Customer Reviews

Canon PowerShot S500 5MP Digital Elph with 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

The new Canon PowerShot S500 is a 5MP upgrade to the immensely popular S400 model, which was a 4MP digital camera. The S500 produces excellent images, is easy to use, and is compact enough to carry in a pocket. 3X optical zoom is standard on these cameras. Besides shooting still photos, you can record low-res video clips as well as audio clips, but don't expect high quality on either.

For a hundred bux less, you can get the 4MP S410 model which is otherwise identical to the S500. Should you go for this or the S410? I think for most consumers 4MP is plenty enough, with room for cropping and enlargements. 5MP is only necessary if you really crop a lot *and* plan to blow up the cropped images. The S410 strikes a great balance between pixel count and price -- it's a better value.

This is my second Canon digital elph camera. Both were great cameras. Recently upgraded to the S500. About 6 months later I get the dreaded E18 error. I searched the Internet and found numerous people having problems. When I determined the problem to be the lens not fully extending I decided to give it a tug. It clicked and the camera came on, ready to take pictures. Turning it off and on produced the E18 again. While turning it on I gave it a nice little bump on the side (where the USB connector is) and the lens popped out on its own. No problems since.
Its a nice compact and light camera and takes great photos and videos. Only complaint (other than E18) is the limit of 30-second videos on 640x480 mode. I've got a 512MB compact flash card, I should be able to take as much footage as I have memory in one take.

The Good:
Great pictures. Nice size. Average battery life. Loved the panorama mode. This was the best camera I owned ... until "E18" appeared on its LCD screen.

The Bad:
The E18 Error. I treated this camera with great care. I knew of the E18 problem from other reviews. I avoided everything that might trigger it. It happened anyway. At first sporadically, now E18 happens evertime I turn the camera on. Within 4 months of purchase, my S500 has become un-usable. Many people encounter the E18 problem with Canon cameras (not just the Canon S500).

Comments:
I've owned five digital cameras since 1996. All continue to work with the exception of the Canon S500. I have shipped software that works with digital cameras. I know very well how reliable digital cameras are supposed to be. It would be ridiculous for me to claim that every Canon S500 will eventually get this problem. But, based on some simple googling, you'll soon see that something is amiss in Canon's engineering process and that Canon has spotty quality control. I can not recommend any Canon point-and-shoot camera until Canon acknowledges and addresses this problem.

I was shopping at Best Buy with my friend, who decided on the SD110, the smallest in the ELPH series. However, after a little research, I found that the s500 is only marginally larger than its smaller sibling. Even so, this marvel can slip into my front pocket easily and takes superb pictures. The s500 also has the distinction of having 5 megapixels--fully 2 more than the SD110, and 1 more than the cheaper s410. I'm thinking if I'm already going to be spending so much money ($500 with an additional battery pack), I might as well go all out for the best, or just stick to a cheap $200 camera. Right? And who wants to buy cheap electronics? :-P

I also have the Canon A70 and the Sony Cybershot U40. While the A70 was my trusty workhorse last year, it is rather homely and bulky. While not *very* large, there would have been no way to slip that brick into my pocket, with it's protruding grip and lens. Also it is only 3.2 megapixels. From looking at the pictures I took today on the s500's "shakedown" around the neighborhood, I can already tell that it takes far more detailed, sharper images than the A70, which suffered from a minor "softness" in the pictures it took. Also, the s500 is less a camera than it is a work of art in it of itself. When off, the camera has a slim, elegant look. It has an nostalgic air of Art Deco about it. From the front, the highly polished silver and handsome gold rings around the lens will catch anybodys' eye immediately--a breathtakingly beautiful machine to take breathtakingly beautiful pictures.

On the other hand, this camera is not nearly as small as the Sony U40, which was about the size of my index and middle fingers put together. However, that had no zoom and took only marginally acceptable images (2 MP and rather grainy)--I bought it primarily so I'd have a throwaround camera. In any case, the s500 is not *as* small, but it still fits into my pocket without any hassle (you'll know it's there, but it won't bother you), and the optical zoom and high image quality more than make up for it.

Again, the image quality is superb, and all in such a portable package.

Manual controls are light. There is AUTO, Manual, Panorama, and Video mode. In Manual, you can control the ISO and F stops, but they are not readily available, and require fiddling with the menu to access. I don't care, personally. I bought the camera for it's portability and ease of use when I want to snap pictures. I leave the wheel on AUTO and I am perfectly content with the images I get--for the average picture taker, too, I'd imagine.

