Pros
Excellent image and video quality
Sharp 3.2 inch touch screen LCD
Bright wide lens with aperture priority mode
Beautiful design
Great low light performance
Cons
Subpar battery life
Sum
Excellent compact camera that can produce great image and video quality, it also has great low light performance. A must have if you want compact camera with touch screen display.
Canon PowerShot ELPH 500 HS is available in silver, pink and brown.
Canon PowerShot ELPH 500 HS is top of ELPH lineup that released by Canon this 2011, beside 300 HS and 100 HS. Canon PowerShot ELPH 500 HS sports 12.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor combined with DIGIC 4 image processor which make HS System that makes you able to produce more usable images while shooting in low light conditions without turn the flash on, it also has 3.2 inch touch screen display. Canon PowerShot ELPH 500 HS has a wide bright lens with f/2.0 to f/5.8 aperture; this lens has 4.4x optical zoom comparable to 24-105 mm focal length and also equipped with optical image stabilization.
Design
Canon PowerShot ELPH 500 HS has a beautiful slim metal exterior that makes this camera also durable. Sized 2.18 x 3.96 x 0.98 inches and weighted 6.5 ounces make this compact camera easily slides in your pockets. On the front located the lens and built in flash, on the side located mini HDMI and USB compartments. On the bottom you can find metal tripod mount, memory card and battery door. Upside located power button, mode dial, shutter release butter and zoom rocker. While on the rear located playback button and the large touch screen LCD.
The touch screen LCD measured 3.2 inch and has 461,000 pixels, it’s larger and sharper than most compact camera. The touch screen works well but don’t compare it with your Smartphone, its response well when tapping icons but for scrolling it’s a bit slower. However this large touch screen makes this camera runs out battery faster, rated only 180 shots per charge.
Canon PowerShot ELPH 500 HS offers HS System that makes this camera able to produce more usable pictures while shooting in low light conditions without using the flash. The DIGIC 4 image processor that reduce the noise in high ISO setting is combined with 12.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor, make this camera capture sharper and more detailed pictures. The camera has 8.2 fps continuous shooting speed. The camera also sports a bright f/2.0, you can make portraits with blurred backgrounds, with wide angle 24 mm focal length you can take landscapes or large groups of people.
Canon PowerShot ELPH 500 HS is really easy to use compact camera. It has an intelligent Smart Auto mode, it capable to automatically detect the shooting conditions then adjust the setting based on predefined 32 scenarios. Just concentrate on composing the image and let the camera covered the rest. For advanced user Canon provides Aperture priority and Shutter priority mode, beside the usual program auto.
Canon PowerShot ELPH 500 HS also able to make movies in few resolutions, including:
- Shoot in Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 30 fps for up to 14 min. 34 sec. or 4GB per clip.
- Shoot in HD (1280 x 720) at 24 fps for up to 20 min. and 43 sec. or 4GB per clip.
- Shoot in VGA (640 x 480) at 30 fps for up to 43 min. and 43 sec. or 4GB per clip
- QVGA (320 x 240 at 30 fps) for up to 1 hour 58 min. and 19 sec. or 4GB per clip.
You can also use Super Slow Motion Movie Record to record your videos in high speed (approx. 240fps), and then watch your videos in slow motion.
Beside Canon PowerShot ELPH 500 HS on this 2011 Canon also released 300 HS and 100 HS. The 300 HS has 5x zoom lens with similar image quality, the price is cheaper and has sleeker design, but it doesn’t have touch screen display, aperture priority and shutter priority mode.
Verdict
Canon PowerShot ELPH 500 HS offers excellent image quality image and video on a beautiful compact camera design. It has 24mm wide angle lens for taking landscape or large groups of people, and bright f/2.0 aperture you can make portrait that focusing on the face and blurring the background with its shallow depth of field. It also sports large 3.2 inch touch screen.
