Camera Labs

Hia all,

I've had my S5 for about three weeks and 1,100 or so shots so far. This can't be a full review but a quick report on my experience to date and the differences from the S2 it replaced.

IQ -- to be honest I have yet to see any substantial difference in IQ between the two. Of course that's just to my naked (and untrained) eye. I'm gonna post a side by side comparison of the same image from each camera next week. I'll let you all know right here.

ISO -- I never shoot above 200 anyway so the extended capability means little. Noise levels up to 200 are similar and may even favor the S2 a bit. I wish Canon had gone to a 1/8 CCD.

Hot shoe -- I'm thinking of the EX 430 by the end of the year but have nothing to report here.

Face detection -- I've tried it vs center weight several times with no real difference. HOWEVER, I haven't yet tried multiple faces so I'll report back soon on this.

Controls -- The seperate ISO and Exposure buttons are marginally more useful on the S5 than the S2.

Digital Zoom -- The "standard 4x DZ is still the same garbage as every other camera. However, I kind of like the 1.6 and 2.0 teleconverter settings. I shoot many more tellys than wides so this works for me and the noise/focus are not that bad. IS really helps up to the 24x (2.0) range.

SD Card location --- HATE IT, HATE IT, HATE IT. This is my main criticism. I don't even use my card reader anymore, I just hook up the USB 2.0. Changing cards on a tripod now impossible. REALLY a stupid move to have the batteries fall out or the camera upside down.

Lens cover -- Believe it or not, I like it over the S2 and since I forget to remove it all the time I don't mind it popping off easily.

LCD screen -- WAY superior to the 1.8" S2

Record Display options -- I really like the option of 2 info displays in both the EVF and LCD and I REALLY like the rule of thirds grid showing. I'm such an amateur.

Loss of the Intervalomter -- BOO. I may keep the S2 just for this.

In camera processing -- OIK but nothing I needed to do. I'm good at photoshop.

Owner's Manual -- still leaves out (or doesn't explain well) certain things. Same as the S2. I go to sites like Camera Labs and Steve's to learn the camera.

At this point I like the improvements over the S2 ( but I'm not sure they're worth $450.00 US).

Dassit for now. Be back on Tuesday with the side by side location on my Webshots site. My lensmate stuff (Adapter and Filters) should be here today and I'll use them on both cameras over the weekend.

JG

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JG

http://www.pbase.com/johngalt_ny
http://community.webshots.com/user/johngaltny

OK all,

I've posted 18 shots (9 each) taken by the S2 and the S5 within seconds of each other. This is not about my skill ( or lack thereof ) as a photographer, it is to allow people to view sample images from both. Simply go to my webshots site (below) and visit the Side by Side album.

Settings were matched on both cameras at the highest resolution, ISO 100, no exposure compensation, no color filters and matched metering sites within the frame. The only post process was to cut them to 7" on the long side and 96 ppi. No cropping, no sharpening, no levels, no nothing.

Hope this is some use to someone.

_________________
JG

http://www.pbase.com/johngalt_ny
http://community.webshots.com/user/johngaltny

Nice comparison!
What springs to my eye immediately is the blue at the middle-left tree in s2 (4). Obviosly some straylight from the sky is tinting the tree. The s5 (4) photo does not show the same effect.
Unfortunately the fov is different at most shots, that makes it harder to compare them...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

TomBomba

Unfortunately, the S series doesn't have a zoom indicator so there is some FOV variation. However, I just addded three more at the end showing Full Zoom / 50% Zoom and Full Wide. Hopefully this corrects the problem.

_________________
JG

http://www.pbase.com/johngalt_ny
http://community.webshots.com/user/johngaltny

Thanks for the comparisons John...

Uh-huh, what happened to S5 (7)? So dark??
S2(8+9) vs. S5(8+9) shows again that there is a great amount of bright light blooming with the S2.
That remeinds me of the thread about the importance of contrast: http://www.cameralabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=958

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses