Canon Powershot S50

I gave the trusty Canon S10 back to my sister, hoping she would email me family photos from my hometown. She hasn't!

These were my criteria:

1. Pocketable. I really enjoyed the size of the S10.
   
2. Metal casing - was very dissappointed with Nemo's plastic Fuji.
   
3. Good battery level indicator - Canon S10 has almost useless random "low battery indicator".
   
4. It has to be priced relatively reasonably - Canadian prices are usually ridiculously higher than US prices, and to add to that the almost prohibitive 15% tax.
   
5. It has to have very good manual functions.
   
6. RAW ouput, about time I learn something about it.

Cameras I was considering:

• Sony Cybershot T1, DSC-V1
  For the snobbish Carl Zeiss lens factor, to compliment the Contax we have, the info-lithium battery, the big LCD screen of the T1 etc. The main flaw being the lack of a Tripod mount, and the bad reviews and the price of the V1 locally.
  
  
• Canon Powershot A70, A80
  I don't really know why but I have always considered the A series being "cheap and plasticky". But not being impressed by Canon's proprietory battery on the S10, I was willing to consider the A70 or the A80 for its use of AA batteries. These cameras also have a huge following, at least on the web. However I couldn't get over the really bad LCD screen of the A80 and while in the midst of deciding, I came across a decently priced S50 online from a Canada retailer...

Canon Powershot S50
The camera was infact shipped to me from US, but I was assured that I only had to prepay the fixed CDN40 for custom clearance and the appropriate GST. There was a bit of a shipping confusion but I received my camera in about 10 days.

I have used it now for 2 weeks and have learned to use pretty much every function. Very complex but the manual is good. Several features stand out:

• The manually adjustable flash
  I stopped using the S10 flash years ago... nothing decent ever come out of it. The camera shake from low shutter speed was much more tolerable by comparison. The S50 (in most modes) fires a set of 2 flashes - a monitored pre-flash and an "corrected" flash that is synched to the shutter. You could also manually set the flash exposure compensation (in addition to a global exposure compensation), flash curtain synchronisation (1st or 2nd curtain) as well as a slow-synchronisation mode when the shutter stays open longer to avoid a unnatural "immediate fade to black" effects. Mine is set to under-expose by 1 stop and I have been using it with pre-flashing and shots were surprisingly good. I have read much about the red-eye problem, due to the close distance between the lens and the flash, but I think with the (under)exposure, it can be minimised.
  
  
• The instant playback slider
  It is very nice to switch back and fro between shooting a playing modes. The S10 used to have to be turned off and on again to switch between modes. Now a flick of a switch will allow full playback controls and a semi-press of the shutter button will get you back to the shooting mode.
  
  
• Infinitely controllable focus area
  Sure, you can use semi-click and hold to lock focus/exposure, but this gives you more visual feedback as well as allowing just focus lock or exposure lock.

Disappointing features:

• The manual focus is almost impossible to use despite the magnification and the auto bracketing (selectable but the bracketing range is hard to figure out)
  
  
• The multi-controller is hard to use. The "set" button always triggers the "right" button for me. Sony's scrolling wheels for their camcorders are godsent by comparison.
  
  
• The sliding door to turn on and off the camera. Seems very fragile and a few have reported damaging the sliding mechanism and rendered the camera useless.
  
  
• Of course, there is always the shutter-lag, which I think is better than that of the S10, but I still dream of NO-LAG at all like that of a film camera. I think Pentaxs are supposed to be very good on that front.

I find myself spending increasing amount of time fiddling with the camera inbetween shots. I am hoping that most of it is due to the increasing thought process of planning the shot instead of being caught up with its complexity.

Not worth mentioning (at least for me) are features such as the 5mp, digital zoom, movie modes and the effects, direct printing etc etc. I will have more to add to this article very soon as I get more acquainted with the camera

A note about the S50 and Mac OS X
I was able to manually control the camera connected to one mac from another one anywhere with an internet connection, using Apple's bundled "Image Capture" application. I can view/upload/download as well as taking shots. It is very nice.

I use iView Media as my cataloguing software - whereever the camera is attached or whenever a compact flash (CF) card is placed in my card reader, iView will startup, transfers the images and delete them from the CF card without any intervention. I also use a program called "EasyBatchPhoto" to batch process my photos for uploading to my online gallery.


Assessories
I bought an official leather case for the S50 sight unseen. It is very disappointing - just some vinyI covered cardboard. I doubt it offers the camera any real protection against anything. It is cheap however. I have found the Pelican micro case 1030 a good case for the camera despite the bulkiness. It is nice to know that the camera is well sealed against shock, dust and water!

Links
digitalcamera hq - a good portal site