This is my 4th digital camera. I was going to buy a Canon SLR and found that it was out of my price range. The S3 IS was right there at the top of my range so I went to the local camera store to ask about it and look at it in person. I can tell you that it is a very solid feeling camera. It fits in your hands very well and the buttons are all within reach. The photo quality is really amazing. Image stabilization really helps with those long range shots. The multiple shooting modes are really handy too. The only down side to this camera is the number of options available. You can literally get lost in the manual. No worries though. Put the camera in AUTO mode, point and shoot. For most people this should work just fine. The camera is VERY fast. There is NO lag time from the moment you push the shutter button and the time the photo is taken. No more predicting your shots. I am not super happy with the lenses cap. It fits loosely and tends to fall off but there is a lanyard to keep it attached to the camera. Not the most important feature of a camera. The 2" LCD is pretty impressive as well. The movie mode is nothing short of amazing. If you use it make sure you get a large memory card. I filled a 256 MB card in about 45 seconds of shooting at the highest quality setting. Bottom line...GREAT CAMERA!

This is my 3rd digital camera and my first Canon. I moved up from an Olympus Ultra Zoom 2100. The 2100 has 2.1MP 10x optical zoom with image stablization, and lo-res movie mode. The reason I was attracted to the S3 IS was because it offers 6MP with 12x optical zoom and image stabilization, and VGA quality movie mode in stereo. Since purchasing the S3 IS I have not been disappointed.

I also bought a Transcend 4GB SD memory card which can hold about 32 minutes of video, or over 2300 photos in the highest quality. No problems addressing the 4GB memory, or doing a low-level format of the card in the camera.

Shooting both photos and movies is easy. The S3 IS has a separate button that you press with your thumb to start shooting a movie. While you are shooting, you still take snapshots with the shutter button. There are 2 stereo mics built into the front of the camera, along with a software selectable wind filter. While shooting, you can use the zoom feature with no added noise to the movie; it's very quiet. Image stabilization is still active when shooting a movie.

I think the S3 IS is good enough as both a digital camera and video camera that I no longer need to haul around 2 cameras (digital and video) to every event.

You can have peace of mind that you own the best digital camera on the market when you purchase the Canon Powershot S3 IS camera. When you go on vacation, you want the photos that are going to impress and with the 12x optical zoom, the photos will impress! Since this camera is brand new, everyone is going to be asking you about it. They can go ahead because I will tell them this Canon camera is the best! The photos have color and sharpness that seem to want to jump right out at you. I took a movie and I am amazed with the clarity. There is no other camera better than the Canon Powershot S3 IS. I also own a PIXMA photo printer, so, I have the best of both worlds.

Canon S3 Review

I am going to assume that the reader knows what Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO and Resolution means, as if you do not this camera is probably too sophisticated for you. Or maybe not, if you want to jump into the Canon S3 pool and you have the money, go ahead!

In any case, you can start taking pictures after a few steps:

Setup
1. Install SD card.
2. Install the batteries
Comment: (It comes with 4 AAs but you will want to get re-chargeable instead)
3. Install protective screen on your LCD.
Comment: You will want to get these - the Palm Pilot uses these same screens (except they are larger) so you don't damage/scratch it.
4. Set the date, time and language using the menu system on the S3
5. Set the Display mode on the LCD or View Finder (VF)
6. Create a folder for your pictures.
Comment: If you have bought a SD card. Canon recommends that you format it (i.e. erase everything on it and prepare it to be used in the S3.) I did NOT do this with a 1 Gig card I bought but it did not seem to matter.
7. Choose a shooting mode
8. Start taking pictures.

FEATURES:

ISO - This is the sensor setting. There is a button to choose ISO Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400 and 800. This is a great feature of digital cameras. With a film camera you have to go through your roll of film before you can switch to a lower or higher ISO film. With the S3 (and other digitals) you can change it for each photo you take.

Note: I posted on amazon.com today 2 identical pictures of a small doll/clown as a sample of the color capabilities of the camera. I took them using a tripod with the S3. One at ISO 80, the other at ISO 800. The other settings (F-stop etc.) are part of the caption that I entered with the pictures.

METERING MODE Auto, Aperture priority, Shutter priority, Program mode (S3 chooses shutter and aperture), Manual, and a bunch of scene modes like Landscape, Portrait, Beach/Snow, Sports etc.

You can use Macro and Supermacro. As an example, you can take a picture of a flower with macro mode and a bee on the flower in supermacro, though the camera's shadow gets in the way when you do that. In supermacro it appears that you need to move the camera closer or further from the subject to focus.

Comment: You may want to start with Auto Shooting More which will do all the thinking for you. I like the P mode better than this as it chooses only shutter speed and aperture whereas Auto mode chooses resolution and ISO in addition

DISPLAY MODE. You can choose the Viewfinder, or the LCD. You can also choose to display the camera settings, ISO, Aperture, Histogram ( A measure of the balance of light) etc. You should set it on LCD because when you close the swiveling LCD, it will automatically switch to Viewfinder display. The LCD Is tough to see in bright light but that is true for cell phones and Palm Pilots. No big deal. Just use the Viewfinder.

Comment: The LCD and the viewfinder (VF) can be used for taking pictures and for reviewing the ones you have taken. When reviewing you can go into thumbnail view (9 pics per screen) and also zoom in (using the same lever which you use for the telephoto zoom while you are in shooting mode).

FOCUS
-Continuous (uses more battery) As soon as you move the camera it re-focuses
-Single - You press the shutter half way and the S3 focuses.
-Manual. - I did not try this.
Comment: There is a status display as you look at the LCD/VF which tells whether the S3 is focused. So if you get a blurry picture it is probably your fault!

SHUTTER SPEED - from 15 seconds to 1/3200 of a second. Film cameras have a B setting to allow you to hold the shutter open as long as you want, but you really should not need that.

APERTURE - From F 2.7 to F8 but when zooming it will go just to 3.5 aperture.


SHOOTING MODE. You can set it to single or continuous or self-timer.

Self timer. There is a delay that can be set at 2 or 10 seconds or custom and you can tell it how many shots to take after the delay time elapses. You can also use this if you are in low light and don't have a tripod. Set it at 2 seconds, so after you press the shutter you can concentrate on holding the camera steady.

Single. Press the shutter and it will take a single shot (unless you set auto bracketing (focus bracketing or aperture bracketing) where it takes 3 pictures, one at the regular setting and one each above and below respectively from the regular focus setting or from the regular aperture setting.)

Continuous: Hold the shutter down and it will take pictures at a few per second until your finger gets tired or until your SD card gets filled.

Comment: You will want to get a high speed card if you will be using this mode a lot, or if you are going to use the movie mode.

MOVIE

I was driving along a winding mountain rode up here in the Poconos where there is little traffic, and tried the movie mode. The Image Stabilization (IS) works great with this and also when you are just taking snapshots.

The movie came out fine considering the circumstances under which it was taken.

The one thing I have not done is print a picture using a professional/commercial printer, but I don't expect to be disappointed.

RESOLUTION - Up to 6.2 megapixels with lower resolutions selectable using the comprehensive menu system.

Comment: The menu system has a ton of options but they are explained in the Advanced User Guide (see below.)

FEATURE CONCLUSION

First to get the most out of this camera you have to get acquainted with its many features. The pocket sized ADVANCED User Guide is your bible. It explains all of the camera's features in about 160 pages. Don't lose it. If you do you will be sorry. I misplaced it and was beside myself for about 10 minutes.

Comment: If you buy a camera bag for the S3, make sure that this manual can fit into it, along with the USB cable (with USB 2.0 it can load into your PC a hundred high resolution pictures and then delete them from the camera in about two minutes), and an extra set of batteries and an extra SD Card should fit in the case, too.

I have gone through most of the features of this camera and they are many and impressive. The thing you must realize is that what makes this camera so nice is its apparent ability to adapt to just about any photographic situation that can think of and many that you can't even imagine just yet.

Examples:

Wedding. When the bride and groom are leaving the church, you will have the S3 set on continuous shooting and autofocus so you can capture the whole trip from the front door to the limo, or you can put it in movie mode and when you see an opportunity for a still photo, YOU CAN SNAP A PICTURE WHILE IN MOVIE MODE.

Indoor Basketball Game:
You choose an ISO setting of 800 and set in on continuous focus, so you can capture your son scoring the winning basket. Or use the flash if you are near the court. Just make sure the flash does not interfere with his shot.

Zoo.
Use the telephoto lens for a closeup of the lion. Or experiment with the MY COLORS option to catch the multi-colored feathers of the parrot and peacock.

Before you complain about how the S3 performs under certain circumstances, make sure you have exhausted all the choices of its feature set which will most likely allow you to produce the photograph that you are trying to capture.

Ebay:

You have a stamp collection ( or any other collection of small things) and you want to put it on ebay. Take picture of that rare item in your collection so a philatelist can tell the quality of it without having to make a personal visit.

Appalachian Trail:

You will see me out there in the Pennsylvania part of the AT from time to time. I will have my S3. If you are planning on a long hike I doubt you will want to take along a DSLR with a bunch of lenses. This is the type of camera that you want. It is light enough and versatile enough to take with you backpacking (where light weight is a religion).

CONS

1. I would like to see a RAW mode where the camera does not do any post-picture processing but just delivers what it sees.
2. There is no place for a filter. It is important to me to have a haze filter, more to protect the lens from dust and (God forbid!) scratches, then to filter out ultraviolet light. In all fairness, though, it looks as if there is an accessory kit to do this. I just don't understand why Canon did not put a filter thread on the S3 lens.
3. The mount for the tripod screw on the bottom of the S3 is plastic. I get nervous every time I screw in my tripod.
4. The rubber cover for the USB cable seems flimsy. I intend to get a high speed card reader so that I don't have to worry about that.

SUMMARY

This is a small (but not pocket size), light-weight and most important a flexible and extremely versatile camera. I have taken several hundred pictures already. The standard AAs it uses last a long time. I am not sure exactly how long as I was using two sets. To get more impressive features you would likely need to go to a Digital SLR (DSLR). You should be able to adapt the S3 to any photographic circumstance.

In my view, this is the gold standard in non-DSLR cameras. It deserves every one of the five stars I give it.

I thought I wanted a micro-sized camera and bought 2 different brands of compact cameras just to return them because of sub-par picture quality. After that experience, I decided to give the new Powershot S3 IS a chance. Sure it might not be small enough to fit in a pocket, but what a camera! The pictures are great with sharp images from corner to corner, a 12x zoom lens, and an extremely effective Optical Image Stabilizer. The benefits of the the Optical Stabilizer cannot be understated on a camera with such a long zoom range. When you zoom into maximum telephoto every slight movement of your hands results in a huge movement at the lens. With the stabilizer though it eliminates that problem. The pictures have low noise levels from 80-400 ISO, I have not tried the ISO 800 yet, though it should be nice to have in a pinch. The tilt and swivel LCD is awesome, you'll wonder how you got along without it before. Battery life is excellent and I cannot underemphasize the benefit of the camera running on standard AA batteries. If ever you find yourself in the middle of a day of shooting and the batteries die simply pop into a local convenience store and pick up some more. I would suggest you purchase a good set of rechargeable NiMH batteries though. The movie mode is great with the ability to zoom, a dedicated record/stop button, and stereo sound! Plus, finally a Canon digital PowerShot with a live histogram! You will not be disappointed in this camera.

Canon is clearly resting on its laurels and has gotten complacent in this ultra-zoom category. The LCD display is very small and hard to use. The electronic viewfinder has such low resolution that Canon won't even publish it.

I was able to take good pictures by aiming at the object and noting where it fell within the picture area, *without* clearly seeing the image I was shooting. I found myself at times using my left eye in conjunction with my right eye using the viewfinder.

It is nice to have a viewfinder that swivels, but not at such a high cost of lack of quality viewing the image. The Kodak 850 has a 2.5" viewfinder, and that makes the camera much more fun to use. The Sony H5 has a 3" viewfinder.

The competition is outclassing Canon right now. However, I have hopes that this means that Canon is doing a great job with the S4. Give me this camera with a better electronic viewfinder, more resolution, less noise, and a 2.5" rotating LCD, and it will be a winner.

I am glad that they added the sports mode -- that was sorely lacking on the S2.

I have had the S3 for over a week, and it's going back to Amazon. I really hope that the S4 will be worth the wait. I figure that if I am going to use and enjoy a camera for many years, I should get a good one. I have a feeling that if I would keep the S3, a year from now I will feel very disappointed when the S4 comes out.

I just upgraded my digital camera from an older Canon Powershot G2 to this new S3. I recently attended a reception and all I can say is Wow! I loved my older camera but dark scenes posed a particulary nasty problem. With this camera I was able to capture people across the room with only the flash on the camera. So far, this camera rocks. I'll be taking it on a long trip in August to test out all the options. Only thing I miss is the remote control.
A nice thing about the camera is the viewfinder. It fits very comfortably on the eye and I'll never take a lens cap picture again, since like the digital slrs, what you see in the viewfinder is what the ccd actually sees.

Ok, first of all I have no photography training, I've only taken pictures as a hobby, and for the last several years I've used my Fujifilm 3800, which was my starter digital. It got frustrating for me because I would see pictures other people would take and I couldn't understand why I couldn't take the same type of pictures. I looked and every photographer who's pictures I enjoyed (on Flickr, Blogspot, etc) were using Canon's. I've always thought that Canon's (for single image photography) were out of my league as a hobby photographer, but I wanted to take pictures of plants, trees, various things around me which I believe is interesting. So I did my research comparison shopped and picked this Camera.

It is amazing.

This camera has so many bells and whistles, but each one is there for a specific reason. One of the features I use a lot is the SCN function. It tells the camera the type of environment you'll be shooting in, beach, snow, indoors, foliage, etc etc etc.

The video this camera does is almost as good as the video on my actual Canon video recorder, the picture is a nice size with minimal compression so if you edit it with Windows Movie Maker you don't have the annoying (and very amature-ish) compression boxes.

Another nice feature is the color change, I love taking photos outdoors in black and white, with my old camera I had to use a software program to change the image to B&W, with this camera you can do it right then and there, and still have the original color image as well.

The Image Stabilizer works very well, and I shake like a leaf in a strong wind storm. I found that when using the zoom it's best to use 2 hands (which I never did before, like I said amature no photography training) and the shots come out great without having to use the flash.

I'm sure as I take more pictures, and do more research and study to improve my photography I'll be changing the ISO & shutter speed to meet my needs, otherwise this is exceeding my expectations and making me look like I am a better photographer than I really am.

If you are interested in all the specs and opinions about the features of this camera, then refer to digital camera review sites for this camera (such as dpreview.com and steves-digicams.com). If you want someone to have done all the work for you comparing the cameras, then consider this: I did extensive research on this item during the month of June, 2006 and I compared this item to other similiar cameras in its class, and this camera is - by far - the best in it's class. I did not weigh price into this decision, because I feel like the cheap price of an inferior camera should not give it points over a superior but more expensive camera. All in all, this is the best camera in it's class of high power zoom digital cameras. You won't be disappointed.

SO MANY FEATURES. SO LITTLE TIME.

Is it possible for a camera to make an amateur photographer better? Apparently this is Canon's goal with the S3. It provides easy access to controls that compensate for common difficult shooting scenarios. Most point-and-shoot (P+S) cameras have few buttons - relying instead on hidden menu driven options. While this may make the camera appear less intimidating initially, locating the correct setting while attempting to frame and photograph action or bad lighting subjects is frustrating. As a result, many features go unused.

By way of comparison, the S3 has at least ten more buttons than my discontinued P+S MINOLTA Dimage G500 (5MP 3x optical zoom). And many of the buttons on the CANON are multifunction depending on whether you are shooting in one of several modes, playing back stills, or movies - providing dozens of useful options.

The CANON S3 has a button for instant access to movie recording (with on-screen options for 320x240 15/30/60 fps or 640x480 15/30 fps) up to 1GB or one hour per clip. Stereo sound and zoom functions accompany movies. There are dedicated buttons for ISO, sound recording, flash, continuous shooting, macro, manual focus, display, and a customized shortcut. The mode dial on top of the camera includes settings for many typical situations such as portrait, landscape, sports, nighttime, and panoramic. There is also an AUTO[MATIC] mode. But if all your shots remain in this setting, you might as well use a P+S model.

The key benefit of the many buttons and dials on the S3 is quick access to a wide variety of useful features without taking your eye off the subject. The FUNC[TION] button can present a tremendous amount of pertinent information while the focused image is visible. Everything from remaining number of pictures and image quality to white balance and ISO feedback neatly border the subject. The DISP[LAY] button activates grids and histogram, switches between LCD and viewfinder, or reduces the amount of on-screen information. Either screen is equally informative and useful for making adjustments. The MENU button differs in that it brings up infrequently used options that temporarily replace the focused subject.

Elaborating a bit further on the impressive display of the CANON S3, it does a good job of simulating selected options. Punch up greens, blues, reds, all colors, neutralize, lighten or darken skin tones, photograph b+w or sepia and see the results before snapping the picture. It is possible to obtain untainted color even with mixed indoor lighting. In addition to AWB (automatic white balance) there are seven other settings accessed from the FUNC[TION] button. The last is custom metering. Just point at a white object in the room and press the SET button. No more green or orange casts on indoor photos!

Another common lighting problem occurs when a subject stands in front of a bright background or if frontal light from the sun washes out the highlights on faces. After a quick tap of the FUNC[TION] button, the first option in the upper left corner is exposure compensation. Use the omni selector left arrow to darken the foreground or right arrow to lighten it. If indoors or a relatively short distance away, you might also enable the flash. (For those with traditional photography background, there are also options for aperture priority or shutter speed priority on the mode dial.)

Despite efforts to write a short review, there is still much more to talk about. Image stabilization (IS) and the 12X optical zoom are significant features that work well together. In fact, now I understand why smaller digital cameras without IS typically only include 3 or 4x. The slightest hand movement is greatly exaggerated at high magnification. IS compensates for this movement. The S3 provides four options for IS: 1) continuous (constantly stabilizes preview which uses more power); 2) shoot only (stabilizes image when shutter button is pressed); 3) panning (stabilizes vertical movement only for tracking horizontally moving cars, race horses, bikers or runners); 4) off (stabilization is not necessary for tripod).

The 12X optical zoom can optionally be supplemented by 4X digital, making it possible to achieve as much as 48X zoom. A ring abound the shutter button rotates clockwise to enlarge and vise versa. This brings up a slider in the viewfinder. If digital is activated, the white slider goes to a point and stops at 12X. Press it again and the slider is appended with blue as the digital zoom is progressively applied. I uploaded a picture of a bird in a a 16 foot palm tree with 21x zoom.

Panorama assist is yet another outstanding feature. As each photo is clicked, a portion slides over, making it easier to align the next.

Image bracketing is also nice for difficult-focus situations; with one press of the button, three slightly different focuses are shot within a couple of seconds - a light, medium, and dark. This is not to be confused with continuous shooting (sometimes called burst mode), which shoots multiple images with consistent exposure as long as the button shutter button is pressed. This is extremely useful when photographing groups of people since it is often difficult to get everyone's eyes open and smiling at the same time. It is also great for photographing small animals with rapid movements like birds.


WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE?

There are a few annoyances that could be solved by spending more. After all, Cannon makes cameras from under $200 to several thousand. Despite big features, the S3 is, relatively speaking, on the low end of the scale. So any apparent design omissions must be kept in context.

LENSE CAP FIT: The most minor annoyance is the loosely fitted lens cap that frequently disconnects. Make certain the lanyard string is attached to the neck strap so it won't be lost. The obvious concern is smudging or scratching of the lens. While carrying, frequently check to make certain is on.

ACCESSORIES: Canon cut excessories to the bear minumum. There is no case (strap is included), no power cord, no lens hood, and only Alkaline batteries. Purchasing all the necessary options can break your budget by $150-$250 USD. You'll need to factor in the cost of a fast charger with four 2500+ mHa AA batteries (currently around $35). There is also a need for a high-capacity SD card. The included 16MB card will only store four of the highest quality images. About 90 stills can fit on a 256MB card at the highest quality setting. If you require more images per session or will be recording movies, consider a 4GB card (currently around $100).

LCD BRIGHTNESS: More of an annoyance is the limited pivoting 2" LCD screen brightness. Take comfort in the fact that some expensive DSLR cameras have only a viewfinder. Fortunately, when the LCD is not visible, the viewfinder on the S3 can be used. The diopter adjustment is handy since I may be wearing single-vision prescription shades, trifocals, or no glasses at all. The two independent brightness settings for LCD or viewfinder are a noble consideration. The LCD just doesn't get bright enough. In time, it is easy to get used to the viewfinder.

IMAGE FORMATS: A camera with so many features naturally appeals to the prosumer not ready to make the leap to a full-fledged DSLR. Though this would result in better high-ISO nighttime shots, the cost with multiple lenses could easy triple the price of the S3. Nevertheless, a non-compressed image mode would be useful - especially with the availability of high-speed 4GB SD cards.

Test shots of straight-up blue sky in large fine and super fine modes both exhibited pixelization. In fact, super fine is slightly worse for large areas of SOLID color since the various color pixels are more distinct. There is more color averaging with fine mode producing a smaller, visually smoother image. The large image setting is 6 megapixels so the anomalies I reference when zooming in 800 percent in Photoshop is not visible on typical prints. When the composition includes many different color changes and fine DETAIL (landscapes, architecture), the super fine mode is better. Otherwise the detail becomes muddy.

I developed a Photoshop action called Smooth Pixels. Though not always necessary, it provides moderate smoothing on 6MP images to reduce pixelization in large areas of flat color. It can also be used to minimize artifacts occurring as a result of saving a JPEG image with too much compression. If you have Photoshop experience these settings may be familiar to you. Opacities can be increased as much to as much as 60% with minimal loss of detail. (A screenshot of the Action palette has been uploaded.)

1 Duplicate current layer
2 Gaussian Blur (Radius: 0.5 Pixels)
3 Set current layer (Opacity: 40%)
4 Duplicate Background
5 Smart Blur (Radius: 1, Threshold: 12, Quality: High, Mode: Normal)
6 Set current layer (Opacity: 40%)
7 Move current layer (To: layer 2)
8 Flatten image

RAW, LZW TIFF (compression usually requiring a PostScript level 3 printer for decompression) or standard TIFF options would be appreciated by those concerned about consistent pixels within continuous color with no artifacts surrounding high contrast colors. It should be noted that each time a JPEG is opened and saved (even with no edits) in an image editor application, there is slight degradation of image quality. This does not occur with TIFF or RAW.

WIDESCREEN LIMITATION: I was fooled by the boast of widescreen pictures. This applies only to STILLS. The WS stills are about 25 percent smaller than the maximum 6MP images. The viewfinder adds black bands to help frame WS pictures. Don't expect a low-cost HD WS movie function from the S3.

FLASH OPTIONS: The manual pop-up flash could be a bane or boone. It is reasonably strong and there is a three-option dedicated button to 1) always enable the flash, 2) automatically flash only when required, or 3) disable flash. If you forget to lift the flash, automatic doesn't lift it for you. Conversely, lifting the flash when the user option is set to never flash results in no extra lighting. One could look at this as a benefit since less flashing preserves the batteries. It would make more sense to me for the flash to pop-up if needed in automatic mode. Get used to the icon in the viewfinder that indicates the status of the flash (which is grayed when the flash is not up).

The S3 has also been criticized because it does not have a connection for a replacement flash. (A handheld flash farther away from the lens is the true solution to red eye.) Canon's less than optimal answer is to provide an optional slave flash that can be used as a supplemental bounce flash positioned closer to the subject or mounted onto the camera using a bracket that connects to the tripod thread. (I have a Canon T-50 SLR with multiple lenses that supports flash upgrades. The body of this non-digital camera was much less expensive than the S3.)

TRIPOD THREAD: A plastic tripod thread is never appreciated. Be careful not to damage the threads or consider using a tripod quick-shoe attachment.

ABERRATION: Though improvements are being made, digital cameras (particularly less expensive ones) suffer from aberration, sometimes called purple fringing, surrounding high-contrast areas where a pixels along edges are discolored. The S3 is not exempt - more notably a few pixels of red (NW) and green (SE) misregistration. This is most apparent on photos with very light objects next to color away from the center of focus - particularly on overcast days when the sky is white instead of blue. A 6MP image is scaled down so much for standard prints that the aberration is not usually noticeable. For large prints this may require additional image editing.

UPGRADE FROM S2: Owners of the Canon S2 will not find the S3 a significant upgrade. This camera appears to build on prior success with a few additional features to keep it competitive with other brands. In doing so, Canon has left room for even more improvements in an S4. Differences between the S2 and S3 are summed up below.

* New sensor (6MP versus 5MP)
* Higher maximum sensitivity (ISO 800)
* Bigger LCD screen (2.0-inch versus 1.8-inch)
* New Sports mode
* Record Histogram
* Widescreen shooting mode (stills)
* Fractionally larger and heavier
* Dark gunmetal (gray) as opposed to silver body


CONCLUSIONS
The CANON S3 is not perfect but, in its price range, includes a very good combination of available technologies with slight image quality sacrifices. Professional photographers may be inclined toward an entry level DSLR (perhaps CANON DIGITAL REBEL XT or EOS 30D). For higher quality stills movie recording must be sacrificed. Those in the market for a digital camcorder may find the S3 a nice alternative; it can even shoot high-resolution stills without exiting movie mode.

Prosumers that invest time reading the provided manuals can be rewarded with greatly improved image quality from the S3. Of, course composition is still up to the photographer. (www.photoinf.com) The typical no-frills consumer might be put off by the plethora of options and prefer a compact P+S with less buttons (CANON POWERSHOT S80, SD500, A540 or A520).

(See uploaded pictures of bird in palm tree and building exhibiting aberration. Because the Amazon image processor scales down images as much as possible, there are more image artifacts on samples than on original photos.)

I originally bought the new Sony H5 and after one week with it I returned it back to Circuit City, due to the Not so great image stabilization and outdoor purple fringing. I really hated the fact that I had to return the Sony because I waited so long for it to be released and I simply loved the huge LCD. I thought I would not find anything better, until I came across this awesome Canon S3. The LCD was not nearly as big as the Sony but after taking a couple of pictures in the store under allot of different modes and maneuvers, this bad boy came through 100% The image stabilization was on point about 95% of the time and I also found out how incredibly user friendly this camera is. Soooo many features like different scene modes, movie mode, ISO modes, and much more. I highly recommend this camera, it really does produce the quality and results of pictures you are looking for without having to be a professional.

Muy buena resoluciòn, las pilas hace la camara un poco pesada pero la recompensa con una larga duraciòn de baterìa, solo recomiendo mejorar la pantalla lcd que es de baja calidad

Since no camera is perfect for everyone, I truly hesitated (for over a month) to write this review. But, since I wrote a glowing review of another Canon camera model (the A620), fairness almost demanded a less positive review where equally warranted.

Like a previous reviewer, I also returned the Canon S3 IS recently purchased. And, just like that other reviewer, a significant reason was the small LCD display. I found it nearly impossible to use without reading glasses - not an obvious issue until actually using it in the "real world." Of course, the Canon A620 has the same small display, but one is more willing to overlook an annoyance such as this in a product costing considerably less. But, with a camera costing as much as the Canon S3 IS, there is little excuse today for such a small display (indeed, several other cameras in this price range offer a larger display).

Regardless, if this were the only issue with the Canon S3 IS, it might have been possible to live with this annoyance as well. But, added to that, the overall quality of this camera bothered me. Some aspects of the camera, such as the plastic tripod mount, suggests cheap construction. I seriously doubt a plastic mount can survive the repeated punishment of the often sharp metal screws found on the typical camera tripod. Plastic into plastic, perhaps. Metal into metal, of course. But not metal into plastic. Canon should know this, but went ahead with the plastic anyway. Since I use a tripod often (anyone seeking good images should), this annoyance was a little more difficult to ignore. But, moreover, this got me thinking about the rest of the camera. If Canon was so willing to cut corners with a plastic tripod mount, one has to wonder how far they went to cut corners in places consumers cannot easily see - the electronics and mechanics inside the camera.

There were other minor disappointments (weak flash, noisy EVF, and so on), but I could reasonably live with those. None, including the above, were enough to cause me to utterly rule out the Canon S3 IS. The early reviews of the newer Sony DSC-H5 was the final straw. A look at the features, and a trip to the store to actually handle the camera, was finally enough to cause me to switch.

The Sony offers an additional 1.2 million pixels of image resolution (even if one doesn't make larger prints, the extra resolution gives more room for cropping images), a larger LCD display, a better EVF, a metal tripod mount, a stronger flash, and more. It also performs better at ISO-400, offering another full stop of usable exposure over the Canon S3 IS (important to me during the long dark winters of northern Europe, but a benefit to anyone shooting in low-light conditions). The Sony doesn't perform exceptionally well at the larger ISO settings (ISO-800 and 1000), but neither does the Canon (no ISO-1000 setting, but similar performance at ISO-800). Otherwise, both the Sony and Canon are pretty evenly matched - little else gained or lost by chosing one over the other. I did lose the articulating display offered on the Canon S3 IS, but, more importantly, gained significantly in the other areas mentioned in this paragraph.

Like the other reviewer, perhaps a future Canon S(?) IS camera addressing these issues might tempt me to return to the Canon fold. But, in the meantime, Canon has lost this customer to Sony.

This an outstanding camera. Excellent photo quality and very easy to use. After using it a few times, the various menus became second nature. Feels very solid and comfortable in your hands and the buttons and controls are all ergonomically comfortable. Takes excellent zoom pictures with fantastic resolution. Reviewing and deleting pictures on the fly is simple. Bought a 512mb card and have room for several hundred photos at high quality. This is the first 'real' camera I've ever spent good $$$ on and I am definitly not disappointed in my choice.
On another note, I rely on Amazon to a large degree when I shop for stuff like this. It's always great to read other peoples opinions of products that your looking to buy. That being said, it makes me nuts when I read reviews from clowns like the reviewer below titled 'Major disappointment...wait for S4'. If you read his(mostly negative) other reviews, he bought the S2, panned it, and returned it because he was sure the S3 would be better. Now he bought the S3 and panned it and is returning it, because 'in a year the S4 will come out and be better'. Hey buddy, people like you are the reason stores ban people from returning stuff over and over. Maybe in 8 years when the S11 comes out you'll finally be happy. Do us all a favor and keep your opinions to yourself.
Please disregard that guy's review and see that 17 other people love this camera.

This camera lacks....

..Time/Date Stamp
..Must raise flash to use
..Has image stabilizer but alot of my pics still blur

I write martial arts books, most of which require numerous illustrations and photographs to help readers understand and perform the various techniques. After years of spending thousands of dollars per book with professional photographers, I finally decided to purchase a high-end camera so that I could do the shots myself. I needed something simple enough that I could hand it over to an assistant who would take the pictures, yet good enough to produce professional quality results. Ease of use, powerful optical zoom, and superior picture quality were my main requirements.

After weighing the options I decided to go with this model. For about what I would have spent on a mid-range digital SLR by itself I was able to invest in not only this camera, but also two 1 GB memory cards, a dozen rechargeable batteries, a padded hard case, a tripod, a complete lighting package, and a backdrop with stand. The whole set-up ran roughly $1,600. Since the highest resolution photos use up about 3.5 MB apiece, it is good to invest in a couple of large capacity, high speed memory cards. The batteries last for several hundred shots if you use the viewfinder so a couple of sets with a high-speed recharger ought to do for most applications. The cannon soft case isn't all that great so I decided to spend a few bucks more on a good hard case to protect the camera and accessories.

I am very happy with this investment. The camera performs admirably. Indoor pictures are clean and clear, even without the fancy lighting. I took a few test shots using the built-in "indoor" setting which compensates for fluorescent lights. They turned out remarkably well. With the extra lighting the indoor photos go from remarkably good to absolutely great. Outdoor shots on "auto" and "sports" modes work very well too, with or without a tripod stand. It's not quite as fast as an SLR, of course, but takes multiple shots with adequate timing for my needs. The manual adjustments work well if you're well versed in photography and know what you're doing. I've found that the pre-set modes meet such a wide variety of applications that I don't need to tweak things manually all that often. The only major feature that I have not tried yet is the movie mode. Since I have a good digital camcorder too, however, I'll probably never need it.

The only serious drawback I have found so far is the viewfinder, which is a bit hard to see through in direct sunlight. Worse yet, the flip screen is nearly impossible to read in bright light too, even with the contrast turned-up. Similarly in very dark settings it's quite challenging to aim properly. The photos turn out quite well but I have found that I have to take several shots to frame things properly. Not a huge deal for what I'm doing since I bought all the fancy lighting, but something to consider if you plan to take a lot of shots in bright sunlight or darkness. As others have pointed out, there are no filters available for this model though there is an adaptor to add other lenses which could be filtered.

I purchased the 3.2MP S1 IS years ago so adjusting to this new model's features was a breeze. They are not identical, of course, but the layout is quite similar. It's fairly intuitively obvious too. I have actually read the manual and have concluded that this camera has way more functionality than I could ever imagine needing. It's nice to know that it should last for years to come without need for another upgrade though. It is so simple to use that just about anyone can take good pictures using the built-in settings straight away. It is also very easy and quick to download files to the PC for storage or further processing. If you've got Windows XP it's truly plug and play (no praying or special software necessary).

All in all, this camera is exactly what I needed. Great quality, reliable pictures at a reasonable price. Highly recommended!

Received the camera very quickly and very pleased with how it operates. Still learning about all the camera functions. Love it and still learning.

I started to wonder this afternoon how many of the reviewers for this camera are on somebody's payroll....
I ordered it based on the reviews here as well as the review on stevesdigicam.com and received it the other day. Fully confident it would be a great camera after all the mostly glowing reviews I also ordered the lens shade, rechargable batteries, memory card etc etc.
Well I was pretty disappointed by it.
I bought it to replace my aging Sony F707, although afterwards I started to wonder exactly why I was replacing it in the first place... The photos I took with the S3 were lacking in comparison. Not only that, but I kept getting the "camera shake" icon in soft early morning light and the photos were actaully out of focus. I took the same shots with my Sony and it gave me fine results. And the S3 has Image Stabilization?
If that weren't all, a big reason I actually ended up getting this camera was for its video capabilities. However I ordered it before Kevin Fosler updated his review. I had no idea I could only shoot 8 minutes of high-quality video. Even with larger memory cards it would make no sense.
On the positive side, the camera is well laid out and I like the menu functions. It looks pretty nice too. So 1 star for those thing.
Well, the search begins again. The lesson I learned: next time I'm not just going to read reviews, I'm going to find a place where I can actually try out the camera I'm serious about buying. And I guess if I can't find one I'll just have to take my chances and at least I can send it back to Amazon.

The Powershot S3 is a good choice for those needing an extended zoom range, but wishes to avoid the cost and bulk of Digital SLR designs.

The S3 has a very fine, 12x optical zoom, that is quiet, smooth and quick. The stabalizer comes in very handy for still shots, and is a must for video.

The 6 megapixel images are clean and above average. Try to avoid higher ISOs on any of the compact cameras, but if you must, Canon's new 6MP sensor/processor combination is good.

Camera operation works well in the various automatic modes, and is also easy to control manually (except for manual focus). The eyelevel LCD is good, but everyone seems to have a different opinion on what looks good here. The rotating back LCD makes easy work of high level, low level or table-top copy work.

Video is unsurpassed in this type of camera. Stereo sound really gives this one a dimension that others lack. You can also easily switch on the fly. In the still modes, you can just push the button on the back to instantly start a video. During this video, you can instantly override the video, and take a still, then is picks back up on the video (it does, however, interrupt the video).

I won't revisit all the advantages of SLRs here. Although a good camera, this doesn't replace the speed of autofocus, continual shooting and quality of those cameras.

There's really not a lot of cameras in this category, but there are some definate winners, and the Powershot S3 adds to that list!

I like the S3. I am still learning to use the camera. I do agree with others that it is challenging jumping through the manuals. It would have been helpful to me for there to be a complete manual that gives all the details in how to use the camera in a logical sequence. And a quick start pamphlet just to get you going. I had to jump back and forth between the two manuals and that made it difficult for me to learn how to use this camera as I am new to the digital camera with so many features.

The view finder can be improved. I have difficulty seeing the messages/symbols. Also, I had to kind of guess that I was right on target for my shots.

The photos I have taken came out perfect despite me not being able to know exactly what I was looking at. The batteries have a nice long life for what I am doing.

I haven't tried the video yet.

I do like the camera. It works fine for what I am using it for.

Great camera . . . I took many long distant (12X zoom) pics of my daughter during her graduation and they all came out great. I highly recommend this camera.

I bought this camera right before a trip to Paris and Burgundy. Normally, I'd take my 5D DSLR, but a hand injury dictated a much lighter camera. When I bought it, I thought I'd really compromised on image quality.

Having looked over the 300 shots worth keeping from the 900 I took, I have to say that the compromise in quality was very small indeed. I took a large number of low light shots on manual setting in the glorious Saint-Chapelle. Virtually every one came out a winner. I got the best shot I have ever taken of the circular stained glass on the west side of Notre-Dame. I got great causal shots of families relaxing in the Place de Vosges. And the IS on full telephoto shots in Puligny-Montrachet showed no shake at all.

