Rating: 
Summary: AMAZING CAMERA
Review: I've had this camera for more than six months, and after taking more 2,500 photos with this little gem, here is my 2 cents worth. It took me about a full month to get used to all its nuances. But if you are interested simply in "point and click,?a few hours should do the trick. The "auto?setting is more than enough for typical use. You won't regret this purchase.NEGATIVES: (mostly minor):
1) Battery meter. You only get a 2-minute warning, and then the camera shuts off. The battery life is pretty short if you use the LCD screen. The battery lasts about 2-4 hours depending the degree of use. (It takes about 1-1.5 hours to recharge).
2) Lens cover feels a little flimsy. Enough to cast a slight doubt about its durability. Although I have had no problems with this whatsoever so far.
3) It is not the smallest size in its class. In fact, it feels somewhat heavy, if you are used to ultra-small products. If you put the camera in your pants pocket, you definitely feel its weight. 4) There is no way to attach a camera filter to the lens. I had to improvise by manually holding a filter to the lens while I shoot. And the range of exposure time can be a bit wider. I occasionally need exposure times of a few minutes or longer, and that is not allowed with the S50.
5) The auto focus can get "fooled?in low light situations. You just have to be patient and work with it a little to get it right. Usually a repeat shot is all that is required. (If the subject is far away, I use~ manual focus and set it at infinite?) POSITIVES:
1) Picture quality ?this camera takes amazing, breath-taking pictures. I have never seen a camera like this which produces such professional quality photos so consistently! The color balance is simply spectacular. (For color balance, I use "vibrant?setting). The "auto?setting does its job admirably most of the time. I use the Canon printer i860, and the 8 x 10s will knock your socks off. Guaranteed. (With a 256 mb card and at "superfine? setting, you will get 99 photos).
2) Quality of product ?this may sound like a non-PC comment and a gross overgeneralization, but I love the fact that this product is not made in China. Many Chinese products that I have had simply broke down after a little use, and I always felt like I was getting ripped off. The camera is a Japanese product and the battery is a Korean product, so both are A-OK in my book.
3) Movie making ability ?Although not the highest resolution (and the limit is 3 min), the ability to make a movie is a nice touch. I have used this occasionally, and it is very useful at times! Good luck and have fun
Rating:
Summary: high quality pictures, full manual control, small size
Review: After MUCH research, I bought this camera. I was interested in picture quality above all else, and many of the reviews I read use this as a benchmark to which to compare other cameras. Sure enough, the pictures that I've gotten look amazing both on the computer and printed out. My other concern was size... I never use my very fancy 35mm because it is just too big to carry around. While this camera is not the smallest in its class, it is the smallest one at that resolution to offer so much manual control. I don't care how small a camera is... if I can't fine tune the settings to get the picture that I want, it's not worth carrying it. Some of the other cameras in the same class don't even allow you to control the flash, and very few offer full manual control, while this camera offers everything you can think of and more (not to mention a variety of automatic settings for quick snapshots). So, if you want HIGH quality pictures and know that you can't get this consistently without getting to know your f-stops and shutter speeds, but you also want a camera that fits in your pocket, you can't go wrong with this camera.
