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Canon PowerShot S50 A sleek design, a hot custom processing chip, new-look user interface, direct support for a Canon inkjet printer, and *five* megapixels of resolution! Select a topic Reference: Datasheet S50 Photo Gallery! S50 Sample Images --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Executive Overview 3. Design 4. Viewfinder 5. Optics 6. Exposure & Flash 7. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 8. Operation & User Interface 9. Camera Modes & Menus 10. Image Storage & Interface 11. Video, Power, Software 12. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments on S50 Review --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Design :(Previous) | (Next): Optics>> Page 4:Viewfinder Review First Posted: 02/27/2003

Viewfinder
The S50 features both an eye-level optical viewfinder and a 1.8-inch LCD monitor on the back panel for image composition. The real-image optical viewfinder zooms along with the lens (except in Digital Telephoto mode, which requires the LCD monitor), and displays a set of brackets in the center of its screen. While there's no dioptric adjustment to adapt the viewfinder optics to your vision, the eyepiece does have an unusually high "eyepoint," making it well-suited to eyeglass wearers. Two LED lights next to the viewfinder report the camera's status during certain operations. For example, when you depress the Shutter button halfway, a steady green light (on top) indicates that the camera is ready to record and / or the battery charge is complete; a flashing green light indicates that an image is either being written to, read from, or erased from the CompactFlash card; a steady orange light (on top) indicates that the camera is ready to record and / or the battery is adequately charged for use with flash; and a flashing orange light indicates a camera-shake warning (i.e. the shutter speed is too slow to handhold), or the battery is charging. The lower LED light glows yellow when the camera is set in Macro or Manual focus modes.

Measuring 1.8 inches diagonally, Canon's low-temperature, polycrystalline silicon, TFT, color LCD monitor automatically displays camera settings when the camera is powered on. LCD brightness can be adjusted to either of two levels via the setup menu, and the screen seemed to have better than average visibility in sunlight. The Display button controls the image and information display. One press shows the image without settings, and two presses show the image with settings. Depending on the Shooting mode, the LCD reports the flash setting, drive mode, metering mode, image size and quality, and the number of frames remaining. Additional functions are shown as they are enabled and battery status is only displayed when power is low. A third press of the Display button cancels both displays.

In Replay mode, the LCD monitor provides a full-frame display of captured images, which you can view individually by scrolling left or right with the arrow buttons on the Multicontroller. Depressing the Flash / Index button brings up a thumbnail index display of nine images at a time, which you can also scroll through with the arrow buttons. The Zoom lever doubles as a Digital Enlargement button (marked by magnifying glasses), which allows you to enlarge an image up to 10x its normal size on the screen. This degree of enlargement is very handy, as it's sufficient to check focus accuracy and depth of field, something that's difficult to do on cameras with lower LCD magnification. The arrow keys permit you to move around the enlarged image and check fine details.

By default, the LCD screen displays basic information about the captured images, including the file name, date, and time it was recorded, compression, resolution, and what number it is in the sequence of images stored on the memory card. Depressing the Display button once brings up a thumbnail view of the image with more detailed information such as the shooting mode, aperture, f/stop, exposure compensation, and metering mode. In addition, the screen shows a histogram next to the image to indicate the distribution of tonal values. Besides the histogram display (and actually much more useful), any blown-out highlights in the image will blink from white to black and back again, letting you see exactly where detail has been lost. (I particularly like this form of display, applaud Canon for including it, and hope to see even more manufacturers adopt it in the future.)

In my tests, the S50's optical viewfinder was a little tight, showing about 84% of the frame area. That said, most digicams I've tested seem to come in with a viewfinder accuracy of about 85% of the final frame area. - I'd really like to see more accurate optical viewfinders on digicams, but it wouldn't be fair to single out Canon as having a problem in this area since most cameras come in at about this level. Happily, the S50's LCD viewfinder provides almost exactly 100% frame coverage, to the limits of my test accuracy.