Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Opinion: It takes good pictures and it dossent weigh that much. I use it for camping and it does a good job!

Opinion: For nearly 3 years, I am very satisfied with the camera. She is the all round camera. Video and photos, especially macro and zoom range are good. Even my wife is happy.

Opinion: I chose this camera over the more recent S5 because I thought it offered me a better overall package for what I expect. Battery life, easy access to the memory card, even on a tripod, and fast burst mode were the main elements which decided me to get a used S3 rather than a brand new S5. Add to that the fact that I didn't see any point in getting 2 extra megapixels, and you may understand why the S3 ends up being a better buy as far as I am concerned.

The compatibility of this camera with the CHDK hack is a big bonus too. Thanks to its added features, I can shoot in RAW mode, admittedly a glaring omission from Canon for this model and its successor. As far as image quality goes, the pictures are a bit on the soft side, and any shot taken over ISO 200 is barely usable, but that's no surprise given the small size of the sensor. But the ease of use, the vari-angle LCD screen and the powerful zoom lens more than make up for these small limitations. The S3 is a FUN camera to take pictures with, and ultimately that's what counts.

In the end, as long as you don't expect DSLR quality from your shots, this is a very fine camera for many occasions. And did I mention it was FUN to use?

Opinion: Why are reviewers so kind to this camera?!?

I am dismayed by the relatively kind treatment that this camera and its successor, the S5-IS, have gotten on this review site and others. So much space is devoted to listing the features and describing how they work. Almost no attention is given to the real-world image results.

This camera has two very important flaws:

1) Color Fringing so bad it hurts. One will find little or no mention of this in the review of the S3-IS. But in the review of the S5-IS, a camera that uses the same lens and sensor, some sample images with terrible fringing are provided. The reviewer of the S5-IS points out that the fringing is bad enough to appear even in small prints. And the reviewer does point out that the fringing was also present in the S3-IS.

2) An absurdly small focus spot and no "smart" focus (such as face recognition). In theory, one could use the arrow keys to manually move the little box that defines the focus area. But this is too slow and clumsy to be a viable option. The user must ALWAYS remember to lock the focus on the desired focus subject by pointing the camera at the subject and depressing the shutter release halfway BEFORE composing the image. Of course this is a skill that any serious photographer finds natural. But a camera such as this one will be purchased by many people who don't have the skill, who don't know about the absurdly small focus area, and who will use the camera as a "point and shoot". Those people will find that a crazy large percentage of their photographs are simply out of focus.

For example: two people standing very close together, out of focus, while in the very small gap between their bodies, a mailbox in the distance is in perfect focus because it was lucky enough to be within the tiny focus area.

More heartbreaking examples: photos of my young son in his first months of walking. Try to prefocus on a moving toddler. It can't be done. Many, many of the photos of my young son are out of focus.

As a result of these two important flaws, the S3-IS takes A LOT of REALLY BAD pictures. Forget the still-life shots of test subjects that are so dutifully presented by the reviewers. In actual use, this camera takes BAD pictures. Doesn't that trump everything else?

The review of this camera (and of the S5-IS) should be a single page, with a couple of sample pictures showing how bad the camera works in actual use.

Opinion: Very disappointed in this camera. Blurry images and chromatic aberrations abound. This camera changed my opinion about Canon. I told a friend you cannot go wrong with Canon, so get the camera, it has a decent review at dpreview, and will be a good upgrade from his Minolta 7HI. I was never more wrong and embarrassed that I recommended this change. It helped me though understand the difference in the target market and the quality of the S3 IS vs the 7HI. Very much a low end camera with respect to the image quality/performance. Perhaps I was expecting too much.

Opinion: Two months of normal use and the camera's arrows to direct and determine all camera functions lost functionality. Camera sent back under warranty. It also lacks a very intuitive functionality.

Opinion: I have had this camera now for about 6 months and I really do love it. I have been able to take pictures of my kids karate tests and actually see them break the boards where before, they were halfway back to their seat before my old Kodak would take the shot. The optical zoom is awesome. I suggest using a tripod for extreme zooming though because it's hard to hold still enough for those shots to stay centered. I am still getting used to many of the cameras features, but that's only because I'm new to photography and I don't always understand what the feature is supposed to do. I researched the cameras heavily on dpreview before going to the store and when I tried the different cameras out side-by-side, this was definitely the one for me. The quick shutter speed and great optical zoom definitely played a part in my decision. I wish it had a little higher megapixels, but I rarely blow pictures up real big, so it hasn't been a problem for me yet.

Opinion: I am using it for 3 months already.
I made more then 25 000 pictures in different conditions
Very good camera.
Fast startup is very usefull when you want to catch a moment
Very fast operation, espessially continious shooting in high speed
I think 1/1.8 sensor would make picture quality perfect.
Video 640x480 30fps very usefull.
Customization was enough for me, except may be one more custom mode.
Very pleased with user interface and the fact that at ANY moment while I am in ANY menu including play back mode
I can press shutter button and camera WILL make a shot
very impressive feature.
Special button for video recording also very very nice.
SD card slot right in place,
I had two 2gb sd cards and I often switching them without opening battery door like on other canons. I would never switch to S5 just because of that, and of course I don't see a reason to buy a camera with the same sensor size 1/2.5 but with more pixels.
I bought S3 after that S5 was already on the market,
and I am VERY happy with my choice.

Opinion: I bought the Canon S3 IS last week and it´s simply amazing, everything I ever wanted in a camera. Since I´m a beginner I don´t need a DSLR, besides I don´t wanna carry all those lenses inside my bag, so looking for a camera that has a good range of zoom I chose this one. Of course I did lots of research reading every review about it here, so the results are:

- Very nice zoom

- Good Image quality, awsome outdoor pictures

- Well constructed and has amazing grip, easy to handle

- Nice features like live histogram

- AA NiMH batteries

- flexible LCD

- Easy to use, I didn´t need to read the manual to start using it even in manual mode

- SD card

I had fun taking pictures with it, in 2 days I took 300 pictures testing it. It´s really amazing, highly recommended. Here in Brazil, with sunny days in most part of the year, I´m sure I´m gonna take great photos.