Noob S3IS User

[rjg]

All,

I just wanted to say hello and thank you guys for all of the great information posted here.

I have been searching for an upgrade to my SD450 and purchased an S3IS tonight and have been doing some reading and more research.

I hope you are all ready for some questions.. :D

[bladepurveyor]

Robert,
I am an new S3IS owner as well...I have been having so much fun with this camera...welcome!

[rjg]

Sweet, I have played with it a bit in the house since it was dark by the time I got it home. I am definately impressed with the zoom.

I have been more of a p&s user in the past, and I am getting more interested in composition and such, so I figure this will help me learn.

[Warped1]

I'm also a new S3 user!

:)

[bladepurveyor]

Here is a shot I did in a lightbox tonight...;)

[rjg]

Nice, I love the even lighting...

[Chromashow]

I am an S3 IS user. For the last one month I am using this. I find this as a wonderful instrument.
I miss few things like an accesory shoe to connect a flash, RAW processing, Shutter Speed B, Colour Temperature Meter. Manual focussing is little difficult and is not very accurate. Instead of the zoom lever I would prefer a manual zoom ring. ISO 400 and 800 are useless. However, considering the advantages offered by S3 IS, these are very minor drawbacks.
Colour accuracy and sharpness are of very high quality. Initially, the camera appears to be very complicated. But, with few days of handling of the camera, one becomes very familiar with the operation.
Highly Recommended.

[dhbailey]

I agree with Chromashow as to the shortcomings, but then I purchased the S3 as a second camera for my main 20D. The S3 fits much better into a backpack for hiking, and it is much more easy to toss in the car every time I go out, for those easy-to-miss shots of a hawk soaring close to the ground or a beautiful cloud formation.

I took it to my son's football game the other night and learned a lot about the camera. the biggest shortcoming, however, is me -- I have to train myself to think differently from when I'm holding the 20D. I missed some shots the 20D would have captured, but then I didn't have to go switching lenses to get the same zoom range, and it went very nicely into the backpack I carry with all my musical instrument repair supplies (one of my regular jobs) in case my son's marching band members have problems.

So as long as the S3 is used for what it really is and not tried to be used for what it isn't, it is a fantastic little camera!

I did a lot of research before buying it, and found three things which recommended it to me:
1) it's a Canon -- wife owns a Canon SureShot that's a few years old, son owns a newer more compact Canon and I have absolutely no complaints (other than dust on the sensor) about my 20D;
2) it has a rotatable/swivelable LCD screen, so the camera can travel without running the risk of having the LCD screen scratched/broken;
3) it has the largest optical zoom I could find (I didn't like many features on the other 12x zooms out there) and even the 4x digital zoom isn't nearly as bad as the digital zoom was on my original digital camera, the Sony Mavica CD300;
4) it has a wonderful movie mode which can even zoom in and out.

The camera does appear complicated, and to fully learn (and remember!) all that the camera can do will take a lot of practice and reading/re-reading the manuals, BUT it can also be totally simple to operate in either Auto or P mode (or any of the Image Zone settings) and so a total newbie to digital photography can take great pictures right from the start, and gradually learn and experiment.

I've already read the manuals front-to-back and then gone back to review some things, and I just got the camera on Friday -- my wife has had her A45 (I think that's the model number) for 3 or 4 years already and I don't think she's read past the "put the CF card here, put the batteries here, set dial to the Green Box for full Auto, and this is how you connect to your computer" pages.

So Canon cameras can be for everybody.