I do wish that the camera supported RAW. And manual seems to take the resolution down by one notch, although I am still researching the user guide.

That said, for $500 you get almost DSLR camera quality which is easy to carry, easy to hold, and a joy to take shots with. This is a perfect starter camera for any one, and a great backup for DSLR users who can't carry a lot of kit.

Bravo, Canon!

I just recieved this camera, and I am in love. About a year ago I bought the A95, and loved all the shooting options. But as I have gotten better(a little) at photography, I realized a supper zoom(Among other things) would be "heaven sent".
This camera has it! The zoom is great! We are not talking a telescope here, but to catch birds, far off views, etc is wonderful.
And talk about shooting options! There are more possibilities for custom colors and lighitng conditions than I ever could have dreamed of!
...ok, after gushing, here are some real pluses;

Live Histograme.
Grid for Straight Horizons.
Intensity control over the flash.
Control over when the flash fires, before OR after the shutter opens.
Ablity to skip 1, 9, 10 or 100 images at a time. OR by shooting date, OR by folder. (Helpful when you have a almost full 1,2 or 3 Gig card)
Auto Exposure Bracketing.
White Blance control.
Color choice. (Vivd, vivd red, green or blue, B&W, Sepia, Custom, Positive film, etc.)
World time set. (You're traveling, and can have time set for where you are, and where you came from.)
High Zoom.
Macro and Super Macro. (Shooting ablity from 0cm!)
Preset(Portrait, Landscape, Sport, etc.) shooting modes, up to full control shooting.
The most advanced movie mode out there at the moment.
At about 6.0 mega pixles, there is enough info to print a 11 by 16 print!
...and in defense for a previous review;
Date stamp. (You have to set the option on the menu, then when printing, the date will be added.)
Hand pop up flash.(So no more accidental flash during a concert, or ruining a close up with a forgotten setting!)

And finely;
I never use the view finder, it is not optical, so you see the same thing on the much bigger flip screen. And it has seemed plenty bright. A step up over the A95.
The menu is almost the same as the A95 has, just with more options.

All in all this is an amazing tool, especially for those of us who are hesitant about investing in a DSLR or an SLR. I'm still learning where the "sweet spot", for shooting with this camera is, but I know it is a "sweet time" learning where it is : )

I have had the S3 for about a month ...and so far so good. It took some time to understand all the icons and different settings (still learning - but thats half the fun). I have been doing some experimenting with the many options on the camera to see what it can do. For those who are looking for a camera with growth potential....this is for you. It can take point & shoot shots on auto mode, or you can explore further with p mode, tv mode, and others that offer more custom settings.

I ordered and received an adapter and some filters from another site and I am looking forward to using them. A uv filter will also help protect the glass lense on the camera.

So far the S3 seems to have a large amount of creative options that I am looking forward to exploring more....all in a neat little camera.

Excellent Camera. Easy to use for basic photos and capable of great shots under difficult conditions.

I purchased this camera to use during our choir's tour through Austria and the Czech Republic. The pictures came out great; the image stabilization was very handy in many cases. One pleasant surprise; I used the sound recording capability extensively throughout our tour; I recorded all the choir performances using the camera, and the sound quality was quite acceptable.

This is my first serious camera sonce buying an old DImage from KM years ago.

Forst of all, it takes great quality photos once you learn how to play in manual and creative modes.

It dosent offer the latest in specs, but Canon has done a good job at making the camera friendly to use that is makes getting to its limits that much easier.

The only downside is the somewhat rickety body that makes it feel more fragile than other cheaper P&S units. The handgrip flexes and the memory card door dosent exactly fit flush.

Its also a little more expensive since you have to spring for a charger and a lens hood. (Sony includes both in their H5.)

Hopefully Canon can include a bigger LCD and a more solid body in the S4.

I'd recommend buying a cheap memory card reader so that you wont have to connect the camera via USB port and save that USB door from use.

I selected this camera for its 12x optical lens and its professional stabilizer, and I'm not disappointed... Also very convenient to manipulate.

I've probably researched to death digital cameras and finally settled on this one. Is it the best? Depends on what you are looking for. Then again I didn't want to spend thousands of dollars for a digital slr camera and a separate digital movie camera. I wanted a digital camera with a very good zoom lens, movie capabilities, and image stabilization and wouldn't be too bulky for taking on vacations. This one in my opinion fitted the bill. I probably really wanted the Panasonic FZ30 which is now going to be the FZ50 but noise and other issues kept leading me back to the Canon S3 IS. If the need ever arises to take high quality photos I can always dig out my old film 35mm SLR.

I've taken a couple of thousand pictures with this camera and the results are generally very good. One serious flaw, however, is its electronic viewfinder. I wear glasses and the viewfinder is difficult (sometimes VERY difficult) to see in many outdoor lighting situations. (Of course the LCD screen is equally useless in bright light). If I take off my glasses so my eye can fit snuggly against the viewfinder, the view is fine. But if you wear glasses for distance, you know that taking your glasses off each time you want to shoot is not a reasonable option. Of course, this is a problem with optical viewfinders, too, but the problem is not nearly as severe. So, I would strongly advise those who wear glasses to test the camera thoroughly in a variety of lighting conditions before buying.

I will get to the good points in a moment, but another annoying, though not so serious, flaw is the setup for using shutter speed (and aperture) priority. The shutter speed is set using the four-way controller, located in the top right corner on the camera back. The problem here is that there is no way to select a shutter speed and lock it. Because of the position of the four-way controller, it is very easy to push it accidentally, while simply holding the camera between shots, which changes the shutter speed. This means being very careful how you hold the camera and checking the shutter speed before each shot to be sure it has not been changed. The shutter speed is displayed in the viewfinder, but the aforementioned problem with the viewfinder makes this problem doubly irritating for us glasses wearers.

Having said all that, I still like this camera. It has great flexibility, and operations are fast, smooth and quiet. The pictures are excellent. The rotating LCD is very useful, allowing the camera to be placed in positions where using the viewfinder is impossible. The IS is helpful, though some physical stability (tripod, tree, post ..) is still needed at the longer end of the telephoto range. The flash is OK, though red eye is definitely a problem. I've experimented with a few of the special modes and some worked well, while others did not. Selecting setting manually, is often better.

There's a sizable learning curve with this camera, because of the numerous buttons, the many special shooting modes, and various options available. I still have much to understand, but the more I learn the more I like the camera, in spite of the problems discussed above.

Excellent camera, many useful functions and easy to operate

For many people the Canon S3 is the camera they really wanted. The majority of the owners' reports here are testimony to that.

For the rest of us the Canon S3 came tantalizingly close to being that ideal camera, but fell short for various reasons. We had hoped for more, not so much in features and options, but mainly in the quality of what was offered. I found that it missed out in four principal areas:

1. its LCD screen is small and its resolution poor. The same is true of its EVF (viewfinder.) The LCD solarizes in bright sunlight making it impossible to use and is not bright enough to use in very sunny conditions.
2. it has chromatic aberration (purple/green fringing) especially at the telephoto end of the lens
3. it has no RAW mode
4. it's overpriced.

If the LCD & EVF had had decent size and resolution I probably could have lived with the other three. Almost every review mentioned this shortcoming. I liked the articulated screen - a must for me. But so small and so lo-res just didn't cut it for me. One user told me the EVF image was so pixilated in bright conditions he couldn't really tell what he had until he saw it on the computer.

I had hoped to do some semi-pro work with this camera. Doing it with this LCD would be difficult and difficult I don't like. And that missing RAW mode, lamented by many reviewers and offered by other cameras in this class, confirmed that it was -almost - a photographer's camera, as distinct from a point-&-shoot, that didn't quite make it. And that disappoints me.

I saw a lot of tele shots with purple fringing especially at the extreme end of the lens. Most of that could be eliminated with Photoshop work or by using a shorter focal length. But if you can't use the full length of your lens or you have to fix the image later, those are major shortcomings I don't want. An aprochromatic lens system, admittedly more expensive, would eliminate this problem.

I think the price factor worth consideration. The current best price here on the West Coast of Canada was $C580. But you need to buy a charger and batteries $39, plus a memory card since the ludicrously small one supplied could take only four hi-res pix, another $39. And a bag, say $20. And of course sales taxes. And you've got a camera costing around $800. And if you wanted a lens hood and supplementary lenses you're getting close to $C1,000. So it's not really a $500-and-change camera: in this price range it's competing with SLRs and other high end cameras.

For me, with the limitations I have described, that's just too much. For my eight or nine big ones I want top of the line quality. I hope that Canon hears the laments from many other reviewers and myself and rectifies them in the S4. They came so close this time but just missed the ring for so many serious photographers. I'm hoping the S4 will be THE one and not, like the S3, the one that might have been. And if not Canon then perhaps some other manufacturer will seize the opportunity. I'm waiting.

As an editor and designer (but not a professional photographer), I wanted a camera that wouldn't look ridiculous on a shoot, wouldn't require me to fiddle around too much with nuanced settings, and wouldn't require me to invest too much in lenses to coax some good shots out of it. I also had gotten used to some conveniences from point-and-shoot digital cameras that I thought I'd lose out on by going SLR.

There were other cameras I had considered, especially from my old favorite brands, Olympus and Fuji. But the closest contenders were the S3's predecessor, the S2, and the Panasonic Lumix FZ7.

The Panasonic was making a hard sell: same optical zoom, similar if not better performance in speed tests, similar reviews regarding color and overall quality of their photos. And, really, the Panasonic was tremendously less expensive and featured a Leica lens, which made the brand-whore in me a little excited. But the final blow: The Panasonic seemed to have a goofy rechargable battery system, which is great if you have replacement batteries of the same type, but not so great if you're travelling. The S3, on the other hand, uses regular AAs. That meands I can use rechargeables as I like, or get some Duracells. On the road, that's important: I can't worry about whether I packed a charger, an extra battery or if the voltage is going to be alright in the country I'm in. The other big factor, the trademark Canon swivel-mount LCD display, was critical to my decision. I love having one on my Canon DV camcorder, especially when I'm taking overhead action in a crowd (or just trying to get a better view of the stage at a show!). And it beats the heck out of trying the classic hey-let's-point-the-camera-at-ourselves-and hope-it-works-self-portraiture technique. Just turn the LCD around toward the lens and, as long as you avoid looking to the side at yourself while taking the actual photo, it works like a charm. And just as your lens should have a cap, the LCD screen tucks away to protect it from fingerprints and grit that can mar it just as easily as the lens.

So, moving away from the Panasonic, I had seriously looked at an S2, since most reviews had talked about the S3 not being much of an upgrade from that model. After some consideration, I decided that the LCD of the S2 was a little too small (though the S3, with a slightly larger screen, is no prize-winner in that arena either) and the additional resolution of the S3 would help with zooming and cropping on otherwise too-wide shots. But the real reason I chose the S3 is much more shallow: the black S3 passes off much more like a professional camera than the silver-toned S2, which screams pocket camera. I really think that makes a difference at an event-- you'll get more cooperation from folks if you look a bit more on-the-job, than just a groupie taking snapshots.

So far, I have not been disappointed. The thing that makes me most happy about my decision, especially in the way of not having gone the SLR-route, is that going fully-automatic with the camera doesn't fail to come out with great images. I'm no pro, but I've got some sense of what I'm doing photographically. I've played with a lot of the settings and going manual when I have had the chance, but at least 80% of the time, letting the camera's auto mode do the work comes up with the best shots. And when I'm taking quick shots at a crowded event with no chance to mess with settings, that always makes me happy. And I've only replaced the batteries once, and the second set is still going strong after a few weeks--I suspect the batteries in the box didn't have much to them.

My only two real complaints at the moment: the small, but awkward dimensions and the color compared to my old pocket camera. The size of the camera is actually a plus; it's smaller than an SLR--with or without the lens attached--and can easily be "palmed" with one hand without feeling like it's going to slip. On the other hand, I've never had a harder time trying to find a nice camera bag that wasn't too snug (the lens barrel with cap can make most "digital camera cases" fit much too tightly to be of any convenience or protection) or too roomy (even the smallest SLR bags are too big and DV camera bags a little too compartmentalized or too "secure" with multiple zippers and flaps). Because of that, I just place it in my satchel with the rest of my stuff and hope for the best.

As for the color: I feel like everything I've shot so far has been okay, but comparing the color produced by the S3 versus my old cheap Fujis (the last being an A303 or my brother's current F470) reveals a big gap. Under good, naturally-lit conditions, the colors from the Fuji cameras always come out bright and deliciously saturated. The Canon's seem true enough, but muted and almost dull relative to my old photos. It's nothing that makes me disappointed, and perhaps I can play a little more with what I'm doing in sunlight, but I would love it if I could get flowers to look as beautiful or kids at play look as full of life without even trying.

All in all, it's everything I wanted it to be in a semi-pro camera, and the LCD and battery features have already shown their worth. Until I make the plunge into a nice digital SLR, I'm really glad that I made this my latest camera.

I am most happy with the Cannon PowerShot Series S3. It will do everything I need to do.I have gotten some great shots.

All I can say is about this camera is it is really great and I HIGHLY suggest this camera to anyone with an interest in good photography. The manual settings are a must for anyone into birding/botany/nature. Everything is awesome about this product, although consider buying a tripod, bag, 1GB+ SD memory card, and maybe some optics, although the optics aren't really needed to get really, really great images with this camera. If you want a video camera and a camera, consider buying this all-in-one camera/video, because the movie mode is perfect and works great for anything. I've even used it in documenting a severe storm in our area; recording hail, wind, and flood damage. Can't beat it in any area!

In all fairness to Amazon, I need to write this review. I just returned my Powershot S3 IS because it did not do what I needed it to do. The ability to take macro photos is critical to me and this camera, despite claims to the contrary, does not have any real macro capability. The reviews on this page did not mention the macro mode in any substantive way--and now I know why.

In macro mode, the zoom function is very limited. Only about a fifth or less of the 12X zoom can be used. After that, the camera will not focus. The field of view is about the size of a sunflower, if you are shooting flowers. I couldn't figure out how to shoot objects the size of bugs or coins without cropping. In supermacro mode, the zoom is unavailable altogether.

This may be a very fine camera for other purposes, but if you want to use the macro mode, don't buy it.

My family has loved having a digital camera so far. I love being able to just keep on clicking and then being able to deleted the ones that I do not want. Our family recently went to Disneyland for vacation and the camera was perfect. We still have a lot to learn about all the features that this camera has. It is easy to use and the pictures turn out very well when I have them printed out.

I was between the panasonic, sony and the nikon point and shoot zoom cameras. I bought this one from other views I read and they way it felt in my hands. I love the features on this camera like the beach and snow shooting. I'm not a major photographer, but do take loads of pics and this camera sure can dish it out. The pics are wonderful. I am so happy wiht it. I did buy a fast speed sd 2 gig card and it makes a difference. I liked it much better than the panasonic, that one felt cheap and did not have the bells and whistles. The sony was nice, but did not fit my hands and I did not like how it was laid out. THe nikon wsa nice except no view finder, just the view screen. I have had this camera for 3 weeks and love it. So far the only downer is that it has so many new things on it over my kodak camera. Its far better than the kodaks.

I researched cameras for six months before I had the money to buy. I wanted a mega zoom with a good feature set and high quality video, since I knew I couldn't also afford a video camera. It shoots such good pix in auto mode, that I find myself rarely using the other settings, at least so far. You can shoot photos while shooting video or shoot video while in still photo mode. The video is high quality, AVI at 30 frames per second, which I believe is better resolution than standard TV. You can use the 12x optical zoom while shooting video. Most digital still cameras shoot video at just one focal length. The camera has two mikes and records CD quality stereo sound when shooting video, though you can set it for lower sound and picture qualities if you like. The built-in flash does an excellent job, and with the standard setting I have yet to get red eye.

Image stabilization works very well and is essential with a 12x zoom, especially when shooting video or low light stills. Picture quality is just wonderful in both video and still picture modes. After buying the camera and a 2 gig SD card, I took a bus trip through 28 states visiting friends, shooting hundreds of photos and about 10 minutes of video. The results were great.

Photo stitching software comes with the camera and it is excellent. I had been concered about the very limited wide angle capablity, equivilent only to a 35mm lens on a 35mm camera. But by taking overlapping photos I got wonderful panoramas and group photos without the usual wide angle distortion and with more detail. While this works best with a tripod, with a little care you can shoot by hand and get excellent results.

The batteries are AA. Get a charger and NiMh rechargable batteries. The nice thing is, if your batteries die, you can get a set from the store [uses 4] in a pinch. I was able to shoot 10 minutes of video plus about 150 pix on the batteries that came with the camera. I could have done better, but I spent at least a couple of hours with the camera on, fooling with menus and settings and reviewing the photos and videos.

At best resolution and least compression, a 2Gig SD card will hold 715 photos or 15 minutes of best quality video. 4 Gig cards are available, and if you intend to shoot a lot of video, I would strongly recommend one. Also, the faster the card the better. Slow cards won't keep up with best quality video, and time between still shots will be longer. If the card doesn't advertise it's speed it isn't fast enough! Get 133x or 150x speed. This translates to 20mb or 22.5 mb per second. In theory the camera's single shot limit for video is one hour, but it's a non-issue as the 4 gig cards will only hold 30 minutes of best quality video.

Things I don't like: 8 gigs for an hour of video is way to high. MPEG2 DVD's will hold up to 4 hours in the same space. The view screen should be bigger in this class of camera. It's better than the previous model -two inch versus 1.8 inch- but it really needs to be larger...that said it's adequate for my old guy eyes, and if I had to give up the ability to adjust the screen to get a larger size I wouldn't. I would also like to set the zoom to a slower rate of zoom when shooting video. Rate of zoom is adjustable, by how far you move the lever, but the throw is too short to be precise.

Basically, if you can do without the camera fitting in your pocket you will be very hard pressed to do better than the Canon S3IS.

I'm not sure what the macro problems are the poster a few reviews ago had. There might be someting wrong with that camera and I would seriously consider sending it back. One thing to remember is for VERY close photos, be sure it is in super-macro mode, not just macro mode. It will focus on dust on the lens (0 cm!) and takes stunning photos. I have quite a few extraordinary shots in super-macro and macro mode, all auto-focused. I wish we had more info on that problem, because I'd say the S3 takes better than average macro shots!

All-in-all, I'd definitely say this is about my favorite non-dSLR camera on the market.

I am generally happy with this S3, but as I have gotten older, and my eyes are dimenishing, I need a quality viewfinder. This one is electronic and suffers a clarity that I do not have in my other cameras- a digital rebel and old sureshot. At times I have taken pictures not knowing its focus, only to be pleasently pleased later on. The LCD is also not as good as I would wish. I think the IS is unbelivable, and its movie capabilities are amazing for its quality. I do not want to sound negative, but this has been my experience.

I bought the S3 as a replacement for my PowerShot S10 which has served me amazingly well over the past. My old S10 is only a 2.1MP (megapixel) camera but that suited me just fine, taking tens of thousands of pictures over the past six years that I owned it. My only complaint about the S10 is a common one amongst digital cameras: a crappy 2x optical zoom. The S3's 12x optical zoom was its main selling point for me, and having the PowerShot name behind it sealed the deal.

This camera does FAR more than I'll ever use so I'll instead focus (no pun intended) on the things that I particularly like about the camera, from a point-and-shoot perspective. Some of this info may be old hat to the point-and-shoot digital camera crowd, but remember that I'm coming off a six year old camera that doesn't have half as many features. :)

Although the camera is not an SLR camera, it behaves like one. There's an LCD panel on the back of the camera for lining up your shots, of course, and there's also a viewfinder. Looking through the viewfinder reveals another LCD screen that shows you what the camera's CCD is showing. In effect this gives you the benefit of an SLR camera without the extra cost. This forced me to change my shooting style; when I took close-up shots through the (straight-through) viewfinder on my S10 I had to purposefully aim the camera slightly higher in order to properly frame the shot. With the S3 I don't have this bother any more.

The screen (both the LCD screen and the one in the viewfinder) displays an astonishing amount of information, most of which I ignore. Two very helpful bits of info: There's a white rectangle in the center which defines the balance point of your shot, and more interestingly, a black grid that really helps you make sure your images are straight. (Speaking of straightness, the camera also has an automatic sensor to determine if you're taking portrait or landscape shots. When you download the pictures into your computer, they're pre-rotated correctly. Very handy. (PS: It interfaces with a standard mini USB cable, and it works flawlessly with Apple's iPhoto software.)

If you're taking a picture and you need a flash, the camera will alert you to this fact which is great. Not so great is the fact that it won't alert you until you actually go to take the picture. Considering that you need to manually raise the flash when it's needed, this has the potential for making you lose some candid shots. Tip: Keep the flash raised at all times, and set the flash for "automatic" so it fires when needed.

The image stabilization feature is downright awesome. I actually had to make a conscious effort to get the camera to take a blurry picture with stabilization enabled. One-handed overhead shots are as clear as a tripod shot.

As I said, I bought the camera for the zoom and it doesn't disappoint. The zoom ring is variable in speed (the further you move it, the faster the zoom moves). The image stabilization feature really comes into play at full zoom. I was able to take a not-blurry photo of a news helicopter hovering overhead, with the camera at full optical zoom and without a tripod.

The camera takes four AA batteries; Canon provides you with a set in the box. That will be good for about 100 shots, depending on how much you use the flash. Rechargeable batteries are a must; a decent set of rechargeables (2000mAh or greater) will give you about 500 shots. Well worth the extra money. However, I do like that it will take standard AA's in a pinch; my old S10 took a proprietary rechargeable battery and I occasionally found myself with a set of used-up rechargeables when a photo opportunity arose.

I have but two complaints about the PowerShot S3 IS. Complaint #1 is the body of the camera is constructed of plastic. My old S10 was metal bodied and survived several trips to the concrete floor with only superficial damage. I daresay a similar incident with the S3 will result in a shattered body. Complaint #2 is Canon's incredibly lame inclusion of a puny 16MB SD memory card. At full quality and full resolution, you might get 4-5 pictures onto the card before it fills up. Canon is just adding to the nation's landfills with these things. The first purchase anyone will make is a larger card (I bought two 2GB cards) and Canon's cards are more expensive (sometimes significantly more expensive) than the competition. The inclusion of a 16MB card is either a joke or an insult; at the very least Canon should have included a 128MB card.

What an excellent camera!!!

I recently bought one and took it on a trip to Europe. We're just back and the photos are amazing.

I tried the various photographic modes and they deliver the goods.

The camera is very easy to operate, and the zoom is very very useful.

I would suggest at least 1/2Gb memory because of the size of the photos.

This camera was great. Easy to use, fun to review the photos. SD cards work very well. Video is easy to turn on. Though turning it off, you tend to take your eye off the subject. But I think I can edit the video clips later to have better starts and stops. Camera is small enough to go just about anywhere. and light enough to not be a issue while walking around. Reading the manual and understanding all the features is a bit tough. but the presets work pretty good and I'm very pleased with the purchase.

I used the camera twice before it died on me. I took about 15 pictures in total. So, keep in mind that I haven't gotten much use out of it (I'm asking for a replacement, rather than money back).

The good:
1. It uses alkaline AA batteries.
2. It's light.
3. It fits my hands like a glove. On a piano, I have about a 10-12 key stretch.
4. I'm techy enough so while a bit overwhelmed with all the options, I can handle them.
5. Loading from the camera to the computer is a snap!
6. The RCA jacks are a hoot, allowing displaying pictures on a t.v. easy and fun.
7. There are various instructions booklets for them and they're separate English and Spanish - not both. One set can be discarded!
8. I got some great shots for someone who just replaced her very good Nikon SLR for her first digital camera.

The Bad:
1. I only took about 15 pictures before the camera literally just died on me; it wouldn't power on for a third time. Of course, I tried a couple of different new sets of batteries and the originals should have been fine.
2. Is it black to cover the potentially flimsy plastic body? (The S2 - that I refused to buy - had "silvery-cheap" look and feel and the S3 seems like a stones throw away.)
3. Red-eye is pretty bad due to the low flash to the body and the software that comes with the camera, while having the option to "edit it out" puts human eyes in; this looks really creepy when your main subject matters are a dog and cat.

I've looked for a couple of years for the right camera to replace my Nikon 35mm. The digital camera needed to be:
1. Light
2. Produce good quality pictures (overall)
3. Have good reviews by users, not "editors." One never knows if a review by an editor is a paid advertisement in disguise.
4. Be easy enough for me to handle and to teach my partner, who's less of a techy to use.
5. Have image stabilization (the jury is still out on how real that is... got some fuzzies when I wasn't expecting it)
6. Have a very good optical zoom

It meets and exceeds most of those requirements. So, I'm asking for a replacement, rather than a refund. We'll see where this goes from here.

I have been taking film pictures with a professional Canon SLR for over a decade, and have been holding out on purchasing a DSLR until they come out with a sub-$2,000 full-frame body. A few years ago, I bought a Canon digital Elph (S330) just for some everyday digital point-n-shooting. While the Elph has served me well, I find the lack of manual settings too limited for my taste. If I were to upgrade to a DSLR, I would get either the Canon 1Ds or the 5D (both of which carry full-frame sensors, a requirement for me), but I'm just not prepared to spend $2,500 for the 5D or 3x that for the 1Ds yet.

With the recent addition of my family (a new baby), I started to look into buying a replacement for the Elph so I can take more baby photos. The film SLR takes great pictures, but traveling with 3 lbs+ of photo equipment is just not practical. I needed something compact (not necessarily pocket sized), but gives me the options to take pictures on manual settings like an SLR. I did quite a bit of research, and determined the Canon S3 IS would be the best camera for my purpose. I've used it for the past month, and it's been great! It's shaped like an SLR, only smaller. It has most, if not all, of the manual settings of a full-size DSLR, minus the interchangeable lenses and an optical viewfinder. Obviously, with an EVF camera like the S3 IS you gain live preview capability, movie mode, and the absence of sensor dust issue. The live histogram is also a huge advantage over competitor models. With a long-zoom and image stabilization, the S3 IS is priced at a fraction of a DSLR. While nobody should expect the same picture quality out of the S3 IS as a DSLR, especially at high ISO, this is truly a great camera for photo enthusiasts who are just not ready to buy a DSLR, or DSLR owners looking for a more compact digicam for traveling or everyday work.

I am very pleased with my purchase of the Canon PowerShot S3 IS. So far it has taken great pics and haven't had any problems at all. The battery life seems to be holding out very well. I ordered energizer lithium rechargables (2500 mah) and they last a long time.

The picture quality has been good, but if you want to mess around with the advanced setting it takes a little getting used to. Overall this camera has been exceptional so far and haven't had any problems.

Also if you buy this camera I would recommend getting the Canon lens adapter set and some 58mm UV filters to protect the lens.

I am an artist, a traditional painter, and I needed a camera to create my own images for prints and cards of my paintings. This camera is more than enough for what I need, but when it comes to detail, resolution, and color clarity, you can never really have too much.

And I am NOT a camera techy, as many of the reviewers on this camera seem to be. However, with that said, and with all of the features this camera has, the functionality of this camera became VERY intuitive after just a few hours of referencing the manual and working directly with the camera.

Another thing I want to point out is the bundle this camera is packaged with. Personally, I give Canon a great deal of credit for making this package. The 16MB SD card it comes with is NOT useless! It is perfect for grabbing the camera right out of the box and putting in the batteries (4 included!), and giving it a whirl. I know 16 MB is very little space, but slow down------it's not a "scam" to get you to buy more and more products, or to spend $600 when you thought you were only going to spend $350 on your new camera, etc. Yes, you will want a bigger card---of course you will! But this package gives you another opportunity to save more money, and to expand your options on your own personal terms. I can only imagine if the camera was bundled with a 1GB stick that people would complain about the size or quality or the rise in price, etc.
No, it doesn't come with a carrying bag either. But do you determine what golf club to buy based on wether or not it comes with a sleeve/cover?


I have the lens adapter/converter to 58mm and the lens hood as well, and I am definitely glad I purchased them all together.
NOTE-----I HIGHLY reccomend also buying a UV filter for the camera, if for no other reason than protecting the lens. You will be much more nervous and meticulous if you have to clean the camera's own lens rather than a filter.

I can't argue much about the technical specifics of cameras, etc, but the setup on this camera was a breeze. I plugged the A/V cable into my TV, and there it was----stereo sound from the movie I had just recorded, no messy setup, and immediate results. Easy! It even functioned to display the viewfinder contents on the TV itself when in camera mode, which was a nice surprise if nothing else!


For my two cents, if you are looking for better quality pictures but, like me, you are NOT a techy or a professional photographer, and your budget is NOT $9000 (there IS a guide on Amazon for a $9000 budget), I recommend this camera to you. The camera DOES look like a big, complicated mess and it can certainly be intimidating. But you probably thought the same thing when you first started to drive a car. By now, you don't have to put too much effort into driving your car, and this camera quickly became as familiar and intuitive to me as well. And the results speak for themselves----the pictures are remarkable, and every time a friend sees a movie clip I have taken with this camera they smile and laugh and often tell me how surprised they are that a camera can do all of that. I am very pleased with this camera, 5 stars in any category that is relevant to me and my needs.

Just got this little jewel, a real step up from the Nikon Coolpix stuff I was used to, as well as the S2 IS which now resides with my sister. As my subjects are trains, the telephoto lens and hood work great, especially when used in combination with a UV filter and/or polarizer (depending on the situation). Despite needing four AA batteries for operation, it seems to be a real miser when it comes to sipping the juice. This dog has lots of tricks, and I've just begun to scratch the surface. I recommend the S3 IS to anyone who is unable or unwilling to dish out the $$$$ to purchase a DSLR.

We LOVE this camera! It makes a professional out of any amateur! It's VERY easy to use and is not too bulky to carry around all day. Great for wildlife and sharp details. The colours are spot-on and don't require touching up in Photoshop. Movies can be made for full screen viewing - and the image stabilizing capability has finally made the digital camera for photos and film a crisp, clear non-blurry experience. I can't recommend a camera more highly!

The image quality is really good and Color Ascent feature is the best from Canon.
The only problem i see is the size. This is bulkier than the small & compact point and shoot cameras in market..

We spent a month to find the perfect camera and we did a great job!!!!
The pictures are amazing! I love the color accent mode (it allows you to take black and white pictures leaving one chosen color) and super macro mode. The image stabilizer works pretty well ( when you don't zoom). Batteries last long. Movie mode is amazing (you can zoom during recording). Camera is a little heavy and big and the LCD is only 2 inches, if you want something smaller with a bigger LCD pick the Canon PowerShot SD700 IS. We decided to get the S3 because:

1 More optical zoom
2 Better movie mode (zoom in SD700 doesn't work and it doesn't have such nice sound )
3 LCD won't scratch (it closes)
4 Uses batteries (thanks to that we don't need to take charger to Europe)
5 The same price

The SD 700 makes pictures faster than the S3 (but after having a Sony Cybershot is not bad at all).

I own the Rebel XT and just purchased this camera a few days ago. The S3-IS the camera of my dreams - it is already my favorite. Don't get me wrong, the XT is a wonderful camera, but not nearly so easy to master. I used this camera last night to take shots of my son playing football, using the sports setting. In the past, with the XT, I would only keep 20% of my shots. With this camera, I've kept 95%. I nearly filled a 1 gig card and I'm thrilled to have captured these memories. If you are not an experienced Canon camera user, the controls and options may be difficult to understand at first, but the great thing is the camera can be kept on the auto setting, great pictures can be achieved, and you can learn while you use it! When Canon upgrades again, I'm going to sell my Rebel, buy the new model, and give this one to my husband. To all parents of athletes: BUY THIS CAMERA. You will not regret it.

Not being a photographer I was looking for something that took great pictures and was easy to use and this is exactly it. I used it tonight for the first time at a baseball game and took over 250 hundred pics mostly using auto and sport with the continuous shooting and got the results I always wanted before but couldn't do it with the cheaper digitals...Very Impressed so far....

I have no complaints about this camera - so far I've taken some pretty good shots (I submitted a few to the customer photos for this product).

It's relatively easy to use. I love the range of manual controls over the various settings but full auto mode also takes excellent shots.

The super zoom is phenomenal as is the super macro.

I kinda wish that the manual focus was a little easier to access/manipulate.

Admittedly, camera shake becomes an immense issue at longer zoom settings, but then again - that's what tripods are for.

I love that I now have access to add-ons like filters and super telephoto lenses. This cam is not an SLR but it's a good way to jump into slightly more advanced photography than your old point-and-shoot.

I consider the fact that it uses AA batteries to be a plus - I can use all of my motley collection of NiMH AAs. It get's really good mileage off of some old rayovac 1500mAh cells that I have.

The range of features and photo modes etc are too great to get into here but some features like the INTERVALOMETER just blew me away - I've used it as part of a sleep study project and I'm trying to create a sequential set of photos of a bamboo plant growing next.

Ala in all, great camera for the price.

I was an Olympus user... having had a C3040 and then a C5050. However, I always felt that the 3x zoom was way too short compared to what you get used with video cameras. On the other hand, when I dropped my old 35mm SLR camera and accesories because it was mostly sitting at home due to its enormous size and weight, I promised myself that I will never have a camera that I can't carry in my belt. Thus, the digital SLRs are of no advantage to me, no matter the image quality... I hope sometime in the future, some clever manufacturer will finally create the perfect SLR: one the size of a point and shoot camera but with optical SLR viewfinder and tiny interchangeable lenses, if one needed to. Not too difficult... but they still need to sell all those big lenses before they commit to a new micro SLR design.

So, while I wait, I found that an image stabilized long zoom camera was a perfect interim product. I chose the Canon IS S3 for its good reviews, size and overall Canon quality. Olympus, one of the first in bringing optical image stabilization years ago with the UZ 2000, had in the meantime abandoned it and all their long zoom series had no stabilization. A long zoom without stabilization is going to produce more frustration than excitement, especially when those lenses are hardly brighter than F/3.5 at the long end.

So, I was tempted by the IS S3, though I bought it just after it came in the market in May, so I paid more than $100 than today's price. This is the cost of buying oven-warm products. I knew it and I assume it. However, I must say that I am really happy with the camera. I am still learning how to take advantage of all the features it has, while you can be happy most of the time with just the auto point and shoot mode. I admit that the image noise is a bit higher than my old C5050, at same ISO values, something I expected from a camera with such a small sensor. But the advantage of the 12x zoom compensates more than enough.

To carry this camera you need to get the Canon pouch (PSC-75). It is the only one that tightly fits, and I really tried two dozens or more of the generic ones. It just fits the camera (and its strap if you use it on your belt) and looks very much like the old 35mm SLR cases, that you can just leave hanging from the camera while in use if it is not in your belt. If you take extra batteries, put them in your pocket... though for one day shooting you don't need them.

Image quality is excellent for this type of camera. I uploaded some images that shows it, plus an example of the My Colors mode wich is a nice addition from Canon: it is like having Photoshop in camera... but you don't need to go to college to use it. And for the zoom, an image of the moon with a 1.7x Olympus converter shot handheld looks terrific! 1/160s at 730mm I never imagined I could. (check it in uploaded pics).

Some people complain about the flash not popping up automagically. I love it! Now I don't even need to look for the flash sign in the display. When I want flash, I just pop it up. If I want to make sure it will stay off, fold it down. Just keep the flash setting to forced.

The macro is tricky to use. When using the full zoom, you can focus a field of view of about 8cm wide from a distance of 1 meter. Not bad if you want to stay away from your subject. But to get real macro, you have to get very, very close... The zoom has to be in wide, and at 10cm from the lens you get around 6cm wide, at 5cm it is 4cm wide, and at 0cm (yes, you can focus on something touching the lens surface) you get 2.5cm wide.. enough to duplicate and old 35mm slide.

Well, I am not talking about all the features that have been described in detail by so many people. I just want to say that I miss the flash hot shoe and low noise of my C5050. In return I get a great stabilized zoom and really fast reaction camera. I still keep the C5050 for my underwater shooting when diving.

Image quality was excellent and so happy about that. However, video captured system noise(beep and wheel sound) which is never seen in any other cameras. Even camera is not for video, but its noise is so annoying and video feature is useless. So I gave it up and returned. Later found it is only defect on that camera. If you buy this, please check this earlier in case. Yeah, I didn't notice this till after 3 days.

With previous Canon models didnt have date stamp on pictures
Looking to buy this camera if it has date stamp on the picture

In reading reviews about cannon S2 and S3 I couldn't decide on one. So I bought both to campare them. I printed out pics and family voted. The S3 were much clearer. I tired the S2 first and didn't think it could get easier. I was wrong. The S3 is so easy.I know nothing about photography and in no time I was taking beautiful pictures that others say look professional. I love the macro mode to get closeups and the S3 has the iso button on the front so you can change it when you want. no having to go through menu looking for it.
In reviews I read that this camera might be too much for a beginner. That couldn't be more wrong. So the S2 went back. Not that it's a bad camera at all but I thought the $40.00 more was worth the better picture quality I got.

