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Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Model number: S5IS | SKU: 8297513

Capture vivid movie clips or brilliant still images with this SLR-inspired digital camera. Optical image stabilization compensates for the shake and wobble of an unsteady hand for smooth photos. Learn more about Canon S5IS.(Flash demo)

Average Customer Rating:

4.8 out of 5

161 of 162 (99%) customers would recommend this product to a friend.

Customer Reviews for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Review 1 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

4.0 5

A step up 09/18/2008
By AlexWin from St. Paul

Value for Price

4.0 5

Picture Quality

4.0 5

Ease of Use

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Pros: Features, picture quality
Cons: Only 8 megapixels

"Overall, I love this camera. There are a ton of features--I haven't had a chance to try them all yet--but am really looking forward to experimenting. The picture quality is great, though I wish there were 10-12 megapixels versus 8. Nonetheless, I can't complain. The optical image stabilization is fantastic, and the ease of use is superior. For the price, this camera is a great value."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 2 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

LOVE this camera! 09/15/2008
By TuffysMom from Elizabeth, CO

Value for Price

5.0 5

Picture Quality

5.0 5

Ease of Use

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Pros: Powerful zoom, close-in macro, brilliantly crisp photos
Cons: Haven't found any yet, other than the lense cap issue that others have mentioned.

"I previously owned a Canon AE-1 Program 35mm camera, so felt comfortable knowing the reputation and quality of Canon cameras when it came time to upgrade to a digital. I have also owned three pocket-sized Sony digital cameras in the interim, but due to their limited zoom and built-in flash capabilities, I needed a more powerful digital camera. I have not been sorry I chose the S5 IS. I LOVE the zoom! The loose lense cap is essential to the design, so it will easily come off when the lense extends after turning on the camera. I bought a lense adapter which extends over the length of the throw of the lense, and then attached a UV haze filter (which also also protects the lense). A snap on lense cover fits over the filter and solves this small problem."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 3 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Excellent Camera 09/15/2008
By Didigaga

Value for Price

4.0 5

Picture Quality

5.0 5

Ease of Use

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Pros: easy to use
Cons: none so far

"Excellent camera, easy to use and great picture quality"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 4 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Favorite purchase to date! 09/15/2008
By JH33194 from MI

Value for Price

5.0 5

Picture Quality

5.0 5

Ease of Use

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Pros: Everything!
Cons: None yet

"I LOVE this camera! I purchased it about two weeks ago and it is so fantastic. Much better then my previous digital camera's.
I love the rotating LCD screen and the way it auto-rotates when you turn the camera, I love the way it flips around and keeps it protected.
I have not yet checked out all the features, as there are a lot, but the ones I have checked out have been really fun. My kids like to change the colors of things. I like picking a color (like flowers) and having everything else black and white.
The posibilities are endless.
I have already recommended this camera to a friend and will continue to recommend it to other friends."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 5 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Happy Birthday Me 09/15/2008
By HappyHunter

Value for Price

5.0 5

Picture Quality

5.0 5

Ease of Use

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Pros: Easy to use, Great Quality Pictures, Variety of Modes
Cons: Lens cap pops off easily

"I decided I wanted this camera for a birthday present and have been very pleased with it. It has been great for continuous sporting photos, and long distance nature shots. The picture quality is great! It has also been fun using the video feature to make short videos."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 6 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

4.0 5

Nice Camera 09/15/2008
By wallsqh from WV

Value for Price

4.0 5

Picture Quality

5.0 5

Ease of Use

5.0 5

Features

4.0 5

Pros: Takes nice pics and isn't hard to use
Cons: Like a lot of people have said, the lens cap does come off easy so make sure you attach it with the strap provided

"This camera takes very nice pictures and is fairly easy to use. I take pics of my horses all of the time and really like the zoom that it has on it. I had the S1IS first and when it died I bought this S5IS and have been happy so far with my purchase."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 7 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Great Camera 09/15/2008
By indheat

