Review of Canon S50 Digital Camera

By James Dunn 
September 7, 2003

This is a 5 megapixel camera with a 7.1mm to 21.3mm (3X) optical zoom lens in a compact package. It measures 4.4 inches by 2.3 inches by 1.7 inches. It’s larger but not heavier than the S400 Elph. It still fits in my shirt pocket, but I’m more aware of its bulk.

It uses the same Compact Flash card as the S400. The user manual for this camera is twice the size of the manual for the S400. It needs to be. This camera has many more features than the S400. It has enough controls to satisfy any control freak. For instance, there are 13 shooting modes divided into two zones as well as full Auto.

In Image Zone, there are modes for Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Fast Shutter, Slow Shutter, Stitch Assist, and Movie.  In Creative Zone, the modes are Program AE, Shutter Speed Priority, Aperture Priority, Manual Exposure, and Custom.  You can, of course, just leave it in Auto mode.

Besides JPEG file format, the S50 can be set to save RAW format. There is no tiff mode. The RAW format is lossless and is compressed to one quarter the size of a tiff file. That makes it more desirable than even compressed  tiff. Once you get the file into your computer the included software can convert the file to compressed tiff or other formats of your choice. Thus you can get the full 2592 by 1944 pixel images with no loss.

My next assignment was to sell some old equipment on E-bay. So I decided to see what this camera could do on tabletop shots. I set up like I usually do and then snapped a couple of quick shots with the S50 on full auto. I expected the auto white balance to take care of the yellow color cast caused by the 3200 Kelvin lights I was using. Imagine my surprise when it didn’t. I switched the camera into Manual mode and then set the white balance to ‘tungsten’ and the next shot looked immensely better.  The autofocus worked very well in macro mode (close focus – the flower icon).  If you want to do extreme close ups, this camera will do the job; just remember to set the white balance manually.
	Auto White Balance
	Manual White Balance to Tungsten

I won’t go into the stitch assist mode. I covered it in the review of the S-400. Let me say that this camera is even more effective since you can control precisely the exposure of each shot.
The autofocus has two modes: center frame or nine point auto. The nine point auto mode can be treacherous. The camera picks what object in the scene to focus on. In my testing of the macro mode, I tried to autofocus on the flower in the center of the frame. However, as you can see in this photo, the camera chose to focus on the screen wire of the window behind the flower. I tried setting the autofocus  mode to center frame, but the camera still defeated me.		Click image for larger view
Click image for larger view	When I chose a different background, as in the photo at left, the focus was set properly. It seems that if the camera can’t find focus where you tell it to, it looks elsewhere without asking you. Fortunately, with this camera you can set the focus manually.
	This camera also has an intervalometer. For those of you who don’t know what this means, an intervalometer is a device that can be set to take a  picture at specific intervals. That’s how those National Geographic photographers get those amazing sequences of flowers opening.  On the S50 the interval can be set from 1 to 60 minutes. You also set the total number of pictures you want from 2 to 100.  One picture every hour for 100 pictures is 100 hours. You might want the optional AC adapter. At the minimum I would turn off the LCD display so you don’t run out of batteries. Of course you would lock it down on a tripod.

Now most of you may not know this, but the only difference in a horizontal and vertical file is in the header of the file, which tells the software which way to display it.  I would think if the camera was smart enough to know it’s a vertical shot, that it would write the header so it would be vertical when it comes into the computer.

The many options on this camera will appeal to the photographer who wants finer control so he/she can be more versatile. Like everything else, more features and options means more complexity and a steeper learning curve. You can’t ever get away from that. So if you purchase this camera, be prepared to spend some time becoming very familiar with all its options. Then you can get great fireworks shots without fumbling around like I did.  I look forward to seeing them in the newsletter. Camera specifications are described on the Canon Web site.

James Dunn

James Dunn is leader of NTPCUG's Digital Photography SIG.
He may be contacted by e-mail: Click to e-mail James Dunn
His Web site is: ImagesByJamesDunn.com