full featured "compact" digicam with 5MP, 4x optical zoom

Author's Rating:

Pros: 5MP, manual control, great fold-out lcd, 4x optical zoom

Cons: slightly more noise than the g3

The Bottom Line: 
highly recommended. this is a very nice package geared for people who want the flexibility of manual control but still be able to point & shoot and get great pics.

Author's Review
this is a full-featured camera that you use as a point-and-shoot and still have the flexibility to be more creative when you want. this helps fill the void between the excellent canon s50 5MP digicam and the d-SLRs.

pros:
- excellent resolution from a small lens - 5MP power!
- 4x optical zoom
- good metering and good tonal balance - maintains shadow detail
- good natural light white balance, strong and balanced colors
- allows control over cameras internal processing algorithms - saturation, tone, sharpness
- fast lens (F2.0 - F3.0)
- low noise at ISO 50 (keep in mind that ISO 50 for this camera is actually ISO 100 for everyone else; likewise, ISO 100 is in reality closer to ISO 200, etc)
- shooting priority play mode - simply half-press the shutter during playback and you're ready to shoot
- impressive range of manual controls
- very good shot-to-shot times, considering the larger files due to the higher resolution
- nice metallic black finish - i definitely prefer this to the silver finish of other compact cameras
- great fold-out LCD: nice and bright PLUS it folds away when not in use (less likely it'll get scratched)
- fairly good startup time
- the manual focus has magnified loupe and ruler readout
- flexible continuous shooting modes (buffer after processing)
- RAW file format maintains 12-bits of data
- ability to turn JPEG shot into RAW during record review
- Compact Flash Type I/II and official Microdrive support
- voice annotation feature
- has a hot-shoe that allows the use of an external flash
- invervalometer (time lapse capability)
- AF assist lamp works well
- has an included IR remote control
- nice optional accessory portfolio to choose from
- excellent battery life
- USB connectivity

cons:
- where's the nine-point AiAF that's standard in Canon's own S50?
- you'll need to remove from tripod to open the battery compartment
- AF Assist lamp doesn't have enough power at telephoto zoom
- viewfinder partially obstructed by lens barrel
- zoom controller does not have enough steps / multiple zoom speed

you would choose the G5 over over the s50 if you value flexibility over compactness (and you don't want to go all the way to the d-SLR range).

you would choose this over the G3 because of the higher resolution, which more than makes up for the higher noise levels of the G5.