yusakugo's Full Review: Canon PowerShot S3 IS Digital Camera
It's been a while since I've written on epinions... it's been a while since I've bought any new electronics as well. My last camera purchase was the Canon Digital Rebel XT which is a great camera but I often tire of taking the camera and all the accessories for a short trip or for some quick photo taking. I wanted a flexible camera with an extended zoom lens in a compact package. There are a few nagging problems with the camera but it provides a good value for the price.
Price
I purchased this camera from Crutchfield.com for $392 with no sales tax and no shipping and handling costs ($499 original with $100 referral credit and $7 back from ebates.com). The camera MSRP is $499. The best deal I've seen is from Dell.com when the 20% coupon off Canon cameras is active but Dell charges sales tax to the majority of states. You can find $35 off $300 coupons from eBay to lower the price (you usually have to pay $1 or so to buy the coupon from a reputable dealer).
I chose Crutchfield.com for the customer service and the decent price I was paying due referral credits and gift certificates.
Overall, I really like the Canon PowerShot S3 IS. The 6MP sensor takes really crisp pictures compared to the 6MP cameras that many camera makers (Canon included) used 1-2 years ago. You get the 12x optical zoom flexible options on the camera, above average movie modes, wider ISO range, several fun photography modes, stereo audio recording, image stabilization, and flexible battery options due to the use of 4 AA batteries. The size is much smaller than the Digtal Rebel XT although it isn't a pocketable camera like the PowerShot SD series by Canon... you can fit it into a coat pocket. However the size is on par with other ultra zoom level cameras (the only pocketable one might be the Nikon S4 with 10x optical zoom).
The camera does have some sour points. Redeye issues have crop up with the low clearance level of the flash. ISO 800 is pretty much unusable for the average camera user (the photos taken at ISO 800 tend to need a lot of work due to heavy noise). I'm not sure why the widescreen shot was added... it's just cropping the top and bottom of the normal shot. I'm also not a big fan of the EVF... but that is a personal taste. For a $500 camera, getting a 16MB SD card and cheap alkaline batteries in the package didn't help.
There is a lot of competition in the ultra zoom digital camera class and it is hard to say that this camera is much better than the model below it S2 IS especially for the high price tag. It is an excellent camera especially if you need a more extensive set of features and the wide range of zoom.
Specs
The S3 dimensions are 4.46 x 3.07 x 2.97 in./113.4 x 78.0 x 75.5mm with a weight of 14.5 oz./410g (no batteries installed). This is apparently a tad bit larger and heavier than the S2 but you wouldn't notice it when handling the two cameras. The case is made of a polycarbonate plastic and the camera feels overall very sturdy and solid. The S3 is gunmetal gray (as per Canon... it almosts borders on black to me) with silver accents which gives the S3 a very nice look. The S3 boasts a more traditional SLR look and is fairly comfortable to handle and operate.
The S3 has a 2 inch LCD that can be repositioned at several angles with is nice. It can be swiveled up to 180 away from the camera and rotated in a 270 degree range allowing you to keep the LCD protected on traveling, easily taking self portraits, and taking photos at odd angles. I wished the LCD was a bit bigger but the flexibility of the LCD opens up more options when I take photos. The LCD brightness is adequate for viewing in most situations. It increases the brightness level when your surrounding get darker. The LCD is exceptionally sharp (110,000 pixel screen). Photos viewed through the LCD will rotate accordingly as the camera position is changed so that picture is in the proper viewing position (i.e. if the camera is upside down, the viewed photo will display with the top side always up).
The S3 is pretty easy to hold in one hand especially with the hand grip on the right side of the camera. The hand grip area is also textured allowing you to keep a sure grip on the camera.
The S3 pretty much shares the same design as the S2. Stereo microphone surround the top of the lens housing. There is a button to release the outer ring around the lens to attach the conversion adapter that allows the use of the accessory lenses and 58mm lens filters. There are two buttons for Manual focusing and macro shots. The AF assist lamp is located in the upper right corner. The A/V out port (under a rubber cover) and a small speaker is on the left side of the camera. The right side holds the power port, USB 2.0 mini-port, and the cover to the SD card slot.
The top of the camera has the mode dial (with 13 settings on it), the shutter button with zoom ring, the continuous shot/timer button, and the power ring (with a button lock and allows you to turn the camera on in shot/movie mode versus display mode) with the off button in the middle of it.
All the buttons are easy to reach although it is a bit cramped on the back of the camera. You have the four way controller, set button, and menu button to the right of the thumb rest. The function/quick delete button, ISO/rotate button, shortcut/direct print button, and display button to the left of the thumb rest. The movie record button is also just left of the thumb rest as well.
