The Canon S5 IS is one of the best of the pseudo SLR super zooms. The lens is outstanding and the company has kept the pixel count to 8 million. That’s about a million more than we consider ideal and images are a bit noisy at ISO speeds above 200, but not so much so that the picture is degraded. This is a good all-purpose camera with a standout macro ability.

As we have said with all of the S5’s predecessors (S1 IS, S2 IS, S3 IS), I was very impressed with Canon’s latest addition to their awesome line of Prosumer models. With appealing features like 8-megapixels of resolution, 12x zoom lens with optical IS, 2.5-inch vari-angle LCD, excellent image quality, and blazing fast performance, the S5 IS will be a tuff model to beat in the super-zoom category. Especially with a very reasonable price tag of only US399 or less!

While not perfect, the Canon PowerShot S5 IS is still one of the best ultra zooms on the market. It offers a nice blend of photo quality, performance, and features that appeal to both beginners and enthusiasts. I can recommend the S5 to just about anyone interested in an ultra zoom camera. If you’re a PowerShot S3 owner wondering if you should upgrade, I would only say “yes” if you need the hot shoe and longer movie recording times. Otherwise, stick with what you have!

The Canon PowerShot S5 IS is a worthy successor to last year’s S3 and it is arguably the flagship Canon PowerShot (though some may disagree) since it has an overall better feature set than the G7. There are some negatives about the S5 highlighted above but which camera is entirely perfect? Overall, I have no problem giving my recommendation and thumbs up to the Canon PowerShot S5 IS for those who want a very good ultra-zoom camera which has almost every feature you need, at a reasonable price too. If a capable all-in-one (good still image mode and impressive movie mode) camera is what you need, the S5 IS is absolutely it.

The Canon Powershot S5 IS is not a camera for everyone. This camera shines in some aspects and falls short in others. Where this camera really shines is the 12x zoom with image stabilization, the 8 megapixel CCD, and the speedy performance and fast image processing. It falls a bit short in expectations with the average image quality and outdated lens.