Owned this camera now for 18 months, shot nearly 30,000 images. My impression:
Build quality feels slightly cheap, lots of plastic and some wobble to the body shell. Button presses make creaking noises sometime. Overall not a significant issue, pending the camera is not dropped (I am certain it would not survive the three foot falls onto concrete the way my indestructible Powershot S200 did).
Feature set is impressive and affords plenty of creative potential for novices or amateurs. Photoshop takes care of the rest. Menu architecture is familiar to me, seems fairly intuitive. The camera seems easy enough to use, but a good read of the manual prior to first use can help quite a bit.
For what this camera offers, it is certainly worth the now markedly reduced price. I paid $500 for it brand new and it seemed like a fantastic deal then. After extensive side-by-side use of the S3, I would say that the S2 will deliver almost identical results for a lower price. Feature sacrifice between the S3 and S2 would be largely unnoticeable to most consumers.
I echo others in saying that the battery charge status in this camera is not very effective in foretelling when the batteries are dry. I usually carry three sets with me to avoid being left without power.
I have recommended this camera hundreds of times to people looking for a good all-around P&S digital. Despite my intentions of moving up into the DSLR world, it is likely that I will continue to use this camera frequently until it finally dies like my S200 did (right around 154,000 shots the flash went out and the lens stopped focusing). Somehow, however, I doubt the S2 will make it to 150,000.
Problems:
Regrettably, image quality did not live up to the expectations I had (especially upgrading from a 2.0 mpxl sorely outdated S200). Side by side 100% crops revealed decreases in sharpness and saturation compared to the S200; Photoshop corrected many of these problems and in the end I was satisfied with post-processed results. Most daylight, outdoor images turned out as well as can be expected for the price range, but image quality suffers under low-light, flash, and backlit conditions. Technique improvements solved many but not all of these issues. Telephoto focus issues do not bother me much, as this is to be expected with such a compact zoom lens, although the problem is exacerbated in low light.
Small problems should not frighten away newcomers to this product, as Canon got many elements of the equation correct. It is doubtful the S3 presents such a significant advantage as to render this model obsolete even in the present market. As an all-in-one, this camera is a class leader, at least from my experiences with competing models.
Build quality feels slightly cheap, lots of plastic and some wobble to the body shell. Button presses make creaking noises sometime. Overall not a significant issue, pending the camera is not dropped (I am certain it would not survive the three foot falls onto concrete the way my indestructible Powershot S200 did).
Feature set is impressive and affords plenty of creative potential for novices or amateurs. Photoshop takes care of the rest. Menu architecture is familiar to me, seems fairly intuitive. The camera seems easy enough to use, but a good read of the manual prior to first use can help quite a bit.
For what this camera offers, it is certainly worth the now markedly reduced price. I paid $500 for it brand new and it seemed like a fantastic deal then. After extensive side-by-side use of the S3, I would say that the S2 will deliver almost identical results for a lower price. Feature sacrifice between the S3 and S2 would be largely unnoticeable to most consumers.
I echo others in saying that the battery charge status in this camera is not very effective in foretelling when the batteries are dry. I usually carry three sets with me to avoid being left without power.
I have recommended this camera hundreds of times to people looking for a good all-around P&S digital. Despite my intentions of moving up into the DSLR world, it is likely that I will continue to use this camera frequently until it finally dies like my S200 did (right around 154,000 shots the flash went out and the lens stopped focusing). Somehow, however, I doubt the S2 will make it to 150,000.
Problems:
Regrettably, image quality did not live up to the expectations I had (especially upgrading from a 2.0 mpxl sorely outdated S200). Side by side 100% crops revealed decreases in sharpness and saturation compared to the S200; Photoshop corrected many of these problems and in the end I was satisfied with post-processed results. Most daylight, outdoor images turned out as well as can be expected for the price range, but image quality suffers under low-light, flash, and backlit conditions. Technique improvements solved many but not all of these issues. Telephoto focus issues do not bother me much, as this is to be expected with such a compact zoom lens, although the problem is exacerbated in low light.
Small problems should not frighten away newcomers to this product, as Canon got many elements of the equation correct. It is doubtful the S3 presents such a significant advantage as to render this model obsolete even in the present market. As an all-in-one, this camera is a class leader, at least from my experiences with competing models.