The bottom of the camera holds the cover to the battery chamber (uses 4 AAs) with a level lock and a plastic tripod mount.
Zoom Zoom Zoom
The S3 has a 12x optical zoom lenses with a UD element and aspherical element (sharper colors, sharper images, and less chromatic aberration at least from the lens). The S3 has an USM (UltraSonic Motor) that allows you to pretty quietly zoom in and out even in movie record mode. The zoom ring/dial is pretty sensitive so you should get used to it first if you want slow or incremental zooming. It only takes a second or two to go from 1x to 12x on the S3!
Laundry List of S3 Flexibility
The S3 does an above average job when in Auto mode. However, the S3 wide array of manual control is superior to most other point and shoot cameras including other digicams in the ultra zoom class. Here is a laundry list of features:
Focus: TTL autofocus, Single/Continuous AF, Manual, Focus lock, 1-point AF, 10 cm minimum focus range (macro)
Metering: Evaluative, Center-weighted average, spot (center or linked to focus frame)
White Balance: Auto, Preset (Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash), Custom
ISO sensitivity: Auto, High ISO Auto, ISO 80/100/200/400/800 equivalent
Exposure Control Method: Program AE, Shutter Speed-Priority AE, Aperture-Priority AE, Manual; AE Lock is available
Exposure Compensation: +/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments
Built-in Flash Modes: Auto, Auto w/ Red-Eye Reduction, Flash On, Flash On w/ Red-Eye Reduction, Flash Off
Flash Exposure Compensation: +/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments
Maximum Aperture: f/2.7 (W) - f/3.5 (T)
Shooting Modes: Auto; Creative: Program, Av, Tv, Manual, Custom; Image: Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Sports, Special Scene (Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Indoor, Night Snapshot, Color Accent, Color Swap), My Colors, Stitch Assist, Movie
Photo Effects: Vivid, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Custom Color
Self-Timer: Activates shutter after an approx. 2-sec./10-sec. delay, Custom
Continuous Shooting: High-speed: approx. 2.3 fps Normal: approx. 1.5 fps
The S3 gives a wide array of manual controls to the user if they so desire. This really allows the user to fine-tune their photos with minimal effort because of the user-friendly menu systems and nice arrangement of buttons mapped to several of these features. Although it isn't as flexible as the Digital Rebel XT, the S3 really provides a good bang for the buck with it's flexibility for its class (although the S2 provides nearly the same flexibility for $100 less). The S3 does give you a live histogram which is very, very nice!
Day to Day Photos
In moderate lighting to bright sunlight, the S3 really shines. The EVF/LCD quickly displays the images your lens is pointed at and quickly captures the photo as you depress the shutter button. Images are sharp with good color saturation overall. Details were not quite as sharp against my older Canon Digital Rebel (which Canon no longer makes) although colors were more saturated (the Digital Rebel had a more lifelike color reproduction but the S3 like most of Canon's consumer cameras have a more vibrant look which many people seem to prefer for their photo memories). Even at the telephoto end of the zoom, pictures were crisp and clear with a steady hand and the image stabilization on (in continuous mode that is). Photos with highly contrasting colors displayed notable purple fringing/chromatic aberration compared to my Digital Rebel (I am not comparing the S3 against the Digtal Rebel XT since I think that an unfair comparison. The XT performance wise would blow the S3 out of the water.)
The S3 images had a little softness in the corners at the maximum telephoto range. The maximum wide range didn't show any notable problems.
ISO 400 shows a bit of noise but acceptable while the ISO 800 mode shows appreciable noise making those shots good for small prints unless you do some post editing on a computer. Although personally I don't know why you would want to use a high ISO in good to bright lighting scenarios. Regardless, you have the option.
Overall, the S3 performed well for a wide range of photos when in moderate to bright light situations.
Sport Shots?
I haven't tested this out fully however... the S3 does a decent job taking fast motion shots provided there is adequate lighting. Given the performance in night shots and daylight shots, this isn't a surprise. There is more motion artifacts as your lighting situation worsens and be especially careful if you're shooting from a shaded area at a well lit scene when on Auto mode. Under those conditions I found some shots with motion artifacts. I also found that if you have the image stabilization turned on, it should be kept in the Continuous mode for the cleanest shots.
