Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely no camera experience needed
Review: I had been working on my wife to purchase a digital camera for about 2 years. So, in that amount of time, I had been doing research and digging to find the best camera. Also in that time, things have changed considerably.When my wife and I finally decided to buy a camera, I asked her what she wanted. Two things where placed before me to find in a good digital camera. These things were small size (so when we visit over seas, it is easily concealable) and great point and shoot capabilities. With these things in mind, I also wanted something that is going to provide great photos for at least 3 years to come, the ability to take micro-drives, the ability to use AA batteries and lots of manual control. The PS S50 lived up to 90% of all of these things. It can be set to fully manual for creative control, it is 5.0 megapixels and at superfine compression, is enough to provide me with 8x11 size photos (which I will never use (like I would never have used 640KB of memory 'hehe')), it is fully compatible with CompactFlash type 2 (i.e. microdrives), it can be used in fully automatic mode with 9 auto-focus and auto-exposure zones and takes great photos plus, it's only 4.5in x 2.25in x 1.75in! The one item it didn't match was that it didn't take AA batteries. This is a big disappointment to me because I had just purchase a number of very high quality rechargeable NiMH batteries for our wireless keyboards and mice. This is the sole reason I gave it 4/5 stars. It's that give of deal to me that I can't go to the store and purchase some emergency batteries if something happens to my set. However, I couldn't find anything that compared to it in another brand and would take the batteries, so, here I am. But, I was able to find a third party extended life battery and that extends the life about another 1/3 to half. The proprietary rechargeable batteries are becoming the thing, and there are few digital cameras that still take AA's. The fully automatic photos are amazing in bright light and the newly designed flash fills the room with enough light to make it seem light day-time! But the camera does have some issues with the focusing in lower light situations. At these times, a tripod almost becomes a necessity to get crisp clear photos. Which brings me to the fact, yes, it does have a metal tripod mount on it. Great for many Christmas photos! Or pictures of you pets (poor sad pets). So, moral of the story, great camera, stupid battery, fits in your pocket, and if you look in the right place, you can find it for $400 right now, plus a third party extended battery for less money than a Canon normal battery. Defiantly worth the money, plus, it lets me try my hand at creative photography (it ain't good folks). P.S. It comes with a 32MB Flash card which is a joke if you ask me. You're going to need to purchase some additional digital film.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT WORTH THE MONEY!
Review: I went through all of the trouble to register to Amazon.com just to write this short review as i cant in all good conciousness allow anyone to get the wrong idea about this camera.
The camera is terrible. At least for anyone expecting to get a good point & shoot camera. The autofocus is just woefully inadequate. I could sit here and echo the same complaint that others had but its just not worth the time. Basically, i had the same complaints that Kaushik_ghosh, Jorge L. Troncoso, and Jo Andrew Senske had. I had the Sony DSC-85 at one point which was a 4 MP camera and yet it consistently gave me A LOT BETTER QUALITY pictures than this camera could ever muster. I think they discontinued the DSC-85. Anyway, i decided to write this review because i am now looking for another camera and am hoping to find good advice in Amazon as this camera just sucks. Out of curiosity i came to check out reviews on this camera and to my amazement i see everyone ranting and raving about it! Personally i wonder if most of these people are with the manufacturer.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent picture quality, but Minolta F300 is better
Review: The S50 is a very solid camera, and its exterior styling shows. This is not a camera you see Asian girls in shiny tight mini's and high heel flip flops would carry on their wrists. It looks almost utilitarian, a no-nonsense type of imaging product. The best thing about the S50 is its picture quality. Unfortunately the flash is on the weak side, and the picture color spectrum is "flat" as is usual with Canon's cameras. I think the Minolta Dimage F300, also made in Japan, is a better choice: excellent picture quality (particulary for printouts), cheaper price, 2 AA batteries, stronger flash, and better styling - especially if you are an Asian girl in high heels.
Rating: 
Summary: Images blew me away!!
Review: Great camera if your going to get a digital camera, why not pay a little more to get all the features. Fast shutter speeds, 3min movie maker, and any other feature you'll find on any other camera. Start up is fast, from off to taking a picture about five seconds. But the main reason you should get this camera, quality of images. Excellent. Easy to use if you know some about cameras, if your looking for a point amd shoot camera this one maybe too complicated for you. Not to mention slighty heavier than other compact cameras, but if you want quality over ease of use, then this is a great camera to buy. No down sides to this camera.
