Canon PowerShot® S5 IS Digital Camera

I am a first time user of digital cameras. I took the S5 to China. However, my wife took along a cheap small frame Olympic digital $250_$300 cheaper,and it took better pictures. In my new Canon S5 I used automatic, I used program, TV modes,scene modes, I used them all, and many times the camera is not cracked up what it is meant to be unless you are an already well versed digital camera user.

For example when shooting with the built in flash, pictures between shots were a long wait, with the difficult to read instruction book not sure what the problem was nor how to solve it. I still do not know the problem.

The auto ISO function only blinks when the LCS screen is open, if using the view finder you must do this manually. No where is that clearly stated in the user manual.

I was constantly going back to the factory settings to check out settings to see if that is the problem.

On this trip the clearly poorly designed camera cap falls off more than 90% of all packing or carrying of the camera even in an appropriate camera case. The lens cap is totally poorly designed as if Canon anticipated you would scratch the lens and order a new one.

The camera needs two immediate updates:

First an instruction manual for beginners
Second, a clear and front page explanation which shows what the factory settings are, what are the the default settings.

You should not have to skim through the entire manual to find out original factory default settings.

Those of you familiar with how to read digital camera charts inside of instruction booklets, this review is not for you, this review is for first time camera users.

Good luck with this camera.

If doing all over again, I would get the small Panasonic zoom much smaller and easier consumer features.

Good luck using this camera if you are a beginner

robo50