Night Shots
Here I don't enjoy the reliance on the EVF or display. Regardless of which you use to frame your shot, there can be delays in displaying what the sensor is detecting. It doesn't affect the picture when you take it but it can take a second or two for you to know what exactly you're taking a shot of. On the other hand, the S3 seems to be faster to take the actually shot once you depress the shutter button (probably since much of the data is already being collected to display on the LCD/EVF).
Night shots are good overall depending on what you are photographing. Portrait or group shots show overall good color reproduction and sharp pictures with adequate lighting. The built in flash power is adequate at best... maxing out around 15 feet. However, the proximity of the flash to the lens causes red eye to appear in the majority of your portrait and group photos. This corrected with the use of the HF-DC1 slave flash unit. Shots of NYC skyline at night were not as good under the auto settings. Here there was a bit of purple fringing/chromatic aberration noted especially with brightly lit windows against the dark face of buildings. Using ISO modes over 200 added a bit of noise to the photos although ISO 800 shots had excessive noise in the photos. ISO 400 had acceptable noise levels. Don't try taking night photo at the telephoto range of the zoom at night without a tripod. Pictures usually came out significantly blurred on the auto setting on the mode dial.
I just got back from a trip to Las Vagas with some pictures of the strip at various settings. I have to figure out a good place to post them now.
Movie Mode
The S3 has an overall flexible movie capture mode especially since the S3 can record in stereo sound. The movie capture is rather robust although it still will not replace a camcorder anytime soon. Any movie you record cannot go over 1GB in size. On top of this, you can't even hope to make a movie that size without using a high speed SD card. You can stitch together 1GB files after the fact with the included Canon software to make longer movies.
You can pick between 640x480 and 320x240 for movie image size and between 30 or 15 frames per second. You also can record at 60 fps at 320x240 pixels. At 640x480 at 30fps with a high speed SD card over 1GB in size, you can only record for about 7-8 minutes and create another file to records for another 7-8 minutes so on and so forth.
However, the movies have excellent quality (although playback through the A/V cable was fuzzy compared to playback on the camera screen or transferring to your personal computer). You can hear the audio through the side speaker on the S3 as well. You can use the zoom while recording the movie as well... and you don't pick up the sound of the zoom lens on the recording.
On top of this, you are capable of starting movie mode with a touch of a button (to the lower right of the EVF) as well as take photos (defaults to 6MP SuperFine mode) while recording a movie. Note that use of a slow SD card may stop the video recording before the 1GB limit. Use of a slow SD can also cause some clipping especially when taking a picture when filming a movie. Overall, one of the better movie modes I've seen on a digital camera.
Flash
I've gotten use to cameras like the Digital Rebel XT Canon's more pocketable cameras like the S70 and the S410 where using the flash meant activating it with a button press. The S3 requires that you flip up the flash unit for photos. I'm getting more used to it though. The camera will tell you in Auto mode if it thinks the flash should be raised.
The flash is somewhat underpowered for this camera. Canon gives the following ratings for the flash:
Normal: 1.6-17 ft./50cm - 5.2m (W), 3.0-13 ft./90cm-4.0m (T)
Macro: 1.0-1.6 ft./30-50cm (W) (when sensitivity is set to ISO Auto)
I found that the built-in flash unit was best suited in the 10-15 ft. range (depending on the type of shot you're taking).
In addition to this, the distance of the flash to the lens is rather short. You'll note quite a bit of redeye in your night portraits and group shots partially due to this small distance. With the HF-DC1 slave flash unit, the red eye problems are much reduced.
EVF
This is short for Electronic ViewFinder. Instead of an optical viewfinder as you'll find in most cameras and digital cameras, you can think of the EVF as a mini LCD screen. The main advantages are that you get to frame 100% of the photo you're taking compared to the optical viewfinder and that the EVF can display all the information displayed on the larger LCD screen.
What I don't like about the EVF is that I lose my depth perception of the photo I'm trying to take. While for portraits it may not be important... it throws me off when taking pictures of a scene or an area.
In addition, images in the EVF aren't nearly as sharp as looking at the 2 inch LCD screen. I found myself often going back to the LCD screen to frame shots especially at the long end of the zoom range. However, all the labels giving your various camera settings were quite clear on the EVF. More often than not, I see fine graininess on images in the EVF that I don't see in the display LCD.
The EVF also has a diopter setting for those of us that use glasses and other vision aids.
Note that you can have either the EVF on or the LCD display on but not both at the same time (at least I haven't found a way to do that yet)
On Image Stabilization(IS)
Overall, this addition really helps if you have unsteady hands or take alot of photos near the telephoto range of the zoom. The camera has 4 modes for the IS: Off, Continuous, Shoot Only, and Panning. There is a marked difference when the IS is on versus the IS being turned off. You will notice the difference in your zoom shots with blurred images and a lack of detail in your photos with IS off and especially without use of a tripod.
