Canon S5 is, tips, tricks

[filefish949]

OK, so I wanted a DSLR, but just could not justify the expense, I did a little looking around but this was an impulse buy. I got if from Costco so if it sux, I can just send it back. I am looking for people who own one of these so i can draw off your experience

[scottyreef]

its a good camera i like mine pretty well the only tip i could give you is buy a lens protector. i have this one and also all the pics i have on my profile were taken with this camera. it has a very good super marco setting and to make you pictures come out better i set the camera up manually

 

http://www.lensmateonline.com/newsite/S2.html

[jeremai]

My sister has the S5 IS, she loves it - great manual functions but still easy to use (it is a Canon, after all).

 

Did you have any specific questions about the camera?

[filefish949]

My sister has the S5 IS, she loves it - great manual functions but still easy to use (it is a Canon, after all).

 

Did you have any specific questions about the camera?

 

not yet, hopefully by the end of the week Mr. postman will deliver it and I will have lots more questions. I had an A30 and an A80(which died), I hope the menus have stayed the same. we picked up a tiny weenie 10 mega pixel pocket camera, I was hoping what I know was not true, that: the glass is everything, well 10 MP with crappy glass just makes for bad photos that take a lot of memory

 

I spent a few bux on 52mm lenses for my A80, and ordered an adapter tube for the S5, I am thinking they will work about as well as they did with the A80

 

I just sort of feel like a dweeb for buying a wanna-B SLR, so thanks for the encouragement

[filefish949]

its a good camera i like mine pretty well the only tip i could give you is buy a lens protector. i have this one and also all the pics i have on my profile were taken with this camera. it has a very good super marco setting and to make you pictures come out better i set the camera up manually

 

 

nice photo

 

I used the manual focus on my A80 all the time, (shooting coral) trouble was that the display was so small, I really could not tell if it was in razor focus, I had to take ~5 shots of anything macro click +1 step focus, wash rinse repeat, then pick the best of 5

 

the one thing I would like a lot if it is available is a remote shutter control, I have to use the 2 second delay cause I can't seem to hold a camera still when I pull the trigger

[jeremai]

I just sort of feel like a dweeb for buying a wanna-B SLR, so thanks for the encouragement

No worries, a colleague of mine shoots for glossies with a prosumer Nikon camera, same capabilities as your S5 IS. Actually, you'll probably have better luck with that camera than with a DSLR.

 

nice photo

 

I used the manual focus on my A80 all the time, (shooting coral) trouble was that the display was so small, I really could not tell if it was in razor focus, I had to take ~5 shots of anything macro click +1 step focus, wash rinse repeat, then pick the best of 5

 

the one thing I would like a lot if it is available is a remote shutter control, I have to use the 2 second delay cause I can't seem to hold a camera still when I pull the trigger

I have the same focusing issue with my SLR lenses - most good shots come out of a sea of mediocre shots.

[filefish949]

ok, just got it and ran through a whole roll of film...err 32 meg... this photo padawan is going to have a lot of questions... this thing is cool, ISO and manual focus is real easy to get to

 

this is the best (cropped) of my first 16 shots

 

[filefish949]

the biggest problem I am having is that photos look dark and washed out at the same time and i can't seem to get the colors right. I think I may need a plastic card to set my white balance, and get a better understanding of what the aperture and shutter settings do. it seems that the smaller the aperture, the greater my field of focus, but the longer I need to keep the shutter open. I am thinking I may need polarizing and UV filters to get rid of the glare on the tips

 

here are a few that have potential... this photo business is a giant PITA

 

this one came out pretty darned close to how it looks

 

 

in this one the green is way faded

 

 

this one just looks dark

 

 

this one looks way cool but way dark

 

 

this came out nice but you can see where the bright parts are all washed out and white, in life it does not look like that

 

 

here is typical of what I get, the lighter stuff looks white and the normal parts look dark

 

[fewskillz]

I have the S2 IS, your camera's older brother. I've had it for 2½ years now and have loved it for what it is (and how much it cost). I'm planning to upgrade to the S5 (or S6 if it's out by then) next spring.

 

some pics from my 10 gallon with my S2 (manual mode/manual focus):

 

 

 

[filefish949]

 

I love those lime skirts i think i am looking for a shutter cable, do you know if you can use one with the SX cameras?

