Canon Powershot S50

The PowerShot S50 is Canon's first 5 megapixel camera. The latest in a series of cameras (S30, S40, S45) that share the same body design, the S50 remains true to its heritage.

Canon S50 Specifications

• 5.0 megapixels (effective)


• 3x optical zoom/4.1x digital zoom


• auto and manual focus


• program and manual exposure


• JPEG and RAW file formats


• ISO range 50-400


• proprietary Lithium-Ion battery (NB-2L,NB-2LH)


• movie mode with sound

The top-ranked Canon PowerShot S50 offers superb image quality and easy-to-use controls. Offering almost all the advanced features and optional manual controls of the G3, yet simple enough for beginners to use, the S50 should appeal to anyone who wants high resolution in a compact package.

The included 32MB CompactFlash card is a good place to start, but you'll definitely need a larger card. The S50 works with Type I or Type II CompactFlash cards, so the IBM Microdrive is an option (and a good one at that).

The S50 uses a smaller battery than the G3. The NB-2LH battery has a respectable 4.2 Watt/hours of power. Canon estimates that you can get about 335 photos per charge with 50% LCD use, or 3 hours in playback mode.

Canon includes an external battery charger with the S50. You plug it directly into the wall -- no cords needed. I like that. Charging the battery takes about 80 minutes.

We're very pleased with the S50's images. Exposures generally came out just right, and our photos showed excellent detail and dynamic range. Canon's firmware doesn't oversharpen the pictures, so they have a very smooth -- if slightly soft -- look. Noise levels are low, and even our ISO 400 shots were less noisy than what we've seen from many 5-megapixel competitors. We recommend using the ISO 50 or 100 setting when shooting in bright light to obtain beautifully smooth, noise-free shots.

As always, I recommend a trip down to your local reseller to try out the PowerShot S50 and it's competitors before you buy!The Powershot S50 have a strong power canon NB-2LH battery and good quality image.So I think you can buy it.