Manual Control Options
The Canon PowerShot S5 IS has plenty of manual controls for exposure, flash output, ISO, white balance, self-timers, etc. This digital camera will please consumers in search of control.
Focus
Auto Focus (6.75)
The through-the-lens autofocus system isn’t the snappiest we’ve seen, as it tends to take a few tenths of a second before focusing on a subject. The more zoomed in the lens is, the longer it takes.
The S5’s autofocus has some interesting features. Face detection can be accessed from the set button, along with a central focusing frame and the FlexiZone function. The FlexiZone can be turned on and off in the Recording menu and allows access to a focus point that can be moved along an 18 x 28-spot grid with a superimposed green box on the LCD. The face detection, available for stills and movies, can recognize up to nine faces at a time and does so quickly. Once recognized, the camera tailors its exposure, parameters, and focus to ensure that faces look their best. Face detection is another feature that is an upgrade from the older S3.
The autofocus features can be set to function continuously or only when the shutter is pushed halfway down. Most cameras’ continuous AF modes make some noise, but the Canon S5 is quiet as can be.
The Canon PowerShot S5 IS’s lens normally focuses from 1.6 feet (wide) to 3 feet (telephoto). The Super Macro mode brings the focus much closer. Objects touching the lens can stay in focus with its 0 to 3.9-inch focus area. In low light, the camera’s autofocus assist beam shoots out a beam of light if set to do so in the Setup menu.
Overall, the S5’s autofocus system is decent, but sluggish.
Manual Focus (4.0)
The button that accesses this feature is located on the left side of the lens. It isn’t a button that needs only to be pushed once; users have to hold it down while scrolling up and down with the selector. This is tricky, especially when trying to hold the hefty camera body. The Manual Focus mode can focus as close as 3.9 inches and as far as the lens can see. Users can choose whether to preview a zoomed portion of the image for better focus, but it’s still hard to check the focus because of the LCD screen’s limited resolution. In case you’re not sure about the focus (and it’s hard to be), the camera offers a Safety MF function that allows users to manually focus but then also access the autofocus if needed.
ISO (8.25)
The ISO has a designated button to the right of the LCD screen. If pushed in Auto mode, only Automatic and High ISO modes are available. The Automatic ISO shouldn’t be trusted. It produced more noise than most compact digital cameras in 2007
; see the noise test in the Testing/Performance section of this review for more details. The High ISO Auto mode is becoming more common; Canon’s maxes out at ISO 800, which is a low cap compared to some other models but is probably the most the S5 can offer with its abundance of noise. Most other exposure modes offer the full 80-1600 ISO range. The manual ISO range is preferable to the automatic setting, but the amount of noise produced is still unacceptable. In the Movie mode, the ISO button accesses a +/- 6 adjustment scale to brighten or darken videos.
The Canon S3 has an ISO range of 80-800, so the S5 bests that and adds an Auto ISO Shift mode. This function can be turned on and off in the Recording menu of the Priority and Program modes, but not in Manual mode. The shift function, when turned on, blinks the blur warning on the LCD and the blue LED on the button on the left shoulder; when that blinking blue button is pushed, the ISO is bumped up to accommodate flash-free low-light photography.
White Balance (8.25)
The white balance settings can be found by pushing the function button. The S5 has the same options found on other PowerShot digital cameras: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash, and Custom. The custom white balance is simple to set, too. The camera superimposes tiny brackets in the center of the view and provides on-screen directions that prompt users to push the set button when something white is framed within those tiny brackets. The Canon S5’s white balance system is among the best we’ve tested; see the Testing/Performance section for more details.
Exposure (8.0)
The exposure can be manually or semi-manually adjusted, or left up to the discretion of the camera. The Auto mode doesn’t allow any adjustment of the exposure – as it should. The Program, Priority, and Scene modes allow a +/- 2 exposure compensation scale in 1/3 steps when the top portion of the selector is pushed. In Manual mode, individual shutter speeds are changed by pushing right and left for shutter speed and up and down for aperture. Exposure bracketing can be adjusted through the Function menu; the camera can take three pictures in a row at increments of +/- 0.3, 0.7, or 1.0. For those users who want to watch the exposure carefully, a histogram can be displayed on the LCD screen.
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Metering (8.25)
The metering can be changed within the Function menu to the following options: Evaluative, Center-Weighted Average, and Spot. These are typical options on compact digital cameras, but most cameras don’t allow them to be manually selected in the Movie mode like the S5. The S5 even syncs the metering with the face detection feature when it is activated.
Shutter Speed (8.0)
The Canon S5 has a mechanical and electronic shutter that flips as fast as 1/3200 of a second and can open for as long as 15 seconds. It can be manually adjusted in Shutter Priority and Manual modes by pushing right and left on the selector. There is a live preview of the exposure in Manual mode, but not in Shutter Priority mode. Any shutter speeds that operate slower than 1.3 seconds employ the built-in noise reduction system.
Aperture (8.0)
The Canon lens on the camera has a wide f/2.7 aperture at its widest end that allows plenty of light to pass through the lens and hit the image sensor. The lens and its apertures are the same as what was included on the older Canon S3. The max aperture shrinks to f/3.5 in telephoto and shrinks as small as f/8. In the Aperture Priority mode, pushing right and left on the selector brings users through these options: f/2.7, f/3.2, f/3.5, f/4, f/4.5, f/5, f/5.6, f/6.3, f/7.1, and f/8. In Manual mode, users have to push up and down to access the apertures.
