The AUTO mode allows anyone, regardless of expertise, to use the S5 like a simple point-n-shoot camera. The camera automatically selects the shutter speed and aperture allowing you to concentrate on framing your subject, not changing camera settings. FUNCtion options are limited to changing the image size or quality, no other settings are possible.

Note both the Movie and Still icons in the lower right - you can easily capture a video even while in still image record mode by pressing the movie shutter button on the back.

In Program mode the camera selects both the shutter speed and aperture like Auto mode but you have access to all of the exposure and image adjustment settings as in Av, Tv, and M mode (see FUNCtion and Menu screens below.)

Half-pressing the shutter release with get you an auto focus lock and the shutter speed and aperture values will be displayed.

In Tv (Shutter-speed priority) mode the user selects the desired shutter speed and the camera automatically selects the aperture value. If the shutter speed is too fast (or slow), the aperture value will be displayed in red (when the shutter is half-pressed) which tells you to select a different speed. Slow shutter speeds allow for moving objects to "motion blur" and fast shutter speeds will "freeze" fast moving objects.

In Av (Aperture priority) mode the user selects the desired aperture value and the camera automatically selects the appropriate shutter speed. Small apertures (large F-stop number) increase the depth of field (range of focus) whereas large apertures (small F-stop numbers) decreases the depth of field.

In Manual mode the proper exposure value is determined by changing both the shutter speed and the aperture values manually. You can visually see the screen lighten or darken as you change settings and the EV (exposure value) chart along the right hand side will help you achieve the desired exposure.

You can manually select the position of the AF frame by pressing the SET button and using the arrow keys to move AF target mark on the screen.

Record MENU (in P, Tv, Av and M mode).

FlexiZone - On or Off
Digital Zoom - Off, Standard, 1.6x, or 2.0x
Flash Sync - 1st-curtain (leading) or 2nd-curtain (trailing) flash sync
Slow Synchro - Enable or disable slow sync flash mode
Red-eye - Enable or disable red-eye reduction flash mode
Safety FE - Enable or disable safety flash exposure
Self-timer - 2/10 seconds or Custom
Spot AE Point - Center or follow the AF Point
Auto ISO Shift - On or Off
MF-Point Zoom - Magnify focus area during manual focus
AF Mode - Continuous or Single auto focus
Safety MF - On or Off
AF-assist Beam - Enable or disable AF-assist lamp
Tally Lamp - Enable or disable movie mode tally lamp
Review - Post-capture review time, Off, Hold or settable for 2 - 10 seconds
Reverse Display - Flip display output upside down
IS Mode - Image Stabilizer: Off, Continuous, Shoot Only, Panning
Converter - Wide angle or Tele auxiliary lens
Custom Display - Control the display of Shooting Info, Grid Lines and Histogram on the LCD or EVF
Set Shortcut button - Choose from Metering, WB, AE lock, etc.
Save Settings - Memorize camera settings

FUNCtion menu (in P, Tv, Av and M mode).

White Balance - Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash or Custom
My Colors - Off, Vivid color, Neutral color, Sepia, B&W, Positive film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom (Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation)
Bracketing - Enable and set options for Exposure or Focus Bracketing modes
Flash Compensation - Adjust the output level of the flash +/- 2.0
Metering - Evaluative, Center Weighted Averaging, Spot
Movie Quality - Select 640x480 or 320x240 at 30fps or 15fps
Image Size - Large 3264x2448, Medium1 2592x1944,
Medium2 2048x11536,, Medium3 1600x1200, Small 640x480, Wide 3264x1832
Image Quality - Superfine, Fine or Normal JPEG compression

ISO is adjusted by pressing the ISO button. Available settings are 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, Auto and High ISO Auto. You can select the desired value by repeatedly depressing the button or by using the 4-way controller.

Movie mode lets you record high-quality motion video with stereo audio 640x480 (30fps) or 320x240 (30 or 60fps). The maximum length of capture in any mode is limited to 4GB or 1 hour, whichever occurs first.

The optical zoom can be used during recording thanks to the virtually silent ultrasonic motor (USM) used in the zoom mechanism.

SETUP menu options.

Mute - Off, On: Mutes the speaker
Volume - Speaker level for Start-up, Operation, Selftimer, Shutter and Playback
Audio - Set the microphone level, wind filter and sampling rate
LCD Brightness - Adjust LCD backlight intensity
Power Saving - Auto Power Down (On, Off) and Display Off (20s, 30s, 1,2,3,10m)
Time Zone - Set Home and Destination Time Zone
Date/Time - Set the internal clock / calendar
Clock Display - Choose the amount of time the clock will be displayed when activated (0 seconds - 3 minutes)
Format - Format the CF device or display space remaining
File No. Reset - Off=sequential number, On=start back at 0
Create Folder - Create a new folder on demand, or daily, weekly or monthly
Auto Rotate - Orientation sensor (On, Off)
Distance Units - Focus distance in feet or meters
Language - Set the menu language
Video System - NTSC or PAL video output
Print Method - Auto or Wide with Canon SELPHY
Reset All - Resets values to their default settings