S5 for Dad? Need advice

Hi folks... help!!

I've been doing research for the past few days for a digital p&s for my Dad, and finally narrowed it down to two choices - Canon PowerShot S5 IS or the Canon G9.

My main concern is ease of operation! The G9 looks like an outstanding camera... but I'm wondering if it would be too much for him. The S5 seems more appropriate, especially since whatever I buy won't get used that often anyway. He's 71... has plenty of film SLR experience, and he still happily uses his Canon A1 he's had for the past 30+ years whenever he needs to snap a few photos of family gatherings or whatever.

My desire is to get him a camera of good quality, that he can easily turn on and not have to fiddle with a lot of settings and still take good pictures. (I just dread teaching him the few extra steps of offloading the pics to the PC and then resizing them before emailing them! ) Since I've never even used or held in my hand any of Canon's Powershots or other p&s cameras, I have no idea what I might be getting him into. The S5 also looked appealing to me because it still has the look of a SLR, and a viewfinder (which with him is a must!).

Could those of you that have experience with the S5 offer any comments or advice? Any help will be tremendously appreciated! This is going to be a birthday present for him.

Scott

Well, to me a lot of the attraction of the G9 would be RAW capability and the advantages in post processing. That does not sound like your dad's interests.

The S5 is excellent, probably a better choice. It is a little bulky but it comes with a very long reach telephoto. Do you think your dad will have much need for a long telephoto lens? If he is just shooting family stuff then he might never really need the long end.

If that is the case, the A720IS is also worth a look. Much cheaper than the above two cameras it gives up some manual control (RAW) to the G9 and extreme telephoto range to the S5 but is a lot smaller.

Don't know, but it seems like if a man had mastered and used the A1 for more than thirty years, that nothing short of another SLR would satisfy him. Good entry level, digital SLRs are very inexpensive thse days. And of cousre, they can be just as "aim and shoot" as you want them to be. But between the G9 and the S5, I would guess that your dad would like the S5 best.

Gary

JeffreyG wrote in post #4798511
Well, to me a lot of the attraction of the G9 would be RAW capability and the advantages in post processing. That does not sound like your dad's interests.

The S5 is excellent, probably a better choice. It is a little bulky but it comes with a very long reach telephoto. Do you think your dad will have much need for a long telephoto lens? If he is just shooting family stuff then he might never really need the long end.

If that is the case, the A720IS is also worth a look. Much cheaper than the above two cameras it gives up some manual control (RAW) to the G9 and extreme telephoto range to the S5 but is a lot smaller.

Thanks Jeffrey, I'll have a look at the A720IS. He wouldn't need any telephoto capabilities. In fact, he will rarely be using this camera... I just want him to have something when he would like to send a picture to his kids or grandchildren. Appreciate the help!

JustShootin wrote in post #4798772
=JustShootin';4798772]​Don't know, but it seems like if a man had mastered and used the A1 for more than thirty years, that nothing short of another SLR would satisfy him. Good entry level, digital SLRs are very inexpensive thse days. And of cousre, they can be just as "aim and shoot" as you want them to be. But between the G9 and the S5, I would guess that your dad would like the S5 best.

Gary

Hi Gary. Sorry I wasn't more clear - this will be a very,very low use camera for him... something to pull out at to snap off a few pictures of whatever to send to family members via email. Right now he doesn't have that capability.

Not sure where I implied he had mastered slr photography, lol... but he was passionate about it over 30 years ago, and was into it heavily for a few years. But since then he rarely uses his camera for anything anymore. Buying a DSLR and a couple of lenses would be VERY overkill at this point. He just needs something digital to use on occasion, that still has the feel of a slr and doesn't overwhelm him with options.

Thanks for the comments.

Scott

S Taylor wrote in post #4798968
....he was passionate about it over 30 years ago, and was into it heavily for a few years.
....Scott

So he probably knows more about photography than many on this forum.

I'd suggest you get him a gift certificate from a photo store that stocks a good choice of cameras and let him decide for himself. Either that, or make sure that whatever you get him can be exchanged if it's not what he really wanted. I certainly wouldn't expect any of my kids to get me exactly the camera I wanted.

I'd suggest an excursion to a big box store for a some hands on. You'll both have fun and you can get a feel for what's important to him.

Thanks for the comments guys. I suppose my writing isn't too good, as I'm apparently not conveying what I'm wanting to do, how much he actually shoots anymore, and that this is a camera that he might use a few times a year. Or perhaps the posts aren't being read that thoroughly?

He did photography extensively for a year or two over 30 years ago... but has done little since then.

I'll just do some more research and make a decision on my own.

Thanks again
Scott

I think your post has probably being read thoroughly, and you got several good suggestions. But in all reality, I don't know how you can expect anyone here to know what your Dad wants anymore than you yourself would. After all, it's not like there's just two or three to choose from! Just go out there, say Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo and buy pops a dang camera!

Gary

JustShootin wrote in post #4801002
=JustShootin';4801002]​I think your post has probably being read thoroughly, and you got several good suggestions. But in all reality, I don't know how you can expect anyone here to know what your Dad wants anymore than you yourself would. After all, it's not like there's just two or three to choose from! Just go out there, say Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo and buy pops a dang camera!

Gary

Yep. Well, I wasn't really asking what you folks thought my Dad would want - I was asking about the ease of use of these types of cameras, since my experience with them is nill.

Thanks
Scott

Well, they can be as easy or as complicated as you want to make them. All the suggestions have full automatic "Green Box", which he need never leave, P, Tv, Av, and M. As far as ease of use goes, the only difference is that the G9 can shoot in RAW as well as JPEG. If he wants it for e-mailing pictures that's irrelevant. But it does JPEG, so it's still a contender. Just gives him more possible capabilities if he wants them.

Hey, ST.

We took an S3 (among other cameras) to Alaska this summer. Was an easy "Pickup- shoot-put down" if that's all we wanted. (Three of us had access at same time.) It also has enough bells and whistle that if we wanted, we could get a whole lot more complicated. So for "Pops the photographer at 71," who wants RAW, f-stops, etc, it has a wide range of possibilities. The only limitations is it's limited lenses. But for "Pops take a picture," it's also great.

But for an easy shoot, it was excellent.

Thanks kindly for all your comments and suggestions.

Scott

Someone asked a similar question on another forum, comparing a host of camera's from olympus to fuji and including the S3, S5 and G9. The concludions were that the G9 offered the best value and features for the $$$$, images quality was better than the rivals and you had the ability to shoot RAW. There are several thread on POTN from members who own this camera and the review below suggests it not rocket science to use, depends if he's wanting the large zoom capabilities of the other camera's.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/G9/​G9A.HTM

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=407131

Peter