Value for Price

5.0 5

Picture Quality

5.0 5

Ease of Use

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Pros: Easy to use, wonderful pictures, easy to use video
Cons: A little big and bulky

"My favorite feature of this camera is the videos. It is very easy to start a video and you can take still photos while you are videoing. You can also zoom in and out while you are videoing which is something I have noticed not all cameras do."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 8 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Great Pre SLR camera 09/11/2008
By Issariesson from Palo Alto, CA

Value for Price

5.0 5

Picture Quality

5.0 5

Ease of Use

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Reviewer Images
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Lizard at 25 yards

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Pros: great speed and functions.
Cons: memory card - battery placment

"I love this camera! I bought this camera before Christmas in 2007 and it was served me we'll ever since. I have taken it to the snow, desert, forests, Zoos, and Aquariums and its pulled off great pictures every time. The only thing I dont care for is the placement of the memory card in the battery area. Its not to big a deal as I use an *gig memory card and rarely us it all before I get a chance to download the photos."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 9 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Impressive 08/28/2008
By JustSheepy from Conway AR

Value for Price

5.0 5

Picture Quality

5.0 5

Ease of Use

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Pros: Functions, Quality, Price
Cons: Memory card, ens cap

"I purchased this camera two weeks ago when my previous digital camera, a Nikon, finally broke.
I am very impressed with the features of this camera. I don't find it hard to use at all, if you've used digital cameras in the past, it won't take you long to start shooting basic photos. The manual will have you use more advanced features in no time at all.
I use this camera for both my business and personal photos and am very happy with my purchase so far.
My only gripe is that in order to remove my memory card, I have to open the battery compartment. The lens cap also needs improvement. It tends to come off at the slightest touch."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 10 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

3.0 5

great pictures 08/28/2008
By meeee790

Pros: great photos
Cons: lens cap did not stay on

"i returned the camera because the lens cap came off with a slight touch."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 11 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Incredible! 08/26/2008
By errc from Mount Olive, NJ

Reviewer Images
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flower using super macro on program setting

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a moth on a flower also using super macro on program mode

Pros: Everything you could want in a digital camera
Cons: NON YET!

"I am pretty new to photography and got this camera about 3 weeks ago and i cant believe how beautiful every picture i take with it is! There are several settings which are fun to fool around with and can really come in handy. I love the foliage setting which is used to enhance the colors of plants. And I also use super macro mode quite a bit. If you are debating between this and another camera of a similar price I would highly suggest this one just because I haven't found one thing not to like about it yet. Its another great product from Canon!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 12 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Met all my needs and more 08/12/2008
By Anonymous Reviewer from Mpls, MN

Reviewer Images
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Shot taken on a very rocky boat

Pros: awesome zoom, and stabilization
Cons: lens cap falls off

"I love this camera. I chose it based on customer reviews and zoom levels. I have been more than pleased. It is very easy to use and has the same menu that other Canons have, so it was easy to switch over to this one. It takes great pictures. I took a beautiful picture of geese on a rocky boat, and the pic turned out perfectly. The only problem I have with it is that the lens cap falls off very easily. Other than that, I highly reccomend it."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 13 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Great Ultra-zoom 08/11/2008
By MikeNC from NC

Pros: Big zoom, great pics, movie mode, easy to use, flip-out screen
Cons: Lacks RAW format, will be replaced soon

