Powershot S3 and Powershot S5 ? Two Generations of Ulta-zoom Cameras by Canon
Powershot S3 and Powershot S5 ? Two Generations of Ulta-zoom Cameras by Canon
Powershot S3 and Powershot S5 – Two Generations of Ulta-zoom Cameras by Canon
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Home Page > Technology > Electronics > Powershot S3 and Powershot S5 – Two Generations of Ulta-zoom Cameras by Canon
Powershot S3 and Powershot S5 – Two Generations of Ulta-zoom Cameras by Canon
Posted: Apr 22, 2008 |Comments: 0
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S3 and S5 – Two Generations of Ulta-Zoom Cameras by Canon
In common practice, the comparative test aims at distinguishing the advantages of one producer over another within one and the same price category and functional group. That is why models by different producers representing the same section of the market are taken for observation. Canon cameras are usually compared with their group-mates from Panasonic, Sony or Nikon. But we at DigiCamFriends.com have agreed to take another way and get to know what obvious innovations may be found in the Canon PowerShot S5 IS (hereafter, Canon S5) in comparison with the Canon PowerShot S3 IS (hereafter, Canon S3) that used to be extremely popular.
Let’s imagine we know nothing about new features developed by Canon for the new model S5 that appeared after the Canon S3:
Physical view
Canon models of S – series, being different from another Canon PowerShot “subclass” (that is models of A-series), are characterized as “amateurish” but with some skills of “professional”. This is for report or art-report shooting, but not for the motionless photos, something like “a tree and me” type. From this point of view both models have a very handy design.
In fact physical view of the camera has not been changed, except first- the enlarging of the movable screen from 2 to 2.5 inches and second- the replacement of one of the control buttons. And while the latter novelty hardly seems to be pleasant, the first one fits quite natural- it’s become more convenient to take photos with a larger screen.
Pic.1: Canon PowerShot S3 IS and PowerShot S5 IS; front.
Pic.2: Canon PowerShot S3 IS and PowerShot S5 IS; rear.
Pic.3: Canon PowerShot S3 IS and PowerShot S5 IS; movable screens.
Optics
The cameras have the same lens construction type with identical settings (the market interpretation of the term construction – the quantity of the optical elements and it’s groups). Unfortunately, there was no information found on the manufacturer’s Web-site mentioning that these lenses are identical; so I won’t insist on theoretical view point, but make a display with some photo examples.
Example 1 : Shots with max. depth of field (the aperture priority mode, the shutter is closed down; Flash is on; ISO80 sensitivity; the white balance – “Flash”). The distance between the objects is about 15-25 cm. Auto focus on the handle of the cup. On the left is a shot taken by the Canon S3, on the right, by the Canon S5.
Example 2 : Shots with min. depth of field (the aperture priority mode, the shutter is absolutely open; Flash is on; ISO80 sensitivity; the white balance – “Flash”). The distance between the objects- about 15-25 cm. Auto focus on the handle of the cup. On the left is a shot taken by the Canon S3, on the right, by the Canon S5.
These cameras are recognized among the majority of digital cameras for equally good color reproduction and quick focusing on the objects, even if they are trying to escape from your camera.
Example 3: Focus on objects moving to and fro with 12x optical zoom in. On the left, a shot taken by the Canon S3, on the right, by the Canon S5.
It doesn’t make much sense if we start making a display of numerous examples of similarities between these cameras. We’ll stop making trivial comparisons of their features and proceed to noting peculiar and individual characteristics discovered during the experiments.
The Imperfectness of the Lens
Practical optics has very little in common with the geometrical sums in the physics lessons that students solve while learning about cameras as a kind of equipment. But however accurate the calculations may be, even the most carefully developed ( and rather expensive) model of the lens is not completely perfect. For example, there can be chromatic aberrations, when the objects on the image are colorfully haloed. Test results show that both cameras have the same level of chromatic aberrations. Surprisingly, in spite of the progress of the competitors, Canon hasn’t manage to overcome this problem when developing the Canon S3 into the Canon S5, even after the evolution within internal toolkit. On the whole, in my point of view, the number of drawbacks of cameras for ultra-zoom class is high.
Example 4 : chromatic aberrations are the colourful halos around the bridge footing. This example also displays the difference of the sharpness of the objects in the photo taken by different cameras, but we’ll discuss it later. At the top is the whole shot with the testing
area highlighted. On the left is a shot taken by the Canon S3, on the right, by the Canon S5. For both cameras we set semi-auto “Landscape” mode with completely closed aperture, 12x optical zoom in.
Shooting Close-ups – Macro modes
Macro-shooting is not an easy task for a camera, designed as the “the mater of landscape photography”. The technical characteristics for shooting bugs and spiders are just opposite of those for shooting sun-sets and mountain landscape. There are numerous items that can be
evaluated to identify the macro capacity of the camera. In particular, there is a famous test based upon not simply measuring the distance from the lens surface necessary for focusing, but making a photo of a small object wthin the whole shot. The smaller the object, the higher degree of macro capacity of your camera has.
We agreed to experiment upon the monetary unit of our country – coins of different values.
For both the Canon S3 and the Canon S5, macro-shooting is available in two different modes: “macro” and “super-macro”. We had expected to get the similar results, but it turned out that, with the Canon S5, the borderline between these modes suffers influence of its predecessor. While “macro” mode of the Canon S3 enables you to take a photo of 5 coins, that enlargement
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