Rating: 
Summary: Good point & shoot digital
Review: This was my first new digital camera in the last three years. In that time, the feature set and usability of a moderately-priced digital camera have improved dramatically. Just take the issue of reviewing your photos. On my old Olympus 3040, you had to switch the camera dial to "Review Mode" to look at the pictures you just took. If you wanted to take a picture while reviewing, you had to switch it back quickly, hope you flipped it to the right shooting mode dial setting, and shoot. With the Canon, you enter review mode by flicking a spring-loaded switch. Review mode can always be instantly cancelled by pointing at a subject and pushing the shutter release halfway down. You're instantly back in the right shooting mode. It sounds like such a simple thing, but it makes the camera much easier to use. That's just one of the nice things about the S50. It also has orientation detection (it knows if you held the camera vertically or horizontally when shooting), multiple focus points, and quick startup and shutdown (just open or close the front panel). Since it's in a small body, there are some sacrifices. The lens is not very fast; expect to use the flash or a tripod when there's not a lot of light. The flash is also underpowered, having difficulty lighting a scene after about 12 feet. MacOS X's iPhoto doesn't seem to support the automatic image rotation or RAW files. However, the image quality, convenience, and the many little features done right make this a great camera for casual use in many situations.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera but door needs improvement
Review: The camera takes great pictures. It helped me give up some of my "issues" with digital versus film. I have yet to print any photos, but they look GREAT on-screen and on-line (my main reason for using digital). Love the quality, love the compact size and the light weight. Good zoom capabilities. The only thing I don't like about the camera is the lens cover. I feel like it could come off each time I open or close the cover (in fact, the one we looked at in the store had it's cover broken -- almost didn't buy it because of that). I compared several different types of digital cameras before purchasing and this one was the best for the price.
Rating:
Summary: Canon PowerShot S50 5MP Digital Camera
Review: Superior quality, you will not be disappointed. Words cannot describe this camera, its worth the extra money for a great quality camera
Rating:
Summary: Transformed a skeptic!
Review: I have been a dedicated film camera user for several years and a skeptic of digital photography. Until now.
I chose the Canon S50 after about two months of research into contemporary cameras. I relied upon a digital photography portal called "Digital Photography Review" to compare different models, and then used Amazon to compare prices. If you are making the move to digital, it is wise to factor in the price of image editing software (I use --and highly recommend--Adobe Photoshop Elements), an upgraded memory card, and an additional battery. The S50 does not come with a case, so add that to the list as well.
There has been some fair criticism leveled at digital camera manufacturers for their emphasis on mega pixels. I cannot argue with this; however, having 5-mega pixels over 4 (at a slight price premium) does give you the flexibility to later crop images to your liking, yet, retain good resolution. One of the common complaints against the S50 (over the slightly less expensive 4-mega pixel S45) is the issue of purple fringing at wide angles. My own experience has been that, even at the widest angle, color distortions are virtually non-existent in this camera. The image quality is excellent and skin tones are very good even when using a flash. The flash is a tiny band at the top right (when you face the lens) but, despite its small size, it is very effective for indoor pictures. The camera is quite small for all it can do. The number of manual controls is astounding; I have a feeling this camera offers much more creative freedom than my previous one, a film SLR from the mid-eighties, which came with three detachable lenses, a separate flash unit, and a large carrying case that, when filled with all equipment, weighed about 8 pounds!
Digital cameras generally have one drawback--shutter delay, and this is one area that the S50 does not perform well. I have seen shutter delay to vary between almost no delay to little more than a full second. Of course, I have not used other digital cameras, so I cannot tell how this compares. Another weakness is the flimsy lens cover: you have to be careful when closing the cover. I also managed to scratch the LCD screen within a few days of receiving the camera, although this does not affect the images in any way. A protective case would have helped (why doesn't Canon include one!). The included compact flash memory card has a capacity of only 32MB. I would recommend buying a much larger card (such as a 512MB card) that can store a very large number of images (several thousand at lower resolutions). With a large card, the battery inevitably runs out out before the card is full. Buy a spare!
Overall, I enthusiastically recommend the S50, especially if you are making the move away from film cameras. The S50 has irreversibly drawn me away from film cameras, even though I did not think that was possible just a year ago. Perhaps it will also transform your perspective.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not the Best
Review: Pros: 5MP, Autofocus, fast start, compact but many functions. Cons: redeyes, not easy to use for manual control, Lens door design kill this camera, i feel that it can come off at any point. heyyy and this is usb1.0 i feel that if you want to just point and shot camera than get the canon s400 or casio z4, and if you want professional camera get the canon 300D or 10D, although i am still happy with it, but i feel like 350.00-450.00 is too much for this camera. it doesn't even come with case and what is 32mb compact flash? this is a 5megapix camera ... the reason i gave it 3 stars because the lens door, all around this camera is solid except the lens door. paying high price for a camera you will want a solid camera that can last for a long period of time. as for this canon s50 i'm afraid the door will come off one day.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible camera for everyday use...