This is a sturdy, solid formidable camera; it takes great shots and has most of the features I was looking for in a take everywhere camera - good zoom, good lens, adjustable screen, AA batteries, movie mode, good macro features, image stabilizer. But with that package came nuisances I ended up not being able to tolerate. There are buttons everywhere that you would naturally put your hand to hold a camera if you are even a slightly experienced photographer. I kept resetting features everytime I picked up the camera, and ended up finally handling it like a raw egg. You can't "grab it" you must pick it up with two fingers to avoid hitting buttons you don't want to hit. I carry a camera with me always in a pocket in my bag. Because of the button issue, I've had to put it in a case, so I don't turn it on from simply jostling the bag. The camera once turned on when I laid my jacket down and it was comic watching my bag go in and out with the lens pushing it. But that kind of "accident" can screw up the lens. It does not have a natural hand-hold and it's hard to find a comfortable way to grip the camera - and I have small hands - it would be much worse if you have large hands. The LCD screens - well, there's isn't much great to say here - they are simply inadequate in daylight. Canon recommends using the viewfinder when in broad daylight because the LCD screen is barely visible, but the viewfinder reads very poorly - you cannot accurately see what your are framing - detail, color, anything close to accurate representation is just not there. The adjustable lcd screen mechanics are simply magnificent-a feature I was thrilled to have-but viewing it is simply inadequate. - I just decided tonight that this camera just wasn't good enough for my needs and am ordering the Sony DSC H5. Canon, I hope you are listening - if it weren't for the viewing screens and the crazy button layout, this would be my camera.

This is the best camera out there...at any price. It is easy to use and takes wonderful pictures. It is simple enough for beginners to just point and shoot, but has all the options for a real photo buff. I highly recommend the camera. The movie option is also simple and creates nice, clear movies, with no time limit.

I decided to get an ultra-zoom digital camera this summer. After many weeks of reading online reviews and visiting electronics and camera shops, I finally decided to order the Canon S3 when the price finally fell to under 400 dollars. I have had the camera for two weeks now, and I must admit that I do not understand what all the glowing reviews are about. The camera is not terrible, but it is cluttered with tiny, flimsy buttons marked with icons or abbreviations that are not at all intuitive. It is virtually impossible to hold the camera without hitting one of them by accident. The manual is incredibly frustrating. This is not a minor problem. Nearly every entry has a parenthetical reference or footnote telling you to jump to another page. When you do find what you are looking for, it is usually written in the defective, non-native English that has become all too common in product manuals these days. I suppose the camera has all the wonderful options, settings, and features that I've read about hidden somehwere behind all those buttons or in all those menus and sub-menus, but I'll never figure out where they are or how to use them from this horrible manual. The LCD screen is OK, but smaller in reality than it seemed in the store. The viewfinder is perhaps the most disappointing feature of the camera. The resolution is very poor. The image is so heavily pixelated and fuzzy that I have no idea if the subject is in focus or not. As others have pointed out, the lens cap is cheap and falls off for no apparent reason. I didn't realize how annoying this would be. Even at the reduced price, this just should not happen. Most of the pictures that I have taken using the factory settings are OK, but not that much better than my old 3-megapixel Pentax Optio point-and-shoot model. Overall, I am not completely disgusted by the camera, but, so far, I feel no great enthusiasm for picking it up and using it. I can't help but wonder if I would have been happier with the Panasonic FZ7 or the Sony H5.

I'll admit, the first two weeks I used this camera it was great. However, I never really had the chance to find out for sure b/c after two weeks my camera stopped working. It shut down during use and wouldn't turn back on. I sent the camera back to Canon Factory, hoping it would be fixed or for a replacement, however, I was told that it was unrepairable and I was SOL - basically. Reason? corrosion. From what? - Canon wouldn't say. How is this possible after two weeks and only 3 uses?!?!?!?! So i'm out $500 and I'll be sure never to buy another Canon product. I feel I've been had by the Canon people. After reading reviews/complaints I found that this was a common problem among Canon products. Advice for consumers - keep your camera in bubble wrap and don't use it. This way it will last at least a few months. Good luck!

After taking 400 shots I find the camera excellent all around, and have only one major complaint: its maximum f-stop is 8.0, and the default f-stop in Auto mode is low, typically 2.x. So the depth of field you can get is modest at best, particularly for closer work. As a minor complaint, I find you can't capture RAW images with this camera -- as a first-time digital photographer I didn't know anything about the uses of this format, so didn't know enough to look for it in a camera. These two complaints are not against the high quality of the instrument; they are only a caution that if these two features (shooting at f/16 and having your choice of image format) are important to you, look for a different camera.

I've been using this camera for a few weeks now, and I've taken at least a thousand photographs with it. It is easily the most versatile piece of photographic equipment I have ever owned, and I grew up using film SLRs. This camera has almost all of the features I love in SLR cameras, including fairly intuitive control over exposure settings. I also love the video feature.

My favorite features are:

- The 12x zoom lens which can easily capture close-up subjects from the opposite side of a large room.

- Super-macro mode shoots clear pictures less than an inch from the lens.

- Excellent TV quality video with good stereo sound (no HD).

- A variety of shooting modes let you capture a detailed close up in vivid color one moment, and a fast action shot seconds later with the turn of a dial.

- Adjustable flash output.


That said, there are a few things that really irritate me about this camera. For instance, the manual focus is a pain to use. Instead of twisting the lens, you are forced to hold down one button while you press up and down keys. Autofocus is essentially worthless when you combine low light and fast action (such as a lively concert, like the one I shot pictures at tonight). A usable manual focus is essential for any serious photographer!

Another thing that bothers me is the lack of an external flash hook-up. It makes it difficult to avoid red-eye when photographing people in low light.

I don't understand how such basic features were overlooked when this camera has everything else but the kitchen sink. While this is certainly the most versatile camera I've ever owned, and I love it for what it is, I would not buy it again. I would look for a similar camera that includes a twist-lens manual focus and a flash hot-shoe.

One more critique - photographs are often unusably grainy with ISO settings at 400+. You'll want to stick to the 80 - 200 range, if you can. The lowest ISO setting possible for the situation will deliver the best image the camera is capable of.

This is an excellent camera, especially if you have previously owned a simpler Canon. The Icons and buttons are very easy to understand and the camera is very logically set up, again, especially if you have owned a Canon. The camera has a comfortable feel and the zoom is just spectacular for a very reasonable price.

Just when you thought all was going well
Canon comes out with a new one S4 IS (Oct 13-06)
that is why the S3 have gotten so reasonable in price

Got this camera after reading good reviews. Out of the box, I noticed there was a couple of dust particles INSIDE of the lens. I then compared it to another new S3 that a coworker purchased- she has dust particles inside her lens. Went to Walmart to have a look at their new S3- dust in that lens. What's up with that? I was hoping to just return it and get one without a dust covered lens. But no, not an option. Guess I'll pay to have it sent to Canon to have them clean it like it should have been in the first place. I encourage all to use a small flashlight aimed at an angle, and look at the inside of the second layer of glass in the lens. Or just look at it in the sunlight. Dust?
Otherwise, this camera is excellent so far. Love the movie mode. The zoom produces a surprisingly good image in good light. This camera feels so good in my hand! Too bad about about the dust.

I bought Canon S3 1 month ago based on Amazon's review. But after study it and use it for more than 1 month, I am very disappointed.

1. this product is not easy to use. I had other several digital cameras before and find this camera is more complicated than it shall be.

2. it does not auto-focus easily when zooming even with IS turned on.

3. the Macro does not work as it claimed.

4. the layout of buttons on the digital camera are not great. It's very easy to press one of the buttons when shooting.

I suggest to try out the camera before you purchase it. By the time you figure out this camera has problem, you might already pass 30 days return policy like I am.

I'm a very experienced photographer, been published and won a few contests too. I use Canon SLR cameras, lenses and equipment which is GREAT stuff. So, when I wanted to add a professional level point-and-shoot camera the Canon Powershot S3 IS was an easy choice. It has excellent optics and essentially the same technology used in Canon's SLRs. So what could go wrong?

First and foremost, everyone should know the Electronic Viewfinder on S3 is VERY pixelated and dark - like looking thru heavy mesh screen. It's difficult to know when you have a sharp focus. Also, the LCD screen is VERY small and dark. It's difficult to see images on this screen in bright light. It simply does not work well for me doing fine art photography. If you plan to use this camera 100 percent of the time in autofocus, these concerns do not apply to you. However, if you plan to do any Macro photography this will be a problem. Personally, I like to know with absolute certainty my photos are sharp and subjects are in focus. No one likes to see fuzzigraphs!

I have also found it far too easy to accidently push one of the many buttons scattered over the camera surface. For example, I had set the camera to best quality, highest resolution to shoot flower pictures. Somewhere along the way I hit the wrong button and took a few low resolution images before discovering the change of setting. My SLR's have lots of buttons too, but I've never had this happen before.

The macro (close-up)capability of this camera is greatly over-rated. It only works on wide angle settings of the lens. Therefore, you must be VERY close to the subject photographed. I bought a Canon 500D close up lens to take macros and still have the full 12X zoom of the camera's lens.

A few reviewers have commented on the very poor quality of the manual that accompanies the S3. I must agree. It IS hard to figure out and I've got a lot of experience reading Canon manuals, figuring out Canon menus and setting camera dials. It's been my experience most folks don't read the manuals. They learn just enough to take pictures and never explore the full power of these devices. The big "P" on the Program dial does NOT stand for "perfect". So, if you don't read manuals, ignore my comments.

The picture quality is very good and should not disappoint anyone - assuming of course it's properly focused. The one thing you need to know is that as good as the meter is in this camera, you will have to learn about Exposure Compensation if you expect properly exposed images. Over- and under- exposures can be avoided with compensation and using the camera's histogram features.

I gave this camera a 3 star rating because it does not live up to the quality and performance I've come to expect from Canon. It's a decent camera, but for it's price it should be MUCH BETTER.

I bought this camera to replace my Olympus UZ 770, which I adored but it had some noise issues at 400, noisy zoom, no IS, & buried functions.

The Canon was a little pricey, but so worth it. Yes, there are some noise issues from 200 ISO on up but with IS I don't usually use 400 or 800. The bracketing feature is AWESOME. I also find that the IS is more effective on the 2nd & 3rd shots, due to the fact that you don't have to press the shutter for those last 2.

The ISO button being right there is great too, and the function button is a great shortcut to exposure & flash adjustments, white balance, color options, and the bracketing choices. I also like that it saves whatever setting you were on last, although sometimes I forget and wind up using tungsten WB in daylight, but I find the Auto WB works great so I usually use that.

The noise issue doesn't bother me for what I expected, and I plan to use noise reduction software anyway. I don't expect Pro SLR results out of what is essentially a feature loaded point and shoot.

It's also very quiet and I haven't had issues with the lens cap coming off - unless you're careless with it and you shouldn't be anyway.

Love the rotating screen and am not bothered by the size. I suppose if you have bad vision or like to show instant results to others a lot a bigger screen is nice, but I'm fine.

I also ADORE the included software although the red eye function is a little finicky sometimes.

I also use it to preview what to expect when shooting 35mm film, until I can afford the Canon EOS 5D.

I've had the camera about 3 months. I bought a 1 G memory card 150X. I added rechargeable AA batteries. I recently went to the Smokie Mountains in East TN and took over 600 pictures. I have taken another 36 using flash and the batteries are still going. The pictures are vivid and sharp. The 12X lense and image stabilizer are terrific. The start up time is phenomenal. The multiple shot feature is out of this world. This is one great camera that I am more than pleased with.

My only complaint is that the menu and set buttons on the back keep getting in my way. Other than that, it is an excellent camera.

No complains yet. Good pictures, good zoom, good image stabilizer, lots of functions, good price.

Summarizing, excellent camera.

This is the camera one should look if you want to do serious and advanced photography. It offers a lots of features in the manual mode, which you need to understand. Zoom is amazing, Picture qualities is better in manual mode than in auto mode.

If you want auto Point and Shoot, please don't bother to buy this. Would be costly, instead go to S50 for point and shoot.

Has attachements for attaching lenses, did not try it, manual is not elaborate for amature person. Takes some time to get use to the photographs.

Worth every dollar.

We are still sorting through our pictures of our European vacation but overall the camera was excellent and we would highly recommend it. The optical zoom was incredible. Movie mode had great resolution and sound (only shot movies during the daylight) actually better than our older movie camera that we didn't take with us. The camera is on the heavy/bulky side but I don't know of a lighter camera with all of these options. If small is very important to you keep looking but features mattered more to us. It takes a bit to get familiar with the shooting options but nothing more than you would expect from a new camera.

Canon S3 is the latest camera for S series. Nothing has changed much though. The black color makes you feel comfortable about your camera. It will not be wrong to say that S3= Black S2 with 6 megapixel.

I bought one when it first came on the market back in May. Half a year and 5,000 pictures later, here are some of my comments:

- It is a GREAT digital camera in its own class. By "class" I mean one should not compare it with a dSLR because the S3 is not one. So do not expect it to overcome "shutter lag" easily, although among other DC (digital camera) I have used, shutter lag on S3 is greatly improved--to a degree that I feel comfortable taking photos in very fast pace, e.g., catching flying birds. (However, only good dSLR can completely eliminate shutter lag and S3 is not a dSLR.) One also should not compare the S3 with the "small" point-'n-shoot DCs. S3 is not as small as those--it won't easily slide into your pocket, unless your pocket is relatively big and loose (like mine). But the slightly larger body brings great features none of the small DC can offer.

- Big optical zoom (12X) and IS. 12X is GREAT and combined with Canon's Imagine Stabilization, S3 turns into a powerful large zoom camera with superb imagine quality. My recent trips included shooting (with cameras in case you wonder) wild wolf at Yellowstone National Park. And this little S3 came out as the only one that can capture the animals at great distance, along with other "big guns" the professionals carry. The IS feature eliminates hand shake with great effect and I could shoot at 12X with low light and still get quality photos. I also highly recommend the "TC-DC58B Tele Converter Lens" for the S3 (or S2) which gives you another 1.5 zoom that effectively make S3 18X zoom (equivalent to a 600mm lens). Check how much those big telephoto lens cost (close to 10K) ...

- Excellent video shooting. Again a feaure one almost never finds on any other DC or dSLR. The S3 takes DVD quality video in stereo sound, not just video clips that most DC can do. This little (almost) pocket-size camera now forces our digital videocam into an early retirement.

- Many other great features. However those are more or less standard and one can always try to argue some other DC may have similar or better features. I won't comment on those.

In summary, the S3 is a great small-size DC. Its superb lens offers big 12X zoom and IS, two technology of Canon's pride. It also offers DVD video shoot with stereo sound--this feature alone can save you a digital vidoecam.

One suggestion--do get a big SD card if you want to shoot video too. I have a 4G SD card and I think 2G is a must. Also battery life is excellent. It uses 4 AA-battery, which seems a lot odd at the beginning. But it comes in handy because as long as you can get AA battery you never worry about power. With typical dSLR, if the battery is out you are done for the day unless you find a power outlet to recharge (and have your charger with you).

I do have one small complain. The Menu button at the back of the camera is at the location where my palm presses the body. Sometimes I raise the S3 and I see the menu in viewfinder because my palm has pressed it strong enough to trigger it. Another press is needed and I lost several shots because of this.

I have other dSLR with quality lens. But I always take the S3 with me on any trip.

This camara is great for taking pictures with Celebs. I took a picture of my friend lil Jimmy with black Sabbath and it came out great. He was recently diagnosed with HIV and this was his greatest wish. I suggest a larger memory card though. The optical zoom is phenomenol. Good luck bro

This is a perfect camera and I'm so glad I bought it. Amazon had the cheapest price around and I wouldn't trade my camera for anything. Now I can click away and not have to worry about wasting film - and I get better pictures, because I can take more, and therefore have more to choose from.

This S3 IS is really worth for those who want great looking pictures with stunning clarity. The autofocus is really good and accurate. Also has more special scene modes and picture effects. We can take full resolution pictures simultaneously while recording a movie. Overall, it is a good camera with rich features.

Great quality. Movie quality is really astounding.

This is my second Canon. There is a lot of whistles and bells on this camera that will take time for the novice to figure out. My biggest complaint is trying to remember to take off the lense cap before turning it on. My other cameras did not have the cap. All in all it takes excellent quality photos, so you will not be disappointed.

Works great as point-and-shoot in auto mode. Camera has just enough advanced features to keep the novice photographer happy for a long time. Battery life is great if you purchase top quality rechargables. A large, at least 1G SD card, should be used. Image stabilization works well. Tripod is necessary if using camera at full zoom.

This is a great camera for those who need more than a point and shoot but do not want to carry a bag full of lenses. Also, with a large SD card (1 to 4 GB) this camera will replace your video camera. One thing to note, when you take pictures while recording video, it stops recording a second or two while it processes your picture. This is very obvious when watching your video.

Over the last 50 years, I have purchased four film cameras and five digital cameras. By far, the Canon S3 IS is the best camera I have owned. And most of the cameras I have bought cost more that the S3. I returned recently from a three-week trip to Scandinavia and St. Petersburg, Russia. During the trip, I took almost 2500 photos with the S3. The photo quality was excellent, the camera controls were easy to use, and the camera performance was outstanding. I expect to use the S3 for many years.

I initially had a canon S1IS (just 3MP, 10x optical, CF card) and needed an upgrade for the same as I was visiting Disney, LA. The S3IS (6 MP, SD card) delivered with gusto with its image stabilization and higher ISO modes. I have a full video and reasonably good snaps of the Disney parade during the evening darkness (switch to highest ISO with the dedicated ISO button) with:

1. Amazingly low jerkiness due to the image stabilization. The IS here is of course better than the S1IS.
2. The snaps came allright even with the maximum zoom - if there are slight blurs, you can maybe use software like coral to adjust. As others have said here, yes, a tripod is the best, but who has the time or the patience to set it up.
3. Even many of the disney fireworks snaps came out ok in the night mode with the maximum ISO setting - though of course a tripod would have helped in the darkness here, for sure :)
4. Best value for price. In Nov 2006, a nice deal would be getting this camera within 350$ as in Amazon.

Two things here:
1. I would not be buying a videocam as I had planned earlier, the S3IS vidoes suffice for most situations - sending videos to AFV for instance.
2. For the last point, I would recommend waiting for 3-4 months till the 4GB SD cards come into the 50$ range. But as others have mentioned before, please have at least a 2GB card. Look in Amazon or in Fry's as I did for 35-40$ deals on 2+ GB cards.

My search for a semi pro Digicam made me do a lot of research and after I shortlisted a few models I had to find the best deal. Amazon helped me get that deal and today when I look at the performance of the camera so far.. I am amazed... The camera was bound to be good but a special thanks to Amazon.com for helping me get one at a gr8 price.

Pros: Excellent picture quality, great zoom, nice panoramic feature, SD card, great video and sound quality for a picture camera, the best that you can by for this money and the LCD can rotate in any angle.

Cons: Flash does not pop up automatically; just 16mb SD card in the box.

PD: this camera size is not a pocket one but the size is good enough to shoot with one hand.

Advice: use rechargeable batteries and a large SD card (2 or 4 Gb) cause the video is so good that you will love shooting. Also, must of the times you will need the flash indoor other way you will have bad pics; with flash results will amazed you.

I have recently decided to update my digital camera. I have been using the Canon A40 since 2002 and have been largely very satisfied with it (see my review and photos for the A40). The Canon S3 for me is the logical upgrade. I haven't purchased it yet but it was my favorite after examining the data on the Panasonic, Sony, and Kodak competitors. Well, after returning from a little time at the stores to get a feel for the various cameras, I have a couple things I think might be useful to other searchers that I would like to share:

The Canon S3 is the most unintuitively designed camera in its general class. I thought the A40 was overly complicated and the S3 is worse. It has poor ergonomics but is better ergonomically than the Sony H2/H5 which I felt was nearly impossible to use one-handed. The Kodak Z710 was absolutely the best design with intuitive buttons and a wonderful feel in hand. I have fairly large hands but I found it very comfortable to hold and also had no problem taking photos with one hand or changing the settings. Yes, I like a camera that takes quality pictures but I don't want to be fumbling so long with settings that I lose the joy of a spontaneous moment of beauty either. Regretfully, the noise on the Koadak Z710 was unbearable to me even at ISO 100- worse than the noise on my CanonA40 with it's piddly 2 MP resolution and 3X optical zoom.

The viewfinder of the Canon S3 is extremely dark as other reviewers have said and I found it absolutely impossible to use. It does have a lot of bells and whistles- some of which are entirely useless (menu themes!?!) and some which are highly attractive (color accent and color swap). The camera does produce some beautiful photographs with the excellent color that Canon is known for.

If you can get past the two-handed photography and the viewfinder which protrudes uncomfortably past the camera body, the Sony H2 is an excellent choice. Depth of field is not as nice as with the Canon but the photos are still near professional quality and I know many happy users personally who wouldn't trade it for any other on the market.

I have not been able to field test any of the competing Panasonic models, namely because I have been to 4 large retailers and one camera shop, none of which carry any of the Panasonic FZ series. I do have to say though that I am very attracted to the Leica lenses- very high quality lenses used in the manufacture of medical research equipment. And I've seen some absolutely amazing professional quality photos come out of them. If any of you out there in Amazonia have an idea where I can find a retailer that has the Panasonic FZ series cameras, please comment.

If the engineers at Canon would have streamlined the Canon S3, it would be in the mail right now but with its ergonomic design shortcomings and higher price, I simply have to take a harder look at it's competitors.

This is a near pro camera in disguise. This little wolf really needs you to study it and play with it to get the best pictures, but when you do you are really rewarded. When I say worse, if you just want a point and shoot you will get crappy photos sometimes and think you were cheated.

If you just select Auto, you will probably be disappointed. Canon makes better point and shoot cameras like the S series. My wife uses the S80 for her business, my daughter has the S70, and we have two other Canon P&S around that we all use for fun shots. I needed something with a real zoom lens and didn't want to do all the way to DSLR as I wanted something that also shot movies. I'm a HS tennis coach and I wanted to be able to take short videos of my players to help them see their strengths and weaknesses.

The S3 takes unbelievable videos! Better than my sony video camera that cost much more AND it is easier to get them into my computer, edit them, and produce a CD to hand to one of my players. A feature that I didn't find on any of the other competitive cameras was the ability to snap a still picture in the middle of taking a video. Also like the separate video button so you can take videos without changing anything on the camera, just hit the video button and it starts.

It also takes GREAT pictures. When you understand the options on the camera, you can take pictures that are close to the best you can do with a pro DSLR camera. I now shoot all my normal pics in P mode with it set for ISO 100 or ISO 200 and a 3 shot bracket. Great pics everytime. The anti-shake (IS) makes it easy to take great pics in low light. In low light when I let it go up to high ISO I can get noise like you wouldn't believe. However, I still get the pictures. Now that I know better, I can set up the camera to get really good low light pictures without going into high ISO ranges. I also have been able to take wonderful pics of my Koi, my cats, my kids, my wife, my car, my anything that takes my fancy. I have a framed 10x14 picture in front of me taken of a squirrel in the very top of a 100' redwood tree with the camera at max optical + digital zoom of 48x. Hand held and clear as a bell due to the IS and the optional settings available. Try that at home with any other camera in this price range.

Bottom line: after looking at all the current offerings from Panasonic/Sony/Nikon et al, this is the best of the bunch for a prosumer big zoom camera. None of the rest of them paid any attention to making videos, canon did. All the rest tried to get our attention by promising more pixels, but Canon when for quality and a reasonable price. This camera takes better pics than the Panasonic Lumix that costs several hundred $$$ more and has 10 mega pixels -- oh, and the canon is considerably smaller and easier to carry.

Accessories: I recommend that you get the Lensmate 52mm lens adapter and the Tiffen 3 pack of filters. I didn't bother with the Canon 58mm stuff, just got everything in 52mm. Unfortunately Amazon doesn't carry Lensmate but you can Google them. I also got the Raynox .7x wide angle lens from Lensmate at a good price. It has a bit of barrel distortion, but easily correctable with software -- big feature is that it is extremely clear at full zoom. Much better than the Canon wide angle lens. Case Logic makes a case that holds the S3 with the lens adapter on, so I can carry it around with the UV filter in place. The Lensmate lens adapter is made from metal and gives you a place to grip with your left hand so you are extra steady. Wish that Canon would just put threads on the end of their lenses, but they have their way of doing things.

Also got the Transend 4GB 150x SD card. Works like a charm. Make sure you low format it before your first use and then do that again every so often to keep the card clean. Very fast and lets me take up to 30 minutes of videos if I want. Get the SD cards wherever . . . Fry's had the Transend card for $10 less than Amazon.

Great camera, well worth the time I spent researching and testing everything available in September through early November of 2006. I did test every Panasonic, Sony, and Canon model in my price range of $250 to $750. Bought an SD card first and then went to camera stores and tried them all, bought the card home and looked at every pic and video. I ended up paying $350+ here at Amazon for the S3 which was the best price from a trusted source.

Again, what I wanted was a digital camera that could zoom to 10x+, take videos that were as good as my video camera, take fast action still shots in varying conditions, and had a resolution of 5mp or more. I also wanted it to be compact and easy to use, with the capability of using storage cards larger than 2GB. I already have taken almost 2 hours of action videos of my tennis players and several hundred pictures of them. I also have a batch of family pics that range from grainy to perfect as I learned how to set the ISO properly and use the features of the camera. Lots of educational help available online from Canon and others that is specific to the camera.

Bottom Line: buy it.

This camera is truly amazing. This is my first digital camera however I have been a photography aficionado. I am trying to learn the tricks of the trade. Coming back to the point - the camera has truly brilliant colors, the 12X optical zoom is very powerful (look at some of the images I have posted).

It can be a point-n-shoot for one who does not want to play with a bunch of settings, yet has enough challenge for the person who wants to learn more about it. However if you are looking for an ultracompact point n'shoot this is not for you.

I have not shot any movies with it yet, so would not review movie mode yet. The specs. though say that the maximum size of a movie is limited to 1GB (even if you have a 2GB or 4GB memory card). If you want movies to be bigger than 1GB (15-20 mins. best quality video can fill-up 1 GB) - you will have to break your movies into multiples of 1 GB.

Pros: Brilliant colors, feature rich (stitch mode - used to stitch several photos together like a panoramic landscape, color-swap), powerful 12X optical zoom, solidly built, pro-look, zoom browsing s/w is simple, powerful yet easy to use, eletronic view-finder is a good alternative some times, Made in Japan, Image Stabilizer really works !

Cons: Battery compartment - a little clumsy to close the battery compartment after loading it, fear I could break it. I think there is a trick to it that I have not picked up yet. The only other thing I can think of is - no display for remaining battery life, it will give you a warning that you are on low battery, and a final warning before dying on you, in other words there is no progressive display for battery life. The 4 AA's that come with the camera only last a couple of days - 50 pictures, aprox. Also may be a slightly bigger LCD display would help (it is 2.5", 3" is desirable)

Overall it is a stellar camera, go for it !

I will not bore with too many tech-specs here. I read a review that suggested that this camera was meant for PROs and almost decided against it for PRO sounds like "too complicated for me buddy". However, I decided to give it a try. The store I went to, did not Canon S3 IS in stock, but they had S2 IS. I had already seen a lot of Kodak and Sony in action and was almost decided upon buying Kodak Z612, when the performance and features of S2 IS took my breath away. I am not a PRO, yes, but I know how to follow instructions. I read product manual carefully and VOILA! I had found what I was looking for. It took me a while to understand, but looking at the output shots any trouble taken to first understand this product was worth it.

I compared specs of S2 IS and S3 IS, and decided that S2 IS was damn good, but S3 IS would be a real treat. And, I will not be disappointed. I have had chance to do some benchmark testing of Sony, Kodak, Olympus and Nikon in same class since. S3 IS is a clear winner...

So whether you are a PRO covering a fashion show or an average daddy taking memory-shots of your kids over weekend, you will love this camera. I learnt a great deal about photography in past two months I hunted for a good camera - learnt what defined a good and clear shot...and this is the camera that can deliver it.

Having owned this camera for several months now, here are my reactions.

This camera takes the best pictures that I have ever taken. But I had to learn to use it.

This is NOT a good choice for the weekend photographer who just wants to take pictures of the kids. This is a state-of-the-art photography platform with literally hundreds of settings.

Some early reviews complained about blurry or grainy pictures. These people did not know how to set up the camera for the conditions. Some reviews complain about the color balance or saturation. But color balance, contrast, gamma, etc. are completely configurable in this camera, so there is no basis for these complaints.

A lot of people assume that the "Auto" setting will let them take pictures casually or mindlessly with this camera, and get perfect results. That might be largely true with the cheaper point-and-shoot cameras with smaller lenses, but not with this one.

The cheaper cameras with smaller lenses are not capable of attaining the superb performance of this lens. But because they are smaller, they are "in focus" over a wide range, so they produce acceptable pictures more or less regardless of settings or focus.

If you are willing to take the time to learn this camera, then I cannot think of a better one. But like with a musical instrument, you will need to practice. It takes some time to learn where to put your fingers, and where not to put your fingers, because there a lots of buttons and settings exposed on the surface of the camera. You will need to learn to use the autofocus to best advantage, and learn the proper program modes to match with your shooting conditions.

If you take the time to really learn the camera, you will control a device that covers the range from a microscope to a telescope. In macro mode, it will focus down to objects actually touching the lens. Or you can crank it up to a 50 power zoom. It takes excellent movies under a wide variety of conditions. Image stabilization makes it seem like your handheld home movies are taken from a professional camera dolly. It takes pictures without flash in conditions so dark that I could not see the subject at all. With the built-in image stabilization, it is capable of taking handheld pictures that rival the sharpness of a large format view camera on a tripod.

But if you just want an easy to operate camera for good snapshots, you should look for a simpler camera. Some of the less expensive models of the Powershot might be better for most people.

Well... This is was my replacemente over Sony, to have a camera to take everywhere, instead of my CANON Digital Rebel 350D.

I Must say that I am very pleased with the camera. It has a very nice battery usage, something that got me concerned at first since I had to deal with Rechargeble batteries. They last for a long time and can handle many shots, just about what the Manual says...

I have the need for the Manual Settings on any camera, and this is a MUST as well.. And the MANUAL setting is pretty straight forward with this camera. Fast and easy to use...

Also, the speed on the shutter lag !!
This camera is FAST !! For a camera that is not a REFLEX... Way to go...
One of the fastest I have seen on this category..

The LCD monitor that swivels is also a very nice addition, and already help me out a couple of times.. and when it comes to recording videos, it turns into a very good feature.. :-)

And that brings the camera to another HIGH LEVEL Spec.. The Video..
This Camera has Stereo Sound Recording ! How good is that ?!
And the video is very smooth, but be prepared to have a big SD card on it in order to be using video all the time...

So after all this, why not give a 5 star... One annoying thing !!
The FLASH !! After a nice work on a camera, I don't understand how Canon plain and simple do not apply a automatic Flash to it.. Raise with your own hands ? A message saying that you need to raise it ?
This is so not Cool.... But, as everyone says... Nothing is 100% perfect

In the overall..
I give this a thumbs up big time.. I like the camera and all it's features, apart from only one drawback, but enough to take one star out of it !

After all, you will be very pleased.. Believe me !

I've had my camera for about 2 months now. A few points I must praise are the compact body, and super fast shutter speed (I've never owned a Digi Cam with such a quick shutter speed... very nice!) But I'm having some issues with the camera that I'm hoping to "fix" thru experimentation. These are to include;
Trouble with focusing in low light conditions; shadowing on the super macro function; washed out background color (this applies only to my outdoor shots; indoor shots are fine, but my skies in all my outdoor pics are washed out to the point of being white, while the foreground and land in the same picture are almost over-saturated in color).

Also, another downside is that you have to manually raise the flash when you need it. I've not found any instructions on a way to make it pop up automatically. This can be very frustrating when you don't think you need the flash, get your shot lined up, and then try to take the picture, only to get a flashing icon telling you to "raise the flash".

I've pretty much only used Nikon in the past, and will most likely sell this camera and go back to the Nikon. However, the sharpness and vibrancy of the pictures used with this camera are quite good. I'm no pro, and I know that the user, not the camera, will dictate how good a final shot comes out, but I've not had these issues with my Nikon's, so I am not sure who is to blame for these issues. Canon is still a great company, and I think the majority of consumers will appreciate and enjoy the S3.

I got the S3 from Amazon a few weeks ago when it was $350, before the holiday shopping season kicked in, and I love it. It's a giant step up from my previous point-and-shoot.

12X optical zoom increases my versatility in shooting situations immeasurably.
The Image Stabilization system really works.
Canon doesn't get carried away with noise reduction.
In this camera, Canon doesn't get carried away with megapixels (6 is perfect for this sensor).
It feels great in my hands, handles well, and maintains some degree of portability (unlike Panasonic and Fuji's ultrazooms)
I've had no problems with red eye.
I love what the supermacro setting can achieve.
Movie mode is awesome, especially how the IS makes the motion of the camera look smooth and almost professional.

I have found only very minor faults:
-sometimes autofocus is slow at full telephoto
-manual focus is great with most stationary subjects, but is not easy to control at telephoto end of zoom, and not very practical for fast moving subjects

Panasonic's FZ50 is quicker and has a better lens, and I was impressed with its handling when I tried it out, but here's why I didn't buy it: excessive-as-in-past-the-point-of-no-return noise reduction (read smeared images at higher ISO), excessive MP for that sensor, more expensive than the S3.

I don't think any other camera exists that comes close to the S3's image quality, size, handling, feature set, and price.

I am brand new to photography and was worried by other reviews that this camera may not be for me. However I bought it anyway. Boy, am I glad I did.
The features of this camera are amazing--the color accent, for instance is great. I showed a few friends a picture I took using this feature and they asked how I did it and how long I've been shooting because the photo quality and picture was incredible; remember I my only experience is with 'point-n-shoot' cameras. You can always use photo editing software to perform some of the functions the camera does, however having the features in the camera motivate you to take those shots you otherwise may have not.
The camera is extremely simple to use right out of the box. Simplicity of a point-n-shoot with quality of DSLR photos I've seen. Tackling the manual mode is a continual learning experience, however the more I learn, the better quality photos I take. Don't get me wrong, auto mode takes some remarkable photo's, but manual enables you to take breathtaking photos.
So if your on the fence about the complexity of the camera if your an amateur, don't worry, just by it. And, unless you really need a SLR camera, this is the one for you.

I already have a Nikon D50, a digital SLR, which is about the best camera I can get for pictures on my budget. However, Digital SLR's can't take movies, and I've wanted also to get a spare camera for situation where the big Nikon would be indiscreet or could get broken.

I was turned off of getting a true camcorder because I've heard far too many tales of people using them for 2-3 tapes before they either jam or perpetually eject tapes, and hard drive camcorders are out of my budget. The little ray gun flash camcorders either don't feel right in my hand or the video quality is abysmal.

So I finally settled on a Canon S3. Without getting too long winded it offers:

Picture quality in most situations as good as my Nikon.
Decent battery life on 4AA NIMH batteries
2GB flash memory capacity
A rotating LCD display (the only ultra zoom still on the market with this).
Movies of about 1GB or 8 minutes in size/length.

Most people flip about the "short" clips that are available, but consider this: The old 8mm movie cameras in the sixties held about 4 minutes of film, and the even older movies cameras of the thirties held about 10 minutes. People lived with those and you can with this.

The movies are in AVI format with the MJPEG codec, and I did have to download a codec for my movie editing software (Sony Vegas) to show the video. The autofocus is a little sluggish but silent, and the low light performance is very good for a camera, but so-so for a camcorder. In these areas I'd say it resembles an old analog camcorder.

You can use the zoom while filming, but you can hear it. However, it sounds like a soft "Twa-thunk" and may not even be noticeable in high noise. In typical conditions the movie quality is about as good as a low end DV camcorder, and that's all I ask or want. Holding the camera to shoot video feels more natural to me than even a true camcorder, and the swiveling LCD is great for crowds and tight spots. Overall this is a very good backup camera and bargain camcorder.

I bought this camera last Saturday 12/2/06 and i'm very satisfied with it, didn't buy it from Amazon tough, I had a better deal at Walmart for $317 =)
Very easy to use and great features!!(so beginners shouldn't have much trouble with it)

I know how to take a picture with a digital camera and I have been patient with this camera trying to get a good picture out of it but I have reverted back to my old Kodak for picture taking. All the picture's look fuzzy and I have even used a tri-pod. I only hope there is something wrong with it and Canon or Adorama will replace it. If my unit is not defective then don't buy this. I will update my review if and when I get another camera to review.

I purchased the Canon S3 IS from Amazon.com on August 1, 2006. A lot of reviews are out there for the S3 IS, and there are a lot of options (for diefferent kinds of digital cameras) available for digital photo enthusiasts. What sets the Canon S3 IS apart from all the rest is that it is user-friendly but at the same time provides a lot of advanced features that are easy to learn -- so that in the end you can focus on the end result -- great pro-like pictures that are unmatched by digital point-and-shoot cameras. The S3 IS is a high-end digital camera (with video capability) that takes digital photography to a higher level. One will never regret owning a camera like the Canon S3 IS.

