Small Camera, Big Picture
Canon's PowerShot S500 packs 5 megapixels and a lot of power.
Canon expands its popular pocket-size Digital Elph line with the $499 PowerShot S500, whose best new features include 5-megapixel capability, easier photo printing, and a shutter lag-reduction mode.
The camera's Print/Share button makes photo printing easier. When you connect the S500 to a USB port on your computer or to a direct-print printer from Canon (or another printer that supports the industrywide PictBridge standard), the button glows blue. You can then browse through photos on the camera's LCD screen and press the button to print them. You can even use the S500's zoom controls to crop your print or to print a sequence of movie frames.
You can use the Print/Share button to transfer images automatically, too. You access the Direct Transfer menu to choose whether to transfer all photos or just the new ones. Alternatively, you can decide to download your images one at a time as you view them on the S500's display.
To reduce the shutter lag typical with digital cameras, the S500's new Quick Shot mode freezes the LCD while the camera is autofocusing, allowing the shutter to fire almost instantaneously.
Like its predecessors, the S500 is short on scene modes, but its automatic mode produces good results. You can get more out of the camera by manually setting the white balance according to the light conditions, adjusting the ISO sensitivity, setting exposure compensation, or locking the focus. A 3X optical zoom, a 32MB CompactFlash card, and a rechargeable lithium ion battery are included.
In my tests with a shipping model, the LCD was easy to see in bright sunlight. The 5-megapixel CCD sensor really captured details and vivid colors, as I saw when I filed and printed my photographs by way of the easy-to-use included Canon software.
When you first pick it up, you may be surprised at how heavy the S500 is. But this Canon packs a lot of power.
Paul Jasper