Review: After buying an Olympus 4.0 MP camera and using that for 2 days I learned that it was far from the quality I wanted. Very poor images for a camera that is on the higher end. Since it was not a researched buy I decided to do my research and found that the Canon S50 had nothing but great reviews. The reviews were right! This camera is about as perfect as you can get. I realized that I wanted a point and shoot camera but also one that would allow good 8x10 pictures, which it does very well. 8x10 prints are flawless. If you are thinking about spending a few hundred dollars on a digital camera, spend the extra $100 or so and upgrade to the S50 to get 5 MP. You will be much happier in the long run and will not have to go buy "another" camera when one day you are disappointed because you want to blow up a picture and the resolution is too low...
Colors are great, very little if any noise, and no bad pictures. In auto mode I have yet to see a picture come out bad. The real benefit to this camera is the manual adjustments that can be made. You will not find that on similar cameras. This is almost equal to the manual capabilities of a good SLR but you do not have the lense options. The only down side that I see to this camera is that you will have to read the manual to figure out how to best use all of the preset modes or how to make the manual adjustments. But, like I said, it auto mode it takes perfect pictures every time.
Also, buy at least the 256 MB high speed compact flash cards. One, they should work a little quicker. Two, take EVERY picture at the highest resolution and you will have room for just over 100 pictures. That way you can always reduce resolution later for smaller files. Also, long day trips with a lot of pic's.... buy another flash card and battery. The batter actually lasts a long time, especially if you don't use the display constantly, but you can run it down and I am sure you don't want to miss pic's.
Happy shopping!
Rating:
Summary: A dandy little 5 megapixel workhorse! Great pictures!
Review: This camera does exactly what it was designed to do, and it does it well--it takes great pictures from a pretty small and rugged camera body. The camera is built like a tank, and while not as small as the digital Elph, for example, it easily slips into a coat pocket or whatnot. The picture quality is excellent--the 3X zoom lens on the camera is quite capable of taking very good quality pictures. Colors are well-saturated and focus is crisp. This is a dandy little performer--great for taking snapshots and action shots in places or situations where a larger camera might simply be too much trouble. The pictures this camera is capable of taking will not disappoint. The S50 is a bit more complicated to master than the average small point-and-shoot digital simply because it features a lot of options--unlike many small cameras, this one provides a lot of flexibility for settings. Don't want the flexibility? No problem--set it on automatic mode for auto-everything, or "program" mode for auto-most things. I find that I do almost all my shooting in program mode. However, it is occasionally very nice to be able to play with apature or speed settings to achive desired effects. Battery life is good, especially if you go easy on using the rear LCD. One accessory most users will want is a spare battery--for trips this is necessary since the camera uses only a proprietary battery. The good news--the supplied charger can fully charge a battery in about an hour. At 5 Megapixels, this camera is capable of producing good-sized blow up pictures, and you can shoot in RAW mode too; not many small cameras offer this feature. I did a lot of research before selecting the S50 as my "point and shoot" pocket camera, and I've been uniformly pleased.
Rating:
Summary: excellent quality for the price
Review: This is a very versatile camera the combines quality with fairly small size. The auto setting does a good job for those who prefer to leave the work up to the camera. For those who like more control, there are plenty of features that allow for that. The quality of the photos made using the highest resolution is excellent. It is very portable because of the size- it will easily fit in a purse or pocket. The lens is covered when not in use, thus eliminating the need for a lens cap. The advanced features do require reading the manual and practice, but are fairly easy to use after that. Photos are easily transferred to computer by USB interface.
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