I purchased a Canon SI IS and have sent it to their Factory Service center twice, it is still not working right. Now that it is off warranty their answer is for me to purchase a "refurbished" S2 IS for $199...
Their support of their products is terrible, this camera has not worked right since I bought it and they dont care! Do yourself a favor and buy a Panasonic product, they make great products and they support them, unlike Canon

This is not a good camera, but a good video camera.
Purple Fringing is horrible, and image quality is way worse than its main competitor: The Panasonic family of megazooms. Purple fringing happens easily for megazoom cameras if the lens is not top-notch. S3 IS got poor glass.
Canon S3 IS only has one advantage over the Panny: excellent video functions. You can actually zoom when taking a video, which the Panny cannot.

I had my doubts. Since my work requires photography, I'm very picky and only used to professional cameras. I've always hated non-SLR digital cameras because of slow response times, slow shutter speeds, noisy/grainy image quality, and just the hassle of not being able to see my actual shot through the viewfinder. On the other hand, I was tired of carrying around all my heavy bags and lenses every time I just wanted to shoot some fun shots for myself. So, I decided to buy something lighter with a fixed lens just for snapshots, and live with the compromises.
I had a hard time deciding between this and the A640, but chose this for the zoom and the extra creative features, even though it is not as compact and the pictures not quite as sharp.

Well, let me tell you, this little camera is not much of a compromise at all! I've been extremely impressed with both the performance and the handling. The features are simple to learn and use and photos are much better than the test photos I saw online. In fact, the chromatic aberration / fringing problem inherent in these compact zooms has not been a problem in any of my pictures, so far, and the color and image quality are very impressive. The camera is fast - not as fast as an SLR, but sure faster than any of the other digtial point-and-shoots I've tried. The unlimited continuous shooting mode, which is perfect for catching fast-action sports shots, solves the problem of slow shutter speeds and is not found in any of the other camera's in the S3's class. I've also been very surprised by the functionality of the EVF (electronic view finder). I've never used one and was prepared to dislike it, but I actually love it. Since the "real" viewfinders in non-SLR's don't show the actual shot, you can't really use them to hold your eye up against, which helps to steady the camera during zoom shots. I assumed the EVF, with it's low resolution, would be dificult to see through and too annoying to use, but it's not at all. The picture, though a bit fuzzy, is easily used to frame the shot and it makes the camera function almost like an SLR. So, far, I have never found the EVF difficult to see through and now that I've used it, I'm glad it has this feature. The camera is also much lighter weight to use than it seemed in the store. Yes, it's heavier than the smaller compacts, but it's still very light compared to an SLR and I barely notice it when I'm hiking along.

The bottom line is, this is a fast, fully-featured, easy to use little camera that takes fabulous pictures and has more going for it than any of the other long-zoom compact digitals on the market. The quality of the photos is what has surprised me the most - they really are very good. I would not hessitate to recommend this camera to anyone looking for a point-and-shoot with a few more features and a good zoom. If you don't care about the zoom, fast sports shots, or better movie mode, I'd recommend the Canon A640 or A630.

I was looking for a camera that wasnt too expensive but that was fast enough to catch my two toddlers. I have found it! I love this camera. I have already taken so many pictures with it and I am so happy with my choice. Even when my kids are not sitting still I still manage to get great pictures. I highly recommend this camera for anyone with kids or any kind of action photography.

I bought this camera early October 06 for my wife. It's the third Canon camera I've purchased and I exclusively now recommend Canon to novices who ask my opinion on which camera to purchase.

Pros
Good resolution, Good color, good exposure, generally accurate focus
12x zoom offers excellent 36-432mm range
Image stabilization works well and can be used in movie mode
Packed with features
Very quiet
Solid construction and good handling
Fast and responsive, Enjoyable and easy to use
Stunning movie mode with high quality stereo sound
Impressive continuous (burst) shooting
'Punchy' results straight out of the camera
Clean images at lower ISO settings
Impressively little distortion for such a large lens
Swing out tilt 'n' swivel screen
Optional wide and tele adapters
PC controlled shooting (via USB)
Customizable shortcut button, ISO button
Superb battery life with NiMH cells
Optional flash and lens add-ons
Good macro

Conclusion - Cons
Occasional focus hunting at the telephoto end of the zoom in low light
ISO 800 mode is too noisy
ISO 200 noise reduction too strong
Occasional highlight clipping due to over exposure of contrasty scenes
Viewfinder and screen can be difficult to see in very bright conditions
Images slightly soft
Chromatic aberration and purple fringing
No RAW mode
Limit to highest shutter speed usable at wide apertures

I purchased both the Sony Cybershot and the Canon Powershot and ended up returning the Sony. I found the Canon to be more user friendly. We only came across two downsides: the flash and batteries, but easy to deal with. The Sony was nice, but it was slow between shots, felt clunky and I didn't like the location of the buttons. Both are good cameras, I think it comes down to personal preference.

I purchased the S3 specifically because I wanted a good digital camera along with the capability of shooting quality video. The S3 fits that description.

As multiple reviews here and elsewhere have indicated, the video function on the S3 surpasses all the still cameras on the market today (as of late 2006). We're not talking professional quality here, but it should be enough for anyone who shoots short segments (under 10 mins.) just for fun and doesn't need a full fledged camcorder.

As someone who's owned a dozen different cameras since the 80s, my reaction to the photo abilities of the S3 is a mixed bag.

On a recent shoot I experienced two minor problems in terms of color reproduction. In one shot the white in a woman's sweater (which was all off-white) was so degraded that the texture became blurred and flat. In another shot the setting sun caught a woman's face and created another blurred effect. In both situations the shutter speed was fast enough to prevent blur and the image quality was set to high.

I'm not saying this is a terrible camera. I love using my S3. It's a really fun camera to use. But the cold hard reality is that my recently purchased 35mm Olympus IS-2 (which cost me about $40 used) can still run circles around the S3 in terms of picture quality and speed. In the time it takes the S3 to take one shot and be ready for the next my "new" 35mm Olympus can take three.

I mention these flaws because these are what I considered the trade offs of purchasing this specific camera for its video capabilities.

If you're not going to use the video function then I would strongly recommend a different camera with a better image censor and faster speed. I recommend anyone concerned with these issues, especially image sensor ability which is more important than megapixels at this point, to check out imaging-resource dot com. That site shows how each camera handles low light and ISO settings, image sensor abilities and other issues.

Minus the lack of true image stabilization, the Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd is one camera that they show to be clearly superior to the Canon in terms of picture quality. The lack of IS might be a deal breaker for some. The IS on the S3 is superb. Buyers just have to weigh their preferences and decide what they need the most. For some the S3 will be the best choice, for others it won't.

is the movie mode. maybe i'm using it wrong, but i've looked through all of the books and still cant figure it out. but i had an old camera and a movie would shoot with maybe 25 MB for a little over a minute, this camera, will shoot 53 mb in just about 30 seconds :-/. if anyone knows how to fix this could you help me?

works great, the first one I recieved had a slight defect, but amazon took really good care of me and appologized many times and sent me a new one for free. great cammera and even better customer service.

I am by no means a professional photographer and might be closer to being an advanced novice. I've tried out almost all the different features on this camera & I'm convinced that this camera is definately under priced. Everyone of my friends that sees this camera perform keeps asking my how much I spent on this thing.
The Zoom is incredible, the burst mode is faaaaaast. A lot of people didn't make a big deal of the color swap & color accent modes but I'm a graphic designer & being able to do those 2 functions in 2 steps in REAL TIME is amazing for a camera. The Photos are sharp and crisp and in the 3 days I've had it I've hardly been dissapointed with any of my shots. I have yet to really test it out at night but it certainly performs like a champ in the day.

Bottom line, buy this camera.

I was first introduced to this camera on a vacation with another couple about six months ago. I was amazed at the fantastic picture quality. The husband of the other couple has a Canon EOS SLR digital camera and bought this camera for his wife. He feels that this camera takes somewhat better pictures even than his Canon EOS and is much easier to use. That is why I asked for this for Christmas. I have an older pocket digital camera that takes OK pictures. I was looking to upgrade to something that would take much better quality pictures but was not sure I wanted to go all the way up to an SLR camera. This camera takes fantastic pictures. You can leave it on fully auto or your can adjust all of the settings manually or even combinations where the camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed but allow you to manually adjust the aperture or vice versa. I am particulary amazed at the quality of close pictures and low light pictures something that digital cameras in general do poorly. You can also shoot video with this camera; something you cannot do with an SLR camera. I have had Canon cameras in the past. I purchased this camera partly because of the brand name. I also like the Canon is a big supporter of Public Television. My only complaint with the camera is it is hard to hold onto. While this camera is not as large as an SLR camera is it much larger than a pocket camera and relatively heavy. It is hard to hold onto without touching one of the buttons. There is a finger grip on the front and a pad for your thumb on the back but it is too small. I end up holding it by the edges which is awkward.

I purchased this camera after doing a lot of online and in-store research, so I was expecting the camera to be perfect, and it pretty much is (at least for my wife and I). As weird as this sounds, I was looking for a new camera because our old sony digital camera had ergonomic issues - my wife could not press it's shutter button due to her long fingernails. We also wanted to take just 1 camera, not 2 ( a still and video camera )to our daughters' cheerleading competitions.

This is what is great about this camera (for us):
1) The shutter button is easy to press, even with long fingernails.
2) It's "sport" mode is easy to access via the mode wheel on top of the camera - much quicker and easier than trying to access it via a menu list.
3) It takes amazing video WITH STEREO SOUND. You can zoom in and out while recording video, which you cannot do with many other " still " cameras. You can record around 37 minutes of video on a 4gb SD card at the highest quality recording setting. Owing to it's great 12X optical zoom, and image stabilization, this camera shoots better video than my dedicated JVC digital video camera. It is also far easier during editing to work with video clips from a flash memory card than from a digital video tape.
4) It has a "rotating" lcd display - this means that you can flip the lcd display around to protect the screen if you have the camera hanging around your neck but not in the case.
5) It accepts 4gb SD cards, even cheap no-name brands.
6) It takes great pictures.

This it what is not so great:
1) You can only record a little over 9 minutes of high quality video at a time before the camera shuts off recording (but you can immediately start recording again, assuming you have the memory space). This is really not such a negative for us, as for recording "family" events rarely involves a video clip of more then 5 minutes.
2) The camera will not output pictures in RAW format. As we don't do a lot of serious photo editing, this was not a big issue for us.

So that's it. As there is not another super-zoom point and shoot camera with stereo video recording and a rotating lcd screen out there, we purchased this one, and are quite happy with it.

My husband bought this camera for me for Christmas. I love it. It takes 4 AA batteries, and they are surprisingly long lasting. The flash is very bright. The zoom is great. You can zoom in on animals, getting a very clear shot of them without them even knowing you are there. I am over all very happy with this camera. If you are buying a camera for the close up macro mode however, you might want to go with the Canon Power Shot SD 450. While the zoom is excellent with the Canon Power Shot S3 IS, the lense gets in the way of the flash when trying to take close ups, creating a shadow over the item you are taking the picture of. It has a hard time focusing super close up in the macro mode. If you are looking more for a great zoom, this is the camera for you. I own both the Canon Power Shot SD 450 and the Canon Power Shot S3 IS. The S3 IS is excellent with zooming in on far away subjects, not so great with macro. The Canon Power Shot SD 450 is great with macro close ups, really great, I've tested a lot of cameras and this was the best, but it's not so great with zooming in on far way objects and getting a clear picture. So it all depends on what you are looking for. Having both I feel I have the best of both worlds. Now, if only I could find a camera that was great at both close ups and far away zoom shots. I have overall been very happy with Canon cameras.

I have owned 2 Sony Cybershot Cameras, a Pentax Optio, a HP ??. I used to do a lot of SLR film photography and have never been satisfied with the switch to digital until now. Very happy with ease of use and QUALITY of pictures.

After a lot of research, we bought this camera for our daughter who works on her high school yearbook. She has loved it. It has every feature you could want at this price, including an extra long optical zoom.

Be careful where you buy this camera, though. Because of its popularity, you will see many drastically reduced prices, but caveat emptor. After I first ordered it from a seemingly reputable internet vendor for about $170.00, I received a call from a rep asking if I wanted to upgrade to the "American" model for more money. It seems that my great deal was for a Canon S3IS designed for the Chinese market with a ONE WEEK warranty. I cancelled immediately and ordered from Amazon.

This is a great little camera. It's plus features are:

- Takes excellent pictures, even from far away. I wanted to photograph a friend's daughter in a program at my kids' school, and she was far away, in dim light, and moving. I put my Canon in sports mode and no flash and let it adjust the aperture. The picture came out a little grainy (to be expected), but otherwise was fine. That's pretty good - my friend's camera had no chance at getting that shot.
- Has a good digital interface, with the one little caveat below.
- It's not tiny, but it's small enough I could buy one of those little leather point-and-shoot cases and it slides in.
- I have heard negatives from others about the on/off switch, but I find it works really well. It doesn't go on by itself, but if you press and turn it works fine - I can even do it all with one finger.
- The video capture is very good, recording in stereo. You can even take stills at the same time (since it uses a very intuitive red "record" button for the video, just like a camcorder), although taking a still photo stops the video recording for the time it takes to take the still. In fact, I'd have to say that the combination of video/audio is one of the best things about this camera. For most of us, there's no longer a need to lug both a camcorder and still camera to all our kids' events - the Canon does both very well.
- The display screen, though a bit on the small side, works just like a camcorder - you can flip it out and rotate it 180 degrees.
- The supermacro mode is simply amazing. I have taken pictures of objects right up next to the lens, and the amount of detail you can get is no less than astounding.

It has a few negatives also:

- The lens cap falls off because it was designed to stay on with friction. Oh yeah, that makes sense. Make sure you bring lens cleaning papers and solution, because you'll be touching the lens alot. There's no way to attach an ultraviolet filter to the lens, either (common with point and shoots).
- The camera acts as a USB disk drive to let you copy pictures OFF the camera, but to copy them back on you have to use the supplied software. The major problem with this is that you effectively can't put edited pictures back on the camera, because they don't match the exact format expected by the supplied software. Go buy a little adapter to attach the SD memory card to your USB.
- The bayonette mount is plastic, as noted by others. I haven't really had to use this, but it seems like they should have made it of metal since that's a pressure point.
- There's no remote control, which would be really nice when using the camera as a camcorder and taking a video of yourself.

In summary, I definitely recommend this camera for the parent who wants to get good quality (but not necessarily professional) pictures. You want professional, buy a DSLR - but if you want a reasonably-priced, small camera that takes great pictures and is extremely flexible, buy the Canon. You'll be glad you did.

This camera exceded my expectations. The pictures are clear and the color is outstanding! I'm still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying my new hobby, photography. I'm a novice, so I should have started with something less complicated. I find it very easy to download the pics to my computer. It's a great camera at a reasonable price.

First, I'm 64 yrs old, never owned a digital camera. Kinda talked into this by my three sons.

The camera does everything I want it to do. Have to admit there are alot of buttons and stuff on it that I don't understand, therefore I will never use. Not smart enough, I guess.

But to get back to the main theme. It takes really good pictures, the software accompanying it is good, and for someone with experience at a level less than novice (if there is one) it was a really good purchase. And Amazon is outstanding. Shipping, cost, etc, excellent.

My last digital camera was a Canon S20. I have small children and needed a digital camera that took pictures as soon as you pressed the button. This camera was exactly what I was looking for. Once you press the button the picture is taken. There is no delay as there is on many digital cameras.

At first I was going to purchase an SLR but that was too much camera for my needs. This is an SLR with out the lens changes.

I originally purchased a Olympus SP-500 UZ Ultra Zoom and when you zoomed it was almost impossible to keep the camera focused without a tripod. I returned it the next day. The S3's image stabilization feature is awesome. Even when in digital zoom mode you get clear, focused pictures.

Since I own a Canon i900D printer I can print pictures directly from the camera to the printer. There was absolutely no set up at all. Totally integrated. This is a great feature when you need a quick print on the go.

The Zoom Browser software is great but if you are familiar with the Canon Digital Camera products then you know that already. It is improved and for throw-in software it rivals some of the other off the shelf packages.

The only negatives I would mention is over course the lens cover. Damn thing never stays on. Also the manual focus is a bit user unfriendly.

Overall a great camera.

This is the closest thing to a digital SLR I've seen and is absolutely AWESOME! It has wide angle and telephoto lenses available, has digital viewfinder with the option to look at the LCD display or through the lens. MANY optional modes. Took incredible pictures at Disney and Bush Gardens Tampa. Can take high resolution shots for large photo reproduction. Easy photo transfer to computer or printer.

This camera is fantastic for the beginner photographer who wants to really learn about photography. There are both "point and click" options as well as manual settings to allow you to learn about different camera operations such as aperature and shutter speed. The menu pads are well laid out so various settings can be found simply and quickly.

I'm very, very happy with my S3 IS. I previously had a Nikon 4800; this camera is easier to use, much faster and takes better pics.

Excellent camera with very quick response time when you press to shoot. Also great quality images. Has a lot of bottoms to help get quicker to a function but lacks of helps menu or little info when you get to a function like some other have.

This camera give all the convenience and ease of use of a point & shoot camera. However it has all the creative features of a dSLR without the additional cost or inconvenience of changing lenses. Many dSLR users pay the price of this camera just for their flash, or much more than this for their dSLR body.
If you want a camera to impress your friends with then an overpriced dSLR with a gigantic lens may be for you. If you want a camera which will never cause you to miss a superb still shot or even excellent video clip then this is the only sensible choice.

This camera is one of the best lower priced cameras on the market. I had used this S3 on my vacation and the image stabilization was a priceless feature.I was shooting pictures from a moving car on telephoto and coming out with perfect shots.Battery life is great with six aa batteries.The camera uses a sd memory card which can be found online,I purchased two 2gb cards.The flash is substantial.I am very happy with the canon s3.

I had looked long and hard for a medium sized digital camera, not full 35mm size but not the small pocket size either. The S3 is the answer. It has the various program modes like my 35mm Canon so there was very little to learn. The controls are ergonomicaly friendly, especially the grip. The camera is very quick to respond and the pictures are very clear and sharp. I did notice that there is noticable noise at the higher ISO settings, especially at 400 and above. The flash is more than adequate but must be raised manually. The image stabilization feature really works well and provides steady shots that otherwise would have been blurry. The video mode provides great video clips with stereo sound and the ability to take stills even while taking video. Overall, I am very pleased with this camera. It is a smaller version of my Canon Rebel but takes much better pictures. I would recommend this camera if you are looking for a midsized format but with all the bells and whistles of the bigger models.

Great photos, great functions. Love the camera but have not had a chance to use all the functions. Mostly photographflowers and wild life. The season was short by the time I purchased the camera.

Excellent picture quality, very long battery life, quick response. Everything that you need in a point and shoot camera but with SLR like features. I strongly recommend S3IS to anyone who is looking for a good digital camera.

I've had this camera just a couple months and I've got to say that this is the best camera I've ever owned. I'm still exploring all the various modes and setups but even with just the auto mode the pictures come out just great. The depth of field with this camera is absolutely amazing and the image stabilization is wonderful. I would never buy another digital camera without this feature especially with a powerful zoom like this one.
I would highly recommend this camera to those who are looking for a step up over regular point and shoot cameras but don't want to go all the way into a bulky and more expensive single lens reflex. This camera has the pro features you want at a reasonable price.

This is my first digital camara. I just barely swithched from my 35mm Rebel. I have really enjoyed this camera so far. It takes a nice photo. I am still learning about all it's functions. I really like the video option. I have taken more photos since converting to the digital age. Coupled with different movie software it is a quick transition from photo/video to home movies.

All in all the camera has exceeded my expectations.

I am amazed with the features included in this camera. I feel like a pro using it while on the road. The facility of use of this camera, allows me to just roll off the road, prepare the better viewing angle of the landscape, and shot! If you are a medium to advantage user of digital cameras, you will be glad with this one.

I would say this is one of top few digital cameras as non-DSLR group.
Photo is great as non-professional user and a lot of features.
Image Stabilization works nicely and many photoshop-like features in camera.
Especially, I like the feature of recording movie with optical zoom.
Yes, you can record movies like camcorder. You don't need seperate camcorder for your vacation.
2Gbyte SD card can record upto 1hour with full resolutions.

One thing I want to mention is the quality of LCD is not that great. It looks little blurry to me.

It is the best choice at moderate price.

I purchased this camera to replace a 4 MP Kodak EasyShare camera at our office and I can heartily say it does not disappoint. The learning curve isn't too steep and it interacts very well with computers to offload images and movies. iPhoto loves it and even grabs the movies, something it wouldn't do well with the Kodak.

It's value for the cost is quite high.

This camera is fantastic. There's not much to say that hasn't already been said about it. It is easy to use, fairly lightweight/easy to carry around, and great quality for the price. I absolutely love this camera and all it has to offer.

We spent quite a bit of time looking at a variety of models to determine which features were important to us. We chose the S3 because for these features primarily: viewfinder AND LCD screen, image stabilization, good zoom options, ability to operate manually, fairly quick shutter response.

Overall we are fairly pleased with the results. The shutter response is reasonable, the LCD screen is a good size and quickly/easily switches to viewfinder. The dial on top to change functions is user friendly and logical. We especially like that we can zoom/unzoom and take pictures with one hand due to the location of the buttons. We are also very pleased with the adjustability of the LCD screen that has allowed us to sneak around corners to catch grandma's and aunties changing the new babies diaper or to shoot over a crowd at a wedding reception!

Only a few (slight) disappointments: the sensitivity of needing flash when using "auto" mode- there have been numerous cute baby pictures in low light that either have been missed because there wasn't time to flip flash (or change to low light) or the shot ends up overbright when the flash is used.... the quick usage of batteries which is why we are researching and planning to convert to rechargeables.

My wife ordered me a Canon S3 IS for my birthday, along with all the extras, the lens/hood adapter kit,a high speed, high capacity memory card and a camera bag. I have been very happy with everything, the camera is everything your reviews said it was. My only problem was with the lens hood. When you take a flash picture with the hood on, it causes a shadow on the lower part of the picture. The solution is very simple, simply remove the hood when using the flash as it is not needed then. Canon warns about this problem in the Advanced users manual, but they should have given the user prior notice in the Basic Manual.

No complaints - this camera is great. We especially like:
- the zoom
- easy battery replacement
- picture quality
- options for managing exposure
Thanks.

A wonderful camera! It has so many great features and with a little reading and practice, you will feel at home with it and be able to do more than you thought you could with it. I did quite a bit of research before deciding on this camera and it was definitely worth it. I love it! I would recommend a 1 GB card, however, especially if you plan on using the video feature. All in all, this camera is worth the money for those who wnat more than a point-and-shoot digital camera; I would say it is almost a DSLR camera, which can be a very expensive purchase for most of us. Highly recommended.

I think it is an overall good camera. I am pretty new at the more advanced options. The manual is kind of vague. I upgraded from a kodak CX series, so getting used to the setup was my initial challenge, but once you learn what everything does, it becomes fairly simply to operate. Trial and Error worked the best for me. The zoom works wonderfully-with the image stablization. I would say it is worth the money.

We wanted an 'almost' SLR and the S3 really does the trick. We looked at a lot of photos on Amazon and Flickr taken by this and other cameras, then looked at prices and accessories and the Canon won out. We've had it long enough to do our first trip with it (Australia and Japan) and we're happy with our purchase. You can use the auto function for those "snap snap snap" family get-togethers or flip into manual mode when you want to take that personal masterpiece (or movie or macro). This camera _does_ do well in low light, which was our biggest worry. Even when it suggests using the flash, you can often still pull off a good pic without. Even if you do use the flash, you can adjust he intensity of it which is just... awesome. I hate over-lit pics like we often got from our previous digital cameras. Those days are gone. Also, the zoom, lens and stabilizer are top notch. Based on our satisfaction with the S3, we'll probably buy a Rebel (or whatever it's called in the future) when we next upgrade.

This isn't a review of the S3 specifically, although I just got one; rather, it's a review of Canon customer service. My S1, which purchased about 3 years ago, recently broke. However, Canon had issued a consumer advisory on the particular problem I experienced and, through the advisory, offered to fix the problem even if the original warranty had expired (which was true in my case). Anyway, I sent my S1 back and after a couple of weeks, Canon sent me back a refurbished S3. While not brand new, I was very pleasantly surprised: the S3 is clearly a significant upgrade over my S1. Considering that my camera was 3 years old, the trade off was more than worth it.

I'm looking forward to using the S3, since I was alreadly pleased with the performance of the S1.

YOU WILL ENJOY THE POWERSHOT. IT BRINGS THE SHOT TO YOU

This is my third digital camera. I am semipro but my wife like to take some family picture too. This camera satisface both requeriment. Ligth and small. Good construccion and very ergonomic. The only concern is with lent protection that it need a big adaptative ring, the same that you need to acoplate other lenses. I dont like this ring because the camera losse its small size.

I have had the camera for a couple of months. I had a digital camera with lower resolution that i really liked before buying this one. I only bring a basic competence in taking straightforward pictures and this camera works very well in that respect. I found the camera relatively easy to use on all of the features that i wanted and fairly easy to research some experimental stuff. Most of what i take includes still photos [inside and outside], some short video clips, and still photos with a timer at Christmas. i have tried some specialty features [night shots] and they are pretty easy to figure out. i am certainly not a camera pro but for a layperson it works very well and produces very good pictures. It also has enough features that i can learn some techniques from using the camera. The optical zoom is great.
i also found the shutter speed to be much better than my older camera.

The video card works well with my computer and the resulting photo prints are excellent.

If you want a small camera then this would not be your choice, but for ease of use, quality of photos and additional features then i would highly recommend this one.

I love my Canon S3, has a great zoom and good quality pictures. Shutter speed can be a little slow, and sometimes I have had blurry pictures if I haven't kept the camera completely still.

But overall it is really great camera both for indoor and outdoor pictures, have taken pictures sailing, skiing, low light etc, all came out in great quality.

After reading reviews of many cameras here and elsewhere, I decided on the S3. I am totally thrilled with it, it is more than I expected. The video and sound are very clear. The macro is incredible you can shoot up to the edge of the lens and its sharp. The stabilized zoom is very impressive, I shot a kilim wall hanging across the room on telephoto, downloaded and zoomed in and could see crisp threads in perfect focus. I find the buttons in logical locations, and have used many of the special effects built in. The only 2 things I am a bit picky about the design is the LCD when out is in some conflict with the strap, and the ISO range,I would have liked a bit more expansive, But for the price,it is great.

I was debating on whether to upgrade to a digital SLR or go with a high-end digital. In the end, I decided I wasn't likely to lug around a bunch of lenses. So, I chose the S3 IS, because with a 12x zoom, it's like having a telephoto.

The camera takes great pictures, and has a lot of great auto settings - high speed, night, etc. I love pairing the AV mode with telephoto to create artsy photos where one item is in focus, and the rest is blurred.

While the LCD is smaller than some, the ability to flip it around more than makes up for it. Not only does it allow self portraits, but you can tilt it up to take ground level photos or tilt it down to take an over your head shot.

The video is also great quality, and you can zoom while filming and take still photos. However, if you take a still photo, when you plan back the video, there is a one second freeze where the photo was taken.

I really can't think of any negatives. I'm very happy with this camera.

I bought this camera and the new G7, the S3 takes pictures twice as clear as the G7...its just big and little ugly, but I love the S3

Very nice and solid camera, It will do everything you need. For this price is more tha enough. Compare with the similar model panasonic is 100 dollars more expensive.

Great movies...

I've had the S3 IS for about a week now and am thoroughly impressed with it. Before the Canon I owned a Minolta Z6, and though both cameras' tech specs are similar, the Canon is far superior. I decided to migrate to S3 IS because of the Minolta's shortcomings, such as poor battery life, terrible handling of contrast, oversaturation of reds and bad white balance. As far as I can tell, the S3 has none of these problems. I was also worried about the learning curve -- changing brands can be daunting and difficult -- but the Canon is very intuitive and easy to set and handle, plus it offers tons of options to get it to do exactly what you want. It is also fantastic in low light conditions (as good as the Olympus C2100 UZ). The 12x optical zoom and image stabilization are fantastic. I have equipped the S3 with a Lensmate 58 mm lens adapter (several owners recommended the Lensmate product instead of the Canon adapter) and it works fine. It also spares me the minor aggravation of the original Canon lens cap, which comes off easily.

GREAT GIFT THAT CAN ALWAYS BE USED ANYTIME

This is my first digital camera, though I've used many. So far, I've been happy with the quality of photographs and the ease of use. It is not small enough to fit in my pocket, but it isn't heavy either. There are many handy features that I will be trying soon. I've used the timer, which works very well and was intutive to learn. The include memory card is pathetically small-16MB. Be sure you purchase at least 1 GB if you plan to take more than 4 pictures at one time.

This camera does everything. It has tons of things to learn and is a challenge to use to its fullest extent, but I am not disappointed.

It has some great things: an awesome super macro mode, great 12x zoom, but also some annoying little factors: icky aut-focus and difficult manual focus, tiny and not clear LCD, horrible fake viewfinder.
I got really annoyed, especially when taking macro pics because the LCD made it look as if the picture was in focus, but when I uploaded the pic, it wasn't in focus at all! Maybe it's just because I'm not a great photographer?
Overall, its a nice cheap camera for amateurs...but maybe there are better choices.

I bought this camera last week, just prior to a long trip around Asia.

I used it for 3 days at my first stop, and enjoyed taking photos with it.

Once or twice, when I turned it on, the viewfinder just showed dark gray static, but turning it off and back on cured it. I didn't think much of it at the time.

As of today (day 5 of the trip), that's all it does, both in the viewfinder and LCD. I can vaguely see the difference between pointing it at a bright light vs a dark area (the screen goes between gray and black), but that's it.

All the icons display properly and I can review previously taken photos with no problem.

It was never abused in any way - for travel I packed it in the original box with original packing materials, in my carry-on bag, which was with me at all times and never banged or dropped.

I must assume the thing was just defective.

Now I discover that Canon's warranty only covers it in the US, so they will not fix it here unless I pay for the repair, estimated at half what I paid for it a week ago. The only alternative seems to be to send it back to the US at my expense (the return trip by FedEx will cost 75% what I paid for the camera). I had really looked forward to taking lots of photographs on this trip and now that's ruined unless I outlay a huge amount of extra cash. I am inclined to buy a different camera to replace it rather than take another chance with the S3 IS.

Obviously I can't speak to the general reliability of this model, but if you do buy one, make sure you do it well in advance of any overseas trip so you can make sure it's not a dud.

graet camera, it has worked excellent for me.
It has the widescreen option that the S2 doesn't have.

The resolution and zoom are great.
Maybe not a good idea to use max zoom in a not too well illuminated area, but hey, no camera does. You'd have to get an extra flash for that.

I was impressed with the macro option it has, it's very good, and so is the Image Stabilizer.

So far no complains.

It's cheap for what it does but if you want to save a little more money you could go with the S2 instead of the S3.

Great camera. It takes nice pictures even at night : I pictured some buildings in Las Vegas without flash and are very nice. I couldn't get the same results with a Panasonic Lumix from same category (even with flash ON).

It's a bit heavy but it's a nice camera overall. Nice IS too.

It took some time to learn; this is definitely not a point-and-shoot camera. But it pays to learn; the zoom and video are just awesome. The only negative is that it's not pocket-size.

I was given the S3 IS by my father when he upgraded to a Pentax dSLR and I've found it to be unbelievably easy to use and take very good, hi-res pictures. It is extremely simple to focus, unlike the S1 IS, which lacks the laser focus the S3 IS has. I've had the opportunity to do a lot of different types of photography with it, too, which is great--everything from low light to hand held shots of the waxing moon (super clear) to catching my daughter running around outside or at the beach, photographing birds at the local Audobon Society property, sunsets and sunrises. This seems to me to be just one step before having a DSLR--it has so many great functions and at this point in it's "distinguished career" is at an all-time low price on the website!

Coming from a strictly 35mm film background, I've only owned a couple of digital point & shoot cameras to use for snapshots. They served the purpose but that's all that I could say about them.

I wanted to replace a dead p&s model and decided to try something a little more advanced. My needs didn't require a DSLR so I stared to research other options.

My first requirement was that the camera have a way other than the LCD on which to compose. This eliminated a lot of cameras from consideration. There are a few with optical viewfinders but very few were more than higher-end p&s models.

That's when I started to look into models with EVFs. This narrowed the field down considerably. Every brand and model is a compromise of some sort and it came down to finding the ones with the fewest compromises.

The Canon S3IS turned out to be the camera. I bought it here on Amazon for about $20 more than it's selling for today. The price of this camera seems to be dropping almost daily. Possibly there's a replacement model coming soon.

I've only had the camera for a few weeks and haven't given it a full workout yet. Preliminary results show it to be a fine piece of equipment with more features than I'll ever use. I especially like the fact that it uses AA batteries. Rechargeable NIMH batteries are inexpensive and regular alkalines are available in an emergency.

Other than for 1 shortcoming, I would have given the S3IS 5 stars. The lens is quite prone to red fringing in the highlight areas at the longer end of it's focal length. I find this very disappointing coming from a company like Canon.

Perhaps I'm being too fussy about this, but I've used some fine lenses over the years and am very demanding of lens performance. Under most circumstances the fringing isn't an issue and at the 4X6 print size is really almost impossible to see. Be that as it may, I find it annoying and spoils what is otherwise a fine piece of equipment.

I thought I would never get my 3 years old Nikon for any other camera, but it broke on an accident and I had to do it. I did some research with friends and most of them recommended Canon PowerShot. It is a very good camera for people like me who like to take nice shots, but does not want to feel like a pro. It has lots of features I have not even tested yet, and I think it will take me a year to get all of it. This camera's operation is not intuitive, though. I had to read the manual to learn some basic things, like recording video and setting up image size and resolution. But after you learn those tricks, everything comes up easy.

Pictures in low light are very nice. I went to some underground caves, and the pictures I got out of it, even without a tripod, were good. If I had a tripod, and learned all of the functions it has, I bet they would have been Excellent.

In some situations, colors are not as bright as the ones I had from the Nikon, but most of the time I get better pictures from this Canon than the ones I got from my old Nikon (it is a 3 years difference in technology after all).

Overall, I feel satisfied with the purchase.

After searching through all the digital cameras available on the market, I selected the Canon Powershot S3 IS 6MP. This camera has all the features I wanted and could be purchased for a fair price. As of this point, I am 100% pleased with the camera. It is a very "User Friendly" camera and for basic photography, it is a "point & shoot". But when wanting to go deeper into more complex photography, the camera will be ready when you are ready. I highly recommend this camera.

Got it just yesterday, absolutely love it. Still going through the manuals but whatever i could operate without even looking at the manuals , its just superb.

Just received this camera yesterday inserted the batteries, the 1GB Chip, turned it on and started shooting. This camera is not for the novice. It can be used as a point and shoot or set it up the way you like it, it's very easy to use.

Highly recommended. My photos are amazing. The zoom is wonderful.
A lot of custom commands and very good presets, the sports settings is excellent to take fast photos.
You will not be disappointed with this product. 100% guaranteed.

I truly enjoy this camera! I feel as though I need to take a class in order to figure out everything that it is capable of doing. So, I guess in jargon speak, it is feature rich. There is not much "noise" produced when zooming, in fact I cant' seem to remember any so far. My DV camcorder recently died on us and now we are going to use the S3IS as our main camcorder for a few months. The video feature is great. It takes just enough frames per second to keep the video looking crisp and clear. Also, the fact that you can still zoom while recording, a feature I didn't have on my last still shot camera, is amazing to me.
Cons: I have been getting frustrated taking pictures indoors because of the lag time produced by the autofocus. In auto mode you may well miss that shot you wanted indoors because the camera was unable to set the distance properly and adjust the flash for the distance. Operating without the flash changes the lens speed so that those pictures are frequently blurry. So I have a choice, blurry pictures, or deal with the frustration of getting about 80% of the choicest little moments and big smiles from little 14 month old. I'm keeping the camera, its worth every penny I paid for it!! I'll figure out the indoor thing eventually.

camera is excellent . photo is as excellent. price is excellent. zoom is excellent.

I have taken numerous shots and am very happy with the detail of the picture.

I am very happy with this camera. It was actually a gift for my dad after buying one in December for ourselves and finding it to be perfect. My dad liked the look of it so we bought him the same one. It's great because you can just point and snap if yo want to, but you can also do all the fiddly stuff too. A great buy at a very reasonable price.

I got this camera today and have given it all the tests I could think of. Played with all the different modes. Took it outside for some nature shots, etc. Overall it's a great camera, and the new lower prices makes it even a better deal. However, when shooting videos there is a very noticeable high pitched whine. I've tried adjusting all audio and video settings, turning off the IS, etc. There's nothing I can do to get rid of this annoying sound that occurs during all video recording. A quick web search turned up that this is a common problem with this camera and seems to affect most, if not all, S3s to some degree or another. Mine happens to be particularly bad. The user forums over at dpreview dot com talk about this problem. I've written Canon and am awaiting a reply. If they cannot fix this, my S3 is going back to the store. One of my reasons for choosing this camera was the great video features - however, this audio problem is rendering all videos shot on this camera unwatchable. Had this not been a problem, this camera would have gotten 4-4.5 stars. However, since this problem is so annoying and seems to be very common on S3s, I'm having to rate this just 2 stars.

