Thinking of getting a S5 IS. Need opinions.

[Chako]

Here is the back story.

I am a school teacher who likes to do a lot of photography for yearbook and other events along with being a rather serious amateur hobbyist. Photography has been one of my lifelong passions so I consider myself a little experienced.

Now, I currently have a Canon 20D (Don't see any need to upgrade to the 40D), a Pentax K10D, and a Sony H5.

I am seriously thinking of replacing my Sony H5 with the Canon S5 IS simply because it has the external hot shoe (I have both a 420 and 580 flash), and for the articulated LCD screen. I truly miss this feature from the days when I primarily used a Nikon Coolpix 990 as my digital camera. Another issue I dislike is the use of a Sony memory card adapter for their small memory pro cards. I know this is a small thing, but I always use my external card reader, and over time, it has increased my annoyance levels whenever I need to transfer some photos to my computer.

My questions are: Would this make perfect sense? Can I use my Canon external flash cord on this camera and possibly use a flash bracket with it? I have read that they placed the memory card with the batteries (what were they thinking?) Has anyone lost their batteries during card transfers, and if not, how ambidextrous do you need to be to prevent this? I am wondering if I would be exchanging a card adapter for the hassles of battery loss.

Thanks for any opinions and responses.

EDIT: after doing some reading in here, looks like I can use the external flash cable with this camera.

[Jon]

Sounds like a plan to me . . .

[Laughing Man]

Another question I'd like to ask for anyone who's used one (I've seen one in real life and played with it at Microcenter..but you can't exactly test where it fits..).

How portable is it? I usually carry my camera in a coat pocket or a jean pocket at events. And I carry it around in my laptop backpack so I always have a camera with me. But if I remember from Microcenter correctly, this camera doesn't fall into that size category (which isn't that big a problem necessarily). What I'm asking is, compared to the average size of cameras in the A620 range. How much bigger exactly is the S5 IS (I didn't have my camera at the time to compare..and it's not like I could try to stick the S5 IS in my backpack to test :P)

[Jon]

A bunch. It'd maybe fit into a bellows-type coat pocket. It'll fit into a large compartment on a backpack. But it's not something that you can always carry around without noticing or being noticed. For that you need to drop down to the A-series at largest.

[paul79uf]

Here's the S5 with a 430Ex flash on top to give you an idea of the size. It's definitely not a small pocket sized camera. The S5 is smaller than your dSLR but not by much.

http://www.paulstravelpictures.com/Canon-S5-IS-Digital-Camera-Review/Canon-S5-IS-Digital-Camera-Review-010.JPG

As for the battery/sd card issue. I haven't had a problem with it. A standard Kingston 2gb memory card only costs $15-20 and holds about 1000 images at the L & Fine settings. So by the time I have to swap out for a new sd card I just change the batteries for a fresh set while I have the door open.

It is an annoyance if you just want to snap a few pictures, upload them to the computer and then repeat.

But the hot shoe was such a great addition. Now it feels like a mini-dSLR/video camcorder jack of all trades device for less money and weight.

[Chako]

Well I just bought one at the local Staples on sale a few hours ago. I am liking how much room you do have to fetch the SD card. I have big fingers and trying to get the Sony pro card out of the H5 was an operation that required patience and the hands of a surgeon. I don't think the batteries are a problem. The battery door seems to be a little fiddly though. I suppose it will just take some getting used to I guess.

Anyways, here is test shot number two taken while reading the manual.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r207/Chako_photo/IMG_0002small.jpg