Canon PowerShot S5 IS - anyone got one or suggest something similar ?

[StuartR]

We're looking to buy my son a new camera for his birthday to replace his ageing (i.e. 3 year old ) 4MP Nikon. He's 23 so we're looking for a "serious" camera but I don't think an entry-level SLR is the answer - perhaps next time. He enjoys his photography but he's not quite as addicted as his dad - yet

I really want something with a good zoom range as he's a regular zoo visitor and his Nikon's paltry x3 zoom isn't up to the job unless he's photographing the elephants! I'm also looking for Image Stabilisation not only for the long zoom but because most of his current pictures seem to suffer from camera shake!

The Canon PowerShot S5 IS looked just the job (also familiar options for a Canon user like myself) but I'm reading conflicting reviews - some really positive, others really negative which obviously worries me.

So, anyone on here with personal experience of the Canon? or something similar perhaps? I'm quite happy to look at another brand.

Oh, and 7 MP or above I guess...

[Caz]

Re: Canon PowerShot S5 IS - anyone got one or suggest something similar ?

I have a PowerShot A710 IS, which I think is now being fairly heavily discounted as Canon have just brought out the A720.

It's 7.1MP, 6x optical zoom (it's got digital zoom as well, but I try and ignore that!) and reasonable manual controls for those that want to have a fiddle. At Superfine and Large, pictures turn out around 3-4 mb a time. However, RAW is not available - there again, not really sure if it's available on any compact!

I've been reasonably happy with it - much prefer it to my larger compact digital (Fuji A340, which was considered quite advanced - 3 years ago ) as the user does have a lot more control.

It also looks like the S5 is more likely to encourage him to advance - you can be quite lazy with the A710 and leave it on auto. However, I find that it does then tend to overexpose.

[lumix]

Re: Canon PowerShot S5 IS - anyone got one or suggest something similar ?

We're looking to buy my son a new camera for his birthday to replace his ageing (i.e. 3 year old ) 4MP Nikon. He's 23 so we're looking for a "serious" camera but I don't think an entry-level SLR is the answer - perhaps next time. He enjoys his photography but he's not quite as addicted as his dad - yet

I really want something with a good zoom range as he's a regular zoo visitor and his Nikon's paltry x3 zoom isn't up to the job unless he's photographing the elephants! I'm also looking for Image Stabilisation not only for the long zoom but because most of his current pictures seem to suffer from camera shake!

The Canon PowerShot S5 IS looked just the job (also familiar options for a Canon user like myself) but I'm reading conflicting reviews - some really positive, others really negative which obviously worries me.

So, anyone on here with personal experience of the Canon? or something similar perhaps? I'm quite happy to look at another brand.

Oh, and 7 MP or above I guess...

Have a look at the Panasonic range. FZ8 has proved to be very good. The new FZ18 has not been reviewed as yet, but I suspect it too will be a camera to short list. The main complaint with all Panasonic's has been noise but as a user I have never found it a problem until you crop and print at 10 x 8. My old FZ20 has served me well and the 12 x Leica zoom is unbeatable. Image stabilization is superb. Hand held shots of the moon at 1/30 sec full zoom are proof of that.