I wanted a camera that was easy to use, that took really good pictures without much import from me, the camera user. This camera does all of that and moreover I have become fascinated by all it can do and what I can do with it. The photo software that comes with it is amazing and I have been editing away like mad and am so pleased with the final results, I feel like a pro!! My one criticism of the camera is that when holding it to take a photo my right thumb gets in the way of all the buttons etc or is it the other way around? Consequently I am still trying to find a comfortable (don't have to think where my fingers are) position to hold it. Nevertheless I am so pleased that I chose this camera for my birthday present.

i have owned this camera for several months now and so far i am very satisfied with it. i especially like the 12x zoom capability with image stabilization and its macro capabilities. Since i am interested in wildlife and nature shots, i was able to take a picture up close of a nesting eagle up on a hill and take close-up shots of the ridges of a seashell using these features. Battery life is great, and i haven't had any trouble with this camera so far. I haven't explored yet all the features this camera has to offer, but i'm sure i won't be disappointed. Highly recommended.

I went from having a so-so camera that only captured the side of my baby's head because of the delay. Now, my baby is the most beautiful baby in the world with this camera! The quality of the photos is just spectacular. I had wanted to buy a SLR but couldn't afford the $600 price tag (probably more), and I heard about this Canon, so figured I'd give it a shot. I absolutely love this camera. Cannot recommend it highly enough.

I love this camera. This is the first "decent" camera I have ever bought. All my other cameras take horrible pictures...slow shutter speed, slow recording times, blurry pictures. This camera made me look like a pro photographer the first day of use and I don't know anything about taking pics! Very user friendly. Very fast to boot and take pics. Stunning clarity in pictures. Image stabilization is great. The camera is pretty heavy for its size and the lcd could be larger, but that aside... I LOVE IT!

I bought this camera for my husbands birthday and he absolutly loves it. I also bought it because we are about to have our second child and our old camera was too slow when I wanted to capture those cute moments. It also always turned out fuzzy. With this new camera I can get every little detail and it is super fast. I never miss a quick smile anymore from our two year old. We also love the video feature and have quit using our video recorder and have just stuck with the cameras video option for all of those cute moments that we want to catch on video for the future.

Its really a pride to own this camera.Picture quality is great and lot of features!!!

BY FAR THE BEST CAMERA ON THE MARKET! My friends are envious and I am a neebie at digital photography and I have taken some great photos. I did a lot of searching and found Amazon had the lowest price and fastest delivery!

If you are interested in taking great pictures, and sometimes you want near-DSLR capabilities, this is the camera for you. Small enough to not be too much of a burden (as with an SLR), but has many high end capabilities. The 12X zoom is awesome. No other point-and-shoot camera can touch it. The image stabilization makes a world of difference. Fewer lost pictures due to blurriness.

I use it mostly as a point-and-shoot, where it truly excels, but at times I like to play with shutter priority and aperture priority, especially for indoor and low-light shots. I have not done much yet with the manual mode, but it's nice to know it's there for me.

My next step is to get the lens adapter (about $10) so I can use filters. Being an amateur photographer is an evolutionary process, and I am just starting to move through to a new phase in understanding. This camera will take me a long way before I would want a DSLR.

The most surprising feature is the video quality. It's as good as my Sony DV handycam, and it's much more convenient to copy to my computer for editing. Make sure you get a couple 4GB cards if you shoot a lot of video.

I am so happy with my Canon S31S! It has more features than any camera I've ever used and, with the lens adapter, you can add polarizing filters, or macro lenses, and extend your options even further. Plus, I love the swiveling display. Great for taking shots of yourself with your friends.

im not a camera expert but so far i really like the canon s3. ive been using it for a month now it seems to shoot real nice idiot proof pics. im more knowligible about video and it really takes nice video. what sold me was that many people i asked about this price range of digital cameras always compared other cameras to canon so i figured why not get a canon. hopefully as i get better with it i will enjoy it even more. i know there are alot of things that it does that as of now i have no idea what they are. hopefully this will enable me to get better at the action shots. i was told that canon has really good customer service and therefore i elected not to purchase anymore warranty. a friend had an S1 that was a couple of years old and it went bad and canon let her upgrade to the S2 for $100 which seemed reasonable to me

No fuss camera, with many functions and a so-so build. Entry level professionals may want to go a bit higher and go for an entry level DSLR. For the rest of us this is one of the best options available on the market.

I purchased this camera to replace a [...] digital camera at work. I was so impressed with this camera that I purchased one for myself! The picture quality is incredible. Anyone with any photography knowledge will appreciate the amount of features this camera includes.

Canon is allways great , iused many kinds of canon and this one is the best it has many functions and avery good stabilizer for anice photo.

I've had a couple point-and-shoot digital cameras already (3 Sonys and 1 Canon SD600) and I felt it was time for me to advance my photography skills. I purchased the Nikon D50 last December and it is an excellent camera except that it had so many more functions that I didn't need nor understood how to use.

Then I found out about the Canon S3 IS. It's seems like the perfect in between camera! It has a bunch of the Canon creative modes like night shot, sports, color accent, black & white, but it also has modes where you can adjust your pictures manually, like shutter and aperture priority. The display shows all the functions you are currently using as well as a live histogram to aid you while you take pictures. It also adjusts the image on the LCD (unlike for pro-SLRs) so you know what your picture will most likely look like with your settings. The video/sound is superb. Shots take in auto look great as well.

The body of the camera is ergonomically friendly. It looks and feels like a mini-SLR, it's lightweight, and the controls are extremely easy to learn and use. The LCD also flips and and turns 180 degrees for when you want to take self-portraits. It's also useful flipped out to get a better view of things higher and lower than your usual field of vision. The LCD could be bigger but it's not a big deal to me. The rockers, dials, and buttons function smoothly and the menu is very intuitive.

The camera uses 4AA batteries. It comes with 4 disposibles but you have to buy your own rechargable batteries with charger. I think it's great though to have AA batteries rather than those camera-specific batteries (which my Canon SD600 and Nikon D50 both used) because you can actually just buy some AAs if your rechargables run out and you don't have the charger on hand. I read that you should buy the nimh with an mah of 2500 or greater because these supposedly last longer per charge.

Overall, this camera is an excellent choice for those who want more control over their pictures than with their point-and-shoots but for whom SLRs might be too expensive or just too pro (like it was for me). You will actually use all the functions on this camera. I think it's also a great camera to use and learn to use more manual functions in case you decide to eventually move up to an SLR.

Enjoy! :)

I researched for a couple of weeks before settling on the Canon S3IS, and I have no regrets. I've had it for a couple of weeks and have taken all kinds of shots in different environments. It performs well in all of them.

The 12x zoom lets me take up-close shots from 20 feet away, which is perfect when shooting wildlife. And if you're already in close proximity you can use the zoom for extra detail. The controls allow you to get the photo you're looking for as long as you have a second to make adjustments, or you can use "auto" mode if you're in decent lighting and every shot will come out great. I thought it would be difficult to learn my way around the camera, but after reading the manual and fooling with it for a few days I had it down. Most importantly, you have to experiment with this camera, it can do A LOT or a little... depending on your skill and know-how.

Added Perks: This camera runs on AA's, which are conveniently available all over the world and will never be "discontinued". Also, the flip LCD feature is awesome - I can set the timer and take pictures with friends and we can actually see what's in the frame! Plus it helps protect the LCD, which is a bit small, but it does the job. The SUPER MACRO feature is just incredible... I took a picture of a lady bug from 2 inches away and you can see every detail.

It's not as sleek and small as a point-and-shoot, but you pay more for quality than convenience.

Overall this is a fantastic camera with warm, but vibrant color, excellent detail, and a lot of features. It can be simple enough for the beginner, but offers the control and functionality, allowing hobbyists and amature photographers to be a little more creative.

My first Canon---I'm hooked!!! I spend too much time taking photos and editing on my computer. It's just so easy and the functions are right there at your fingertips. The easiest camera to use. Pictures are sharp, bright and exact. What can I take a photo next!!! Got to get going!!!

A little small is my first impression but not something I can't get used to.
I'd love to be able to capture an image I have zoomed in the camera but quality suffers there so it is not usually recommended. And zooming would be more seamless were it so and not jumpy (as in the difference between digital and analog). An eye cup would be nice to block out the real world while peeking thru my viewfinder. I added the extension tube and lens shade which protects the front element of the lens and gives me something to hold onto when carrying the camera in my hand and shooting; I'm told it looks sexy as hell too (wish that rubbed off on the holder). But as a sometimes pro and addicted shooter (hundreds of exposures a day - some friends tell me they sometimes fail to recognize me at first without that black thing in front of my face. I think it adds to my cuteness) I do really like it, tho the stabilizer leaves something to be desired. I still love the heft of the Sony 717 and use it often but not as much as I used to. The Sony T50 would be the next addition to my stable of cameras.

Canon Powershot S3 IS.

I had a hard time choosing from a mega-zoom like this camera or picking a DSLR. I have a few SLR lenses that I could have used on the Pentax DSLR and price between the two cameras were not too far apart. As I thought about toting several attachments around I choose the S3. This is an upgrade from my Nikon 4MP camera.

I've had the Canon S3 a couple weeks now and I purchased the Canon Lens Adapter and Hood Set but I picked the FREE SUPER SAVING SHIPPING aka Super slow shipping. The camera and charger/Battery (LaCrosse Technology BC-900 AlphaPower Battery Charger, NICE) combo arrived Saturday before the SD memory card and Lens Adapter that arrived in a second shipment the following Monday. I don't understand why two separate shipments as everything was in stock.

Since I had the camera for two days before the Lens Adapter came I'll have to say that the adapter is worth having if just to give me more to hold. The first couple of days I found it difficult to grab the camera without pressing a button (not a problem if the camera wasn't left turned on), I assume because my Nikon had a different feel. I was impressed with the Image Stabilization and zoom right off. After getting the Lens Adapter and getting a few days use. All seems natural. The menu is logical and easy to navigate. The only thing I miss from my Nikon was that I could goto thumbnail mode and tag several photo's to delete if I wanted quickly. I saw a post someplace (could have been here) about it's bad that the S3 doesn't have a battery meter. That is true but it has a battery indicator that flashes when the batteries get low. I shot several outside photos after it started flashing and the camera never cut itself off so I don't know if it will auto-cutoff or what the battery level is at that point. I do know that the Canon S3 IS is very easy on batteries. Quick less than 2 second power up, Focus is quick and shutter almost no shutter lag makes a nice camera, and to add all the other features the S3 has. Oh, did I say anything about the great movie modes? Now I can leave my Canon Video camera t home most of the time.

It's not a small point and shoot but it's not as bulky as an SLR. I havent had any good photo ops yet but looking at my test photo's, I'm shure I'll be pleased.


(...)

This is an amazing camera! I'm having so much fun learning how everything works, and taking some fantastic shots! I waited and saved to get it, and I don't regret one minute of the wait. It is well worth it. Thank you.

I have had this camera for several months now and cannot find anything to gripe about. The focus is quit sharp, color is good, indoor perfomance is good, battery life is excellent. I really like the 12X zoom. The movie mode is significantly better than other cameras I have had in the past.

After reviewing many sites and visiting local stores I decided to purchase the S3 IS. All reviews talked about the features but I wanted to be able to use it and make sure it was comfortable and all buttons were in the right places. I am extremely satisfied and happy with my purchase. Pictures are amazing and the zoom is perfect! The camera's size is just the right size for the zoom. You gotta love how the camera makes it easy for point and shoot users and allows more experienced users to tweak settings to get that perfect shot! Reading the manual blows your mind with all the things you can do with this puppy. The video feature is outstanding as well. Don't think about it twice and grab it if you're undecided.

Being slow to learn (senior citizen, I read the manual umpteen times before trying this sweet camera. It has lots of features to consider. Don't know if I will ever use all of them, but it is nice to know they are there. Everything seems to make sense and be in the right place. I took a video of my first grade grandson in his school program. I used a a 1 gig card. It ran out real fast, but I think I should have changed the pixels or something. The quality of the movie was good. (Even though I got the back of some heads) I expect many years of fun with this little jewel.

If you are looking for SLR quality pictures in the size of a "point and shoot" this is the right item for you. The 12X optical zoom is un-touchable. The image stablizer is also a very nice bonus. I did a lot of research before my purchase and I couldn't be happier with my choice. The only negative is the lens cover... it doesn't have any type of locking feature to keep it from falling off.

This is a wonderful little digital camera that can be useful for everyone from beginner through professional. As a professional photographer, I always carry around a "point and shoot" as well as my professional equipment. This camera packs enough features and the resolution to really make it useful on outings where it's not practical to take my bulky professional cameras. The image stabilization works wonderfully and, in my opinion, is a MUST HAVE feature for any digital camera user. If you have a tendancy for "camera shake" when taking pictures, this is a feature you simply cannot do without. This camera is versitile and has a LOT of features packed into it's very sturdy design. If you are just beginning with digital photography, this camera is going to take you a LONG way. If you are already an experienced picture taker, you won't regret this little wonder. The price is unbelievable for the quality and versitility. I recommend this camera to ANYONE who wants to take great pictures!

I'm still getting used to this camera but at this point (5 weeks along), it's doing what I ask of it and easy to use. Pics are clear, zoom is very reliable even in the movie mode.

This camera rocks!!! I'm still learning all the features it has, but I love it. The video is great. My mom took a picture of me a few weeks ago and she was shaking. I was sure that picture was going to come out blurry, but much to my surprise it came out perfect. The Image Stabilization really works. I have 2 graduations coming up and I'm looking forward to great photos. Love that zoom!!!!!!!!!

I have taken several hundred pictures with this camera, wildlife shots, portraits, action shots, and many zoomed photos. I am always amazed at how well the image stabilizing feature works even at the full 12X. This camera makes me look like a pro and it can do the same for most amatuers.

thanks to amazon for offering me prime offer and it shipped to my apartment within 2 days. I really love this camera and it is my favorite. Quality is real good and it pretends to have a SLR effect. Handy and ease to us and I would suggest if Amazon could give a handy bag with the camera. :)

I wanted a camera with a more powerful zoom and better video capability than my compact digital camera. the PowerShot S3 fits the bill. There are many features I havn't had time to investigate yet but the camera is easy to figure out and I started to use it right away. Be sure to format your memory cards to the camera before shooting, I didn't and lost a few early shots.

I'm one of those folks that always had the tiny cameras. I will never go back after this amazing camera. It has tons of features and buttons I'll never use. But ... for the average person like me, four reasons

(1) you can quickly move back and forth between shooting and viewing (just push the shutter and, boom, you're back in camera mode in a hurry),
(2) easy delete as you view,
(3) phenomenal zoom, and ... most of all to people like me ...
(3) fast response--press the button and it takes a picture basically immediately.

Thank you Canon!

The product is everything I expected, good. The purchase through Amazon was not what I expected. I could have bought the camera from a local distributor for the same price only after I asked Amazon to honor their "FREE" shipping offer. They were going to charge me when it specifically states that free shipping is for purchases over $25. the camera cost over $370. I signed up for an Amazon credit card thinking that the price would be discounted $30.00 only to be told that it wouldn't apply to this purchase. "Clever doublespeak marketing " only results in no purchases in the future. The product was delivered quickly and in good condition.

Takes quality pictures, fits my hands, lightweight and well balanced. Batteries seem to be lasting well. I was a little skeptical about this camera using the AA batteries, but am satisfied. Coming off a Kodak Easy Share, the Canon is a little more complex, but as I get used to the different settings I am sure it will be completely user friendly. Found the best price on Amazon!

I was looking for a high-end compact camera to take on short trips as an alternative to my SLR. I was prepared to make some sacrifices compared to an SLR, but even so this camera didn't quite make the cut and I returned it. Here's why.

PROS: It's small and light (compared to an SLR). The EVF is very usable. The ability to swivel the display is great, especially for macro shooting. Super macro mode gets you very close. The long zoom is fun, and the image stabilization makes it usable. For this type of camera, noise is well controlled at ISO 100 and 200, and the noise reduction is light (no smearing). Live histogram and gridlines are both available. Focusing speed, shutter lag, and save times are all pretty good. The lens is quite fast considering its focal range; it's easy to create background blur at most focal lengths. Good hand grip. Overall, a great feature set in very flexible and usable design.

CONS: As with all compact cameras, dynamic range is limited, highlights often get clipped, and anything over ISO 400 is basically worthless. I was prepared to put up with that. But what immediately bothered me was the amount of chromatic aberration (both purple and red fringing, especially next to black areas) and corner softness, plus mild vignetting. Basically, the optics don't live up to the quality of the rest of the camera. I couldn't find a way to control the CA using different apertures, and it was just more than I could put up with.

As always, look at a detailed review with sample shots (like DPReview) and make up your own mind.

Despite the rave reviews this camera has been getting, I'm disappointed in it.

I've lost count of the number of photos I've taken in Auto mode where everything looked in focus in the viewfinder, only to find out later that everything was unacceptably fuzzy. This is especially common indoors. The auto-focus function doesn't seem to be calibrated to the zoom feature at all. Either that or the rectangular area in the viewfinder where it's supposedly autofocusing is, in fact, NOT the area it's looking at.

It's all too easy to 'overzoom' beyond what the camera's autofocus can handle, but there's no way to know when that has happened. You can see the most extreme examples in the viewfinder, but there's no way to tell when the autofocus is off by a small amount. You take a picture thinking everything is in razor-sharp focus, only to find out very differently later. I've learned the hard way that I need to take several pictures at various zoom amounts. And the maximum zoom (12X) is good only for extremely far-distant objects, but then you're fighting that autofocus area vs. what's actually in the viewfinder problem again.

great camera for price. one of the best digital cameras for taking sound videos. love the 12x zoom.

I did a lot of research before buying this camera, and Im glad I did but it. it takes a while to learn to use all its features but it sure does take great high quality pictures. I love the 12x optical zoom.

Loving it!

This is the perfect camera for someone who wants most of the capability of an SLR without the weight. Ideal for someone who likes to take close-up shots. An SLR might be a better choice for someone preferring landscapes.

I have only had this camera for a few weeks, and have hardly scratched the surface of its special features. This review is by no means comprehensive, but is written by someone who is still learning about the camera. Overall, it is a fine piece of work.

When used in conjunction with the manual, this camera not only makes photo-taking easy, but also educates its operator about some of the finer points of photography. It helped me become more aware of lighting when I take my photos. It also has settings specific to different situations - night scenery, day scenery, sports, people, and so on.

The zoom on this camera is above average. 12X is amazing, and the quality of the photos at full zoom are surprisingly clear. Movies are high quality and can be taken at any time (for example, with the camera set on "night scenery" or "sports" or anything else). Still photos can be taken while shooting a "movie", too. I recommend getting a high speed memory card in order to ensure smooth video footage.

The camera fits well into my hands, which gives me more stability when I am taking pictures. The camera does have a "stabilizer" feature, but I haven't really had the need for it yet.

No complaints thusfar with this camera. Amateur camera shoppers look at the resolution and decide which camera they'll get. But a 6.0 megapixel camera provides enough resolution to print an A3-sized (roughly two letter-sized papers put together) photo without pixelation. The lens and camera features are far more important than resolution, making this camera a winner at all levels.

Excellent camera for advanced hobbyists who want control (like me), as well as those who just want to push the button.

PROS: Fantastic 12x zoom range (wish it had a little more wide angle though). Image Stabilization works like magic (I can hand-hold 400mm shots even on overcast days). The folding LCD is more useful than I thought (great for low macro shots). Love the size (feels like a real camera, not a disposable). Shutter lag & focus speed are very good. TV quality videos with dedicated button. SD card (best format). Common AA batteries (but get NiMH rechargeable).

CONS: More purple fringing (in high contrast areas) than I expected - not as good as my Nikon CoolPix 7600. This is not a problem for 4x6 prints and TV/DVD slideshows, but I think it will start being noticeable in prints larger than 8x10. High pitched whine in video, but it improves if you lower the sampling rate (plus I was able to filter it out with a Low Pass filter in Premiere Elements). Zooms a little too fast for my taste. Wish I could attach filters without an adapter.

OPINION: EVFs are better than SLRs because SLRs don't do video, and I've grown very attached to that - it really adds pizzazz to a slideshow (now on DVD). SLRs are obsolete. The clunky mirror mechanism was needed in a film world, but not in digital - LCDs (even on the cheapest cameras) do exactly what SLRs do - view through the recording lens. However, EFV LCDs still need improvement (real time is still better), but that will come in time.

ACCESSORIES: I got an adapter (on eBay) so I could use a polarizer - a must for serious photographers. It works, but it's a little tricky to use with the EFV or LCD.

OVERALL: Not perfect, but no digital camera is. Even though it needs some improvement, I still think it's the best compromise on the market today (for what I want to do). I consider this my first serious digital camera, and I'd buy it again.

UPDATE (4/19/07): I hope I didn't sound too negative. On the contrary, I love this camera. It's just that I'm picky when it comes to cameras (I'm a Nikon FM2 guy at heart). And like I said, I didn't like anything until now. The S3 IS will do just fine until a better one comes along.

Hands down, this is one of the best point-and-shoot camera on the market and for the price, it's a real steal. The 12x optical zoom is just awesome allowing you to get really close to the action, and you can snap a picture instantly as soon as you press the shutter. No more long delay like in other point-and-shoot camera. The image quality is very good not excellent like digital SLR but very acceptable for most uses.

I especially love the awesome video capability on this. I can shoot videos up to 1 GB per clip and the video quality is superb not grainy like other point-and-shoot camera. It is so good that I don't use my Sony DVD digital camcorder anymore.

When I received this in the mail, had to say I was a bit intimated.I do have another camera and that is by Olympus and it was a great starter camera but this one takes really great pictures and it was pretty easy to use although I am still learning about the other features this camera has on it. Also the software was just as easy to load and loading the pictures was a snap.

This is an excellent camera. I own a cannon A-1 purchased in 1980 which still works very well; however the cannon S3 IS is an all new technology and a wonderful new learning experience in photography. I am very impressed with the picture quality, easy downloading to computer, and picture selection. The auto focus is wonderful and the 2x telephoto lens purchased separately works great. I have no regrets in this camera selection . It is fun learning with this new equipment.

I bought this camera based on the other reviews and because I had a Canon SLR for years and loved it. This camera is great to use. The controls are simple and it's easy to use either the view screen or the view finder. And when it comes to downloading the photos to my computer, it's extremely easy. I can easily recommend this camera for anyone.

I think in order to understand which reviewers you should listen to, it'd be helpful to know who they are in photography and what they are using this camera for. So, I'll start by saying that I am not a professional photographer, nor do I aspire to become one. This is my second digital camera, I used the first one for 4 years and loved it (a small Sony 3x), got this new camera primarily to take better pictures of my baby (zoom helps!). I've never owned an SLR - not even a film one.
I do, however, enjoy photography immensely and have been reading on it a lot lately. It was precisely this camera that moved me to try and learn more so that I could take adtantage of all its features. So, I feel like I definitely grew as a photographer in the half a year or so that I've had this camera. From this vantage point, I love this camera very much for all the reasons already mentioned - zoom, video, IS, etc. I whole-heartedly agree with all the rave reviews for those, and I'm a little puzzled as to why people would complain of focus issues - certainly, they happen, as they do on any camera, even an SLR, but I would not call it a problem that should stop you from getting this camera.
I really have only 2 real complaints, responsible for the 4 star rating:
1) the flash seems to be charging somewhat slowly when it has been fired a few times in a row. I've missed a few amazing shots waiting for it to recharge, and that really upset me.
2) the camera seems to have trouble focusing on skin tones. Taking close-ups of my sleeping baby have been quite a challenge, and I was really looking forward to those, considering I have a 12x camera.

That being said, having explored everything this camera has to offer, I've come to the conclusion that unless I decide to do photography seriously and make money with it, this camera is all I need, and getting an SLR is not only expensive, but really absolutely unnecessary for my needs. In order to take full advantage of an SLR, you'll need 3 lenses (or an expensive zoom one), a tripod, filters, you name it, and quite frankly, when I compare my pictures with pictures of my friends who own SLRs, very rarely do I see the difference (and they agree).
So, I think I'm keeping this one for another 4 or so years, at which point I hope to buy S7 IS. :-)

Great camera and a great buy. I'm not ready for a digital SLR yet so this is the next best thing. Excellent picture quality, battery life. IMO the best value for the money in this type of camera.

I am a new owner. I think I am in love. The camera is attractive, It has a nice weighted feel(not too heavy) and the results produce a "WOW"
experience. There is ample room for creativity( both pre-programed and
manual) to keep most amature photogs happy. The image stablization is
rock steady under normal shooting modes. I have not used the macro settings. The Cannon brand lens adapter kit is an ideal compliment. It
enhances the photograph, and protects both the camera lens and the arm
on the zoom without adding an unbalanced amout of weight. I also recommend a Circular Polarizing lens and a UV Lens.(I bought the Hoya brand). I purchased a camera case at a local discount store for less than $20 and it is perfect. The only other items that are a must are rechargable batteries. Again, I purchased 4 batteries and a 30min charger for $24.99 at the same discount store. All in allCanon LAH-DC20 Lens Adapter and Hood Set for the S3 IS & S2 IS Digital Camerathis is a quality camera with room for creativity, and is reasonably priced ( especially with free shipping and no sales tax).

I've had this camera for 2-3 months and LUV it. This is my 5th digital camera and I did extensive research before my purchase. This is as close to an SLR as you will get without actually buying one. Technically this IS an SLR because it does "See through the lens". One thing I love about the EVF is what you compose/crop/see in the frame is what you get. Not an extra 5 feet to either side or whatever. The EVF is a little weird to get used to if you've used an optical viewfinder all your life.

The camera does have some chromatic aberration issues but you still can't pry it out of my hands.

This review is mainly in response to Ana y lat's review, that I found interesting as well as answer some not quite questions you have.

The flash issue: Recycle time for a flash is, well, recycle time. We have to live with it. Some maybe faster than others. Most modern day flashes have what's called a thyristor (sp). This device, usually a little window pointing the same way as the lens, measures the light reflected off the subject. If the subject is close, a lot of light is returned to the thyristor, and the flash only discharges what it needs from the internal capacitor. You may get 2,3 or more pictures depending on how depleted the capacitor charge is. Once depleted, you have to wait for the capacitor to charge again.

Your focusing issue on your baby's face: Auto focusing - Some older cameras used to use sub-sonic or ultra-sonic audio waves that get sent out of the camera and bounce back. Similar to radar/doppler effect. Much more expensive than software. Today's cameras use software to focus. But it needs something to focus on. Point your S3 to a plain wall or up to a blue sky with no clouds will do the same, and push the shutter release a little. It will not focus. When your camera will not focus on your baby's face, point the camera left or right a little on a blanket or pillow, anything with information enough for the cam to focus, but the same distance as your baby's face or your focal point. Push the shutter half way to let the cam focus. Then compose your shot and push the shutter release the rest of the way. You can use the same concept outside to over/under expose your shots, tricking the light meter instead of the focusing unit. You can also, of course, use the manual focus.

Hope this helps.

Keep snapping.

Over many years I have owned and used many cameras, including very expensive Leicas and Nikons. This camera is my favorite of all because it consistently delivers superior photos. The 12X zoom lens produces sharp pictures throughout its range. Color rendition is excellent. The imaged stabilizer works better than I expected -- I find I can hand hold in many situations where I previously needed to resort to a tripod. I normally print my photos at 8x10 size. I find I can get good prints from the S3's 6-megapixel images even when I crop down to half a frame.

The S3 has an wonderful electronic viewfinder that allows you to use the camera as if it were a digital SLR. The viewfinder exactly reproduces what the 2-in. LCD screen on back of the camera would show. I prefer the viewfinder, so I normally leave the LCD screen closed. It's a fine, bright LCD, but with the electronic viewfinder, I just don't need it.

Could canon have made this camera better? Yes. It could have provided raw mode, it could ship it with a memory card of decent size, and it could give it a better lens cap.

My first digital camera was a Canon G2 (very slow but destined to become a classic). My second camera was a Sony H1. What I soon missed with the Sony was the swivel screen of the G2, and I didn't care for the ergonomics of the H1, the autofocus/manual focus performance and the 12 seconds between flash shots either. I recently bought the S3 because I really liked the overall look and feel: it felt like a combination of the G2 and a digital SLR in a small package. The video performance is impressive as is the image stabilization (which was not as good with the H1). Overall, picture taking performance in various modes is quite good and preferred over the H1, although both the H1 and S3 suffer from poor high ISO/low light performance. There remains, however, one serious S3 image problem: purple fringing. Outdoor high zoom pictures where there is strong contrast between light and dark objects (skin in direct sunlight with strong shadow for instance) results in a thick violet outline or "radioactive glow" where light and dark meet. Canon touts its lens technology of the S3 and states "...ultra low dispersion lens significantly reduces chromatic aberation in telephoto shots." Even with this "technology" the S3 has almost twice the degree of chromatic aberation "purple fringing" as the Sony H1 (the G2 had some fringing but it was blue and less obvious - but only 3x telephoto). I've done exhaustive comparisons between the two cameras to reach this conclusion. Strangly, an old abused store demo S3 had less fringing than the new cameras - I returned two S3s because of this issue. Perhaps the quality of lens manufacture declined with the newer units. The only partial remedy I found to this problem is to shoot all outdoor shots at f8 and do not exceed about 6x-8x instead of the max optical 12x telephoto. This will substantially reduce fringing in the center of photos, but not in the outer areas. Also, UV or polarizing filters do not help. Because I actually still like this camera so much, I've decided to put up with the fringing handicap - until I finally give in to the expense and extreme bulk of a decent digital SLR and quality telephoto lens.

Para los amigos de habla hispana.. compré la mía, tiene las bondades de una camara semi profesional, en un tamaño bien compacto, toma fotos maravillosas, y el zoom es bien generoso.
La otra cosa que me encanta es la velocidad de la camara. Todavía no me acostumbro bien a tener que levantar el flash, pues no lo hace automático, pero ya lo haré.

I've been hanging onto my old 35mm Canon Rebel since college. It's been a great camera, but I've grown tired of buying film and making trips to pick up my pictures, organizing negatives, paying for expensive development, etc. So, a year ago a bought an over-priced pocket size snapshot digital. Hated it! It took the worst pictures and had practically nothing for a zoom. What a waste! It was back to buying film again.

But recently, a local electronics store was going out of business and I kept my eye on this Canon Powershot. I liked the feel of it in my hand. It reminded me of my 35mm that I loved so much because I could really put my hands around it. It felt like a nice piece of equipment. The price wasn't bad either since I caught it on close out. The zoom was amazing and once I panned around the store with it and zoomed in on minor detail of items across the sales floor, I was hooked. Of course, the salesman tried to talk me into some palm-sized plastic toy camera again. Absolutely not!

Unlike most people with a new toy, the first thing I did was sit down and read up on all the cool features this camera presents...snow pictures, fireworks, foliage, portrait, landscape, color swap, black and white, and many many more! I couldn't wait to test it out. Since it's Spring time, I ran out to try the foliage setting. The pictures were amazing! Next, I snapped pictures of my dogs running in the backyard using a different setting. Perfection! I toyed with the flash and took pictures of my roommate. They were so crisp. Even better than my 35mm.

My two favorite features of this camera are the color swap where you can set the camera to keep only one color in your picture and it will turn the rest black and white. I paint pictures, so playing around with this setting on a painting I did was a lot of fun. My second favorite feature is that you can set the camera to take two pictures at once. It will take the picture the way you set it to take, and then it will also take a plain ole original pic at the same time. So, let's say you are playing around with the color swap feature but you hate the way those turned out. You'll still have an original picture with no special setting. Two pics at once! And you don't have to set the camera to do this again and again. You can set it permanently to do this each time you use a specific setting.

I was totally turned off to digital cameras thanks to that snapshot piece I had bought, but the Canon PowerShot has definitely changed my mind. It's the best camera I have ever owned! I can't stop showing it to my friends, and because of the quality I use it all the time.

Definitely worth every penny! CHECK OUT MY PICTURES! I HAVE SEVERAL POSTED ABOVE USING DIFFERENT SETTINGS. BE SURE TO LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

From all the other reviews, you know this is a great camera and you can learn technical capabilities better from others than from me. I'll just comment on a few things.

The video quality is amazing. It comes with an A/V cable to plug into the tv so you can watch video directly on the tv. The quality on the tv was comparable to my Panasonic MiniDV camcorder. I didn't even consider the video abilities when I bought this, but in the few weeks I've had it, I can already see that this will replace my regular video camera for most uses. I just need to get a DVD burner on the computer. Needed a reason to upgrade! I never carry the real video camera when we travel, because it was such a pain to pack and carry around. Now I've got one built in. The sound and picture quality are amazing. I downloaded video from the SD card onto the computer and used Microsoft's MovieMaker to edit the video, add captions, resize them for the Web and attach them to emails to the grandparents. Fabulous. (MovieMaker is included in XP's ServicePak 2. I had a heck of a time finding it on my computer, though. Found it by clicking on Start, then All Programs, then Video, then Movie Maker. It's pretty self explanatory, except that after you open a file you have to drag the icon to the bottom of the screen to edit it. Click on the options tab at the top and you can limit the size of your movie to optimize for email, e.g. 4 MB, etc.) Also, you don't have to switch from still shots to video mode. You just push the video record button at any time. One downside, though. While recording video, it doesn't seem that you can take still shots. If you push the shutter button it freezes a "picture" within the video, but it doesn't save it as a separate photo file. Maybe the next generation will fix this, or maybe I'm not doing something right.

I like the easy ability to turn off all sounds the camera makes. We had robins nesting on our windowsill and I was able to start up the camera and take pictures silently without scaring them off. The video taken in this mute mode still has sound in playback. We could hear all the chirping clearly.

Size -- I was torn between getting a smaller camera and getting a camera with zoom power. My previous camera had a 3X optical zoom. I'm so glad I went for the 12X zoom. Already I'm taking pictures that I never would have been able to get before. The camera is not that big, and will easily fit in a big handbag or a backpack, even in the bag I got for it. It comes with a neck strap that attaches securely to the sides of the camera. I bought a camera bag that opens from the top so that I can easily get the camera in and out while carrying the bag. I have found the camera surprisingly comfortable to "wear" around my neck.

Shot-to-shot speed is good and shutter lag isn't a problem like with my old Minolta.

Canon S3 IS vs. pocket-size camera: The Canon is small enough to carry comfortably while travelling or going to the kids' sporting events. I wouldn't carry it around all the time, though. My current cell phone doesn't take pictures, but I figure the next one I get will take decent enough pictures to catch that unexpected photo opportunity, and that's an item I would have with me all the time.

Battery usage. The Canon comes with 4 regular AA batteries (not rechargeable). I ordered rechargeables at the same time, but plunked the regular AA's in when I opened the camera. I've taken about 10 video clips of around 2-3 minutes apiece and about 50 pictures without any noticeable slowing in performance so far. My old camera wouldn't have survived the 50 still shots!

Program modes: I never used the program modes on my old camera. The most I ever did was turn the flash off to shoot through glass. (I'm not a photographer!) I have found myself actually using the program modes on the Canon, though. They are easy and intuitive. I especially like the fact that you don't have to remember what the little symbols stand for, because the symbol appears with the name of the program on the LCD screen. There are the "idiot" programs on one side of the dial and the professional settings on the other. I even found myself playing with the professional settings and the ISO button after reading the owner's manual.

I keep forgetting turn the LCD screen back around when I turn off the camera, but I haven't had any problems with it.

Do I even need to say anything about the quality of the pictures? Beautiful!

I researched a wide spectrum of cameras, all the way from simple mini-cameras (which have their advantages, to be sure) to complex slrs meant primarily for pros. The Canon Powershot S3 1S falls midway in this range. It's easy to operate at a basic level, yet offers a broad array of settings and features that should satisfy all but the most advanced users. The video option lets you record in stereo, and you can even interrupt that mode to shoot still photos; the sound will continue unbroken while there will be just a short blip in the video. This feature is ideal if, for example, you want to record a portion of a child's concert or recital. One caution in that regard: get yourself a 2-gig flashcard (maybe two of them) so you won't run out of space while recording videos. I also bought a Canon telephoto lens and attaching ring, a 1-hour battery charger, a power cord and converter (they don't come with the camera and are useful for avoiding battery drain during downloading and other activities), and an Amvona carrying case (terrific company, by the way). On final point: if you're downloading photos and videos to a Mac, there's no need to resort to the Canon software. As usual, Apple has the requisite drivers in its operating system; just plug in the camera to any USB port and the icon of the camera comes up on your desktop and offers the chance to download (jpeg/avi). All in all, the best camera purchase I've ever made.

this camera is almost SLR, it has nearly all the options, the colors it produces are fantastic too.

Awesome camera! What more can I say? I am just beginning to explore the possibilities that this camera can do. I take this camera everywhere! The stabilizer is a wonderful tool. Easy to use and fun to have.

