. Since these are reasons pertaining to personal preferences, I won't bore you with them!

I like making my S5IS help me to emulate the rich saturated colored look of my favorite 'Transparency Slide Film' which I loved to use in the eighties and nineties. I can easily tweak some of the internal camera settings to get the best from the S5IS for this kind of output. I primarily set the color option in the S5IS to 'Positive Film' via the Function button amongst other tweaks. My post processing work flow is short and quick and consists of downsizing, minor sharpening, tweaking of levels and a further slight increase in saturation of the primary hues. Once in a while I need to resort to doing perspective correction for better aesthetics.

There are some pics I had shot two years ago with my then brand new S5IS to evaluate the capability of the camera. The first seven pics from top to bottom were shot at ISO 80. The second last pic from bottom (DESOLATE PATH) was shot at ISO 200. The last waterfall pic from bottom (RECIRCULATED H2O) was shot at ISO 400. I must also state that I have not performed any Noise Reduction to any of these pics because I do not enjoy spending extra time running Noise Reduction procedures. I find doing such things quite frustrating and eye-straining! (Exif Info should be visible within the pics for those interested in viewing it.)

I will let the pics do the talking now for those interested in considering acquiring a new or used S5IS.

BAKES & CAKES



CHIT CHAT



HE VIEWS THE NEWS 1



HE VIEWS THE NEWS 2



BLUE & GREEN



LEANING TOWERS



HOME SWEET HOME



DESOLATE PATH



RECIRCULATED H2O



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Click

thank you very much, thats pretty interesting!(esp. the pics!)
an auction just ends in 3minutes, lets see if i can get my s5 today....
i definitely want to get this one, so push thumbs for me ;-)

yeah!
i got the s5!

cost me 230€, but the cam was only once used and comes in mint condition with a canon-bag.
finally thanks again for your advices, expect some test-photos in a while.
greetings from germany,

patrick

Congratulations! Wise choice!! To get the best of the S5IS, do consider investing in an external small cheap (thyristor based)

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Click

yepp i'll keep that in mind!

though i don't expect indoor shoots to be very common, i thank the hot-shoe i'll be able to expand the flash when necessary.
is the chdk for this cam recommend?
if so, i will get myself into that topic too.

Absolutely recommend it. Its 100% safe too... i.e. nothing in CHDK will ever make your camera die... other than normal wear and tear. CHDK adds tremendous value to the S5IS... something which the SX series currently lack because the code has yet to be ported to them!

I cannot stress the benefits of a brighter flash unit if ever you take pics indoors... especially with the S5IS. Its on-camera flash is hardly bright enough to illuminate backgrounds, so you will always end up with the "flash look" i.e. bright flash lit faces with dark backgrounds!

But, if you use a bright enough bounce flash, the look you get is awesome! It really decreases the flash lit look because it illuminates a bigger area of the background too... often the entire background area if the flash is bright enough and its throw wide enough.

Plus, the cheaper thyristor based flash units can be used on almost any camera manually. They cannot communicate directly with the camera, but that does not mean that the thyristor sensors aren't smart enough... cuz they are spot on... most of the time!!

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Click

CHDK – stands for Canon Hack Development Kit
Sounds interesting - what do you find most useful using it?

thyristor based flash units - can you recommend a specific one, I'm not familiar with them. (They have built in light trigger?) You use it manually? Calculating flash guide number, distance and f stop? I did try a Nikon SB600 fired by the S5 and it blew the photo into severe over exposed. Perhaps no the correct setting on the SB600?
Thanks

cary

cary smith said:

CHDK – stands for Canon Hack Development Kit
Sounds interesting - what do you find most useful using it?

Click to expand...

Dozens of uses literally! Many little apps have been written for Digic III processor Canon compacts and ultrazooms.

I use CHDK often for the inter-valometer facility for time-lapse movies, for example. I also use it to obtain better flashing highlight features and a better battery indicator. I sometimes use an ultra-high speed shutter which CHDK enables... as you can see... CHDK can provide you with features not even found on the entry level DSLRs!

cary smith said:

thyristor based flash units - can you recommend a specific one, I'm
not familiar with them. (They have built in light trigger?) You use
it manually?

Click to expand...

They have a thyristor similar to your camera's sensor for judging exposure i.e. brightness of the scene. All you need to do is to set the flash to your camera's exposure settings. That's it. The flash unit then uses its thyristor to automatically discern how bright the flash should be.

I always use the biggest and brightest of flash units because I need the brute power often for higher shutter speeds. I'm happy with my Metz and Vivitar flash units, but there are dozens of brands out there. If you are looking for a cheap unit, brand is not important. Flash technology used in such units is quite dated technology so nearly all the cheap ones will be using similar technology.

The more expensive flash units (branded ones) cost more because they use much newer technology and allow you to do much more automatically by communicating with your camera before you press the shutter button!

cary smith said:

I did try a Nikon SB600 fired by the S5 and it blew the photo into
severe over exposed. Perhaps no the correct setting on the SB600?

Click to expand...

You should be able to use the Nikon SB600 in Manual mode. Takes some trial and error to get it right.

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Click

Now that you've bought it you could answer me a question ... or anyone who knows the answer, of course .

I'm interested in this camera too, but only for it's tethered capabilities.

I pretend to use it for shooting tethered, and I need that every shot I make gets downloaded to the notebook automatically. BUT I need the camera to stay alive, I mean, I don't want to remote control the camera via notebook, I want to focus using the swivel screen to frame the shot and press the shutter on the camera itself.

Does the S5 works like that ? Or does it go into "zombie-mode" when tethered and can only be controlled by the software installed on the notebook ?

i still have to wait some time, it is delivered by post.

but i doubt it's possible with canon software, maybe there are custom software solutions for it.
maybe you tell us what you need it for?
eventually there is another possibility to do that.