Canon PowerShot S3 IS ups specs to 6 megapixels

Sure, the long-awaited EOS 30D was Canon's big news today. But that doesn't mean it was the only thing the company decided to drop on us as part of its pre-PMA onslaught. The company is also rolling out a stack of consumer digicams, topped off by the S3 IS, an upgrade to the popular S2 IS, Canon's long-zoom, image stabilized compact EVF. The S3 keeps the earlier model's 12x optical zoom, ups the megapixel count from 5 to 6, pushes the maximum ISO to 800, bumps the flip-out LCD to 2 inches and adds a 60fps QVGA movie mode. Pricing has yet to be announced, but it should be in line with the S2, which currently sells for about $400.

[Groan @ Feb 21st 2006 10:16AM]

Fantastic!
I love the S2 IS I have and I am glad to see they are continuing the line.
Switched to this Canon after being a long time Nikon snob, but switched due to declining design attention in thier 5000 line.

Canon all the way now. (I used to turn my nose up to them!!!)

[Gamer Girl @ Feb 21st 2006 10:16AM]

Man, I wish I could afford a camera like this. It makes photography so much more fun when you can pretty much secure yourself amazing photos!

[Rajesh Kumar @ Feb 21st 2006 11:08AM]

I loved S2 IS ,Amazing Camera in its class.See what i mean My pics

[Steve Lasky @ Feb 21st 2006 11:49AM]

Nice to see it in black, but otherwise it seems like a very incremental update:
-- 6 megapixels instead of 5
-- 2" LCD instead of 1.8"
-- No RAW/TIFF support (apparently)
-- No MPEG movie format (apparently) for better quality at lower data rates

[Timmah! @ Feb 21st 2006 2:12PM]

Why woould anyone pay a premium for this over the S2 IS? Seems to be a very minor upgrade, no big deal really. I love my S2, but can't really see a point in paying (possibly) an extra $80-$100 for this over the S2.

[BK @ Feb 21st 2006 2:48PM]

To all current Canon S2 and Panasonic Lumix owners:

Can you please tell me if you use the image stablization (IS) feature in your camera, and if so how effective it is? Is there a difference between the way Canon and Panasonic implements the IS feature (I heard there's optical stablization (i.e., Panasonic) and "electronic" stablization (i.e., Casio) ).


I've decided I need IS feature for my next camera (capuring my ever-active kids while keeping a steady hand is getting harder and harder to do at my age), and I just wanted some insight, and honest opinions from ever-so-knowledgable Engadget readers.

TIA,
Brian K

[yuppicide @ Feb 21st 2006 3:35PM]

I've had the S2 IS when it first came out. I sold it about a two months ago. That thing was the best damn fricken camera in it's class if you ask me and I am sorry to see it go, but I really do need to get something better. I want more zoom than 12x.

I have never tried compairing image stabilization between two manufacturers because all I've ever owned is one camera at a time. I will say the Canon S2 IS was very good with image stabilization. The only problem with the camera is it's focusing. Sometime when you are trying to shoot objects it'll focus in on the wrong thing instead. Most of the time this occured when I was shooting smaller stuff like bugs, but I did notice it in other areas too.

Most of the pictures on my website were taken with the Canon S2 IS. http://www.yuppicide.com -- a few galleries were taken with a Fuji Finepix that had NO IS and it sucked balls. The ones of the carnival, and the ones of the Popcorn Park Zoo were taken with the Fuji. The pictures from the Paulinskill Viaduct were taken with an old 2Mp Olympus. Other than that I think everything else is the S2 IS.

The fireworks shots were taken by just turning the camera to fireworks mode and clicking the button. The night time train shots were taken with time lapse mode.

I sold my S2 IS because I'm going to move up to a Digital Rebel XT. The S3 IS is nice, but there's not enough to interest me to get it. I want more zoom and I'd like more time in the time lapse mode. I think the maximum is 15 seconds. Atleast with the Rebel XT it's an SLR and I could just slap on a 500mm zoom.

