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 dig