The movie mode is decent. This is a camera and not a camcorder, it's still part of the package, but I'll not put it into consideration when rating this camera. Subpar. My A70 could take 640x480s at 15 frames/second while the s500 only takes a sluggish 10. It's is quite choppy, but bearable. The s500 can have 15 frames a second under the two smaller video resolutions, but they still do not look as good as the videos I captured with my A70. There is just an element of choppiness that I do not like. Perhaps the increased megapixelage necessitates a decrease in smoothness, I don't know. However, the movie mode is just an additional nicety in this otherwise superb piece of machinery, and it decent, acceptable, just not as good as I know it could be, for Canons, but I know this feature is important for many people considering digital cameras.

The proprietary battery is also something that I do not like (I prefer AAs) but I suppose there have to be some trade-offs--I'd suggest getting a spare, since it's theoretically supposed to last only about 2 hours per charge. I'd also suggest getting the skin-tight leather cover for this cam, since you can still fit it in your pocket while keeping that lovely luster intact, away from the coarseness of your pockets.

I'd also suggest getting a CF that has as high a write speed as possible. When taking pictures at maximum size(2592x1944) and maximum resolution (super-fine), my card took about 1-3 seconds to finish recording. I could continue taking more pictures almost immediately afterward, but I would still have to wait for the images to finish writing before turning off the camera. I did not notice this when I took superfine photos at the Medium size settings. Speaking of CF, I'd also suggest getting as big a card as possible. This monster takes pictures at 1-3 Mb each which means about 100-200 picture for me--my 256Mb card doesn't seem so adequate anymore. But it's fine.

Conclusion.

So definately a great buy. It takes wonderful, superb pictures, and decent movies. By itself, it is a work of art, and truly is a handsome camera. All this, and is still compact enough to throw in your pocket or for the ladies, purse. There are slightly smaller and cheaper ELPHs, the sd110 and s410, but you will already be spending so much, and if you are, you might as well spring for the full 5 megapixel goodness that the s500 offers--3 megapixel cameras belong back in 2003. And there are other brands to choose from, but I honestly have not seen a more handsome camera that takes such spectacular images, and I think if you are considering this camera at such a price, that surely, you will be considering the aesthetic value of what you are buying. This camera is sure to please.

Canon have done it again and produced this year another great ultracompact camera. The Powershot S500 really hits the mark for me. Small, and well designed it is also a well-rounded performer in the digital camera world. At 5 megapixel resolutions you can take very good quality pictures. The camera itself is aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. It comes with 32 MB compact flash, so you may well want to upgrade this capacity. Also, a case is not supplied in the box. Still these are small minuses. Like a lot of the newer ultracompact digital cameras the S500 has a movie mode, and can capture 2-3 minutes. Outdoors it takes some very nice pictures, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by its indoor performance with flash. It is possible to take some good photos without red eye problems. You cannot really go wrong with this camera if you want a good high performance compact.

I still couldn't believe that a brand new S500 only has a 30 mins of life span. I just received my brand new S500 this weekend. After taking 35 photos in 30 mins of its first use, it stopped functioning, shut itself down, with lense sticking out,lense cover wide-open. On the left lower corner of the LCD screen it showed E18. I contacted Canon CSR, he told me that it's called E18 error, meaning the lense won't retract, so it shut itself down to protect from further damage,and it has to go back to service center to repair. I post my experience on dpreview.com forum, and in one day there was a response from another s500 owner, saying that his first s500 suffered from E18 error after 2 months of use, then he bought another for his trip, then after 7 months it died from the same problem. After intensive search in the internet, I notice that I was not alone. E18 error results from the unreasonable mechanical design of the camera, the lack of lubrication of the metal motor and plastic lense track. After some use, the plastic wears out and the lense fails to retract. What I couldn't believe was that my s500 died from this problem in 30 mins, unbelievalbe. Avoid S500/410 by all means!
During my research for E18 error problem, this page pops up, if you're interested:
http://www.bitnet.cx/canon.html

I've had my S500 for about six months, and have used it extensively indoors, outdoors, and underwater.

PROS

Size. With any number of slim cases available, the S500 can be worn on your belt very comfortably. It's not too heavy, and it's small enough that it doesn't get in the way much more than a cell phone, doesn't look like a fanny pack, etc. If you're considering this camera, size is probably your number one concern, making this a great choice.

CONS

Pictures sometimes come out bright when using the flash. The brightness isn't bad enough that your pictures won't turn out good, but it is slightly brighter than you might expect (I.e., if you're using another Canon or other digital brand already). It also looks brighter on the LCD than it does when you view the pictures on a PC.

MISC.

- At max size and resolution, pictures may be over 3MB in size. I use a (few) SanDisk 512MB CompactFlash cards (SDCFB-512-A10), which hold around 200 pictures a piece.

- Battery life is decent, but you'll probably want a spare if you're going to be on the move all day. The Canon Digital Elph Camera Accessory Kit includes a battery, mid-size carrying case (great for travel) and a slim belt case. At ~$60, you can't beat it.