I owned and returned the much cheaper and sopposedly poorly quality Kodak z612. But I now own an s3 IS and can't tell the difference between this and the Kodak. In fact the Canon seems to be worse in low light and even grainier at iso above 100. The outdoor, high natural light pictures tent to have slightly more true colors than the Kodak, but that is all. Most of my pictures turn out blurred or grainy, and I have played around with the manual settings, but still can't get very good quality pictures. I did a lot of research before buying this Camera, and was leaning towards getting an sony H2, but went with the Canon because of reputation and because I got a really good deal on it. But now I'm considerig selling the Canon and going with the Sony.

This camera is great! And I was a dedicated SLR user, reluctant to go digital. But I love the zoom... it's fast and accurate. It's got a ton of fun features, like color sampling, to take those neat shots of kids where the rose is the only thing in color. Can take a snapshot while in video mode and video while snapping shots. It's been a whole lot of fun. The only thing I miss about my SLR is manual focus... but for that I've got to get real expensive.

All up a pretty good camera. For its price its the best that I could find. My only problem is that the batteries tend to run out faster than I would like it to. But if you get some battery chargers that should solve that.

Love the camera. It takes good pictures. The 12x optical zoom is just
what I wanted for close-up pictures from a distance. Macro pictures are perfect and not blurry. I was able to get a picture of my cat's face with his tongue out just when he was getting ready to clean himself. The shot couldn't be more perfect.

I still have a lot to learn as far as features.

Looking forward to taking action pictures of my grandchildren as they play.

In the short time that I have owned this Canon Camers, I have been impressed. Eighteen months back I had purchased a similiar camera from another manufacturer at about the same price. No comparison in photo and movie quality. I am impressed in the cameras ability to take quality low light photos.

I bought this camera on a whim and was quite impressed on how quick the shutter speed was for a digital camera. It was much better than my nikon coolpix camera.

This is a very professional product. It take a while to adjust to using all the features that are included with the camera. This is a good buy for the price.

So far, I love the camera--easy to use, but plenty of options if I ever want to take the time to learn to use them (which I hope to do soon). Takes super nice pictures just with the basic settings, and it's a nice size. Easy to manage pictures for printing, etc.

Canon PowerShot Pro Series S3 IS 6MP with 12x Image Stabilized Zoom
After shopping for several months for my next camera, I came across the S3IS. Several cameras in this class had great reviews, but the vga quality video really sold me. It handles low light conditions better than my 4 year old Canon, although indoor pics tend to be a bit grainy. But it really shines outdoors. My outdoor pics rival any professional camera. The 12x zoom is also amazing. A good friend told me he had ordered this camera the same day I ordered mine. Two other acquaintances ended up with the same camera within weeks. It's a truly versatile camera that has become quite popular. I'd recommend it to anyone!

I have had the Canon PowerShot Pro Series S3 IS camera now for a month and have found it to be well worth the money. I have been involved in photography for 30 years and have owned a few different cameras in that time. This camera is definetly one of the best I've ever owned. I have experimented with most of the features and find the Stablization feature very helpful, especially when shooting sports at maximum zoom, or extreme close-ups in Super Macro mode. The colors are excellent and the high resolution allows me to crop a photo and still retain clarity. It is easy to use if you are an experienced photographer, but I would recommend to the beginner, to purchase a good book on Digital Photography, since the users manual may not be informative enough, to fully utilize this camera's many features.

good luck with it so far, I also own an easy share by Kodak, it is far better. I saved alot of money buying through amazon. The Zoom is great!

Nice camera. Dont know how to use many of the features yet but of little what I know, it worked quite well and pics came out real nice.

I was hesitant to buy a digital camera because I have always enjoyed the quality from my SLR 35 mm. However, the quality of the close-ups I have taken with this camera have far exceded my expectations. The pictures are clear and sharp. The camera is user-friendly as well. I only wish I would have switched earlier!

It's a bit heavier than expected, but the picture quality is excellent. Object up to 3/4 of a mile away can be brought into fairly sharp focus. Love it!

I tested 3 other cameras with this and this one was by far the best. Great size, functions, friendly, etc. I love to use it. It did take me a good week to play with all the functions and stuff before I really got hooked so be sure you give it a fair try.

Yes, $300.
6.0 megapixel, same chip as in the 6.3 rebel, REAL and large lens with a 12x optical zoom, full manual override capability and very good full res. 640x480, 30fps video camera. An absolute steal.
But by at least a 2.0 mb memory card.

Great and versatile camera at a good price. 12X Zoom feature was really nice and the pictures were clear. Easy to use. The movable LCD screen was very convenient, although it was a bit too small and difficult to see in bright light. Would Recommend.

I purchased the S3 IS about a month ago after doing extensive research on digital cameras. Since I've had it, I can't seem to put it down! Pictures are sharp, the 12X zoom is amazing and the super macro function is unbelievable!

If you don't have the $$$ for a DSLR, this camera is the one to get...

I bought this camera a little over a month ago. It has performed pretty much as I expected and my research showed it should. The battery life is good (I use rechargeable NiMh) even when using the flash. I have shot probably close to a thousand pictures. I am impressed that the IS works so well in long shots indoors. I have taken photos of my kids at various indoor activities where flash is impractical. I can zoom all the way and still get a hand held shot. Unfortunately, anything taken indoors is pretty grainy. I am still experimenting with various settings and scene modes to try and take some of the graininess out. When using the flash the pictures are great! In well lit situations that camera takes wonderful pictures, as well. Color is good and the frames are sharp.

I paid a little under $300 and it is definitely worth that! If you are looking for a long zoom, image stabilized camera I would recommend you take a good close at this one. I am a very happy camper!

El producto fue entregado inmediatamente, etoy muy conforme con el producto, el una de las mejores camaras que he tenido entre mis manos. Es Excelente

I think the quality of ultra-zoom digital cameras has generally gone down in the last few years when it comes to picutre quality and so as how consumers and professional reviewers see them, its like "selecting the best of the worst" and rating them as the best available in the market, and when people read that they run and get one. The manufacturers have been adding a lots of new features to tempt consumers to buy new cameras or upgrade to newer models, I'm sure those new features are very useful when it comes to ease of use and convenience but unfortunately they reduced the image qualit. I've been wanting to upgrade my older Olympus C-765 to a newer one regardless of the brand and have been reading reviews and viewing sample pictures from many models including the best rated ones such as the Canon S3-IS and Panasonic FZ-7 which I actually bought for a bargain price at Circuit City for only $139.00 (Brand new in a sealed box) and even that bargain price was not enough for me to keep it when I compared the image quality with my Olympus C-765', and I'm including the newer models from the same brand (Olympus SP-510, and SP-550) that I didn't like at all. The Canon S3 IS maybe currently the best of the bunch but I suggest to anyone to consider the older models as well.

I love the quality & the speed except for the indoor moving shots. I went to my nephew's wrestling tournement & I put it on sport shooting & I couldn't figure out how to use the flash at the same time & I missed some WONDERFUL shots!! Other than that, it was great & it might be something I am doing wrong...who knows!!

Pluses
------
-This is a very good camera for those looking for one which is very high on features. Features are possibly the best what you can get at this price.
-The Handling, operation, built quality is perhaps the best I've seen in a non-pro camera.
-Lots of very useful & innovative features like Voice-tags for stills, Jumping to images by various criteria, Slideshow set-up,direct connection to TV
-Viewfinder is the best I've seen
-Very powerful Image Stabilization, very good lens quality (very good zoom: 12X optical),
-lots of manual controls and modes,
-very powerful flash,
-very inteliigent software,
-Foldable LCD.

Limitations (My observations only.. I'm not yet fully skilled with usage)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Picture Quality is not the best, esp in case of Shooting at Night. Its ISO 400 & ISO 800 modes are QUITE NOISY. It may be my shooting setting problem, but compared to even an entry-level Sony point & shoot camera, the image quality is not far better. The real comparison comes when viewing the images on a Workstation. Even compared to Panasonic Lumix TZ1 (all the settings in Auto), Panasonic Lumix TZ1 gave a better image quality for the same image at night. I again say, this MAY BE due to settings problem, but i can definitely say, the picture quality is not as great as i had expected under the settings that can be easily done & understood by a not-a-pro photographer (Shot in Auto and Av Modes)
-It's HEAVY (weight goes to 500 gms inc batteries) so it's a pain if you have to carry it for long
-Shoot/Play dial switch seems to be not so strongly built
-LCD image quality is not that rich. It's also smaller than it should have been (but it is acceptable given the fact it can be rotated by 180 degrees)
-Image stabilization doesn't work in non-daylight condition with flash off (but works brilliantly in daylight or with flash-on)
-Drains 4 batteries. I'm using newly purchased Uniross 2500 mAH Ni-MH batteries which last for roughly 300 shots (with around 75-100 shots taken with flash) on a full recharge
--The camera doesn't come with Rechargeable Ni-MH batteries or charger, contrary to most other canon cameras. Neither does it include a pouch. So be ready to spend at least 40-50 extra bucks on these things plus a high capacity Memory Card. But in India, this does ship with batteries & charger.
-Overall Not very easy to use for a novice, but very satisfying for an advanced user. You need to spend decent amount of time going through the manual for using this camera effectively
-----------------------OVERALL-----------------------
This is one of the best semi-professional camera one can look for in terms of features, handling, build-quality, but this should be used by an advanced user (otherwise it may be an overkill for a novice and a novice may get confused and overwhelmed by the features and operation). Overall I'm very happy with the camera, but not too happy with its low-light shooting performance (picture clarity when observed on a workstation). Lot of pixel noise in ISO 400 & beyond (even ISO 200).

I really like this camera, but it is not for the point and click crowd. It will do that with great results but you can get a good point and click camera for a much cheaper price. This camera is for people who want results comparable to a digital SLR but aren't willing to pay the price, or want it in a smaller package.

I compared the specs on this camera to an expensive Canon digital SLR camera a friend of mine has and the only meaningful difference is in pixal count. The amount of control over the picture, functions, and the quality and specs of the imaging components are virtually the same; in fact the S3 was superior in some areas.

Now of course the digital SLR has interchangeable lenses and in the long run one can be more creative and versitile with one. But with this camera you get 90% of the functionality without having to carry around a large camera body and a bag of lenses. You can also do it at 25% of the cost or less when you consider the price of the lenses. The 12X zoom alone is comparable to having to buy a 400mm lense.

The only problem I have with this camera is that with the amount of control and functions available I spend a lot of time in the book figuring out what I can do and how to do it.

It's a good camera for everybody: beginners and for people, who want to take pictures operating manually using many different options.
It's a very comfortable if you can twist a screen in many direction that you like, taking pictures in different difficult of approch places. Also it's very good that you can close and open screen, so there is smaller chance to scratch or breake one.
The best cameras are CANON and NIKON!
I like this camera for the quality! You can take a good video with a sound. Good pictures will be even in a fast moving, at night etc. Good zoom option - so you can take a picture if your object is too far from you and you will get a good sharp, clear picture.
It's not heavy, comfortable. Pictures have so wonderful bright real colors! I bought this camera because a friend of mine has the same one. I have a bird (cockatiel) and it's very hard to take a picture of her, because I expect to see her natural colors and sharp (clear) pisture. So now I'm able to take a picture of almoust everything!!!
Don't think to buy or not to buy!!! :)

This is a Great camera for the money. Its takes super pictures. Is ez to work with even if you are not a tecno type person. I take several pictures and weedout the poopy ones. There I am left with great shots.

I need another camera with more powerful zoom but not ready to spend for a dslr. I did a lot of research between Panasonic DMC-FZ8k, Sony DSC-H5 and Kodak P712 to finally opted for a Canon S3is. Amazon service is excellent.
All the pictures taken with the camera, so far, turn out amazingly excellent. It makes me a better photographer. I am very happy with it and don't regret my decision. The price is even cheaper now. I also added a lens adapter and filter. You need an adapter in order to use a filter. Please note that Canon came out with a new upgrade, the S5is, with more features but costing around $500. My next purchase will be a DSLR.

this camera have trouble shooting pictures a night at long range beyond 12X zoom ok for close up.but then all cannon camera and camcorder have this problem!. and no time stamp and date printing you must use cannon EZ browser to edit and add the time stamp and date.forget about it in movie clip!. no option availble in EZ browser to add time and date which can only record the movie in AVI format lucky nero 7 can convert the AVI file into DVD format.if you want good noght time shot then go for the sony instead.

The Canon Powershot S3 is easy to use and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a camera a step below an SLR. I took it on vacation recently and the results were great. The camera is not too heavy and bulky so it was fairly easy to carry. I would recommend getting the PSC-75 Deluxe Soft Case as an add on. The case fits on your belt loop and the camera is easy to get in and out of the case the way it is designed. I wouldn't recommend this option of carrying the camera for a woman. It might be too heavy for smaller belts. The only complaint I have about the camera is the lens cover. It does not fit snugly and falls off easily.

Takes great pictures, if the lighting is good. 12x zoom with image stabilization is fabulous. The flip screen is great, if you ever want to turn the camera on yourself - or if you need to position the camera above or below eye level. The camera fits well in your hand & the buttons are located in easy-to-access locations (most can be pressed with your right thumb.) Macro shooting is incredible, as the lens will focus when it is actually touching the subject (the subject has to be well-lit, though, as the camera flash will cast a huge shadow from the lens housing at short focal lengths.)

Image gets grainy fast, the lower the light. Indoor shots require flash, as do lower-light (such as twilight) outdoor shots.

All-in-all, this camera is an excellent value for the money.

I am NOT not a newcomer to digital cameras or 35mm either.

I have gotten some really nice shots with this camera. Those were achieved when I had a little time to fine-tune all my settings. If you just use auto mode, you will NOT be pleased (if you know a good pic when you see it).

I have 3 kids so the fact that I have to fiddle with it before I can snap a picture is a BIG no-no in my book. I have to be quick around here! That was one star gone.

The other star gone is the noise issue. It does NOT matter what settings I use, there is always some sort of noise. Granted, if you run it through an editing program, it's okay..... BUT I don't want to HAVE to edit ALL of my pics.

I haven't replaced it yet... so I guess I'm dealing with it. I'll just keep my eyes open for the "perfect" camera.

All that you need for any ocation, even indoor events. Excelent takes for landscapes, portraits, and more. Anyways, it's allways better if you have a portable tripod. Got to have it!

I had this camera for almost 2 years now and I love it! I do professional photography and I take lots and lots of pictures. I am always pleased with the results that camera gives me. The zoom is great and the image stabilization really makes a difference. I like that this camera is quite compact considering its specs. I travel a lot and I needed a camera to have the manual options for me and the point and shoot for my wife.
I highlty recommend this camera, if you compare it to the rebel, its cheaper, more compact, you dont have to spend on good zoom lens, its low maintenance and it takes great pics.

Reviews suggested the S3 IS 6MP is a "bridge" camera, for those who want a little more than a point-and-shoot digital camera but are not knowledeable enough for a digital SLR. The results I got during a trip to the Rhine and the Swiss Alps disproved that view. Of course it can be used as a fully automatic. However, the photographer who understands f-stops and shutter speed relationship, exposure compensation, ISO, and depth of field, will find this camera to have enormous capability while at the same time having less bulk than a SLR - an excellsent travel camera. Night shot capability with tripod is excellent. The 12X optical zoom image stabilized lens (432 mm equivalent) gives it a significnt advantage over point-and-shoots. Camera controls are well placed and changing from mode to mode and making other adjustments is quick. Battery usage with 2500Mh rechargeables is excellent. For its price and its superior performance, this camera is an excellent buy.

Found lots of positives when I compared it with my brother-in-law's Sony H5. For one, Canon allows you to zoom in and out while doing a video take, an option Sony does not have. The video quality is far better as well. The camera's flip-open-and-twist&turn outside display is awesome. I've grown very fond of this camera in the last few days. I've found only one negative, and its big enough for me to give this 4-star rating instead of 5. This camera, per Canon's website, does not imprint time stamps on photographs. I'm used to storing pictures of my daughter since she's growing up so quickly, and to my wife and I, the time stamp holds great value. We'll miss the time stamp.. the positives of the camera however outweigh this negative, and I have every intention of using this camera for a few years.

Image stablization works. Movies are really good for a camera, and they are easy to do in any mode - just push one button. The only negative is that even the viewfinder is harder to see in bright light. New model is out, but this one is still very good, and now a great deal.

I love this camera. Very good product for good quality photos. Excellent zoom! Not the quality of a DSLR, but pretty good for its kind. The only thing I can say needed improvement is more megapixels. Other than that, quite happy with it. I recommend it if you really want to get interested in photography and cannot afford something else.

Admittedly, I got this camera to replace my first digital camera, a Kodak DC290. The Kodak was good for its time, but that time was long ago. The S3 is unbelievable - all the features you'd want, and stunning performance. Awesome quality with the optic-level zoom, and truly impressive digital zoom quality. Just to experiment, yesterday I was at the White Sox game on third base line, about 100 feet behind the third basemean. I used the digital zoom to take shots of Paul Konerko at first base, and they literally looked like I was only about 100 feet from HIM. Super fast between shots time - great camera.

My previous digital cameras only had 3x zoom, and I found that was not enough to take effective pictures of stage events on our trip to China a couple of years ago. The 12x zoom on THIS camera enabled me to capture all the detail I needed on our trip to France this year.

The shutter recycle time is very fast (another problem with past cameras solved by this one). There are a ton of options that are easy to access, plus a through-the-lens view finder with variable diopter (a requirement if you wear glasses like I do).

Battery life is also excellent. I bought 2 sets of extra batteries, but never had to use them in 3 days of taking pictures.

The one big drawback is the size of the LCD screen (when not using the view finder). This screen is a lot smaller than other cameras in its class, which is a bit disappointing for a 6MP camera.

Overall, though, the camera is light, not too big, easy to use and takes GREAT photos.

I have been using mostly pointand shoot cameras till date and was skeptical about using one which looked like an SLR. I have used it for the past week and totaly love it.

It's a great camera for people wanting to migrate from basic digi-cams to the the more feature-rich (i.e. leaing towards SLRs) ones.

Positives (from one week of use)
Good resolution
12x zoom
Image stabilization works well both for pics and movies
Very quiet operation
Solid construction and good handling

Negatives (from one week of use)
Difficult to see Viewfinder and screen in bright light (outdoors for example)

All in all an excellent product from Canon. Would definitely recommend it.

I have now had the S3 for two months and its a awsome camera!I love all the features on it and its so easy to use.I mainly take pictures of nature and the 12x optical zoom is what helps me to get so close to nature.And by the way this is my first camera i have ever had so if a 14 year old kid can work this camera than any one can.

I had a Panasonic FZ-30 that got wet. After it got wet, it no longer worked. Although I was very happy with it, it was no longer in production, and the FZ-50 which replaced it was $150 more than the Canon S3, so I ended up buying the Canon.

That was a mistake. The Panasonics image quality is much better. The S3's pictures are grainy and never got that level of crispness I got with the Panasonic. It is also very light and does not have the quality feel of the panasonic.

I tried to save $150 and it didn't work. I am going to go ahead and buy the FZ-50.

This is a great camera. I especially love the super macro. You can see some of the great pictures it takes in this setting in the customer images that I left. I really dont thing there are any cons to it. Its great! It turns on very quickly and the zoom is excellent!! Great camera!!!

If it's not, it's clearly very close. I just bought this camera on a spur of the moment after seeing a friend of mine play with his. And at less than $300, I thought it was a bargain!

I immediately took this S3 on vacation with me and it was truly impressive.

Pros: A bargain at under $300, optical image stabilizer, uses regular AA batteries
Cons: If I think of any, I'll let you know

I've always been a fan of Canon cameras and this camera just blew me away. I had to get it. The 12X optical zoom and the optical image stabilizer was enough to seal the deal: no questions asked. The bonus was the weight, the fact that it takes normal AA NIMH batteries rather than the proprietary battery. Added bonus was the flash stays off unless you flip the flash unit up and the camera is nearly silent when you turn off the sounds. This makes taking pictures in places you're not normally supposed to take pictures super easy! I like the view finder when shooting outdoors and the swivel color LCD display is nice too. Little things like the review mode work well and the camera goes from off to shutter release in less than 2 seconds, making it possible to get all those pictures you would normally miss with the earlier generation point and shoot cameras. I can't tell you how pleased I am with this camera. After taking nearly 8 gigabytes worth of pictures, I can't blame the camera for a single bad shot. In fact, many shots came out much better than I imagined. My old Canon would not have been able to take them at all, while the S3 was amazing!

So far, I've been impressed with how fast and easy the camera is and that I'm able to take usable pictures in conditions my old Canon would not have worked at all. Add to this that the image quality is absolutely stunning! The colors are vivid and sharp, the lens has a 12X zoom, which means you can get stable clear shots from a far distance and you won't need to lug around a tripod.

Did I mention that the video mode on this camera is also amazing? Yes, it shoots at various resolutions and frame rates and records audio in stereo. The image stabilizer also works in video mode and you can zoom while recording. It almost makes having a separate video camera unnecessary. Unlike the older Canons, video are not limited in length: you can shoot until your card is full.

Like I alluded to earlier, the reason I love this camera so much is that I can go into museums and other places where taking pictures is either difficult or impossible and the S3 snaps amazing pictures so fast, no one even knows you're taking pictures. While other people are snapping pictures and their flash has to go off, the S3 whips out a dozen shots with no flash, no annoying shutter sound and no one even knows! It was also quite easy to hand the S3 to nearby strangers to take a snapshot of you without having to explain how to use it. It is just that natural to use.

Battery life was very good. I brought 20 NIMH 2000ma batteries and a set of 4 lasted a day and a half. I replaced a set of 4 each day so I never had had to worry about the batteries dying on me.

Ok, convinced yet? I didn't mention that the S3 can take amazing shots at 0 inches from the lens and that you can override all the settings and you can edit movies and a bunch more things. I'm sure it can do things I don't even know about yet, since I've had the camera only 3 weeks. I never used any of the numerous modes other than Auto and P)rogram mode. While on my trip, I noticed that many people had the S2 or the S3 and they all really liked theirs. And while I'm writing this, the S5 has been announced. I'm sure the S5 is amazing too, but you will be more than satisfied with the S3.

Well I bought this camera yesterday to replace my olympus sp-500 because i was impressed with some shots my friend took with hers. took it to a dance recital, it killed my rechargeables after about 5 pics. had to run to store and picked up 2 xtra packs of batteries. put first 4 batteries in and didnt even have enough charge to shoot a picture. put second set of batteries in and it shot maybe 3 pics. well needless to say, i would like a camera that if i ran out of rechargeables, i could run out and use regulars in a pinch. not sure if this particular camera was a defected model or not. i exchanged it for an olympus sp-550.

My only complaint is that it only comes with a 16MB Memory stick...
Nah - Are you kiddin' me?? That's not a complaint at all.. I knew that it only had that amt of memory, but you can buy SD memory so cheap nowdays it doesn't matter.
This camera takes GREAT pictures. You can use the Macro mode to fill the entire frame with a Picture of a Penny that is razor sharp - or use the 12x zoom to capture any action shots you like. I've not used the movie mode so I can't comment on that..

This is a great deal folks.

This has been my all time favorite purchase made in the last several years. The S3 IS is just about the closest you can come to dSLR performance and capabilities without the huge pricetag. Out of the box and in auto or scene modes, this camera takes great pictures. In the modes where you can customize aperture, shutter speed, exposure, etc, this camera can generate pictures ranging from tack sharp to artistic depth of field. Wide , auto-stitching panorama, and quite remarkable video functions further set this camera apart from others in the same class let alone similarly priced point and shoot options. When brought all together with long battery life, numerous canon branded/3rd party accessories, and a thriving community of users; you can't go wrong with the S3 IS.

If you decide to grab one, I suggest the following must haves:

1, 2, or 4 gigabyte SD card such as this: Transcend High-Speed Secure Digital Card (150x) - 2GB

Set of rechargeable batteries running between 2200mah to 2700mah such as this:Energizer 15-Minute Battery Charger


52mm or 58mm Lens adapter (you should order this from Lensmate as they make a nicely machined aluminum adapter that is superior to the canon/other brands)

Clip-type lens cap that will fit the camera and/or adapter:
Canon 58mm Snap-On Lens Cap

Filters: 1 linear or circular Polarizing filter (minimal reflections/better sky contrast) and 1 UV or Clear filter (protect your lens from scratches, dust, or gunk):Hoya HMC - Filter - circular polarizer - 58 mmHoya 58mm Clear Protection, Multi-Coated Ultra Thin Mount Glass Filter.

I spent a lot of time searching for the right camera, and the S3 IS seemed to have it all. I read shining upon shining review, but didn't do a Google search for specific S3 IS defects, problems, etc. Big mistake.

I ordered the S3 from Amazon and the problems began as soon as I took it out of the box. There was something loose and moving around inside the camera, I went online and saw that several other S3 owners had the exact same problem.

I put the batteries in to test the camera, and it seemed to be working okay, until I transferred some test images to my PC. I have been taking photos for 20+ years and I do not take crooked shots - some of the pictures were without doubt slanted to the left. I googled and found other S3 owners complaining of the same problem, which seems to be a factory defect - the CCD is misaligned.

Next problem I found was terrible color fringing, also known as chromatic aberration. In areas where there was light/dark contrast, violet and green lines were seen along the entire length.

Other issues I noticed about the S3 and read about from owners:

Focus problems, bad low light abilities, clicking sounds from the lens, mushy buttons, barrel distortion, redeye, plastic tripod mount, 1GB movie limit regardless of memory card size, and a cheap lens cap that can come off too easily. Some users used their S3 to take dozens of pictures, and had memory card errors wipe out all their photos; this was not due to faulty memory cards.

I'm not a professional photographer, and did not buy the S3 expecting professional quality photos - but these are problems one might expect to encounter with a $99 camera, not a $300+ model, and not from a trusted Canon.

The name Canon always meant quality to me. Unfortunately things have changed and companies are cutting back on their build quality and quality control to cut costs. Because of this brands that used to be the best, are now pumping out some of the worst products ever.

Some S3 owners have no complaints, it seems you have to get lucky, if I want to gamble I'll go to Vegas. It's frustrating that I now have to go and find another comparable camera to replace the S3. One owner told of his journey to several stores to test different S3's. In over a dozen tests, only one of them had none of these issues.

Although I love the features, and got a few decent shots with it, I cannot accept all the faults. I have packed the camera up and am shipping it back to Amazon for a refund.

Hope this helps you in getting the right camera, the first time!

I was looking for a camera that would take pictures of our kid's school programs and dance recitals where they are up on a stage. I wanted a camera with a large zoom without buying a DSLR. I did a lot of research and ended up buying the Canon Powershot S3 IS. I am not disappointed. This is a great camera. The pictures of the dance recital turned out great. I love the single button movie feature. It takes a lot of memory to take movies but they turn out very clear. I also like that you can take a snapshot during a movie, and it pauses just long enough to take the snapshot and then continues taking the movie. This is a very versitle camera with a lot of different setting to allow you to be creative. It also has an auto setting if you just want to aim and shoot. Our previous Canon camera had shutter lag. This camera does not. It turns on quick and takes the picture quick. Since we owned a Canon digital camera before, the control buttons were easy to get used to. The zoom lens is very quiet. You can zoom while taking a movie and you will not hear it. I bought rechargeable NiMH batteries with it and the battery life is great. I am very pleased with this camera and would highly recommend it.

I received my camera back in April, and after about 2000 shots, I am very satisfied. The zoom is outstanding for outdoor shots, and picture clarity is great. You need to play around with the camera when you first purchase it to get great pictures. I rarely use the auto mode anymore. It has so many features it is like owning a dslr. A set of rechargable batteries will give me about 5 weeks worth of shooting.

I really like the camera and the photographs it can take. I have already recommended the camera to a co-worker, who bought it to use at her son's graduation. The zoom is nice and the image stabilization helps keep the shot clear. I cannot give it five stars though because the literature that accompanied the camera is lengthy and not all that easy to read/understand.

So far the pictures from this camera have come out very well. Couldn't ask for more.

I bought this camera about a month ago and cannot express how much I LOVE IT!!!!! This is my 2nd digital camera(I also own the Fujifilm S3000 finepix digital camera). I thought I loved my other camera, but this one is way better! My other camera didn't have such good battery life, but so far this one is much better. I don't find myself changing the batteries as much, and I have used it a lot since I got it. I also love the fact that I can record video with sound(other camera only records silent video). I cannot wait to try this baby out next month at a concert I will be attending. :) Someone else who has the model below this camera got some FANTASTIC shots at a concert last year, so I am very anxious to see how it performs.
I still have to get used to all the features of this camera, but so far it has yet to disappoint me.
I HIGHLY recommend this camera to everyone!

12x zoom, swivel screen, 6mp, limitless high-quality video, numerous filters, adapter lens compatible, fast startup and response times, panorama mode, AA batteries, SD memory. I LOVE THIS CAMERA. It was my upgrade from a 4mp a80, also a great little camera.

The S3IS isn't bulky like a big SLR and is a great all around camera with ridiculously good battery life. On safari, I shot 300+ photos a day along with 10-20 minutes of video and the fully charged batteries lasted usually 2 days. Try that with another camera.

And before I forget, it takes great pictures, like all Canons.

You can't go wrong with the S3. I'm ditching my camcorder, now, too -- who needs it anymore.

I purchased The S3 with the Image stabilization being the primary reason. I own a Casio QV 3000 EX and a Fuji S 7000. The Casio with only 3.3 Megapixels gives better more natural images than the Fuji. The Canon S3 is the poorest of the bunch. The images on the LCD montor and the Viewfinder are dim and almost impossible to see in any kind of light. Canon told me to take out the batteries and the memory card , let it sit for 20 minutes and reinstall-did nothing to improve the condition. They want me to pay to ship it back for repair and I refuse to do that on a new camera. My rating for this camera is no stars.
Tom

I love all of the settings on this camera, along with the 12x optical zoom and image stabilizer. This camera takes awesome pictures anywhere I have taken them. The only downside is it is a little bigger and doesn't fit in your pocket or small camera case. I bought a small backpack purse and carry it in that and it works great! I was also concerned about buying a camera that uses AA batteries. I use rechargeable batteries and they last forever. The camera doesn't tell you, however, that the batteries are weak until it dies. That can be remedied by carrying a set of regular AA batteries. LCD screen flips out and can rotate 180 degrees. Highly recommend camera! Love the sports mode shooting continuous shots!

I bought the S3 a long time ago. One of the most irritating and lousy aspect of this camera is the ISO button on the back of the camera. It is so easy to accidentally push it that you'll find your pictures are grainy because the images were taken at ISO 400 or higher instead of ISO 80 or ISO 100. Secondly, the image size button is also located in the same area and guess what? It too can be accidentally pushed changing your initial settings to a lower quality/size image. If I'd known that this would continue to occur even after owning the camera for a long time and consciously checking it often, I would have returned it. It's the worst thing that can happen when you're trying to get the largest, highest quality image and you download it to your computer and find out the quality was reduced. Absolutely disgusting.

This camera is easy to use, providing excellent features and clarity. The 12X optical zoom works well and is the highest I found shopping around. The image stabilization helps provide crisp images. My daughter shot some photos of orchids in Alaska that were beautiful.

Lens cap will NOT stay in place.

Camera has many features, but I have not figured all of them out...looking forward to many lasting memories in pictures.

This looks like a great camera. But I'm not a professional photographer. I'm an average person when it comes to electronics. I got this camera because I wanted to take pictures of my kids as they're growing up. You know how kids never sit still. So it was either blurry pictures for us, or insanely bright pictures from all the flash that had to be used to get a semi decent picture. I tried looking up how to solve this problem in the manual and their solution for blurry pictures was "use a tripod". HA! Why didn't I think of that?

I don't know if there was any other solution because honestly, I do not have the time to read every word in the manual to find out. It's too technical for my use and I need something straight forward. I also wasn't impressed with the battery life. It does take great videos though. I can't argue that.

The automatic Flash doesnt work fine.. There were a lot of instances when I thought the natural light was dim and wanted a flash...but the flash just wouldnt go off..and obviously resulting in dark images. And i still haven't figure out how to switch the Flash to ALWAYS ON mode... Otherwise, I like the 12X zoom and Image stabilization...

I decided to write a review, because I think there maybe several of you out there that are just like me. I'm the person who likes taking pictures of my kids and nature, however, I am not a professional - nor do I want to be one. That being said, I decided to do my homework and research several different cameras. I have owned 2 Sony Cybershots and liked that pics and LOVED the simple software, but wanted a more powerful zoom and still keep the point and shoot ease. I wanted the S5 and actually looked at it at the store. The camera definitely has some great perks as others have mentioned but I couldn't justify the price difference. The S3 has more buttons and the manual is not the most user friendly for those of us that are NOT technically minded. This camera has a TON of options, and once you start playing with it will find that it is a GREAT CAMERA. One of my first pics was a Hummingbird that you can actually see the individual feathers, and I am far from a pro. Some of the features that I like the most are - the zoom, optical/digital viewfinder, the energy saving feature (which will stay at your settings, but will go into a semi sleep mode, to save on batteries. Battery life is very good. The continuous shoot makes you feel like a pro and the picture quality - great. A straight on shot of someone's face for me provided a PERFECT picture with absolutely no red eye. I highly recommend this camera.

Best $300 Ive spent in years. I keep it in auto and the pics are better than the $ 800 camera my friend has. He has more megapixels than I have, but this is a superior lens!!!!!
Not many bad reviews for a reason, buy it!

This camera replaced the 620 Powershot which I dropped on a ski slope. The 620 has more megapixels but it is not really notieceable. Also, the S3 has a larger zoom. Otherwise, the cameras are much the same. I did not own the 620 long enough to really get to know it but the S3 is definitely growing on me. I have read some of the criticism concerning grainy images, and found them helpful: I had been wondering about this occureence, and will be sure to select a low ISO setting in certain situtions. The videos are great, and all in all I really recommend this camera, at least for hobby enthusiasts like me.

This is the perfect step away from a digital SLR. Lots of features yet still very easy to use if you'd prefer an automatic setting. Takes gorgeous pictures. As always, Amazion service was terrific.

There are a LOT of reviews of the S3 here - and elsewhere - and the S3 has now been replaced by the S5: but if you are in the market for an "advanced digital super zoom" camera do yourself a favor and spend some time researching the options: odds are good you can pick up an S3 at a "bargain price" and end up with a Nicer Overall package than most of the competition.

Trying to squeeze Too Many Pixels onto Too Small of a sensor results in excess noise for many of the newer digital cameras (DSLRs excepted, for the most part). Read the reviews.

Spent several days at the Grand Canyon, plus visited Painted Desert & Monument Valley: the S3 is capable of Excellent photographs, the Image Stabilization REALLY works (have photos taken at 70mph that are simply incredible), Zoom (& even with Digital added on) is an absolute joy, and the camera is (mostly...) intuitive in usage - BUT complex enough that you should Read The Manual for best benefit. (They work surprisingly well, but there ARE limitations to "Scene Modes!")

Have also used the camera for several Videos - including Graduation ceremony and 2 nights recording a high school play: recording time is limited & EATS UP 2 GB SD Cards, but the results (Audio & Video) are very good - and fantastic for what is Primarily a STILL Camera!

There are a lot of Good choices in the Digital field: the S3 is among the best - especially given the current Price Differentials - but don't feel like you are "Sacrificing" quality by sticking with "only" a 6MP system: unless you intend to do a LOT of editing (enlarging) no-one will know the difference in Resolution - and Noise is Likely to be in the S3s favor. Instead, just use the savings to complete your kit...

RK - SE MI
System: S3; Lensmate adaptor (52mm); UltraPod II; Tamrac 5510 bag; "folding" lens hood; Hoya HMC Multi-coated UV filter (52mm); Eneloop & Panasonic Ni-Mh AAs; SanDisk 2GB SD cards (1 Std; 3 Ultra II - either version seems to work fine).

Personal Comparisons: Canon A70 (3mp / 3x optical); Kodak "advanced digital" (4mp / 4x optical); Pentax K10D w/ 2 lens kit + several OLD "film" lenses. (A GREAT camera - wonderful images if you want to WORK with them - but for unedited 5 x 7 prints? For Viewing on Monitor / TV? No one will know which image came from which camera.... Sure: Crop, Enlarge, work with Difficult Subject Matter and the more advanced cameras
have an advantage. If you REALLY want to shoot "ART" settle for nothing LESS than an SLR - but for day-to-day use? Your $$; your call.)

Just received my Canon PS Pro S3 IS digital camera and am more than impressed with it's features and picture quality.

I previously owned an Olympus digital camera (a dinosaur at 4 y/o) then thought I was upgrading by buying a Canon A630 model (mistake!) I returned that one because of the constant image blur--My point is that the (IS) Image Stabilization capability alone is worth the extra money. I have no complaints about the picture quality now, and the Macro close-up mode is pretty cool to play with for those interested in amateur photography.

I gave it 4 stars, mainly because the lens cap doesn't fit as securely as my previous camera and the button placement on the A series Canon was a bit easier to learn.

This camera rocks! I have only owned the S3 IS for a short time, and already have over a thousand good shots in my computer. This is the last of several digital cameras I have owned and believe it is by far the best value on the market. Battery life is great, lag time is minimal and the super macro is the best I have ever seen. The owners manual is a little confusing even when you know what they are trying to say, but buy the camera!