Rating:
Summary: Great little camera
Review: Some things that I really love about this little camera: It's very small and fairly light, but also has a solid feel. The lens is fully protected by the design, which is easy to work with. It uses compact flash cards, which are easily available and will fit in the 10D I plan on getting sometime in the next year. It's got tons of features: it can act as a point and shoot, as well as allowing an impressive amount of manual manipulation. The setting to allow B&W, sepia, vivid, and others is particularly cool, as well as the night-shot setting. The flash has three settings, one of which is off, which is a great thing. Because it's so small and light, I take it nearly everywhere with me. You will obviously want to get a bigger flash card than the camera comes with, but once you have that you can shoot and shoot, and discard the garbage shots, and never have to worry about film again. My only issue with the camera is that I've had a lot of trouble installing the software, and canon's tech support has proven to be absolutely USELESS. Most people will likely have no problems at all. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Ordinary at best
Review: Overview:
I bought this camera from Amazon about couple of months back and have taken thousands of photographs with it. I like the convenience of using a digital camera and the fun and instant gratification from viewing a slideshow on my Apple Powerbook immediate after returning from a trip! Things I liked:
S50 looks cool and with the black metallic body is a piece of art. Its relatively small in size and the fit and finish is great. The camera has a LOT of features and very easy to use and learn. The best part of the camera is that it takes GREAT macro pictures and human portraits in close-ups. It can be as good or even better than my Élan 7 with 28-90 lenses in that area. Things I disliked:
But the biggest problem is that it doesn't take great pictures! In auto mode the pictures are not very sharp and the color are not so vivid like Nikon's. The exposure compensation is terrible and rarely will it take a correct exposure in difficult lighting conditions. Pretty much I can't use the Auto mode/s to take good pictures. I have to adjust the exposure setting and the shutter speed to get good pictures. So this camera is really the digital equivalent of a point-and-shoot zoom camera like my Canon Sure Shot 115 but costing thrice as much!!! Other minor shortcomings are:
The LCD screen can't be covered, the battery doesn't last for more than 100 shots and there is no handgrip to hold the camera. So you need a mini tripod as well!
Further you can't add an external flash (the built is too bright for close-ups and too faint for big areas) or external lenses and macros or telephotos. Recommendation:
I will strongly recommend you get the Canon G3 for much better performance for about the same price. Trust me, unless u want to blow up or print in 8"10" you won't see any diff from 4 MP and 5 MP I don't knwo why ppl are giving great reviews about S50. Either they are not as particular as i am or maybe my model has some issues. I will soon sell my S50 in eBay to get the Nikon 5400 when the price drops !
Rating:
Summary: Canon S50, Best In It's Class
Review: This is a very good, almost a great camera. Actually I would give it 41/2 stars. The only reason I can't give it 5 stars is that, as a compact, it just can't include all of the features a larger camera can give you. (Things like screw on lenses, a diaopter, a flip viewer, a more powerful flash, remote shutter trip etc.)
Picture quality, color, sharpness, etc. is excellent under almost all conditions. Use the i950 Canon printer (so much faster and simpler than the Epson) and their Photo Paper Pro and the printing experience is simple and produces amazing pictures. Not being a pro, I use the Microsoft Digital Image Pro 9 for a photo editor, which is vastly improved over previous versions. The camera feels like a brick,really well put together. It has all the features and options you need in a compact camera. I find that the white engraving on the feature wheel on top of the camera has started to rub out, so I need to look in the viewer to see how to change settings. If you use a tripod you'll have to remove the camera to change the battery or the memory card. Be prepared to spend another $100 for a compact flash card upgrade. The file sizes on the "fine" setting run about 2.5 megs per photo so it's not hard to fill up a 256 meg card. My previous cameras were all in the Nikon Coolpix series up to the 5000 and this little camera beats them hands down. It turns out picture after picture that you can print without a single tweek on the editor. Thats more than I can say for the Nikon.
