Railphotog
Railroad Photographer
It's working out GREAT! Really love the ability to take closeups of my wife's flowers using the macro mode and long telephoto, and having the long telephoto available for faraway shots. It is so similar to the Kodak P850 that I traded up from, but has more and better capabilites. It used four AA batteries, a real plus in my opinion. The Kodak used its own special rechargeable battery. I got two extras on eBay and always had them with me.
About the only thing that I'm not overly happy with on the S5 is where the memory card resides - in the same compartment at the bottom of the camera where the batteries are located. The cover isn't overly user friendly either. I always remove the memory card and put it into my computer's built in reader to download photos. The Kodak had its own little door to access the memory card.
The Kodak was becoming my camera of choice most of the time, with my Canon Rebel XT sitting on the sideline. While its a great camera, its bulk makes it less portable. Keep in mind I have the battery pack on the XT, which makes it even bigger. And I usually carry the camera in a bag with a Canon 100-300mm zoom and 430EX flash, a rather hefty combination to haul around at times.
Last two summers on narrow gauge fan trips I used the Kodak, and will probably chose the S5 in the future. No trying to change lenses while standing on the platform of a moving train! And a longer range zoom too - 36 to 432mm equivalent.
The S5 can use the 430EX flash, a real bonus. And with its 8MP has a lot of resolution for my everyday photos.
Glad I got the S5!