I have owned a 4MP Canon Digtal Elph that does a much better job than this camera.

Movie mode activates accidentally when you attempt to shoot a still photo.

This camera is useless in broad daylight, most picutres shot with the S3 IS in daylight will be awash in a white haze. I took over 150 shots one afternoon and only 20 shots were usable. This never occured when taking pics with my Canon Digital Elph in daylight.

But the worst aspect of using this camera in broad daylight is that the optical and video viewfinders are almost impossible to view in when shooting in the sun. You are literally shooting blind. Avoid Canon S Series cameras at all costs.

I really like this camera. The 12x zoom and image stabilization (IS) are perfect for most of my needs. In particular, I find the IS very important. My previous digital camera did not have stabilization and at even the 6x zoom on that camera, I could not take a hand-held picture. But with the IS, most of my pictures are very clear even at 12x zoom. The three things that I think were better on my previous camera (a Fujifilm S7000) were (1) the colors and contrast of the photos were slightly (and only slightly) better on the Fujifilm, (2) the autofocus seemed to select the area of interest better and (3) the optical viewfinder had a higher resolution. I've had some images of flowers and the like that I've tried taking close-ups of that have ended up being focused on the wrong item, partly because the viewfinder has such low resolution that I can't tell whether the flower is in focus and partly because it appears that the autofocus isn't picking out the image in the very center of the frame. I love the smaller overall size and the enhanced capabilities of the Canon, though. The buttons and knobs are generally well placed and the functions and options seem easy to find and use. In general, it is a really great camera, but not "perfect," which is why I gave it four stars.

I got this camera because my Canon Powershot A75 was not keeping up with my family's activities. I chose this model specifically because of the sports mode and continuous shot features. It's so hard to get that perfect picture in a single shot, and the combination of sports mode and continuous shot has allowed us to get all the action during taekwondo. The zoom is great, too. During soccer I was able to take pictures of the kids on the opposite side of the field, and could actually tell who was who! It's a little more advance to use than the A75, but it was a good step-up camera for me.

I normally use a Canon SLR camera, but I wanted a smaller camera I could have with me to take pictures of my kids that didn't require a big back pack with extra lenses, filters, flash, etc. I was going to get Canon's A710, but I saw that this camera was discounted so that it was very close to the same price (at the time I purchased it). This camera has a lot of features that I found attractive, the most important of which were the 12x zoom, image stabilization, the swiveling preview screen, and a moveable focusing point (flexizone AF).

So far, I love the camera. The picture quality is great, and it's hard to beat the value at this discounted price. I'm not a fan of the electronic view finder, but I'm getting used to it. Also, this site (and others) have stated that this camera has 9-Point AiAF (see above), but that is incorrect. The camera has a single focusing point that you can manually move to various places on the preview screen (flexizone). That's a feature that I find far more useful, as I find it easier to know exactly where the camera is going to focus (and then recompose if necessary) rather than let the camera choose and be frustrated when it picks the wrong focus point.

Canon's new S5 IS has all the newer features (Digic III processor, etc.), but if you're on a budget, this is a great camera and a great value. I highly recommend it.

this is a camera for us amateurs! pros may want something better! but its perfect for me!excellent compared to others in the same price range!

S3 IS is really good in clarity / perfect shots. Though i didnt meddle with it for long time. In a short span i was able to learn it. Thanks to Amazon for giving it cheap, while other sellers are giving for around 350$ & 400$.
Once again its really good.

I've had 4 digital cameras before this one; this easily takes the best pictures, has a very short lag between shots, has a long battery life, and takes fantastic videos with sound up to 1gb in length. I took it on a family vacation and had 13 relatives standing around the computer marvelling at the video quality. Great value at ~$300.

I really am not a camera expert-That's why I love this camera!! Very easy settings to follow. Best of all instant shots. My old camera would cause me to miss great shots due to a delay. This camera takes the picture when you push the button and needs no recovery time before the next shot. If you're shooting the kids or pets in action its a great camera. I know other cameras have higher MP's but you won't miss it with this camera. It shoots quality ever time. Also really like the hold grip and the light weight. Great for the price!

I recommend this product for all people who likes photography, it is easy to use with exelent resolution

I got this camera for my Appa (Dad), who was once a professional with Pentax SLR.

He found this easy to use, although he had to read through the manuals for some of the features. I liked the idea of having separate buttons for shooting a movie and a still photo. Also, the turnable LCD.. gives an advantage for self-portriats, shooting over a crowd and so forth.

The 12x zoom and stabilization is Great. Took a pic of 18 wheeler on freeway from 1 1/2 miles and u could read large type on trailer.........

For the price of this camera it is amazing. There are many fun color editing tools. The size is just right for quickly grabbing to take somewhere, but not too small too lose instantly. It is an extremely nifty camera for those looking to experiment and get good quality pictures, but aren't looking to buy a thousand dollar camera.

After giving up a 30-year hobby for a while, I sold all my film stuff and got a Canon A95 to check out digital photography. When the A95 was stolen, I got an A620. This got me back into photography enough that I bought a Pentax DSLR and a bunch of lenses. As that bag started to get quite heavy and bulky, I started pooping around with the A620 again for those times I wanted to travel light or casual (such at a nephew's wedding where I was not, thankfully, "the" photographer.) However, the A620, nice as it was, is a bit limiting on the focal length - not particularly wide, and not really telephoto, either. So, I decided to sell the A620 and get the S3, mainly for the longer focal length for daylight people shots.

I opted not to get the S5 as I would not be using an external flash, the extra megapixels are not needed, and the other minor differences did not justify the additional $200 in cost.

So, am I better off than before? Maybe. I have a nice stabilized zoom, and a better movie mode that I'm sure I will put to use on occasion. I have a faster continuous shooting mode as well. And the live histogram is a great feature, too.

If that was the end of it I would give it 4 or 5 stars. However, with all the good stuff, there are a couple things that are a real problem.

First is the ISO button on the back. This is very easy to push by accident (perhaps even with my nose?) and if you don't frequently check the tiny ISO setting in the viewfinder (if you are shooting that way), you run the risk of some unusable, grainy high-ISO shots :-(

Second, a good/bad thing is the "S" button on the back. This is a "shortcut" button that can be set to one of a few functions, such as focus lock, white balance, movie frame rate, etc. However, it comes set to adjust the image size. So, much like the ISO button, until you switch the setting you'll risk shooting a bunch of small images before you realize the error. I have subsequently changed the button to simply turn off the display.

The third issue is the poor high-ISO performance. At 80 or 100 the image is smooth and nice. At 200 there is a touch of grain but definitely acceptable. At 400 you are going to have noticeable grain, and you should only use 800 for documentation - such as showing the neighbor's car in you parking space, or similar non-artistic images (unless you are using grain as the effect).

So, essentially a great camera has some serious button problems. I doubt anyone changes ISO so frequently that they can't just push "Func", arrow down to ISO and adjust it. Takes 5 seconds. Too bad they just did not make it another programmable shortcut button. I'm thinking of making a little cover over it - how silly is that?

Oh, the EVF is pretty grainy compared to an optical viewfinder. And the LCD, like most, is a pain in sunlight, even in the "bright" setting.

If you don't need the fancy stereo-sound movies or a rotating LCD, there may be better alternatives.

For a average camera guy ,usual point and shoot, I have no trouble operating this camera. The main thing I was pleasently suprised about was the quality and length of video that it takes. Good quality all the way around. Not the kind of camera that you will stick in your pocket but you have to choose between convience and zoom. Glad I bought this one.

its amazing flex-ability and features are worth the money its performance is awesome 12 X zoom & anti shake are spot on , only criticism is it dose take some time to get to learn and program the beast I guess I'm getting a little slow theses days but once mastered it is quite the camera i have owned ,Minolta's ,Olympics ,and other Canons this is the best yet Ihave had it for a month taken over 300 pics and would certainly by it again

We want to return this camera because the zoom lens hesitates and sticks when opening. It makes a noise which the other S2 camera I recently purchased. I will be contacting Amazon to see how to return this camera and receive a new one.

After nearly 2,000 shots in almost every possible kind of setting, I'm ready to say that this is one little workhorse of a camera that produces mostly reliable results. There are excellent reviews of its many features below, but I did want to highlight one little concern that I passed over as trivial but which became, in fact, substantial in my own use.

The placement of the buttons on the back of the camera (right next to the lift-up screen, which is a GREAT feature for taking above-the-crowd shots) is a major design flaw. At first I thought this would be a minor thing (having read about it in other reviews), but during the course of shooting in an action-based environment, I inadvertently (and completely unknowingly) reset the picture quality from high to medium and then to low. Just touching the somewhat sensitive button (while picking the camera up, opening the view screen, or jogging a bit with the camera slung at your side) can result in changing the picture quality. I do wish there was a way to "lock" the camera's settings so that this didn't happen, but in the meantime, beware of this little devil in the details. You can always compensate for a few of the other setting in your photo editing software, but you can't go back and reshoot a scene if you wind up with web-sized files and intended to have a nice set of 8x10 prints available for a client.

I went car shopping awhile back--the first time I'd ever looked for one on my own--and, accustomed to the rapidly changing pace of the tech sector, I innocently asked the salesman what the differences were between last year's model and the new versions slated to come out soon. He looked at me blankly, blinked, then responded, "The shape of the headlights." Well, Canon changed a bit more than the shape of the headlights between the PowerShot S2 IS and the S3 IS, but not much. The newer model integrates a 6-megapixel CCD instead of 5 megapixels, and Canon tosses in a few new features, but ultimately, it's the same camera. That's not necessarily a bad thing--the S2 remains a great camera, and the S3 carries on the tradition.

The Canon PowerShot S3 IS's aesthetic seems to be a cross between those of a classic Volkswagen Beetle and a Busy Box. Granted, it's the same body as its predecessor's, but the silver bits stand out more against the current version's iridescent, dark gray plastic than they did against the previous model's silver coloring. As with the S2, there's certainly enough here to keep you busy for a long time, though, and loving every minute of it. (For more details about the S2/S3's basic design and features, read the PowerShot S2 IS review.)

For the S3, Canon upped the size of the flip-and-twist LCD to 2 inches from 1.8, which is still disappointingly small. The company also added a ludicrous 16:9 aspect mode: not only does it simply crop and letterbox the standard 4:3 image, but the LCD is too small for a functional letterbox display. More useful is the new 320x240 60fps movie-capture mode, which produces slick little movies, as does the VGA, 30fps mode. Unfortunately, the camera still lacks raw format support.

Oddly, despite the different sensors--or perhaps because they use the same f/2.7-to-f/3.5, 36mm-to-432mm lens and Digic II imaging processor--the S3's photos look almost identical to the S2's. They display a broad tonal range, albeit with some clipping in the highlights and shadows, very good color accuracy and saturation, and acceptable edge-to-edge sharpness. Its noise profile follows suit as well: low until about ISO 200, then increasingly bad. Though the camera can now boost ISO sensitivity to as high as ISO 800, either manually or by enabling ISO Boost in a programmed-exposure mode, the noise at that setting is quite obtrusive. In general, the S3's photos look good but can't really shake the digital look, either onscreen or in print.



The haloing around the hands, the smearing in the corduroy, and the general lack of detail in the bricks make this photo look obviously digital. Keep in mind that this was shot at maximum telephoto, however.

Performance, while not identical to the S2's, is either the equivalent or better. Start-up to first shot takes only 1.5 seconds, which is quite zippy overall, and extremely good for a camera that has a long lens to extend. Shutter lag in bright light runs about 0.4 second and doubles to 0.8 second when the lights get low. The S3 is also relatively responsive: 1.1 seconds typically from shot to shot, plus another second if the flash needs to recycle. Though it maxes out at 1.5fps in continuous-shooting mode, there's no buffer-constraint on the number of sequential shots at maximum resolution; I find that much more useful than a fast but limited burst mode. It was certainly sufficient to capture active dogs and children playing in the park, including kids spinning in a tire swing.

Autofocus occurs quickly for the most part, although a few of my shots looked as if the focus hadn't locked before capture. I didn't experience any of the problems that the S2's reviewer did with SuperMacro mode; it worked fine for me, even with the lens almost pressed against the subject. The image stabilization bought me about two stops of shutter latitude, but my hands shake like an octogenarian's--a coffee-drinking octogenarian.

I'm not a big fan of electronic viewfinders (EVFs), and the S3's didn't convince me otherwise; though it's fine for framing, I hate that it freezes when the shutter is pressed. The LCD is certainly viewable in most light, but I prefer an eye-level viewfinder to the unsteady arm's-length approach.

True, a cheap dSLR will provide better performance, and a moderately priced one will deliver better photo quality. But the Canon PowerShot S3 IS's combination of features, performance, and relatively compact design certainly gives megazoomers a compelling alternative.

This camera is "the" best camera I've had yet. The super macro mode is phenominal and regular mode has 12x optical zoom. Also, for any AVI's you may want to record, it records audio in 44 and 16, CD quality basically. The screen also flips inside and out so you don't always have to use it if you choose not.

The menu button is poorly placed as it gets pressed just when I need the viewfinder to take a picture. Sometimes in poor light it will not always focus. It usually under exposes. Otherwise I like the camera.

I really love this camera. It's fun to use, has got a ton of features. What I really like the most about it is the flip out screen, and the zoom. The zoom is super fast, or you can press the zoom level slower and it will zoom slower and quieter!
I also really like the way you attach the lens adapter, instead of screwing it onto the camera, you just have to twist a ring off and press a small button, so it's really fast to do.

The only thing I wish is that it was able to use a remote shutter release cable,had an option for a longer shutter setting, and to shoot in RAW.
All in all, those things wouldn't be used a whole lot. So I'm not missing them too much.

I did a lot of searching and deciding before I actually ended up buying this camera. And being a young person aspiring to take the dip into photography, this is a perfect camera.

I could say a lot of things, but I'm gonna be concise and say that if you want a good camera, just buy this one.

I just love this camera. It takes great pictures and is fairly easy to use. It will work well for someone just wanting to point and shoot or for someone who wants to have features to play around with. I have especially enjoyed the macro zoom to take close-ups and the color assist which brings out one color in the picture.

Review below, but have a question: Anyone use the SDHC 4gb with their S3?

I enjoy the camera, don't like the lens cap, and had to get a little used to holding the camera, but overal it is wonderful.

This camera replaced an Olympus 1.3mp and wow what a difference in quality to the 6mp.

The movies were surprisingly clear and with stereo sound I was able to pick up the voices of people in the shot.

This camera has more options then I'll ever need. The usuer manual is hard to read in the printed shady areas (old eyes I guess), so I've gone online to read it. Problem solved.

It has great features and the image quality is just superb. An excellent camera all in all. But the lens cover does not fit tightly enough and tends to fall off even while putting the camera back into its case. The lens cover is meant to be so that you do not have to worry about protecting the lens when the camera is not in the cover, but what if it falls off at the slightest touch? You still have to be very careful with the camera.
Another thing that it is very bulky. It wont fit in a purse/bag you would normally carry so I always end up carrying it separately.
But in spite of this, I love my camera.

The first week that I had this camera I took it on a hiking trip to the Killdeer Mountains in Western North Dakota. It took amazing pictures. I loved how quickly I could turn it on and be ready to shoot. I was able to take some great wildlife photos because I didn't have wait for the camera to ready itself. Shooting in seconds is a must for wildlife shots. It is a great camera. (Side Note: Don't waste your money on the Opteka 3.2X Telephoto lens for this camera, the lens is pure junk. I am currently trying to find a telephoto multiplier lens that does what it says it does. So if you need more than 12X be sure to shop around. I learned my lesson; READ THE REVIEWS BEFORE YOU BUY!)

I had a nikon coolpix 5200, and it broken. I bought this beginning of May as a replacement. I just love this camera. It's effortless to use. It just takes great pictures, in the different modes. I just came back from a vacation to Canada, and taking pictures was one of the highlights. I uploaded several pictures from Butchard Garden to share. The quality of the pictures is close to postcard quality, with vibrant colors. I would highly recommend this camera to anyone who loves to take pictures, all you need to do is frame the picture and shoot.

Looking only at the "6 megapixels" doesn't do justice to the images this camera produces. Because the lens is as big as an SLR's, it captures nuances that a pocket-size camera can't. I shot marble statues in a museum's subdued light--about the flattest lighting imaginable--and the images are gorgeous, textured, showing subtle gradations of white and gray on the stone. These images far exceeded my expectations.

I bought the camera for its 12x zoom, to take wildlife photos in the rainforest, but it comes in handy in everyday shooting as well. Highly recommended.

Hi,

Mark my words and just dont think at all if you want to buy a DG cam within $300 that gives very good image quality,12x zoom and is easy to use. This is the best Powershot available. I have compared this to S5IS and did not find the later so much worth $500. The horshoe adapter and other features in S5IS are much of a luxury. So if you are looking for a DG cam that u can carry for some vacations,parties etc, this is the best. recently I took pictures using the flash in total dark and the quality is still crystal clear and so bright. I was amazed. Its been 2 months I bought this and am very much satisfied and happy.:-)

Great small, lightweight camera to bring anywhere versus a heavy weight. Not bulky so easy to bring along and great photos

I originally bought this camera as a replacement for my 35mm Canon EOS650. The only thing that the S3 IS lacks as far as a replacement is the Bulb function. That was a key thing i was looking for, because photos taken at shutter speeds of over 30 seconds get interesting results.
I've taken this camera out on a few road trips now, and i can honestly say that it suits my needs perfectly. The wide screen mode is very handy for making desktop backgrounds (i have a widescreen monitor) and overall, as long as you know what you're doing, the pictures come out crystal clear and don't have any grain.
The grain factor in this camera comes in ISO speeds of over 200. So using the "dummie mode" in anything besides daylght would probably result in a grainy picture.
As far as the custom mode goes, i haven't figured out how to save it, but the program mode does just fine for what i need now. Obviously i haven't played with all the bells and whistles on this thing yet, but i really do like everything about it. The auto mode sucks though.
Video capture on it is pretty nice as well. I've never had sterio video on a digital camera. The microphone even captures slight echoes from voices at a lake.
The 12x zoom is very cool. The camera that this is replacing is an SLR and its big lense on that one just barely keeps up with this one.
The S3 IS is also a big step up from what i used to have for a digital camera; a Fujii Finepix A345. I could take some amazing pictures with the Fujii, and at first with the S3 IS i was disappointed because of the auto mode's grainy high ISOs. Getting around that was easy enough though.
Very good flash recycle time (i'm not a big flash user, but i thought it was a good note to add). Good continuous shots. The swivvle screen comes in handy. Its comfortable to hold. Feels pretty ruggid, though i don't dare drop it lol. It looks nice too!

Bought this camera before going on an international trip, based on reviews here and elsewhere. I am very pleased with the pictures i took with this camera. The movie function is extremely good with the ability to use the optical zoom when shooting short movies.

The biggest drawback with this camera is the lens cover - which keeps falling off, when carrying the camera using the neck strap around your neck. Especially when you are walking around various sights in a park for example. The lens could very easily get scratched because of this. I am very surprised that Canon overlooked this. If you are thinking of S3 be aware of this, verify if this is resolved in S5 if you decide to upgrade.

Replaced a malfunctioning Minolta with this and, for the price paid, I can't be happier.

Pros: Great zoom lens. Many adjustable functions that makes it come close to an SLR in versatility. Easy to hold and use. Good auto focus. High quality photos. Videos are not half bad.

Cons: No threads for filters, you have to purchase a separate filter adapter that puts a few inches on the camera so the camera no longer fits into the camera bag Canon makes for it. Many manual adjustments are done with a 4-way rocker switch that is nearly inaccessible if you use the viewfinder with your left eye. Manual focus is done with the same rocker switch and is too slow for action photos. The factory settings seem to prefer a slightly overexposed photo.

I'm very happy overall and expect the camera to last a few years. I've seen some reviews that complain about the battery usage but I've had no problem. Made over 400 high quality photos on one set of rechargeable batteries Sony 2500 mAh AA Rechargeable Nimh Batteries, 4-pack without running out of power. Consider this camera if you are looking to move up from simple snaps or if you have a professional photo rig and want a smaller camera for recreation that's just pro enough.

I bought this camera after vacationing with friends who had it. I brought it to Europe and it took fantastic photos of the scenery and landscape. It handled the darker chruchs and museums well too. The zoom is wonderful (esp. compared to my last camera -Sony Cybershot). Image stabalizer is great! You MUST buy a memory card with more space than the one included. I bought the SanDisk 1GB, and so far stored 400 pics on it. This camera helps the average person take professional looking pics! Very happy with it!

This is my third purchase of this machine, because of professional needs. It is perfect choose for this price.

I have gotten very into digital photography. When my Nikon point-and-shoot (Coolpix L4) died, it was the perfect excuse to upgrade to a nicer camera. I don't have the money for an outright DSLR, but I wanted something more substantial than another "credit-card" camera. I also wanted to be able to switch things up with lenses and accessories, allowing me to be more creative and have more options when shooting.

Enter the Canon S3 IS. More substantial than the traditional point-and-shoot, less expensive than normal DSLRs, compatible with lenses and various creative accessories. (Plus it looks darn cool.)

How are the pictures? They are wonderful. The Canon gives me rich, beautiful colors, has little trouble with camera shake, and subjects generally show up appropriately sharp and clear. The zoom is really amazing, being quick, smooth, and capturing clear images. I think there is a definite learning curve to understanding how to adjust various settings. If one is motivated, this learning curve is surmountable.

In terms of features: I can adjust settings to be more creative than I could with most point-and-shoot digital cameras. ISO, exposure, aperture, shutter speed, focus, white balance, flash, metering, and other settings can be manually changed. While the highest ISO setting is 800, I don't really care, since I rarely raise ISO anyway.

The grip is wonderful and I feel comfortable handling it. Having a viewfinder makes a world of difference in stabilizing shots and taking shots in bright light. I am not a fan of the plastic mounting threads on the bottom. My old Nikon camera's plastic threads were ripped up pretty good after about a year! Let's hope it's not going to happen with the Canon.

This camera would be very appropriate for people who have discovered a love for digital photography, who are upgrading from a $100-$200 digital camera, but who are not ready to plunk down $1000+ for a digital SLR. If this describes you, then by all means I would consider this camera. I haven't tried, or know much about, the S5, but it may be worth a look as well.

We purchased this as a gift for my son. He has used most of the features and gives it a great rating. He would recommend it for beginners and for experienced photographers.

May be I was expecting too much (camera does meet/excced many of my expectations) .. one area that that needs improvement is the 'action' preset which is not useful unless you shooting pictures under sweltering sun ... The camera chooses a high ISO setting and ruins the snap with noise... you will not realize this until you upload your snap to your computer.. There is a workaround though .. Choose the "P" setting on the dial and restrict the ISO to 200 .. This will give you much better results compared to using the action preset.


One thing you have to keep in mind before buying the camera - This a very good camera but not an SLR - Do not expect the same perfomance (Image quality /response ) .. Overall its good value for money - better than most 'point and shoots' in the price range.

Great camera! This is my second Cannon digital and I love 'em. The Image Stabilization puts it over the top. And it is easy to use. I'm not searching through menus to get a shot off.

We are very pleased with the camera. It is easy to use and has several features we weren't expecting. I certainly feel much more comfortable purchasing something from Amazom.com than many other sources. It is worth the extra money for some peace of mine.

...that stopped working after 48 hours. I set it aside for two minutes and when I picked it back up, the power was off with the lens extended (bad!!). After changing the batteries a few times, fielding dumb questions/suggestions from supposedly-more-knowledgeable MEN, setting it aside for a day to let it "rest", etc., I opted to exchange the camera through Amazon's 30-day policy. I just received the second camera, so we'll see how this one works out. For now, I'm giving this product 1 star, just because of the bad (fluke) experience I had with the original camera, that just happened to occur with my birthday present as I took my birthday vacation. (Wonderful!) I'm sure the rating will go up as I get more time with the second camera. *knock of wood*

My daughter never puts the camera down. She took the time to read the instructions and couldn't believe all that it can do. It performs every time. She bought rechargeable batteries - regular batteries don't last long in this camera, but the rechargeable ones are great.

Everyone told me to switch from Olympus to Canon to play with the big boys, but I don't see it. Pictures are grainy, flash is overpowering, and the focus is just.. flat and one dimensional. I intend to upgrade, but my wonderful Olympus Camedia C-4000 4MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom took WAY better pictures, hands down. I'm going back to Olympus.

Pros:
-VERY EASY to record stills or video. Each has its own button. You can take stills while recording video; you can record video with the touch of a button
-PC Software
-Simple interface for off-loading: usb or simply remove SD card and use a reader
-battery life is good using standard alkaline batteries
-SD card media. 2 GB goes a long way, and is fairly cheap
-Relatively easy to use for point and shoot
-Decent zoom
-Good image and video quality
CONS:
-taking a still while in the middle of recording video causes the video to momentarily 'skip'
-Flash has to be manually raised
-Viewfinder can be hard to use, not very good quality
-a bit large compared to some other cameras.
-for 'image concscious' people, this camera has an old-school look
Summary:
I like this camera for the price, ease of use, and versatility. The ability to grab video at any time is great.

I am still learning to use it well. Yet, I find it enjoyable to use and play with it. A great upgrade to my other Cannon Power Shot A530. I am very satisfied with my buy. For once...

We purchased the Canon Powershot Pro S3 IS shortly before our son's wedding. My husband has arthritic hands. This camera is easier for him to use than our other smaller one. The only real problem he has had is the position of the menu button. It is near the right edge & when he grips the camera, he often "grips" the menu button.
We are very pleased with the quality of the photos. Our 2 grandsons - ages 2 1/2 & 10 - were having a great time blowing bubbles on our deck & we got some super photos. We would highly recommend this camera.

Got this camera last week, thanks amazon for the fast delivery in super saver shipping :). I have to say that taking beautiful pictures is very easy now, more than ever. Took about 4 dozen shots in about 2 minutes with the sports mode and each picture is amazing. I am more than happy with this camera. Also the picture quality is very impressive. Would definitely recommend this to any body.

Its quality is absolutely fantastic... Video and sound is crisp. I would recommend this product. It could act substitute for handycam with amazing pic quality.
Also the features color accent, swap are of great values.

Excellent digital camera for all around use. Even my $big$ $camera$ relatives want one like mine.

Remember the last time you got more than you bargained for? I got that feeling after activating and using this camera. It's got more features and shooting modes than I know what to do with. If you're a beginner, there's an auto mode that will take wonderfully crisp shake free pix to your heart's content. For the experts, there's electronic control of nearly every aspect of custom shot making. The zoom funtion takes terrifically sharp distortion free shots. The no shake feature is truly effective. I purchased the zoom magnifier and at max zoom I was amazed at the consistent quality from near to far. If the truth be told, I don't use the magnifier much because the natural zoom range built in to the camera is well...more than I bargained for! Con: The display screen is perhaps a few millimeters short of some other comparably priced digitals.

Evrything that can be said about this camera, has been covered by the other reviews (Tons of them). But I have to add, I was truly nervous about buying the Canon S3 after reading some of the negative reviews and started wandering if I had made a mistake. I have had the camera for almost a month now and have used it extensively and HAVEN'T EXPERIENCED ANY OF THE PROBLEMS MENTIONED BY OTHERS. I emmediatly checked for all the issues experienced by others and came up with nothing of concern. I did read the instructions thouroughly and maybe that made the difference. My two centavos.

I spent much time over the past year thinking about and researching the best digital camera for my needs. I take nature and landscape photographs as a hobby, so I'm by no means an expert. But I wanted to move up from an older 3-MP camera (Olympus) to a 6-MP or larger with a long (10x) zoom. I looked at a variety of cameras, including the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H5, FujiFilm FinePix S6000 FD digital camera, Olympus SP-550 UZ as well as the "new" Canon PowerShot S5 IS. After reading all the reviews online, and getting my hands on each model, I chose the older Canon PowerShot S3 IS. I'm not sorry I did either. The S3 is a CNET editor's choice for best MegaZoom digital camera receiving a rating of 7.7 (out of 10.0), even higher than the new S5. I wanted an SD card capabilitiy, image stabilization, options for lenses and excellent image quality. I got all of these and am sure I made the right choice. I'd recommend this camera to anyone who wants these features, plus the ability to capture digital video, which I don't use[...]

I love this camera! The reviews said that it made anyone look like a professional and it does! I've taken this camera on two vacations and had wonderful results! Even my husband, who couldn't take a good picture to save his life, can take beautiful pictures with this camera.

I've had the camera for a couple of months and am still learning how to use it. Not that you can't open up the box and start shooting right away, you can. But there are so many bells and whistles on this thing it makes my head spin. Most of the stuff I'm interested in has been pretty intuitive and doesn't require heavy study of the user manual though I expect I've got some reading ahead of me for the more advanced features.

I especially like the 12x Zoom, though I've noticed more "noise" on those images. I expect that with more practice in the manual settings I'll be able to sharpen those images, though the auto ISO works well. I also like the image stabilization which allows me to take nice interior shots without the flash.

The software is fairly robust but runs real slow and is a memory hog on my outdated G3 powerbook. I like the photostitch application a lot. It's fun putting together panorama shots and pictures where the same people appear twice in the same photo!

This camera is a huge step up from my old fuji finepix 2600 (which still works and is great fun for my 6yr old). The S3 IS is small, light, and easy to use. It's just what I need for taking high quality amateur photos.

I am very pleased with my purchase. I haven't had any problems and it is exactly what I thought after reading all the reviews and description.

I am very satisfied with the 12x zoom and the stabilization of the Canon
PowerShot S3 IS. Color is very natural in landscape photos. It would be very nice to have a larger viewing screen.

I recently bought this camera and the pictures are quite good - if I take still pictures. Trying to take an action shot is really difficult. The viewfinder is a digital, not an optical, viewfinder and it is much granier than an optical. On a recent trip to the shore the still shots are great but trying to take pictures of the kids on the rides wasn't such a good idea. It's a shame you can't have the long zoom and all of the other features this camera has, but give it an optical viewfinder instead. I guess I could use the LCD display but I'm not at all comfortable with that. I imagine with time I will do better (hopefully). This is a nice camera but I admit, I'm a dinosaur. I still think film cameras take better pictures.

This camera is everything I ever wanted and more! Insanely fast delivery too! Pictures are fantastic and vivid, and the image stabilization actually functions as advertised.

A canon S3 IS camera for under $ 300 bucks, wow. This is $30 lower than most of the other e-commerce guys i shop. couldn't be happier. I highly recommend!

I am very happy with the Power Shot S3.. It is a great upgrade from my PS S1.. It is nice to have a new version of the camera you just had, alot of the functions are the same , so you feel right at home with this camera. My only wish... that the flash automaticly poped up.. you have to pull it up to use it. on the S1 it just poped up.. there is a little flashing message that tell you to use the flash. But I do alot of shooting from the hip, when taking pictures of my kids. So I don't always know that the flash was needed.

For not much more money than a regular old point-and-shoot, we got this camera, which as far as I can tell is just a few notches down from a DSLR. It has excellent optical zoom, decent battery life, takes very nice quality photos, and very surprisingly, camcorder-quality video! some pretty cool stuff. Worth every dollar.

I've had my canon for over a month now and I'm basically in love.
It takes GORGEOUS pictures.
I've always loved going downtown and taking photographs, now with this camera I can actually get gorgeous pictures.
My best friends have the same camera, they love theirs too!
BUY IT. It's amazing.

Vey user friendly and takes great pictures. The zoom works excellent for a point and shoot type of camera. The features for the price are outstanding. Great for the person who wants a better image then the compact cameras. I owned a compact 6 mega pixel camera that I really liked bu this gives me the same quality pics. with the ability to zoom in alot closer for those distant shoots.My girlfriend has the same compact that I had and I bought this for those more precise shots. It is a bit larger and weighs more but I find it worth while. Great value without spending big dollars on interchangable lenses.

This camera is very satisfactory, when you consider the price.
The color feeling is very nice and warm and it has a very good zoom...
The negative parts are that the lens cap never stays on and the display is small...

Canon PowerShot Pro Series S3 IS 6MP with 12x Image Stabilized ZoomO'd put off buying a digital camera until we saw what my brother's Canon PowerShot Pro Series S3 IS could do. We needed one for everyday and and special occasion photos and my daughter (the aspiring artist) wanted one with more creative capabilities. We bought this camera just before a cross-country trip. It takes beautiful pictures and is simple enough for me to use. With extra memory cards and a car battery charger my daughter took over 700 pictures a day. Needless to say she used all of the different settings, all the pictures came out well and using the high-speed, action setting she was able to take clear pictures out a car window driving at freeway speeds!!! We are so glad we bought this camera. It's the perfect camera for both of us.

This is an amazing point and shoot camera...good for amateurs as well as professional photgraphers. The videos are amzing too ...great clear sound recording and no blurriness. With this camera there is no need for you to buy a video cam. It works better than Sony Video cam. I bought it when it just arrived in market for $400, and it was every penny worth its this price as well...its a lot cheaper now! Someone stole mine in the JCPenney store last weekend and I am planning to buy another one of the same model now! I miss my lovely camera so much...:(

Its a nice camera with possibly all d features which I might want to have...the only downside is that its a bit 2 complicated for amateurs like me..this is my first digicam but I'm pretty much satisified with its performance though i havent been able to explore it fully...the zoom is just amazing and gives you a feel of an SLR...for those who dont know abt this camera, they'd probably mistake it for a low end SLR..
On the whole, its a good buy and value for money..

I wasn't sure if I should get this or the Olympus, but I made a good choice. The charged batteries always last longer than we expect, the camera is purse sized, although a bit heavy. It has the reach I want in a lens for a small digital - the only problem is that, sometimes, the autofocus focuses on the wrong things.

I have several digitals. This by far is my favorite one. So many cool features. It's got the large lense of my Olympus C700, the photo quality of my Nikon D40, and the portability and features (and then some) of my Fuji 5100. I really prefer to use manual mode so that I can control shutter and aperture. Took me very little time (about a hundred photos or so) to build a mastery.

What I like most so far:
- Incredibly high quality photos even at max zoom (including digital zoom)
- A high speed continuous shooting mode
- Neat flipover LCD screen
- A viewfinder that displays exactly what my photos will look like as I compose
- Just enough buttons to avoid having to navigate through just one feature screen
- Helpful histogram display option
- uses 4 AA's; hooray for no proprietary battery
- super cool Accent photo mode which will result in a black and white photo but with one color that you preselect still in view (think of a rose bush with only red roses and all backround in shades of gray)

The images are terrific. They thought of everything. But just to be fair there are a few wish list items.

- Viewfinder is a touch smaller than I would like.
- Focusing the viewfinder is required more often than I would expect
- The camera width is just a bit narrow; an extra half inch on the left side would feel more comfortable in its grip

I like that the flash does not pop up automatically. This keeps from accidental firing in locations where flash is not permitted. I also found lots of menu choices which give me control over sounds, power timer, etc. easy to navigate.

But it's all about the pictures. No need for extra lenses. When I need to get close, I just zoom in. There's even a Super Macro mode that gave me some stunning looks at ants on a branch and a bee on a feeder.

This is a terrific all around camera. Even shots taken through windows look clear. No noticable noise.

I recommend it highly (especially now that the price is dropping). Best value for the top quality you'll be getting.

I bought this camera just before a trip to Italy because my previous Canon had only a 3X digital zoom. I just loaded my pictures to see the results and was very pleased. Even pictures taken in darkened churches with the 12X zoom turned out very well. I very rarely used a flash. I selected this camera over the newer S5 because I didn't really need the hotshoe capability nor did I care that much about the extra pixels on the newer camera. I used the sport setting to take pictures out the window of a moving bus and most turned out extremely well. With the image stabilization, I was able to take my pictures without the hassle of a tripod. I chose this camera over an SLR because I liked the smaller size and it has many of the advantages of the SLR without the extra cost and need of two or more lenses. I would recommend this camera without hesitation.

I've had the Canon S3 for about 1 month now, and it is everything I'd hoped for AND more! It is easy to use right out of the box, and takes wonderful pictures. I can't think of a thing I don't love about this camera so far... I'm just sorry I haven't had the time to really learn all of the "bells and whistles" yet. I took over 500 pictures with the original 4 batteries (mostly outdoors without flash) -- so very pleased with the battery life. I especially love the image stabilizing feature, since I was always famous for my "shaky" pictures... but not anymore with this camera. I even got a couple of great shots of a hummingbird :-)

This camera is truly awesome. I love love love the super marco mode. I really ahve to post some pictures here.
the pics are just crisp and clear. :0)

The Canon S3 belongs in a category of its own, in particular because it can do so much, despite the price and its size. My first reaction upon purchase was that it was so small- it fit snugly in my hand, and yet it felt rugged and strong enough for the bumps that I would undoubtedly subject it to.

I wasn't keen on purchasing those 10MP cameras that have recently made their appearance- my personal experience was that more megapixels meant a larger photo size, but didn't translate well into better pictures. I wanted something solid, something built to take good photographs, one that gave me enough control over the shots I'd take.

Enter the S3 IS.