[Phixion]

i don't believe so, but i could be wrong. I have the S1 IS model, no macro, bastages! lol!

[filefish949]

i don't believe so, but i could be wrong. I have the S1 IS model, no macro, bastages! lol!

 

this may help, i just ordered a 52mm tube adapter for my camera, I can use all the old 52mm lenses and filters I had for my A80, a whole set is like $40 shipped

[jeremai]

Dark and muddy = underexposed.

 

Does it shoot in RAW? If so, use that, it takes a lot of the guesswork out in regards to color.

[filefish949]

Does it shoot in RAW? If so, use that, it takes a lot of the guesswork out in regards to color.

well not really, however I found a hack called CHDK, it will even allow me to get a USB-cable remote shutter-release and a whole lot of other things i don't really understand

 

Q. What does the CHDK program do?

 

A. After loading of CHDK program you can get the following functionality:

 

* Shooting in RAW, with RAW Average, RAW Sum, and RAW Develop features

* Live histogram (RGB, blended, luminance and for each RGB channel)

* Zebra mode (live-view under/over-exposure subject-area alerts)

* DOF-calculator, Hyperfocal-calculator with instant Hyperfocal and Infinity focus-set, and more

* Battery indicator

* RAW and Video space-remaining gauges with custom low-limit alerts

* Scripts execution (exposure/focus/bracketing, intervalometer and more)

* USB-cable remote shutter-release

* Motion-Detection triggered photography (fast enough to capture lightning strikes)

* Customizable high-speed continuous (burst) Tv, Av, ISO, and Focus bracketing (unlimited shots)

* 99 constant bit-rate and 10 constant-quality video compression levels

* 1 Gig video-size limit removed in earlier cameras

* Zoom during video for cameras without

* Shutter, Aperture, and ISO Overrides (shutter speeds of 64" to 1/10,000" and higher)

* High-speed Flash Sync at all speeds up to 1/64,000 second (even faster in some cameras)

* Custom framing, cropping, and alignment viewfinder Grids (user editable)

* File browser

* Text reader

* Calendar

* Some fun tools and games

* Fully customizable CHDK display, info placement, user-colors, fonts in menus, etc.

* Custom CHDK User-Menu (for instant recall of up to 10 favorite functions)

* And other features too numerous to mention here. See the CHDK Firmware and Allbest Firmware usage pages for a more complete overview.

[jeremai]

Wierd.

 

Custom white balance ftw.

[ibanezgfx]

i have that camera, and it is pretty good for tank shots.

i dont know if i can do this, but i started a thread at reefcentral about this camera. here is the link

(again, if this is not allowed, just delete this post)

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...mp;pagenumber=1

i have some pics posted there and some other guys do. seems to do OK.

[filefish949]

i have that camera, and it is pretty good for tank shots.

i dont know if i can do this, but i started a thread at reefcentral about this camera. here is the link

(again, if this is not allowed, just delete this post)

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...mp;pagenumber=1

i have some pics posted there and some other guys do. seems to do OK.

 

gee thanks, i was going to post op a few picks but after looking at that thread, it is obvious i am going to need some more skilz

 

 

[ibanezgfx]

no corals, but here are a couple from my 75g FOWLR

 

 

all of which are in the thread i posted a link to earlier. all done with the s5 and a little PP

[Phixion]

this may help, i just ordered a 52mm tube adapter for my camera, I can use all the old 52mm lenses and filters I had for my A80, a whole set is like $40 shipped

 

Wow, nice! Thank you for the link!

[filefish949]

LMK if you get a macro lens, it makes a world of difference I find that stacking a +4 and a +2 or just the +4 gets about about 75% of my shots but I use everything from a +1 to a +10

 

I just got my plastic gray card today so let's see how that helps my pics

[ibanezgfx]

i used a DCR-250 macro lens for the last 2 pictures in my post

[filefish949]

i used a DCR-250 macro lens for the last 2 pictures in my post

 

I keep hearing (and seeing) a lot of good things from that lens, unfortunately I have a full set of ebay-cheepo lenses and i can't justify buying a new one at the moment

[Phixion]

I ordered the adaptor and hood kit, I'll let you know how it works out. Thanks again for the heads up on that deal. Samy's wants well over $100 for the same stuff, in the link LESS than $20!!