I am finding the Canon Powershot S5 IS to be a very useful camera. It is by no means a replacement for my DSLR (Canon EOS 40D), and it has it’s limitations. But it also has some strengths that make it preferable to the larger camera in some cases.

First, the limitations: If you know the cameras limitations, and avoid trying to do what the camera does not do well, you’ll be quite happy with it. The Powershot S5 has an 8 megapixel sensor, similar to a Canon EOS 20D. However, that sensor is physically smaller. So it’s getting the same number of pixels in an image, but with a smaller area. This causes a slightly degraded image. In most cases, you won’t notice it. But, where I do notice it is in a low light situation. Images taken in less than optimal lighting will begin to show some noise in the image. Using the on-camera flash is very likely to produce some very red eyes on your subjects, as well. However, the camera has a hot shoe to use an external flash. That feature may solve much of this trouble, but I have not yet tried an external flash to see how much it improves the results. That has been my only technical problem with the camera. Two hints I can give you to minimize this problem: First, shoot where there is better light. If you only need your flash to fill in the shadows a little you won’t have as much trouble. Secondly, don’t use the zoom to it’s full extent when you need flash. The zoom is 12x, but the flash is not strong enough to reach that far.

I have also noticed that the lens cap pops off very easily. This can be a pain at times. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve reached in the camera bag, and gotten a nice large finger print on the lens because the cap came off. There is a reason, I am told, that this comes off so easily though. When you turn the camera on, the lens automatically extends. The cap snaps on to the part that does not move, and if you forget to remove it the lens pushes it off the camera. If the cap fit snugly, something would get damaged. Overall, I think Canon could think this through a little better, and offer a solution that both protects the lens with a better cap, and prevents damage from mistakingly powering on the camera with the cap in place.

Ok, I’m done harping on the camera’s faults, because overall, they don’t bother me. Here is what I like about this little camera. It is a lot of camera in a small package. It’s convenient to carry, and to keep with you. It takes very good pictures (except as noted above), and it also takes video. The size, and image quality, and video capability make this an excellent travel camera. The LCD screen rotates around letting you store the camera with the screen against the camera body for protection. When shooting, this is very handy. In a crowd, you can hold the camera way over your head, and turn the screen so you can still preview the shot.

It has a 12X image stabilized optical zoom. This is a pretty significant zoom capability, and I use it often. The image stabilization helps keep your images sharp at full zoom. Very nice.

The S5 is also pretty fast. Compared to other Point and Shoots, it is fast enough to give you a fighting chance at getting good action shots. I took some motocross pictures with it that came out quite nicely. Again, it’s not a match for the Canon EOS 40D, but that really isn’t a fair comparison.

I have kept this camera with me to shoot some pictures for a photo challenge on photochallenge.org. In most cases, I don’t think I sacrificed much in the way of image quality. I don’t need 20×30 inch poster prints here. What I need is to keep the camera with me at all times, all month long, to get a shot every day for the challenge. You can see the April Challenge photos on my flickr stream and decide for yourself how they came out. The first 18 shots, with the exception of #4 are taken with the S5. Overall, I think the Canon Powershot S5 is a lot of camera in a small package.