Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Opinion: Most of the people complain about the noise. But what you've expecting from a 1/2.5" sensor. So use ISO200 for large pictures and ISO400 for small ones. Use as much as possible ISO80 and ISO100.
The LCD with low resolution allows you more pictures to be taken. Maybe some person with eye problems will have trouble with it. I don't have.
I am satisfied with the EVF (remember this is not a dSLR).
The white balance works well and AutoWB is excellent (in a cathedral I saw difference in colors when going from darker areas to brighter ones keeping the true color as my eyes).
It is relatively difficult to use but not cumbersome or awkward.
Images are sharp enough for a compact camera. A larger sensor would imply a larger lens and a heavier camera.
I propose those who dislike plastic to use a steel camera. This is metal. Metallic bodies are for very specialized applications of professional photographs and this camera is not their target.
I can get crisp enough handheld photos at 1/8 s at wide end and 1/80 s at tele end.
If you know what you are buying it's a good camera (nothing is perfect).
You have a shortcut button where you can put AE Lock or AF Lock (along with other settings).
You have both focus and exposure bracketing.
Continuous shot for many images (usually you'll get tired not the camera) not only 5 or 10 as other cameras in its category.
Live histogram and gridlines both on EVF and LCD (customizable)

Opinion: I had this camera for a few months. The use is very good, you have an ISO hard button, a direct video button, the flip LCD and so on...
There are a lot of things to switch in the menues.
What I liked was the "safety shift", for example, if you use shutter priority it will avoid underexposured pictures because it will correct the shutter speed. This works very well.

Build quality is very good, although I have to complain about the on and off switch, this was a bit hard to move after a while.

Macro modus is very good, the super macro modus good for flowers, insects and so on.

The video quality is the best I have ever seen. The sound is stereo and the image quality itself very good.

Image Stabilisation works very well.

Opinion: Have only had the S3 IS a few days, but as a Canon Pro1 owner as well, I thought my initial reactions would be helpful to people trying to decide between the two.

I'll get the negatives out of the way right off the bat. The LCD screen and EVF are not as good, by a lot. I haven't run into a situation where they are useless on the S3 IS yet, but I can imagine situations where they will make taking a shot a guess.

However, on the plus side of that, if you can get ANY usable image in the veiwfinder or LCD, the chances of getting a decent shot are actually better on the S3 IS. I attribute this to the image stabilization, which for me is a Godsend, as my hands are not as steady as they were 20 years ago.

Many of the features are very similar, and using the S3 IS came very natural. I would think anyone familiar with Canon's upper end P&S should figure this camera out actually faster than the Pro1.

You can tell the S3 IS is not as well built as the Pro1, but I have to say that the S3 seems adaquate. And being lighter even with the 4 AA batteries, it may be a fair trade off.

I always kept a spare battery charged for my Pro1, and had the the lens multiplier tube and external zoom lens on hand if I needed it. But having the S3 capibility of 400mm+ in the camera, with IS, is a real plus. I am less likely to need a tripod. And for those of us trying to get away from toting lots of gear, this went into the plus column on the S3 IS.

I would say that the IS is pushed to it's limit at full zoom, but works pretty well even then. Any of the lens distortion with a moderate crop is better than the Pro1 with a zoom adapter. With the image stabilization, I have acheived more usable shots without a tripod then I would have with the Pro1, with or without the zoom adapter.

So, although not as well built or nearly as good of EVF or LCD, so far I find the S3 IS an incredible value for the money. If Canon were to include all the features of the S3 in a Pro2, I would certainly buy it. The price would certainly be a lot higher than the S3. But from what I hear, the Pro1 may have been too close to the full fledge DSLR's the company makes much more money on.

So until DSLR's have a more defined advantage over the Pro1 (keep in mind these companies are weighing the desire of consumers to have a moderate weight "all in one solution"), VS carring additional lenses, I doubt Canon will release a Pro2.

The sad thing is that they could. A full size CCD sensor in a Pro2, with the construction of a Pro1 and the features of an S3 IS would be the ideal all around camera. But that would hurt sales of their DSLR's. Who would buy a DSLR, and additional lenses, if they could get to 400mm+ with IS and no noise, past ISO 800?

But it has to come. The race is in full swing, and as hard as the big names try to avoid it, competition will lead us to the Pro2. And as with vinyl VS. CD, there will be a day when a younger person than me asks me what a DSLR is, and thinks that having to carry additional lenses or a tripod is ridiculous. The smart company will do it now...

Opinion: Canon S3IS is my 4th digicam I own after a Medion, Olympus 750 UZ and a Nikon D50. I have the Canon for about 4 months now and took some 2000 photo's so far.
First about the good part :
- Nice zoom capacity and zoom quality. At full tele compared to the Nikon D50 with Sigma DG 28-300 lens, the Canon produces better quality (!).
- FAST ! This Canon is very fast: fast startup time and really rockin' speed from wide angle to full tele (it can make the difference between having your photo or not)
- Possibilities : lots of features e.g. bracketing, focus to 0 cm, timelapse, PC controlled shooting, etc...
- Video clips : very handy sometimes to have a videocamera around, and this camera can almost replace it (nice video quality and good stereo sound)
- swivel screen : the back screen rotates, making difficult shooting angles possible without effort.
- Nice that this cam uses SD cards and AA batteries (cheap when compared to XD cards and special type batteries)
- Battery life is good (although I must say I use 2700 mAh batteries, which are much more performant than the 2000 mAh my old Olympus uses). Always good idea to carry spare set of batteries)