Canon offers up 12x zoom with PowerShot S5IS
Canon’s S-series of cameras have always offered powerful zooms and optical image stabilization. The first model, the S1 is primitive and slow by today’s standards but when it was new, it was the end all be all of superzoom cameras. This tradition is followed up with the latest S-series, the S5IS.
The S5IS offers up an 8 Megapixel sensor, 12x optically stabilized zoom lens, up to ISO1600 sensitivity and 2.5″ high-resolution vari-angle LCD display. It also has a hot-shoe for external flashes and VGA movie modes.
The previous iteration of the S-series was the S3IS which was equipped with the slower DIGIC II processor and only had ISO800 sensitivity. Many of the complaints surrounded this camera when Canon began introducing models with the DIGIC III processor and left the S-series unchanged. As soon as the DIGIC III equipped cameras released, the S3IS was old and slow and only has a 6 megapixel sensor. The S3IS is still available online for around $300.
There is no doubt in my mind Canon released the S5IS to compensate for the S3IS’s shortcomings. In addition to the other features mentioned before, the S5IS features Canon’s state of the art DIGIC III processor; this is one of the fastest imaging processors available in point and shoot models. Any camera equipped with a DIGIC III processor is going to be fast though features will vary among models.
Of course, the zoom, the relatively high-end lens (for a point and shoot model) and 8 megapixel sensor come at a price. The S5IS is not cheap at $474 which as of this writing is the lowest price available online.
It’s up to you if you want to spend almost $500 on a point and shoot camera with a 12x zoom, 8 megapixel sensor and near-digital SLR performance. If you can do without the zoom and the 8 megapixels, the Pentax K100D is a 6 megapixel digital SLR that comes with an 18mm to 55mm optically stabilized zoom lens for $420.
The S5IS has a focal length that starts at 36mm, which isn’t too terribly good but I’ve seen worse. If you’re looking for a wider angle, you’ll need to look at another camera.
I have been unable to directly compare performance or the image quality of the S5IS and K100D. Traditionally speaking the response time of any digital SLR will be faster than any point and shoot model and lens quality of digital SLRs tend to be superior to those of point and shoot models. But note that on most digital SLRs the LCD is used for setting shooting options and is not used as a live viewfinder as you’ll find on point and shoot models.
Steves-Digicams has reviewed the Pentax K100D; a review of the S5IS is forthcoming.
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