- For underwater photography (also good for rain, skiing, etc.), the underwater housing (WP-DC800) works great. I've taken several hundred underwater shots at a variety of depths (snorkeling and diving), and they come out very clear, with good light levels.

Overall, if you want a high-quality, compact digital, I don't know that you can do much better.

Bought the first Digital Canon (Ixus in Europe) and have since purchased the 400 which was a vast improvement, but after 3 weeks with the 500 I feel there are inherent operational flaws in the microcode.

White balance was superb on the 400, but the 500 gives strange results (I've tried dozens of settings) from bleached appearance in strong sunlight (on the sunlight setting) to poor resolution using flash.

Resolution generally does not seem to have improved and occasionally the camera (for no obvious reason) produces a very low-res shot with settings in Superfine.

File sizes tend to be of the order of 2MB, the same or smaller than the 400.

When I press shutter release I never have any confidence that it will work. This aspect is particularly infuriating when you are trying to "capture the moment". I've just this minute tried to take a shot of the office I'm sitting in writing this review and I pressed and held shutter release and no shot was taken and no message as to why (just two defiant beeps). A second press of the button worked, but this dents your confidence in the device. Other times, the 500 seems to take an age to trigger the shutter (even on the Quick Shot setting).

This is now my third model in the range... the 2.1 had faults that I could live with (innaccurate viewfinder, hesitant shutter release) as the design and image quality was superb. The 400 was a staggering improvement with all of the glitches ironed-out and great resolution. The 500 is a big step backwards.

It pains me to write this review as I've recommended this range to friends and family time and time again, but this model looks like it was rushed to market without proper beta testing.

donnelt@yahoo.com

UPDATE 23 Aug 2004

Camera died with E18 error after 3 months use. Canon will not repair, citing misuse. BREATHTAKING ARROGANCE. Always kept in case when not in use. Looked after like a new-born baby. Search Google for "canon e18" and you'll see the extent of what is clearly a DESIGN ERROR.

I am a big fan of Canon cameras, so I might be a little biased. But that doesn't mean I don't use cameras from other manufacturers. I have found that Canon cameras, in this case the Powershot S500, are at the top of the camera market.

The design is terrific. Canon really outdid themselves with the design of the Elph line of digitals. It's good looking and compact, but still packed with all the features you need. The one thing I really love about this camera is that it just feels solid in your hand. It's a small camera, but some people are surprised at how solid it feels.

Included with this camera is a high speed 32mb compact flash card. They're the first to include a card of this type and size which is great. But if you're shooting at maximum resolution, you can really only take 11 pictures. You'll need at least a 64mb card to get 24 pictures at maximum resolution.

The quality of the pictures and performance of the camera are very high. I can't believe the amount of information that is captured at 5 megapixels. The pictures are remarkably clear and vibrant. The camera performs well in all conditions. The low light assist lamp works well. The only thing they could have included was an 'action' shot mode that trims down the shutter speed to capture fast moving objects or people.

The software you get with this camera is very good. Easy to download pictures, great organization, and all the little features like stitch assist are great.

Overall an excellent camera. If you're looking for a top of the line point and shoot, you'd find it hard to find a better camera than the Canon Powershot S500.

This is my first digital camera, and I have no regrets. It's a damn fine point-and-shoot with very intuitive controls and can be used virtually right out of the box (just charge the battery a bit). The video capture feature is just fine; afterall, if you wanted a video camera, you would have purchased one. I considered the Sony DSC-T1, but with Sony's proprietary memory requirements, the cost/benefit just didn't add up. The S500 is a sturdy camera, and should satisfy the casual photo enthusiast for quite some time. The included software is also user-friendly and easy to use.

My Canon Elan 7E and Canon Elph 2 kept me content for quite some time. With hundreds if not thousands of dollars spent on photo-processing however, it was simply time to get into the digital age.

For accessories, you'll want to get a case for it (such as the PSC-50) as it only comes with a wrist strap. In addition, consider purchasing a larger CF card (256MB or 512MB... I purchased the SanDisk Ultra II 256MB). Once you buy a card, you'll be able to use it in digital SLRs if you go that route; the included 32MB card will quickly run out of space if you are taking full resolution photos.

Anyone interested in taking the leap into digital photography and wanting unbiased reviews should take a look at Steve's Digicams at www.steves-digicams.com.

Choosing a digital camera is very much a function of lifestyle. If you are used to SLRs and like being able to bring multiple lenses for special photography opportunities, then consider the Digital Rebel or EOS 10D; you won't find better cameras on the market. If however, you want a compact camera that you can easily take anywhere, consider the S500 as a happy travel partner to capture those moments, and never process film again!