Canon Powershot S60 5MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Optical Zoom

The canon s60 feature & performance wise, falls somewhere between a point-and-shoot and a pro-sumer level 5MP digital camera. I had originally planned on getting a G5, but the G5's unwielding size and weight (although a great performer) made me consider the newly released s60. I was looking for a portable pro-sumer, 5MP digital camera, that was no bigger than our Canon SureShot 35mm film camera. The s60 (and the ultra compact s400) both have the same CCD imager as the G5, but I chose the s60's 28mm wide angle lens, extra feature set, and longer battery life over the p500's.

From my experience, taking pictures indoors with a flash seems to be the biggest hurdle for any digital camera to overcome, and the s60, while not perfect, is one of the best indoor cameras of its size I have tried. Indoors, in a moderately lit room, the s60 in AUTO mode takes true color, well exposed images within 10 feet of the subject(s). I have found that using "P" mode with the flash exposure compensation set up to + 1/3 or +2/3 works best if you are in a poorly lit room and you also wish to see the background.

While it is true that there is some barrel distortion at full wide 28mm mode, it is not enough of a problem detract from it's overall rating. All compact and ultra compact cameras I have tried have had some barrel distortion at wide field and chromatic aberation on bright objects. As far as one person's comment about the images being blurry because of inferior lens quality, I would have to disagree. The images I have taken are very smooth and have vibrant, true colors. The s60 does apply a sort or internal anti-aliasing to smooth out the images. Most of the professional portraiture cameras (like the Kodak pro cameras) do this either in software or by hardware, as most people do not wish to see every facial pore on their subject. You can chose to "sharpen" internally on the s60, or just use one pass of Sharpen in Photoshop to sharpen the images even more to suit your taste.

I also had the opportuntity to compare the G5 and s60 side-by-side, by taking photos of the same subjects both indoors and out. I could not see any noticeable difference between the two, image quality-wise. I have taken over 200 images within the last 5 days with my s60 and have been very pleased with both its image quality and ease of use.

What we have here is quite simply a compact G5. Forget the swivel LCD screen for me not at all useful, the only thing missing of any consequence from the G5 in my opinion is the flash shoe, otherwise you basically have a G5 in a much smaller more functional package.

The pictures are quite simply fantastic! Only minimal purple fringing and only noticeable to the most discerning (read nit-picking).

The camera still suffers from the digital point and shoot shutter lag which for the most part plagues all point and shoots. It is certainly no worse than the G5.

One clear advantage over the previous S50 is its smaller size. The camera still has the sliding lens cover which some object to but I find no problem whatsoever.

The only dilemma facing the prospective buyer is whether to purchase this camera or the significantly smaller S500. The S60 being a more capable complete camera than the S60. My advice: If this is your only digital camera, buy the S60. If you have a digital SLR then buy the S500 for true portability. The good news is that whatever decision you make you should be very pleased because both are great cameras.

If you haven't taken the digital plunge, then take it from one who resisted much too long. Go out and buy a digital camera TODAY!! It will reawaken you interest in photography. IMO, digital photography is the current killer app for PC's right behind the internet. Good luck.

Buy Canon Powershot S60 5MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Optical Zoom Now

I do not understand how anyone can criticize the quality of the photos from the Canon S60.

I just returned from Hawaii, where I shot over 250 photos, ranging from the beautiful scenery to the Hawaiian people to the hotels in which I was staying. Out of the over 250 shots I took, I may have blown 3 and those were my fault (mostly poor composition). Every shot was superbly sharp, perfectly exposed, even if flash was used, and perfectly in focus. The only criticism that I would make and that is the reason that I am considering a digital SLR, is that it is very difficult to frame each photo perfectly using the eye level viewfinder.

On the other hand, if I use the LCD, it is much more difficult to hold the camera steady, particularly in marginal light situations. Of course, this is not the fault of the specific camera, but occurs with all non SLR point and shoots. I have used

and owned many digitals and, in my opinion, the Canon S60 is the best!

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I have had it for 6 months now. I bought it to replace my A70, which took a beating during my 3 months vacation.

Pro:

Wide angle rules. Fast startup and shut down. Good quality in/our-door. AF assist light helps during poor light condition. Good battery. Panoramic/photo stitching is cool. Good software bundle. Good quality and reliable (from my prior experience).

Con:

No image stablization. Which would be very helpful at night shoots w/o tripod, max zoom, or any other conditions. Can not force flash at the "AUTO" mode.

That's about it.

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I previously owned a Canon S-30, a 3-megapixel, which performed adequately for four years. Therefore, I was pretty much sold on the S-60 after reading Consumer's Reports and the ratings of this and other similar quality cameras on Amazon. After only a relatively short ownership period, I have found that the camera works as advertised. Some advantages over the previous design include the higher meapixel resolution, a larger LCD screen, greatly improved menu controls, and a noticeable speed difference as to when the camera is ready for the next shot.

Although I bought a 512 MB compact flash card with the camera, I was also able continue using a CF card from the old camera, its battery, and charger. A distinct advantage as these items run $30+/each.

One critical note, however, was that I was never able to connect the camera directly to my computer to download the images (A Dell Dimension 8250 running XP SP2). Each time I connected the USB wire, my computer would not recognize the "device." After several emails to the Canon support staff, we tried everything from re-installing the software supplied with the camera to using troubleshooting from "InstallShield." No success!

My solution to the problem, since I was determined to keep the camera, was to purchase a USB 2.0 Hi-speed Reader (SanDisk SDDR-88-A15 8-in-1 no longer available on Amazon). It installed without problem, and I am able to download images by removing the CF card from the camera. A minor inconvenience.