The 12x optical zoom is powerful enough to satisfy the macro enthusiast. The aperture and shutter priorities provide you with enough control over your photograph, but take care of enough so that the pictures you want *right now* are fantastic. Of course, if you want more control, there's the manual option too. If you're taking a quick shot of a squirrel scampering across the field, there's the sports shot, and a quick thumb movement will have you ready in no time. For those moments you just can't wait to fumble around, the S3 is the tool to have.

With a flip out screen, you don't have to stand on your tiptoes next time you're at a parade, guessing at the right angle to get some shot or other. In fact, if you rotate your camera, your LCD screen content will move from landscape to portrait, automatically.

I'm also a big fan of the viewfinder. The conventional viewfinders do their job perfectly, but there's nothing like seeing everything you need while also seeing the thing you're shooting. And there's no need to have your face 5 inches from the screen just to be able to make sense of the LCD, no need to flip out the screen every time - the viewfinder has everything you see on the LCD.

Controlling the flash is also really easy- if the flash is down, it's off. No need to press buttons or go through menus or disable the autoflash. The lenscap, I've heard, is a bit of a disappointment for some. For a person such as myself who is inclined to activate the lens before removing the lenscap, it does its job splendidly.

In short, the S3 is the perfect upgrade from the standard in-my-pocket point and shoot that provides satisfactory pictures you just might print someday. The S3 furnishes pictures you're going to want to print and share- it's fast when you need it, but with the options you want to compose a beautiful shot. It does justice to the moments you capture.

I purchased this camera at the recommendation of my brother who had one for 4 months and it got stolen. He loved it so much he bought the exact same one again. He handed it to me at a family function and made me be in charge of taking pictures and I immediately fell in love with it. It really is user friendly. But, if you want to use advanced features, the camera has them to use. The size is right and it feels good holding it in your hands. I love that you can use the flip out screen for pictures if you'd like. I think for the money this camera is an excellent purchase for people who started taking digital pictures with "starter digital cameras". This camera is a great next step up after the starter digital cameras.

This is a fantastic camera!! I recently completed my yearly vacation to the Southwest: Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, and Natural Bridges National Monument. This camera captured the natural beauty of these parks and monuments perfectly. It is easy to use...you can let the camera do the work on Auto or use the other features to set up desired features; color reproduction and sharpness is great. With this camera, I cannot justify buying a DLSR. 12X IS is great. I use a ND filter and the colors are great and natural. Highly recommend if still available.

I love this camera! It is my MOST favorite of all the cameras I have owned. It is so easy to use, takes geat quality pics, anyone can operate it and the batteries last forever. I can't say enough good things about it. I'm a BIG fan!!

This is my first digital camera. Yes, I am one of the last few holdouts. I have bought digital cameras for everyone in the family except me until now. The pros of this camera are a great zoom, relatively small size, great price for the features, and easy to use. The cons include no hot shoe for an additional flash and the digital view finder is really annoying. I may upgrade in the future to a digial SLR but for now this camera takes great pictures and I am finally in the new century!

I had thought about getting a digital SLR, but a friend who is a semi-professional photographer owning equipment worth thousands of dollars suggested that unless I was ready to buy a lot of lenses a camera like this was the way to go. He was right. The 6MP is sufficient for very sharp 8x10 prints while holding down on the camera/computer memory used. The zoom is very powerful, and at the full zoom the image stabilization resulted in sharp pictures taken from a canoe. The macro mode let me take sharp, stable pictures at a distance of just a few inches. Colors are both accurate and vivid. Battery life is excellent. My only complaint is that there are so many optional shooting modes that I may never master all of them.

This is one of the best cameras I've owned. I would highly recommend it. Not as pricey as the SLRs, but has a lot of professional features. The zoom is great. I have taken photos from great distances and gotten good results. The photos are very sharp, and the colors are vibrant. I had a Kodak before this camera, and the indoor pictures were very washed out looking. I used to have a pro Minolta system that was 35mm. I am amazed at all of the modes and adjustments that can be made using the Canon system. The kinds of things that used to be on $1,000 cameras. My biggest advise: Take the time to read your manual! There is a lot of information there that will improve your picture taking. Try learning one feature at a time if you get overwhelmed by the size of the manual. Rome wasn't built in a day. You can always erase what doesn't work. I also like that I can add additional lenses to increase my options. Most "point and shoot" cameras don't offer that. The built-in macro on the S3 IS is really sharp. Check out my bee on flower pic in the gallery. I accidently bumped the bee on the lens a couple of times. That is how close I was to the subject! Try out the fireworks and night settings, too. I have gotten nice pictures of lit fountains and fireworks at night with those. Another thing I was impressed by is how long the batteries last. I got Sony rechargables and they can last up to a month or more depending on use. The Canon doesn't "eat" standard batteries either. My Kodak was a battery hog. This is simply a great camera at a reasonable price. Get one and have some fun!

This is just flat out, a heck of a camera. You'll love it. You won't regret it. 'Nuff said.

I bought this camera about a month ago and so far am really impressed. I upgraded from a Nikon Coolpix 800. I was not ready for a DSLR (price and learning curve...)but wanted some options other than just point and shoot. I love the quality of indoor and night pictures compared to my Nikon. I have taken video and night shots at football games under the lights and was really impressed with the quality. I have not played with all the features yet but am very pleased with what I have tried so far. I took another reviewers advice and purchased a Case Logic camera case instead of a Canon one. It fits great and has a few small pouches for extra batteries -cards ect. You will be happy with this camera if you are ready for the next step from plain point and shoot. Plan on purchasing larger memory card and rechargable batteries with camera. I already had a Sandisk card reader which is usefull also. Happy shopping.

Excellent camera. Though I have purchased this as it was the best in 2006, I feel this is the best in 2007 as well.

i got this after having a couple sonys with more than a couple issues. but this camera is fantastic!! my sister has one so i knew the quality was there before i got it, however its ease of use and breathtaking photos stun me every time. I am more than please with this camera!!

I am completely satisfied with the product, the photos are of high quality and is fairly easy to use and configure.

I upgraded to this camera from a previous Canon model. When this camera is operational, it allows you to take some great photos. The problem is that after a month or so of having the camera, memory card errors would occur making the camera useless until another card was put in (or the current card reformatted in the camera). This has caused a number of priceless shots to be lost. There is a way to recover most of the images, if you have a computer, a SD card reader and the correct software, but that doesn't do much good if you are away from home. I have tried several cards of varying capacities, speeds and manufacturers (including ones from canon) and the errors still occur. The errors appear random. We have sent the camera in to canon 2 times for repair, we format the cards before we use them each time and the camera still is giving the errors. At this point canon is saying that it is not an issue with the camera but with the memory cards...all of them. This is a shame because I have thrown a bit of business in Canon's direction and think that they have some of the best camera designs.

While I will likely never buy another Canon again, and I can not recommend this camera to others, I know people who have had no problems with their cameras. This problem may be caused by a defect in a certain batch of cameras, or in certain models. I suggest that before purchasing the you search specifically for errors that occur with the camera you are thinking of purchasing. I have discovered that there are several canon cameras that have had similar issues and that there are a few class action law suites against Canon for failure to address camera problems.

The bottom line is that when the camera works, it works well, but when it doesn't work Canon isn't very helpful in resolving the problem. The customer pays the shipping costs to the canon repair facility, which gets expensive fast. The people at Canon are currently not taking responsibility for the problem. So if your camera fails get ready to fight it out with Canon. If your camera doesn't fail, you'll enjoy the photos the camera produces.

I got this camera in July 2007 after being disappointed with results from my aging Kodak digital camera. I'd noticed at Faerieworlds that both the official photographers used Canon equipment - far more advanced than this one, of course. The S5 IS was out then, but I felt the additional features didn't justify going over my limited budget. The price has come down since I bought it, but that always seems to happen, and the photos I got in the meantime are well worth the extra money.

I first used the camera at a book signing, and was pleased at the quality of the shots even without flash, and the 12X optical zoom allowed me to get in close. My next event was a Renaissance Faire, and when I got home and looked at the results on my computer, I was very impressed with what the camera allowed me to do. Again, the 12X zoom got me in close and the image stabilization kept things sharp. I had some 8x10s made of a couple of the performers, and they looked fantastic.

I've tried out taking movies. The picture quality is good, but I found that wind can really mess with the sound. I shot a brief movie of a juggler, and when the wind wasn't blowing, the mics picked up her patter nicely, but when the wind kicked in, it wiped out all other sound.

I've mostly shot in Auto mode, which works well most of the time. It does require being very aware of what the camera is focusing on. At a zoo, I had to play with things a bit to make sure I got the animal subjects in focus, and not the fencing around them.

The viewfinder took a little getting used to. I wear glasses, and had to adjust to looking over the top of them to see into the viewfinder clearly. The tilt screen comes in handy for Hail Mary shots or any other situation where you can't shoot with the camera right in front of the eye.

So far this camera has surpassed our expectations.
Very good Camera for Digital or Print.
Used a lot so far for thousands of images, no problems.

Recently received Canon PowerShot Pro Series S3. I'm not at all happy with the product. The camera is dead. In spite of putting fully loaded batteries the camera refuses to turn on.

Will be returning the camera. It was bought from "Beach Camera."

Hope this review helps...

buy a sony better pictures and you don't need a book 1 inch thick to operate it

I bought this camera over the Panasonic and the Fuji and i'm pleased that i did it. it takes great pictures in the outdoors. I have used for several trips and about 75% of the snaps are a keeper.

Well, to cut short the review I will say my final words its a great camera. Don't think much just buy it.

Amazon service is also amazing. Shipped in 2 days. The camera is made in Japan.

It is packed with features. If you think you have confusion between S3 and S5, just don't think about S5's small features, go for S3. Its cheap and everything is same as of S5.

You can see some of the pics I shared in customer's galary. Enjoy buying.. and have fun photographing.!

Great Camera with a GREAT price. Good opportunity to get a nice camera super cheap. Don't think about, just buy!!!

I'm very happy with my Canon camera. It is very easy to use and it have a lot of functions.

Though I own a couple of low quality snapshot digital cameras, this camera was my first move into a serious digital camera. Before, when I wanted good quality photos, I would resort to using my old Canon A1 SLR film camera, which I have been using since the mid eighties.
I was very pleased to see this camera not only took excellent pictures, but also included most of the features of my old SLR, such as the ability to set the apertures and shutter speeds manually. Also with a lens adopter(I prefer the aluminum ones made by Lensmate over Canon's plastic ones) and stepping ring (both purchased separately) I could also use my collection of lens filters from my old SLR.
This camera works much like an SLR, only it uses a digital viewfinder instead of an optical one. This is one of the reasons I like this camera, as I like to shoot pictures of wildlife and the ability to turn off the shutter sound is a real boon. With an optical viewfinder on a SLR there is a little mirror inside the camera to reflect the view into the viewfinder, the mirror must be raised to take a picture, causing an unavoidable `thunk' sound which can make wildlife photography very difficult.
Though the automatic modes make this camera accessible to anyone, it might not be the best camera for those looking for a simple point and shoot camera. The ones who will benefit most from this camera are serious amatures and professionals looking for an alternative to a DSLR. Also worth mentioning, there are 1st and 3rd party lenses and accessories available for this camera.
Summing this up, I must say I am very pleased with this camera and would recommend it to anyone looking for a serious high quality digital camera.

I love the camera. I have high school boys in sports and am using the sports sequence and continuous shooting features which are great and self explanatory. I am very happy with my new camera.

I have had this camera since September, 2007. Overall an good product and relatively easy to use. I do have one question to the other users. When I take a vertical image, it is cropped on both the right and left sides. In other words, the inage appears in the middle and black lines on either side. I contacted Canon and they said this is normal. I have a hard time believing this. I have had other brands of SLR's and an Olympus digital and this never happened. Can someone tell me how to override this and if I take the memory card to the store for prints, will this image have the same lines on either side?

I have had a camera for over 20 years now. I love taking pictures and trying to get what I see to translate to the picture so I can share my vision with others. Since I got my first digital, I feel like I've been fighting with the camera to do what I want, and it was getting harder and harder to get my vision across.

And then I bought the S3. It makes things so easy! Just keeping it on Auto has made some terrific photos, which show what I wanted to show, without having to fight anything.

It turns on and off instantly, unlike the camera I replaced with the S3. It's almost silent. The noise of taking a picture can be turned on and off, but I like the little noise, so I keep it on. You can also change the noise to something silly like a dog barking, which is amusing.

I've started to experiment with the other settings, but even if all I ever used was the Auto and my "eye", I'd be happy with this camera.

I did consider the S5 because it has a couple more options, but when I tried them out in a store, the S5 was just a little bit bigger, deeper from front to back, and it didn't fit my relatively small hand as well. The S3 is a bit smaller, and fits perfectly.

I have a Canon Speedlite 200E. Can this be used as a slave flash for the S3 IS?

If not, can anyone recommend a good flash?

I am so glad I went with the S3 over the S5. I worried about the megapixel difference but I am so happy to say - there is no lack! Save your money and buy the S3 - it's great!!!!

I purchased this item as a Chrismas present for one of my sons, who was going to spend some weeks working in Peru, as per his request. He wanted this specific camera. I just received a dozen pictures he sent me and they are outstading. I am really impressed. I should add that he's also elated with this camera.

I love taking picture, aspecially of all my grandkids(9 of them) This Canon gave me the features I needed to catch them in the act. The Image Stabilizer helped so much. I really love this camera.

I AM AN AVID PICTURE TAKER AND I HAVE BEEN WISHING FOR A BETTER CAMERA THAN I NOW HAVE , OR AT LEAST ONE THAT HAD MORE FEATURES. THIS CANON POWERSHOT IS EVERYTHING IT SAYS AND MORE. AND EASY TO USE TOO.

great for the amatuer who is looking to move up from the point and shoot. it is perfect -- it cost the same as my old camera did 4 years ago --

i love the movie setting, it has a button that you can start recording at any time, even while taking pictures. set it on large file size and set on "portrait" -- and even the novice comes out great. i took my brother's engagement pics and they look amazing. i can't wait to use even more of the features.

I've owned several Canon point-and-shoots, and figured that the S3-IS would be a good next step up from my 3.2mp camera.

To be honest, I've been VERY disappointed with the image quality. The pictures are noisy, the images always seem to be a little bit out of focus, and, in the rare instances where the subject is in focus, you have blooming and bizarre red and purple edging around high contrast areas.

I have to do a LOT of post editing just to get the pictures to look normal. I've taken roughly 2,000 pictures with it, and, when I look at the pictures compared to my 3.2 mp camera... I can scarcely tell the difference! The color, contrast, and noise level are all better on the OLD camera!

Sure... it's easy to use, it has good features, it has lots of bells and whistles... but WHO CARES if the picture quality SUCKS?

I bought this camera specifically for the 12x zoom and for the image stabilization. I was hoping these two things would help with sports photography (particularly nighttime NASCAR races) and with birdwatching. But because the sensor is so small and requires so much light to get a decent picture, the camera is almost impossible to focus, even with the image stabilization. The old way... I had good pictures that were really out of focus. Now, I get crappy pictures that are slightly out of focus.

If I had it to do over, I would NOT buy this camera.

i use this camera daily. it is a solid modle and worth the money for sure.

This was my second Canon digital camera as my first one took an unexpected dive in the lake. From the wide zoom range to the video capabilities, this camera has more than enough features to keep me happy. I primarily use the camera for action shots and video and couldn't be more pleased with the camera's performance. I would higly recommend the PowerShot Pro S3 to potential camera buyers.

It's been a great camera for us. Good collection of features, good pictures, easy to use. Love the image stabalization - seems to make a huge difference, especially in zoomed in or low-light situations.

The felt ring on the lens cap came off, but Canon promptly sent us a new cap. So I was pleased with the service as well.

But, it's kind of bulky for day to day use. I ended up buying a little camera my wife could stick in her purse. And the pictures from that camera look just as good to me (to my untrained eye, that is). So in retrospect...we probably won't get a ton of use from this camera. But it does live up to it's description.

I just started getting into digital photography about a year before I bought this one. My first digital camera was a little Kodak Easyshare C533. I'm not really sure how to compare the two camera's. The Kodak was very easy and sorta intuitive to learn how to use and was/is a great starter camera. This Canon PowerShot Pro is soooo much more! I love the image stabilisation in it! That was the main thing missing in the little Kodak. And the PowerShots 12x zoom is great for pulling in those long shots and still making them nice and clear and sharp.
There is so much that this camera can do that I will never be able to figure out on my own. I need to find a course someplace to take on how to use it. Or it would be nice if Canon had a instructional DVD on how to use this camera. This camera is definatly not for the beginner, but with a little practice I'll get it. So far I'm very happy with it.
The 4 battery pack gives it enough power to take lots and lots of pictures before you need to change and recharge them. The Kodak needed the batteries changed after 150 shots or so.
The video function on the Canon is nice too. I like the instant video button that you can use at any time while taking photos without having to change any settings. The color swap function in kinda fun to play with too. All though I haven't got the hang of that yet.
Over all this is a nice camera that I think I will get a lot of use and fun out of. But I wouldn't recommend it for any one that is tech or mechanically challenged.

I admit I've wanted this camera for a while but was waiting for the price to drop and it did. Beautiful pictures, took a set of a basketball game and out of 400, 4 were bad shots. I couldn't say that will my Rebel. A little grainy in the sport setting but that's the only problem I've had so far. Videos are crystal clear and I'm looking forward to seeing how my lightning photography goes once the lightning storms start here in Iraq. It might not be the 12mp cutting edge camera with an 18 zoom but this is definitely one of the best if not the best of last years batch.

I've had this camera for about four months now, and as someone making the transition from point-and-shoots to serious cameras, I love it. The technical reviews on the main page tell you everything you need to know about the camera's features, but I'd just like to add a couple of points relevant to new photographers. This is a great camera full stop, but particularly useful if you are:

a) thinking of moving up to a DSLR but not quite sure you're ready to justify the expense of multiple lenses;

b) looking for a serious, flexible camera that's also light enough to carry around for hours in a backpack or large purse. This is NOT a tiny portable, but neither is it the sort of camera you can use for light weight training. If you like to carry a serious camera when you're hiking, and you do not have a bodybuilder's upper body strength, this camera will work for you.

Other good stuff: the zoom is awesome and will give you a sense of real creative control; you frame shots based not on the camera's limitations but on what part of your visual field you find interesting. The controls are easy to learn and use -- more buttons make a camera *easier*, not harder! Beginners can start by letting the camera control almost everything and graduate rapidly and relatively painlessly to great pictures with customized settings.

Biggest peeve: the lens cap, as many other people have said. Watch that thing like a hawk, particularly when you're putting the camera back in a case. The lens cap flies off at the least provocation and without any telltale noises to let you know your lens is facing the world unprotected.

Apart from that, a great camera well worth the price (erm, particularly now that the price has dropped since I bought it).

I purchased the S2 in 2006 and 16 months later, the zoom lense stopped coming out.

I called Canon to ask for their suggestions, knowing it was out of warranty, and they suggested the upgrade to the S3 for $185. So this is how the S3 came into my possession. Except for an increase in the pixels, there are no upgrades. However, it seemed to me that the diameter of the lens is smaller--I noticed this when looking through view finder. However, I just measured it and it seems that it not the lens itself, just the lens casing, and perhaps the greater difficulty I had in looking through the view finder is due to to my imagination or vision. Initially, I saw it as a downgrade and decided to return it, in combination with my annoyance that a product would break just after the warranty expired.

However, I agree with others that the video was good in the other one, and I imagine that it is therefore good in this one--did enjoy that. So I am reconsidering sending it back as my husband likes it, and I liked the 12X zoom, the stabilizer, and the video....

On the other hand, I just wonder how long this one will last.

wanting to try my skill on a dslr, i did some research and this was the next best thing to a dslr without the dslr price.

i actually didn't buy this for me, but i boutght for my dad, who was very happy with it.

not as bulky, not as pricy and has enough enough manual setting to capture moments according to your preference. its zoom lense if far better than the lense that comes with a dslr kit that i bought.

I love the S3, it's a great camera but......the only issue (in my opinion) with the S3 is that it does not do well in low light and the pictures are a little too soft for my liking. I love the IS feature but even that doesn't prevent a few blurry ones from time to time. The IS dosen't do so well with Super Zoom or slow shutter speeds, You should still have a tripod. In sunny conditions it's a great camera but if it's overcast then I'm reaching for another camera. I initially wanted the S5 IS but after reading a lot of reviews about high noise I went with the S3. I was really disappointed when I noticed levels of noise that I didn't expect. I was also expecting the photos to be a little sharper. I have a bad habit of comparing a camera's sharpness to the Fuji FinePix S-series. I have seen some really stunning photos from the S3 and I have taken a few exceptional ones myself. I do recommend it but just think about the type of photos you want to take. I really did want to give this at least 4-5 stars but Low Light ability is a big one in my book.

Search the Web a little for "Canon S3 lens error". What you will find is that thousands (40,000+) owners of Canon cameras have experienced a peculiar error "E18 - lens error. restart camera" and that Canon will charge you $250 to repair it. DO NOT BUY ANY CANON DIGITAL CAMERA UNTIL/UNLESS THEY CORRECT THIS PROBLEM. Otherwise, 12-15 months from now you can expect to be shopping for a new camera.

This is my first experience with Canon and I'm stunned at the quality. The S3 has to be one of the best cameras ever made--mechanically, features, lens and image quality. You think you are you are shooting for National Geographic! There are so many useful features that improve your photography technique. You simply want to take pictures all day long. Can't wait for Powershot S series to reach 10 Mega Pixel.

I have been using this camera for a year now and I love it! The pictures are so amazing! Very crisp and clear. The zoom is incredible and the micro-closeup pictures are so beautiful!
I find that when the camera starts acting slow, I replace the batteries and it works quicker. I love the video function too. Its so much fun to be able to take quick little videos of my kids. Its very easy to use. I haven't used all of the features, but the ones I have used I've been very happy with. The flip out screen has come in handy several times. I have had 2 people purchase this same camera after trying mine. I can't say enough great things about this. If you are looking for a small camera though, this is not for you. I would recommend a smaller cannon if you want a little "pocket camera", but if you want to take great family pictures, this is the camera for you!!

This camera is ok, at first I thought it was great, but now I am not that impressed. The camera has an extremely difficult time determining what to focus on (it can't tell if it should focus on an arm or a face). This issue is in its extreme when you are shooting indoors. 1/2 to 3/4 of my pictures are not focused correctly. The camera is bulky, and if you just want to take your camera with you to take pictures it becomes a burden after a couple of hours. I live in Orlando so I go to Disney a lot, I've pretty much stopped taking my camera because of this reason. The battery life on the camera is excellent and outside pictures are great. Flash regeneration time is excellent.

Overall the camera is ok, if you do not take a lot of indoor pictures then you will be fine (that is if you don't mind lugging this thing around).

This is the second version of this camera I've purchased. The main attraction for me was the quality of the photos along with the ease of use coupled with advanced features that allows the user to "grow into" the camera. Start with the simple "auto" settings and then advance into the more "user defined" photographic settings. Great fun..
Being a believer in "simple is better" I appreciate the non-proprietary batteries, the "through the lens" viewing. This feature uses a LCD display in the viewfinder. VERY easy on the batteries and so easy to see and use even in very bight light.
With a very modest investment in time and reading this camera will give you hundreds of "keeper" photos.. Highly recommended..
Amazon is great to do business with.. Fair prices and great service..

Its an ok camera to take to places where i dont want to risk bringing my PRO ones...althogh i already had some problems, it didnt work just after year i have it...cost me about 4150 to have it fixed

You need to spend some time with the camera and the owner's manual before taking it on your next safari, but it has great flexibility and produces great shots.

I like the fact that the viewfinder is a small video screen so you can see exactly what is going to be in the picture as well as using it to review pictures.

Battery life was very acceptable using name brand rechargeable batteries that were slow charged.

This is a great camera for a new camera user or one who is more advanced.
You can do so many things and get some great images. Love the ease of learning.

Nice Pictures, Very amazing zoom, lots of functions and very hadfull screen. You can take professional pictures.

I did weeks of research looking for a camera with a good zoom, a wide choice of aperture settings and good picture quality! I purchased this camera in April of 2007. It seemed to be working fine and I've taken hundreds of pictures with it. Now a year and 2 months later (2 months after the warranty expired) I went to go on a hike and tried to turn my camera on only to find that it was dead. We tried putting new batteries in with no avail. After returning home from my hike I started doing some research on the internet. I have found quite a few different posts that detail the very same problem as mine. One post mentions that a circuit board in the camera went out and it was almost $200 to fix it. I am a very disappointed customer at this point. I figured a camera that cost $ 350 would last longer than a little over a year. Canon has not issued a recall and hence will not repair it for free. I'm thinking I might need to look elsewhere for my next camera.

We have owned this camera for about a year now and most of the pictures turn out nicely. Video works much better than our last camera. I love how far it zooms without making image fuzzy. However I went to turn it on last weekend and it flashed at me and went off, so I changed the batteries and had the same problem.. It's now in the shop thank goodness we bought a warranty. The lens cap also keeps coming off.. Hope it gets fixed

I loved this camera - until, not too long after the warranty period ran out, it stopped working. Specifically, the image is always black ... the display works OK but it acts as if the lens cap is on even when it's not. Now they want $160 and 4 weeks to repair!

I have always handled the camera with care, there were no drops or bumps.

This is my last Canon. It's a fine product when it works but I expect more lifetime from such an expensive product.

I got this camera in February of this year so I've been using it for about six months. My other camera is a Canon EOS Rebel 35mm SLR which I've had for years and love. The film processing was getting expensive though, so I decided to try a digital. I did have a Kodak digital camera several years ago but it was past it's usefulness and was taking horrible pictures. I was not able to afford a new digital SLR but wanted more than a point-and-shoot. When I found this camera I thought it would be a great compromise and the price was really reasonable.
Having had an SLR I did not think it would take too long to get used to this camera. I was wrong. Six months into it and simple things like focusing are still frustrating me. I read another review which mentioned this; I have missed so many shots because this camera cannot decide what to focus on.
For example, recently I had a perfect shot of a bee on a flower- I swear he was posing for me- and for almost 5 full minutes (it was a patient bee)I tried every conceievable picture mode and every time the camera would just not be able to focus the way I wanted it to. It would focus for a second and then when I clicked to take the shot it would blur out of focus. Even in Macro mode I was unable to get a decent picture. Every shot is fuzzy or overexposed. The same goes for any indoor pictures I take. I've also noticed that any movies I try making indoors always have a blue hue which I find odd.
My frustration may partially be due to my unwillingness to read through the entire manual (I have skimmed). However, in my defense, I am not completely inexperienced with cameras and one would think that unless this was a hightly specialized professional camera (which it is not!) anyone familiar with SLR cameras should be able to figure it out fairly easily.
If I do eventually realize that my frustration is due to something I'm doing wrong, I will update my review. As it stands I'm increasingly frustrated with this camera and beginning to regret my decision to buy it.

I own one and I echo the fine comments and review on this camera here.
The S3 IS is nothing short of an excellent professional camera. Packed full of great features rendering clear sharp photos that a camera 10 times it's cost delivers. So if you want a camera that puts the "P" in Photography and Professional this camera is a good choice. I did my research and decided to purchase the S3 IS feeling very good about it.

Just get yourself a 1 Gig high speed SD memory card and you are on your way to making great photos. What still amazes me today is the many great features this camera has and the quality of it all. Canon doesn't make good camera's they make great camera's and I can safely say Nikon and the like don't have anything on Canon. Canon is right up there with the best.
I know a couple professional photographers and they said to me that Canon
makes quality pro camera's equal to Nikon and Canon's optics rank right up there with Nikon. In fact one of these photographers was amazed by the quality of this camera and it not costing a few thousand dollars.

Truly a gem this camera!

So I purchased this camera for use to take photo's at school sporting events and functions. I have used the camera about 50 times in the two years and I now have a lens that won't retract. Now that I have searched for this problem, I see it is very common. I found this site for people who don't have the money to send for repairs on some common things to try to fix the problem http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/12/fixing-lens-error-on-digital-camera.html

Good luck,

I've had this camera for years now and it still continues to impress me. With its swivel screen and interchangeable lenses, settings for super macro and manual focus and so many specialty uses, this camera has everything you could ever want!

This camera has the great zoom and works wonderfully in bright light, but has trouble focusing indoors or at any kind of close distance. The flash is a bit overpowering, so I try not to use it (i try to avoid flash anyway), but if you are trying to take a picture from 6 feet away forget it, because the picture will be washed out. I had a dinky little kodak easyshare that focused better than this one, but I wouldn't recommend one of those either. If you are willing to pay this money for a camera, it may be more worth it just to spring for the SLR. I wish I had.

Unfortunately I didn't pay attention to the negative reviews about the camera taking blurry shots. They mentioned a desire for Canon to come out with a firmware update to alleviate the problem. Well the firmware has yet to be released. Now the zoom lens mechanics work but the camera doesn't recognize its already fully zoomed and assumes it is actually not zoomed at all so consequently stays in the fully zoomed mode. Canon support was useless since 1 year has passed since purchase. It has never been dropped or bumped so there is no error message that would be displayed if either of the aforementioned had happened. They offered a customer loyalty option to turn in my camera and pay another $275 plus $10 shipping for a refurbished and out of date G9. Don't buy this camera!

I was really disappointed in this camera. When I first got the camera I noticed the pictures were very noisy. My Nikon point and shoot had much better quality. Then right before the warranty went out the lcd screen stopped working. I have tried to find my receipt but haven't had any luck. So- I probably have paid 500 for a camera I got to use for nearly a year. Not a good deal. I strongly urge you to look for another camera.

Canon SI IS 6 MP - great camera, pictures for all practical application are great, does more then a normal person will ever use. Great buy, wonderful vendor. This was a deal everyone looks for!

Have had this camera almost 3 years in in about 20 countries. Its held up well and has only recently started having problems.

1. If I turn it on and immediately zoom in fully, it sometimes shuts off.
2. F8 aperture seems to produce sligltly blurry pictures now.

This camera has still been the best I have ever owned and I've taken thousands of beautifull shots with it. Features / manual controls are amazing for a camera from 2006 - price is very reasonable now!

[...]

One thing i wonder and i want the readers to answer is how come i got this camera from amazon for 300$ 2 years back, and now they are selling it for 500+ ?

can the price of electronics go up? esp such cameras? we can get dime a dozen for so many new models, discounts, coupons, etc. whats so special about this one?

requesting clarification

This camera has great sports mode. It can be used in any situation that has low lighting and you will get great pictures. The sports mode does have a lower quality of pictures meaning they aren't as sharp (I uploaded some in product photographs) but for small, non-DSLR cameras, it takes AMAZING sports pictures. The zoom and image stabilizer lens make it great. If you are a parent and want something to take to game, I strongly recommend this camera!

This camera was a Christmas present. For three years & across 7 national parks, I have tried to use it. But the low-resolution viewfinder and underpowered LCD backlight make it just about impossible. If youre under a tree or its gloomy, its ok. If its gorgeous and sunny, youre literally shooting blind. Too bad since image quality is good -- but with useless LCD and viewfinder, this camera is a huge disappointment. And its a small thing but the lense cover is constantly falling off. Should have been a great camera -- but fatally flawed.

I used this camera for a year before giving it away and replacing it with a Nikon D40. I have some good things to say about it, but it has some very serious problems.

First, the good:

* Fast startup time for a point-and-shoot.

* Long zoom lens. Not the sharpest nor the most distortion-free, but acceptable for its weight and price.

* EVF is useful when there is too much sunlight to use the screen.

* Lots of features.

* Movie mode is quite respectable.

* Manual focus is dreadful, but at least they tried.

* With an optional adapter it can take filters--I use a polariser quite frequently around the water and while hiking. The filter+adapter go on and off much faster than the braindead threaded filter design found on SLRs.

I've only found one really bad habit, but I regard it as a showstopper: As with all point-and-shoots, it becomes almost useless above ISO 200--even at ISO 80 you will notice grainy noise. But the ISO button is positioned about where your nose goes, and you will probably also hit it with your thumb. I've lost many really good shots by accidentally hitting the ISO button and not noticing that I'd bumped it up too high.

I'd also think that with such a huge zoom range they could have worked in the ability to shoot at wider angle and taken a little off the long end. But no--its wide end is no wider than is standard for a point-and-shoot.

I have owned this camera for almost 3 yrs now... i researched and researched when i bought it and i got it on sale just shy of $[...]. I LOVED it for the first year or so... LOVE the display screen, the way it flips around and you can hold it way above your head to take great zoom shots at concerts or even pics of yourself. LOVE that it has a eyehole viewfinder for those bright days that you cant see the screen all that well. Love the feel of the camera in general and all of its cool extra features --- but, that lens cap is a piece of crap! I tried and tried to get a new one, but none of them fit this camera... then i purchased a few extra lenses and the extention to put them on the camera... the lens cap problem was solved then! BUT, you have to KEEP the extention and extra lenses on it all the time if you want the protection! UGH! Then it's a pain to carry around! OH, and not to mention... that extention doesnt work so well if you are using the flash! The flash on the camera doesnt pop up tall enough to clear the extention!!! AND - you can not add a Hot SHoe to this camera to solve that problem... about 2 months after i bought this one, a friend of mine showed up with the S5 i think and hers had a Hot Shoe adapter! UGH (after 6 months of research, the one thing that i wanted that i finally gave up on, came out about a month after my purchase!!!) So, with out the hot shoe flash, you wind up with a shadow "ring around" your pic - which looks cool in some pics -- but sometimes you really want the whole shot!

I have virtually quit using this camera now - b/c i am so frustrated with carrying it around in a professional's sized bag - since i have to keep the extention on it... I bought a tiny poliroid camera that has most of the same features... but they are just a little harder to use --- the thing i love about my polaroid that this camera doesnt have is that you can actually crop a pic right after you take it! So now I am looking for a replacement camera for this cannon... i want to be able to add a lens when i want - but i Dont want to have to keep it on there all the time just to protect the lens b/c i cant buy a new lens cap...

Long story short... try one of the newer versions of this camera if you are really intrested in this one!! Hopefully they have fixed that crappy cap! AND... there is NO WAY I would pay $[...] + for this camera today! THere are way too many other choices out there now!!!

I bought this camera a couple of years ago when I decided to upgrade from my 3.2 MP fuji. I debated between this one and the then brand new S5. Eventually, price factors won and I bought the slightly older, yet much cheaper model - the S3. The camera is great. I do not like simple point and shoot cams and the proffesional cameras are way out of my leage, so this is a great place in the middle.

The 12X zoom is amazing. I very rarely use the digital zoom, but on occasions were I have, the pictures came out very well. I love the functions that the camera has and the control that is given to the user over the different options of the picture taking (shutter speed, WB, format...). The special functions are also amazing. I especially like the panarama option and the color swap function.

As for video, I was very suprised at the high quality video that you can take with the camera. They play full screen on my 22" screen and look amazing.

All in all, this is a great camera for someone who likes to feel the camera in their hand and control the picture.

This is one of my favorite cameras to use. It's simple enough that anyone can use it with the press of a button for making pictures or video... But, has enough features that you can tweak to keep pros interested by being able to fine-tune your shots.

In fact, I would doubt that there is anything that this camera couldn't capture beautifully because you can customize the white balance settings. A MUSt for any camera... Basically when you can tweak your own white balance, any camera will be able to make crisp, clear, true-to-life colorized images. It doesn't matter if the camera is $50 or is $5,000.

It also has the "RAW" file format which strangely a lot of the newer Canon Powershot cameras seem to have left out. That means you can keep the images in their original uncompressed, ultra-sharp quality.

Don't be fooled by the low "Megapixels" this camera has compared to more modern cameras. That is a salesman's trick to try and get you to but a more expensive camera. The only time megapixels will matter to you, is if you want to make very large prints. Otherwise when you just want to print pics out with your home printer or view them on your computer, you won't notice any sharpness issues... Providing you don't jerk the camera around to blur the images of course. Ha ha!

The only problems I have found with this camera is that I don't really like how heavy and bulky it is, which makes it kind of hard to handle for me. That also reduces it's portability as you'll never be able to fit it in your pocket. But you can hang it off your neck or shoulder with it's strap. It also seems to drain batteries pretty fast. I'd recommend you buy some rechargeable AAs to save you some money in the long run.

Otherwise, it's an amazing camera!

I bought this camera in 2007. I took it to Georgia on Vacation and I got the hang of it quite quickly. The battery life was amazing on this thing. I owned a Samsung before and it ate batteries for dessert. The main problems this camera game me was an occasional Lens Error. That was ok because it didn't do it often and It seems that their motion stabilization wasn't quite up to par on all the shots. On the same settings in the same light roughly 60 percent of the pictures would end up with some sort of blur which was quite disappointing. Luckly I had a large memory card so I solved the issue by taking several photographs. I took this camera to the beach being careful not to get sand in it but after that visit the Lens Errors got really bad and eventually in 2009. The camera refused to start up all together. I probably would not recommend this camera because there is several better and cheaper options on the market these days. For what they want for a new version of this camera you can add 250 dollars and buy a Canon EOS Rebel T1i 15.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-Inch LCD and EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens which is a professional grade camera where this is just a high end Amateur camera.