CANON S3 IS a good choice?

GMAN wrote:
Is the Canon S3 IS still a decent choice for someone not yet ready for a DSLR
and yet more advanced than the average joe 6pack user?

i have used a variety of previous canon powershot's, and been very happy
with the results from these nice and small cameras. i purchased an S3IS
as it seemed to have a good selection of useful features, and
considering the length of the lens it is a very manageable size and
weight. while it's true that the EVF isn't perfect, it is certainly
isn't going to cause too many problems.

overall, the various reviews of the camera that you'll easily find on
the web are accurate...they'll point out all of the good points of the
camera (and there are a lot) and the minor faults it has. in addition to
those comments, i'll just add my main gripe with this camera...the whole
purpose of the camera is to take quality pictures, and frankly, this is
where i was a little disappointed.

in general, the colours seem a bit bland. i'm not just comparing the
results to the typically overprocessed results from a P&S...in my
opinion, they look too un-naturally colourless and with too much
contrast. even for very vivid scenes, the results i get just seem a bit
lifeless. trying to "pretty them up" with a little bit of tweaking in
photoshop doesn't completely help either...it's almost as if there's not
enough dynamic range.

a secondary comment (and i guess that this is likely to appear in any of
the cameras with a large zoom) is that the focus towards the corners is
not particularly sharp.

i certainly don't want to sound like i'm not happy with the camera. but
you asked for feedback on the camera, and that's the main comments that
i would have.
all things considered, it is a good compromise between size & weight and
features & specifications. the fact is, no camera is perfect and given
my time again i would probably buy the camera again, but it's not quite
as good as i was expecting.

Is the Canon S3 IS still a decent choice for someone not yet
ready for a DSLR and yet more advanced than the average joe
6pack user?

My girlfriend has an S2 IS and I've been quite impressed with
it. The IS is great and the movies are pretty impressive. I
can do without EVFs, but that's just me.

I think if Canon came out with an S4, which was almost exactly
the same as the S3 but with 8 or maybe 10 megapixels, they'd own
the market for that type of product.

I don't like EVF's either, but I guess I'm going to have to learn
to live with it, since I don't think any of these superzooms com
with optical viewfinders.

On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 19:11:53 -0800, Randall Ainsworth wrote:

Is the Canon S3 IS still a decent choice for someone
not yet ready for a DSLR and yet more advanced than
the average joe 6pack user?

My girlfriend has an S2 IS and I've been quite impressed with it.
The IS is great and the movies are pretty impressive. I can do
without EVFs, but that's just me.

Actually, no. Many others here also can do without EVFs. I, on
the other hand prefer a good EVF, but that's just, uh . . . me and
a good number of others. g

In article , Pete wrote:
GMAN wrote:
Is the Canon S3 IS still a decent choice for someone not yet ready for a DSLR

and yet more advanced than the average joe 6pack user?

i have used a variety of previous canon powershot's, and been very happy
with the results from these nice and small cameras. i purchased an S3IS
as it seemed to have a good selection of useful features, and
considering the length of the lens it is a very manageable size and
weight. while it's true that the EVF isn't perfect, it is certainly
isn't going to cause too many problems.

overall, the various reviews of the camera that you'll easily find on
the web are accurate...they'll point out all of the good points of the
camera (and there are a lot) and the minor faults it has. in addition to
those comments, i'll just add my main gripe with this camera...the whole
purpose of the camera is to take quality pictures, and frankly, this is
where i was a little disappointed.

in general, the colours seem a bit bland. i'm not just comparing the
results to the typically overprocessed results from a P&S...in my
opinion, they look too un-naturally colourless and with too much
contrast. even for very vivid scenes, the results i get just seem a bit
lifeless. trying to "pretty them up" with a little bit of tweaking in
photoshop doesn't completely help either...it's almost as if there's not
enough dynamic range.

a secondary comment (and i guess that this is likely to appear in any of
the cameras with a large zoom) is that the focus towards the corners is
not particularly sharp.

i certainly don't want to sound like i'm not happy with the camera. but
you asked for feedback on the camera, and that's the main comments that
i would have.
all things considered, it is a good compromise between size & weight and
features & specifications. the fact is, no camera is perfect and given
my time again i would probably buy the camera again, but it's not quite
as good as i was expecting.
Thanks, Its still got to be a decent stepup from my now broken Olympus C2000
2 megapixel camera.

"dwight" wrote in message
. ..
"GMAN" wrote in message
...
Is the Canon S3 IS still a decent choice for someone not yet ready for a
DSLR
and yet more advanced than the average joe 6pack user?

I was you (I think) back in 2004, when I bought the S1. It led directly to
the Canon Rebel XT not much after that.

