Canon S3 IS vs. Sony DSC-H2

Hi,
I'm in to photographing birds and other wildlife. Untill now I've had the Canon PowerShot A510, and although it's not a bad camera, it's just not what I'm looking for. I did some research and found the S3 IS, which looks really good, but I've read some negative comments about it. So I also found the Dsc-H2 from Sony. If you could give me some advice about which is the better camera, or if there is another camera all together that I should be considering.
I'm looking for something in the $400 price range.
Thanks.

What negative comments are putting you off the S3IS? I have one and they are brilliant.

I often heard s3 challanges from sony H5.

Ephily wrote in post #2771422
I did some research and found the S3 IS, which looks really good, but I've read some negative comments about it. So I also found the Dsc-H2 from Sony.

There's not a camera on the planet that you can't find negative comments about, but the S3 is as good of a camera as there is in it's class. If I'm not mistaken, the Sony Dsc-H2 takes only two AA batteries. Thats a neg to me.

I've heard that the high ISO can be terrible. Also, that the camera is bad under low light, I don't know whether this is true or not, it's just things I've read.

Ephily wrote in post #2773489
I've heard that the high ISO can be terrible. Also, that the camera is bad under low light, I don't know whether this is true or not, it's just things I've read.

These are compliants that can be applied to all compacts, altough some manufactors are better than others to a small degree.

As a general rule though, Canon is considered a market leader in the compact segmant, along with Fuji and Olympus.
All 3 would appear to make good use of new technologies, as well as thier experiance in DSLR's when they design new compact models. And unlike some manufactors (cough*sony*cough) they still make image quality an important factor, rather than fashion appeal and market-ability.

Ephily wrote in post #2773489
I've heard that the high ISO can be terrible. Also, that the camera is bad under low light, I don't know whether this is true or not, it's just things I've read.

I have the canon S3 IS the high iso is pretty bad. Iso 400/800 is almost unsuable. I try to stay under iso 200. The two shots below are at iso 800.

Full size image scaled down

I bought my S3 last week and its going back today to be returned. The low light shots really dissapoint me. I like to take downtown pics at night as well as lots of indoor pics with no flash and my Nikon CP P1 just surpasses my S3 in low light image quality w/o flash

How about a panasonic FZ30 for wildlife photography? I've seen some pretty amazing things with the FZ30 specially in outdoors and good lighting(FZ50 is the replacement but I think a little more than your budget).

As for the S3, I think it depends on what you consider low light. It seems like the only good performer in low light is the Fuji F30 but for a 12X zoom camera, I don't think you can go wrong with the S3. I have the S2 and am very happy with its performance in any light condition. Here are some examples:

Min, what were your settings for the above pictures? Were you zoomed in quite a bit with those. I think those shots are great for indoor shots!

Cindi, I was zoomed quite a bit (68mm) on the first one but needed to keep a fast shutter speed and kept ISO at 400 to try to stop the drumming. The second shows at around 35mm which is about halfway I guess.

P&S in general at High ISO- (over 100) will perform poorly. The sensors are just too small. Increase pixel density will also hurt its high ISO performance. Although S3 is capable of ISO800 I think S2 could out perform S3 at ISO400 purely on the fact that S2 is a 5MP and S3 is 6MP. Larger pixel site less noise.

All sensors have a native ISO, this is the ISO where there is 0 gain. As the ISO is being increase gain is increase or the sensor signal is amplified along w/ noise. Software noise reduction is then use to remove the noise. With software noise reduction there is another problem, image becomes soft. So, yes you can buy a P&S camera that can shoot relatively well in high ISO, but it will be soft.

agaupt wrote in post #2773616
I have the canon S3 IS the high iso is pretty bad. Iso 400/800 is almost unsuable. I try to stay under iso 200. The two shots below are at iso 800.

Full size image scaled down

A crop of the full size image.

Have you ever shot 35mm ISO 400/800 film???
It won't look much better.

lostdoggy wrote in post #2780481
Have you every shot 35mm ISO 400/800 film???
It won't look much better.

No, I have never shot film. I'm not complaining, I was just giving an example. I think the S3 IS is a great camera.

Ephily wrote in post #2771422
Hi,
I'm in to photographing birds and other wildlife. Untill now I've had the Canon PowerShot A510, and although it's not a bad camera, it's just not what I'm looking for. I did some research and found the S3 IS, which looks really good, but I've read some negative comments about it. So I also found the Dsc-H2 from Sony. If you could give me some advice about which is the better camera, or if there is another camera all together that I should be considering.
I'm looking for something in the $400 price range.
Thanks.

Sorry, I already replied once but thought some further comments might help. I own the A520 and the S2 and can tell you that you'll find the S3 performs better in every way including performance above ISO 200. You will be dissapointed with the simplicity of the A510 vs the S3 though. Right out of the camera in auto mode, I do find that the A520 of mine takes great shots.