Continuous mode has the IS on all the time. This puts a bigger drain on your batteries but tends to give you the most stable shots for most conditions. Shoot only activates the IS when the photo is taken. This saves a bit of battery power but I found it best if you have a fairly steady hand or have the camera on a tripod already. Panning mode is used mostly for making those large stitch panorama shots. It basically has the IS stabilize the vertical field and not the horizontal field.
Of course, the off setting greatly increases your battery life.
Battery Life
The S3 comes with 4 Panasonic AA alkaline batteries in the box. These do not last very long... I got about 110 shots out of these (mixed use of EVF and the 2.0 inch LCD display and 1 hour on display mode). Canon lists alkaline batteries as giving up to 170 shots (using only the EVF).
I bought a NiMH battery set by Sanyo from Costco for $19.99. This was a 1 hour charger (for 2 batteries and about 3 hours for charging 4 batteries) that included 6 2500 mAh AA batteries and 2 AAA 900 mAh batteries. Canon lists the batteries life with 2500 mAh batteries as up to 550 shots. That is extremely nice and ranks up there for digital camera battery life. I would say I got 300 shots with a mix of flash photos and use of the 2 inch LCD to frame shots as well as recorded a few short movies and reviewed shots all in a single full charge.
I would have thought Canon would have considered giving a set of rechargables and a charger for a $499 price tag...
Memory and Storage
The S3 uses SD (Secure Digital) and MMC (MultiMedia Card)cards for storage as most of Canon's camera lineup does now. The SD card is more common and has larger storage capacities available as well as speedier. Canon includes a pathetic 16MB card in the package so you need to add the price of a much larger SD card to the buying price (I would suggest at least a 1GB card).
I am using Sandisk Ultra II 1GB SD cards with the S3 as well as a standard 1GB Sandisk SD card. If anything, stick to high speed cards with S3. The high speed Ultra II cards allowed me to access the entire spectrum of functions of the S3 compared to the plain vanilla Sandisk SD card. The camera takes advantage of the faster read and write speeds of a better SD card especially in continous shot modes and the movie modes. I frequently got cut off short in movie mode using the plain vanilla Sandisk SD card.
For reference, a 1GB card should hold about 350-360 photos taken at 2816x2112 (i.e. 6MP images) at the highest quality setting (Super Fine). Each shot is approximately 3MB a pop. Note that the S3 does NOT save to a RAW format (strange as many higher end S series cameras in the past used to save to a RAW format like the S70 I own). Movies are discussed in that section.
The S3 has 5 image file size options: large (2816x2112), widescreen (2816x1584), medium2 (2272x1704), medium (1600x1200), and small (640x480).
Note that I don't really see why Canon added the Widescreen option. All this does is taken your standard 6MP image and crop the top on the bottom of it. I would rather do that on my own computer. However, it might be of use to those who print directly from their camera or put the SD memory card into a printer or photo developer.
In the Box
In the box are several printed manuals including the basic manual, an advanced manual, direct printing manual, and software manuals. You also get a crappy 16MB SD card, 4 AA alkaline batteries (I got Panasonic batteries (which is amusing since Panasonic makes the Lumix DMC-F27 ultra zoom), the lens cap with retaining strap (the lens cap is not very good and can be easily knocked off the camera barrel during transport and storage), neck strap for that dSLR look, USB 2.0-to-miniUSB cable, stereo A/V output cable, and CD-ROM with Canon's Digital Camera Solutions software.
When buying the S3, you have to make sure you buy a high speed SD card (I would recommend 1GB cards... Sandisk Ultra II should be around $60-$80 on the web), 4 2500mAh NiMH AA batteries with a charger (if you take alot of photos in a day, buy 8 2500mAh NiMH AA batteries. Don't buy NiCd AA batteries), and I would recommend a small camera pouch given the flimsy lens cap.
Accessories
Canon offers quite a few accessories for the S3. These include the Wide-Angle lens, Telephoto lens, Close-Up lens, Conversion lens adapter/lens hood (needed to connect any of the other lenses as well as 58mm lens filters), and the external slave flash HF-DC1 (which I've reviewed on epinions). There is also an AC adapter and Canon's own NiMH battery kit (a rip off at $45... just buy these locally like from Target or Wal-Mart).