The S1 has a live preview, so you pretty much know what you're going to
get. The DSLR doesn't. For that reason alone, I'd say go ahead and buy the
S3 - its manual functions do well to prepare you for the next step, if
you're not prepared to leapfrog to the DSLR...

dwight

Live preview is absolutely *not* a good reason to get a point & shoot over a
DSLR. The S3 is a good full-featured p&s, but the LCD is difficult to see
in broad daylight, and the electronic viewfinder sucks. Give me the OVF on
a DSLR any day.

Mark

"Paul D. Sullivan" wrote in message
news:70Vvh.3565$li4.2373@trndny08...
Is the Canon S3 IS still a decent choice for someone not yet
ready for a DSLR and yet more advanced than the average joe
6pack user?

My girlfriend has an S2 IS and I've been quite impressed with
it. The IS is great and the movies are pretty impressive. I
can do without EVFs, but that's just me.

I think if Canon came out with an S4, which was almost exactly the same as
the S3 but with 8 or maybe 10 megapixels, they'd own the market for that
type of product.

I don't like EVF's either, but I guess I'm going to have to learn to live
with it, since I don't think any of these superzooms com with optical
viewfinders.


Even if they did, you'd still have to contend with parallex error and poor
optical quality. The EVF has lots of room for improvement on the S3
successor.

Mark

In article , "Mark B." wrote:
"dwight" wrote in message
...
"GMAN" wrote in message
...
Is the Canon S3 IS still a decent choice for someone not yet ready for a
DSLR
and yet more advanced than the average joe 6pack user?

I was you (I think) back in 2004, when I bought the S1. It led directly to
the Canon Rebel XT not much after that.

The S1 has a live preview, so you pretty much know what you're going to
get. The DSLR doesn't. For that reason alone, I'd say go ahead and buy the
S3 - its manual functions do well to prepare you for the next step, if
you're not prepared to leapfrog to the DSLR...

dwight

Live preview is absolutely *not* a good reason to get a point & shoot over a
DSLR. The S3 is a good full-featured p&s, but the LCD is difficult to see
in broad daylight, and the electronic viewfinder sucks. Give me the OVF on
a DSLR any day.

Mark


Didn't canon opt for a EVF for the very reason that at such high zoom, you
need to see what you are zoomed in on?

Or am i incorrect?

(GMAN) wrote in
:
Is the Canon S3 IS still a decent choice for someone not yet ready for a
DSLR and yet more advanced than the average joe 6pack user?

The most important feature of the Canon S3 is the 12X zoom. If you don't
need that much zoom (mostly useful for outdoor photos), then something like
the Canon G7 would be a better choice for you. The G7 has more all-around
features, though with a much smaller zoom range.

ray wrote:

On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:17:46 +0000, GMAN wrote:

Is the Canon S3 IS still a decent choice for someone not yet ready for a DSLR
and yet more advanced than the average joe 6pack user?

I suppose it's all right. IMHO - I like the Kodak P series better for one
reason - the Kodak EVF is higher resolution. I look through the viewfinder
on the Canon, I see it is very pixelated - bothers me to no end; evidently
bothers other folks much less. The Kodak P850 I recently bought (refurb
from the Kodak online store) has a 237k pixel EVF and looks MUCH cleaner.
The Kodak P series also feature IS and save as raw, tif, jpg. BTW - got
the camera and a printer dock (totally optional accessory, but kind of
cool) for $300.


Hello, Ray:

Note, however, that the P880 (the vanguard of Kodak's "P" digicams)
lacks image stabilization! It's the only one, which does -- but, then,
the others are "super zoom" models (12x optical), whereas the P880 is
limited to 5.8x.

Of course, IS is most useful at the more extreme telephoto lengths, and
the P880's lens merely goes to 144mm (35mm equivalent). That's opposed
to the P850, for instance, which extends all the way to 432mm.


Cordially,
John Turco


PS: I just learned the P850 was recently discontinued by Kodak
http://www.kodak.com, Ray. How sad, as we both own (and love)
this beautiful, competent, featured-packed and modestly-priced,
precision photographic instrument.

Kodak - EASYSHARE P850 Zoom Digital Camera
http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQueri...S&pq-path=7391

GMAN wrote:

In article , "Mark B." wrote:

edited, for brevity

Live preview is absolutely *not* a good reason to get a point & shoot over a
DSLR. The S3 is a good full-featured p&s, but the LCD is difficult to see
in broad daylight, and the electronic viewfinder sucks. Give me the OVF on
a DSLR any day.

Mark


Didn't canon opt for a EVF for the very reason that at such high zoom, you
need to see what you are zoomed in on?

Or am i incorrect?


Hello, GMAN:

No, you're quite right. Canon isn't alone in that reasoning, either,
as all manufacturers of "ultra zoom" digicams have taken the same EVF
route.


Cordially,
John Turco