"We recently purchased the Canon S5 IS to replace a dying Pentax. Factors that made this camera stand out were:
*Zoom - 12x zoom is nice. There are some cameras with better zoom now, but this one seemed good enough for almost any real situation, and the picture is remarkably stable and clear at full zoom. Many others didn't have useful full zoom unless you put them on a tripod. Note, wide-angle shooting is limited, though.
*Point-and-shoot - I'm a digital camera veteran, but we still want ease of use for our kids and my wife. This camera has great controls and makes it very easy for the novice or the advance photographer. It is extremely good at face detection and keeping the proper focus.
*Movie - Great movie mode. You can zoom while filming without any noise from the lense barrel. You can also take pictures during movie mode with disturbing the video. And there is a dedicated video button to make going to movie mode extremely easy. Plus, you get stereo sound. And the length of the video is limited only by the size of your memory. The only negative I have here is that the video is not HD, but few are with digital cameras.
*Flip-out screen - This is just very nice. No other camera in this segment has an articulating screen like this. It makes taking difficult angle shots much, much easier. After playing with it for awhile, I was sold on the usefulness of this screen.
*Picture quality - I gave it a 4, but it probably deserves a 5 in this segment. However, there are more expensive cameras that have a better picture, so I downgraded a little. Plus, I had to exchange my first one because of a strange color distortion that appeared in roughly 10% of our pictures. But we have had no problems with the second camera.
*Size - There are a few smaller ultra-zooms, but this camera compares better to the dSLRs than to other ultra-zooms. It is obviously smaller and more easily portable than a dSLR. For the zoom factor this camera has, the size isn't bad.
We thought about the dSLRs or the other high-end digital ultra-zooms. In the end, the feature set, price, size, and overall quality of the camera sold us. We've been thrilled so far (after returning the first one). A number of professional reviews have complained about not having RAW format. For most users, I doubt this will ever be an issue (it won't be for me); but serious photography buffs should be aware of the lack of RAW format.
As of Aug 08, this camera is out of stock in many areas. I believe a new model is expected soon with a bit higher resolution (10mp vs 8mp) and zoom (15x vs 12x) and, of course, a much higher price. This fact helped us get a great deal on ours when we purchased earlier this Summer. I'd rather buy this very solid camera now at a great price than pay almost double for a camera with minimal improvements in a month or two."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 14 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

4.0 5

Very good camera 08/08/2008
By a2epro from CA

Pros: zoom, optical IS, great pictures, yada yada yada
Cons: noise at hi ISO, intervalometer's gone...

"Overall a very good camera- great zoom, optical IS, great picture quality. Not really thrilled the intervalometer's gone from the S3, which I have also... so if you like to do time lapse photography, beware.
Rather noisy at high ISO, but if you like the grainy/artsy for some shots give it a try.
The grip isn't quite as comfortable as the S3, IMHO, so try it out and see how you like the feel."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 15 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

this camera is exquisite 08/08/2008
By buythisone from Chippewa Falls, WI

Reviewer Images
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reflection on to the leaves!

Pros: good on flash and the zoom is wonderful
Cons: none

"This camera could be the best camera out there! I mean this camera fits me just perfect i live out in the wild and i can zoom right up to the animals face, and if you have sensitive eyes to the sun or anything else you can just flip the screen so you do have to have either the glare out of your eyes or what ever you please! It has the abilitys to take pictures fast and have a bright zoom too.. If you have thousands of pictures on the Canon Powershot you can delete them as fast as you can take them which is fast!(: If your one of them people that are always with your friends and just wanna have fun you can have picture taking montage!!! And if you have some of them littlier cameras you may notice that they come out dark or not bright, with the Powershot its usually bright and its the same as the picture you are taking!!! I hope that you buy this camera, and good luck camera shopping!(:"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 16 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

4.0 5

Very good camera 08/04/2008
By PatrickH

Pros: The optical zoom and display
Cons: Slightly complicated advance features

"Overall this is an excellent digital camera. I love the optical zoom and quality of the pictures. I have had many smaller cameras that I never been really pleased with. I decided to spend a little more this time and very pleased that I did. The flash is much better than any camera I have had before. It does a good job taking pictures indoors in lower light. It uses 4 AA batteries and it takes nearly 300 pictures (depending on use of flash) with a fresh set of batteries."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 17 for Canon PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

great camera 07/31/2008
By cameranovice from Georgia

Pros: easy to use - great price

"2nd digital camera i have bought - this one is much better - easier to use - great crisp pictures - have a friend who pointed this camera out to me - have see