Out of these official Canon accessories, the External Slave Flash is the most useful since it greatly extended the flash range of the S3 and helps with the redeye problems I have been seeing on the S3 with the built in flash. The S3 has no hot shoe for any other flash unit by the way. Also note that the HF-DC1 does not replace the built-in flash of the S3 but complements it (hence the slave flash designation)... it goes off as the main flash goes off.
Competition
There seems to be plenty of competition although it's going to depend on what you really want from your camera. The older S2 is an excellent deal especially at $100 less than the S3 with a 5MP sensor. If pristine image quality is what you desire, you are already in the price range of the dSLRs. The low priced D50 from Nikon, Digital Rebel (If this is still available) and Digital Rebel XT are excellent options and cost only slightly more (depending on the deal you can muster). The larger image sensors on the dSLR camera (the physical size of the sensor) minimize the purple fringing issues as well as provide stunning image clarity. In addition, these cameras allow you to record images in RAW format which is a big boon to people who want to work with their photos further under photo software (i.e. postprocessing of photos). Personally, I don't have a lot of experience with the one piece ultra zoom digital cameras (with some experience with the S2 since a friend has it) but if you can knock down the price of the S3, it certainly can be worth it. However, most people looking at the S3 will probably be happy with getting the much cheaper S2 since the S3 is overall a minor upgrade (and in some areas a mild downgrade). The S2 provides a little less resolution (5MP versus 6MP... but in reality this difference would only show up in enlarged prints like 8x10 prints or larger before most might notice a difference in quality), loss of the sports mode option (not a big deal with the Custom and Program modes), smaller LCD screen (1.8 inch versus 2 inch on the S3), loss of the live histogram (this is a major loss I feel), loss of widescreen mode (no big deal), loss of some scene modes (not a big deal again), slightly faster continuous shoot mode (2.4 fps max versus 2.3 fps max on the S3), smaller ISO range (50-400 ISO range versus 80-800 ISO range on S3) and you get a silver/grey camera body. It is hard to completely recommend the S3 with the S2 being so close in features and quality for $100 less! I have also heard good things about the Panasonic Lumix DMC-F27, but I have very little experience with the Lumix.
Money Saving tips
Although these can be applied to various items especially other electronics, buying a digital camera may not be a matter of getting the lowest price out there. I composed a few ways to save a few bucks on the S3 here... especially if you want to try before you keep your purchase.
If you have never shopped at Crutchfield.com, this is a good place to buy your Canon S3 from. Crutchfield has excellent customer service, provides additional printed material on connecting to other devices, and offers a vast array of online help. On top of that, you get free shipping on purchases over $249 and no sales tax unless you live in Virginia. Crutchfield however usually sells the unit for the MRSP with an occassional $20-40 off for sales promotions. On top of that, using a referral code will also net you a $20 discount (first time shoppers only!) and give the referrer a $20 credit at Crutchfield as well. My referral code is p21r2-pqrdb-d9ryg and inputed on the payment screen (where you put in your credit card number). A bonus, I get in stock purchases from Crutchfield within 2-3 business days! By the way, Crutchfield also gives you a 10% off camera accessories coupon when they ship you the camera. If you desire the slave flash unit or any of the conversion lenses, this is an excellent way of saving money on them and also on teh sales tax and S&H. For those of you who want an extended warranty with the camera, Crutchfield gives you that option too. Use the link from epinions to reach Crutchfield.com.
Another quick discount is using the A9.com search engine. Why? This is amazon.com search engine that also incorporates results from google.com. When you use the A9 for a certain period of time, you earn a 1.57% discount from purchases made at amazon.com (note that amazon must be the seller of the product! Someone selling a product through Amazon.com site does NOT earn the discount!). Couple this with amazon's overall good customer service, no sales tax, potential free shipping, and flexible return policy, it makes purchasing the Canon S3 from amazon very tempting as well as the option to buy an extended warranty.
By far the cheapest method of obtaining a Canon S3 is from Dell.com. Often Dell offers a coupon for 15% and even 20% off bringing the price down to $399. You can buy a $35 off $300 coupon from eBay for a $1 to further lower the price. Dell offers free shipping and handling as well. However, Dell charges sales tax when shipping to most states (and negating the coupon if the sales tax is high enough like in NY). My major problems with Dell are inconsistent stock and delivery times, poor customer service, less flexible return policy, and the inability to purchase an extended warranty if you desired one.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 392 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
6.0-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 14 x 19-inch prints 12x optical zoom lens with USM and UD lens element; 2.0-inch vari-angle...More at Amazon Marketplace
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