Equipped with a 1/1.8 inch CCD
with 5.3 million pixels of which 5 million are effective, the
S500 can capture an image measuring 2592 x 1944 pixels. CCD
sensitivity starts at 50 ISO, and can be increased in the Manual
mode to 100, 200, or 400 ISO, or left on Auto, the only setting
available to the other recording modes.
The 3X optical zoom covers
a focal range of 7.4 to 22.2 mm, equivalent to
36 - 108mm, and has apertures that start at f2.8 at the wide
angle end, and f4.9 at the maximum telephoto setting, ranging
out to f7.1 and f13 respectively.
These apertures are combined with shutter speeds that cover from 1/2000
sec. down to 15 seconds when the camera is in Manual mode and the Long
shutter is active, but only 1 second in most other modes. In addition,
noise reduction is automatically applied to all images captured at shutter
speeds longer than 1.3 seconds.
The S500 is equipped with two auto focus systems.
The first, and the default, is Canon's AiAF (Artificial intelligence
Auto Focus) which uses up to 9 points in the frame from which
to determine focus. The second is the alternate when the AiAF
system is turned off in the menu, a centre system that simply
focuses on whatever is at the centre of the frame. Either system
is assisted by an AF illuminator that comes on when the ambient
light is insufficient, making it possible for the AF system
to work.
Photos can be captured at any of 4 image sizes:
L (large): 2592 x 1944 pixels
M1 (medium 1): 2048 x 1536 pixels
M2 (medium 2): 1600 x 1200 pixels
S (small): 640 x 480 pixels
And, as with other S and SD Canon cameras, the S500 only
records JPEG format images at any one of 3 compression settings:
Super
Fine
Fine
Normal
The S500 is equipped with 2 menu systems. One is called up by pressing
the MENU button and contains settings that are less often required
in addition to Setup options that deal with the camera's basic
configuration. The other is the Function menu, called up
with the FUNC. button, and is displayed as an overlay on
the image of the monitor. The Function menu deals with image-specific
settings and can be left on the screen while a photo is captured:
Exposure Compensation: offers a range of ± 2EV
in 0.3 EV increments. And, when the Long Shutter mode is
enabled in the Rec menu, this option serves to access
the exposure time setting (from 1 to 15 seconds).
White Balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten,
Cool or Warm White Fluorescent, Daylight Fluorescent, Custom
white balance.
ISO: Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400 ISO.
Photo Effects can be used to control colour, or
sharpening but not both simultaneously:
Vivid: boosts the colour saturation and the
contrast of the image.
Neutral: lowers contrast and colour saturation
producing a more muted image.
Low sharpening: softens outlines and is intended
for portraits.
Sepia: records the image in sepia tones.
Black and White: captures a black and white
image.
Effects Off: applies no effect.
Compression: serves to set the image compression
(Super Fine, Fine or Normal).
Resolution: sets the image size for Still or Video
modes.
As explained above, all other Recording mode settings are found
in the main menu:
Quick Shots: On or Off. Quick shots mode is intended
to reduce shutter lag, and freezes the display while the
camera is auto focusing. The mode can only be used with
the LCD monitor turned on.
AiAF: On or Off. When On, the camera selects the
focus point, one or more of 9 areas in the frame. When
Off, the camera uses a centre point focus.
Continuous Mode: selects the type of burst or
continuous shooting mode that will be engaged with the
Down arrow. Standard captures 1.5 fps, High Speed captures
images at 2.2 fps.
Self-Timer delay: 10 or 2 seconds.
AF Assist Beam: On or Off. Decides whether or
not the S500 will turn on its AF assist lamp when the ambient
light is too low for the auto focus to function unassisted.
Digital Zoom: On or Off. Controls the 4.1X digital
zoom of the S500. Digitally zoomed images use the central
portion of the full 5 megapixel frame and interpolate it
to the selected image size.
Review: decides whether or not a just captured
photo is displayed on the LCD monitor. The options are
Off, or 2 to 10 seconds in 1 second increments.
Long Shutter: On or Off, turns on the aforementioned
long shutter mode. Setting the exposure time (1 to 15 seconds)
is then done by pressing the SET button when the
Exposure compensation option of the Function menu
is displayed.
As noted earlier, the other 2 sections of the Rec Menu, Setup and My
Camera, are common to all modes (Auto, Movie and Playback). (The
contents of the Setup menu is covered in the Interface and
Software section of the review.)
The My Camera section
is standard on all non-professional Canon cameras, and serves
to personalize the sounds made by the camera, and the image
displayed, when it is first turned on.
The first option makes it simple to set an overall theme,
a combination of image and sounds. The other options allow setting the
image and sounds individually. By default the camera offers 3 built-in
themes, but these can be replaced as desired with any of the over 40 themes
that are part of the Canon software.
In the Playback mode, the PowerShot
S500 can show some of the camera settings for each image. One
screen displays the image number within a series, the file
name, the resolution and compression and the time and date.
Another screen adds a histogram, and expands the shot info by showing the
shooting mode, exposure compensation if any, the white balance setting,
the focus mode and the metering used. Aperture, shutter speed and ISO setting
are notably absent from the displays, but are recorded as part of the image's
Exif data.
The Playback menu of the
S500 looks similar to the Recording mode menu, but presents
the playback options as the first of its 3 sections:
Protect: prevents one or more selected images
from being accidentally deleted.
Rotate: allows rotating an image displayed on
the monitor by 90 or 270°. (Note that the S500
has an Auto Rotate function which if enabled in
the Setup menu will make note of the orientation of the
camera when an image is captured and which will then
present the image the right way up in playback.)
Sound Memo: allows recording a sound annotation
(up to 60 seconds) to an existing image.
Erase All: erases all images on the memory card.
Slide Show: plays back selected photos with a
selectable play time and a selectable repeat function.
Print Order: to select photos to be printed using
PictBridge, Direct Print, Bubble Jet Direct, or DPOF.
Transfer Order: to select images that will be
transferred automatically to a computer running the included
software.
Although compatible with higher capacity cards, the S500 is retailed with
a 32MB CompactFlash card, allowing it to capture:
Resolution
Compression
Superfine
Fine
Normal
(L) 2592 x 1944
11
21
43
(M1) 2048 x 1536
18
33
67
(M2) 1600 x 1200
30
54
108
(S) 640 x 480
120
196
337
A rechargeable Lithium ion battery
is used in the S500, and a charger is included with the camera.
Recharging a completely discharged battery takes approximately
130 minutes, and provides enough power to capture approximately
190 photos with the monitor on, and 440 with the monitor off.
As an option, an AC Adapter kit can be used to power the S500 from household
current. The adapter replaces the battery and its connecting plug can be
put through a soft rubber cover on the battery compartment door.
A soft plastic cover
also protects the 2 external connections of the S500. At the
top is the USB port (USB 1.1); near the bottom is the A/V out
jack. The video signal produced by the S500 is controlled in
the Setup menu, and can be set to NTSC or PAL.
The S500 is compatible with a number of different printing standards: PictBridge,
Direct Print, Bubble Jet Direct and Exif Print, allowing it to be used
to print directly to a similarly compatible printer, without the need of
a computer.
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Characteristics
Super
Fine
Fine
Normal
