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#11
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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. |
#12
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CANON S3 IS a good choice?
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. |
#13
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CANON S3 IS a good choice?
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 |
#14
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CANON S3 IS a good choice?
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. |
#15
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CANON S3 IS a good choice?
"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 |
#16
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CANON S3 IS a good choice?
"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 |
#17
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CANON S3 IS a good choice?
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? |
#18
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CANON S3 IS a good choice?
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#19
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CANON S3 IS a good choice?
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 |
#20
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CANON S3 IS a good choice?
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 |
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