Rating:
Summary: S50 is the best -- reliable and functional
Review: Being barraged with the terms Mega pixel, digital zoom, diopter, etc., is enough to make anyone's head spin--not to mention the fact that many of the newest cameras have laser ranger finders, remote controls, or enormous zoom lenses. So how does one pick a camera? Here are the most important factors to consider:
Picture Quality, Size, Battery Life, Zoom Lens, Flash, Compatibility, Special Features, Software, Accessories. The Canon S50 is not a digital SLR camera and as such it will NOT produce the very best quality digital prints despite the 5 Mega pixels (if you want professional digital pay professional digital prices and go SLR). The S50 however will produce some of the best quality images for a camera of its class. In other words, if you don't want to carry around a digital SLR and all the lenses, the S50 will give you at least as good an image as any of the competition's cameras. Therefore for image quality the camera would rate the S50 about 4.5/5 stars. In the 5 mega pixel class it ranks at the top. The camera is very small and is comparable to the Minolta Dimage cameras, and even to all but the smallest of Sony Cameras. It is larger than the smallest versions of the Canon Elph, the Minoltas, and Sonys (but those come with their own disadvantages). The important thing is: the S50 will fit in your pocket. You can't do better than that for a 5 mega pixel camera. But you won't want to carry it EVERYWHERE with you. If you want a take-everywhere camera, get a 1.2 Mega pixel pen camera, or use your cell phone. I would rate the size of S50 4.5/5 stars. The battery life on the S50 is decent. Like all small cameras the S50 is accompanied by a small battery. I would recommend buying an extra or two (you can also buy 90 minute chargers). If you need extended battery life buy the G4 or G5 (or another larger camera with a larger battery) or leave the LCD off all the time. I would rate the battery life of the S50 at 4/5 stars. First, a word to the wise, digital zoom is worthless. With that said, a 3x zoom is fairly pathetic. 3x corresponds to about 110 mm and means that at full zoom the image appears just a tad larger than it does in your own eye. The S50 is a small point and shoot camera, the zoom lens is not its forte. If you want a large lens go for digital SLR, or the larger Olympus cameras, or the beautiful Sony Karl Zeiss 5 Mega pixel. However lenses are sizeable and the S50 is petite. Pursue a zoom lens with caution and realize that the S50 doesn't have much of one. I would rate it 3/5 stars. The S50 is compatible with all computers and software and the Compact Flash is the cheapest, largest, and most prominent form of digital media card. This earns the S50 a very important 5/5 stars for compatibility and storage. The S50 has few special features and a limited set of manual controls. If you want special features go for Sony, but realize that special features come at the cost of occasional annoyance and often appear in less reliable cameras (which you will then need to replace). For special features the S50 gets 2/5 stars, but who needs special features? You're buying a camera to take pictures not to play MP3s. The S50 is a popular and so the accessories are numerous and of excellent quality. I would recommend the extra batteries and for those aquatically inclined--the underwater housing (which is also useful in the rain). 5/5 stars for this. In summary, the S50 is a serious point and shoot camera. The 5 Mega pixel quality is fantastic (far better than my own vision). The camera has been crafted with all the right concerns in mind--it is small enough to take almost anywhere, and has the battery power, zoom, and features to satisfy all but the most demanding photographers. The camera is durable and solidly made. The lens cover nicely protects the most fragile part (an important consideration). The accessories are good, and the camera is easy to use. Canon covered all the details to produce a near perfect camera.
Rating:
Summary: Canon S50 review
Review: Very nice camera with a few shortcomings. Very annoying that there is no battery meter, so get a spare battery to keep with you if you plan to be taking lots of photos. The lens cover binds a little and seems flimsy but has held up so far. Be sure to upgrade the capacity with a larger Compact Flash card, the card that comes with the camera has limited space. It takes a while to get used to the shutter action. It can take a full second for shutter to open after the button is pressed, this can play havoc with action shots. In spite of the list above, the quality of images is outstanding. The camera sometimes overexposes images in bright light, but this is easy to compensate for. Overall an excellent camera.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic pictures, little adjustments!
Review: Just a quick review of this camera to hit on one main point. Yes, as in the other reviews, the picture quality is fantastic! The ease of use, the style, the boot up time ... everything is first rate! But the thing that impressed me the most, is the little, if any, amount of work that needs to be done to these pic's via Photoshop or any other photo enhancing program. This being my 5th digital camera, I have to say honestly, the other 4 definitely needed some touch-up in Photoshop to make them look better for printing. Even my Olympus C-4000 zoom, which takes great pic's also, needed some color adjustments and lightening in most photo's. As for this Canon S50 camera, I've imported them directly into either Photoshop 7 or the software that came with the camera ... and printed them directly in Exif format with no adjustments at all and they print out fantastic!
So if you're looking for a camera that takes great pictures WITHOUT having to touch them up in a photo editing program, you will absolutely LOVE this camera!
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