[AH @ Feb 21st 2006 4:08PM]

#3-->the IS on my s2 is great--and there is a noticeable difference in picture quality between when it is on and when it's off. I haven't noticed much difference between IS/non-IS in battery drain either (a couple hundred pics on one set of 4 2500mah AAs is plenty for me). I was less impressed with the Panasonic (and Sony as well) features on the models I played with at the store.

[brian @ Feb 21st 2006 10:28PM]

this post had me dancing all day at school; the S2 IS owns but i'm just stunned to hear about this camera. i wonder if my tele lens for the is s2 would be compatible with this model..

[cuby @ Feb 21st 2006 11:44PM]

regarding the OIS comparison question: i had an s1 IS, and now have a lumix, and i would have to say that the canon ois was a more effective implementation.

it may just be that the lumix is a smaller camera, and therefore decidedly harder to keep still than the knobby canon s, but i still find myself stuck in burst mode with the lumix, just to give myself the best shot at a sharp pic. i almost never used burst with the s1, and never seemed to need it.

the ois in movie mode was about equal for both. but the canon ois just seemed to me more hardcore. neither ois mode on the lumix seems to get as consistent results, and that's just at 3x zoom rather than the 10x of the canon.

[Kelvis @ Feb 22nd 2006 2:23AM]

Wow, i love my S2 IS with that long zoom. But Canon could have put a longer zoom on the new S3 IS, something like 15x zoom.

[BK @ Feb 22nd 2006 9:03AM]

Thank you Yuppicide, AH, Brian, and Cuby for your input. I guess based on what you guys (esp. Cuby), said Canon IS is probably the way to go.

Thanks again,

Brian K.

[Irfan @ Feb 23rd 2006 6:21PM]

Hi Guys,
I have S2 IS since 6 months and I love this camera. I got 1GB SD card and now I am going to buy large capacity. I am thinking to buy 4GB SD card but wanted to make sure that this Camera supports 4GB or not. Today I called Canon technical support and asked this question. I was surprised when the support guy told me that they dont know that 4GB gonna work or not and they only tested this camera at max 2GB. But he was saying that this camera supports FAT32 filesystem so it might work without any issue but they never tested.
I would really appreciate if you guys can guid me about this if you guys have experience to use 4GB SD card with S2 IS model.
Regards,
Irfan

[liltiel @ Sep 26th 2007 7:52PM]

I saw a review for a Dane-Elec 4GB SDHC card (at Buy.com) that stated the user operated the Canon S3 IS with no problems. I have not tried this myself yet.

[canon powershot @ Feb 27th 2006 5:15PM]

wow this camera kicks ass...

[Scott B @ May 26th 2006 11:59AM]

I picked up the S3 yesterday. WOW! I am so impressed! The ISO settings are amazing! That is the huge difference other than the color change. WOW again! Love it! I cant wait to get out and snap a bunch of photos this weekend.

[David W. @ Jul 9th 2006 2:31AM]

I purchased the S3 this week. I have taken nearly 500 pictures with it during the past 5 days. All I can say is that I really like this camera. Over 98% of my pictures have turned out the way I like. I experimented with the optional wide-angle lens and found the image quality to be great. I don't recommend using a UV filter on the S3 because it reduces the image quality and noise becomes obvious. The scene and white balance settings work good. The auto mode works flawlessly. I like the fast shutter speed and image stabilizer.

The only real issue I have with the S3 is that the LCD is hard to see in direct sunlight. But I was able to use the viewfinder in those situations. Overall, this is a great camera with great performance.

[Lolek @ Jul 18th 2006 12:55PM]

You can have peace of mind that you own the best digital camera on the market when you purchase the Canon Powershot S3 IS camera. When you go on vacation, you want the photos that are going to impress and with the 12x optical zoom, the photos will impress! Since this camera is brand new, everyone is going to be asking you about it. They can go ahead because I will tell them this Canon camera is the best! The photos have color and sharpness that seem to want to jump right out at you. I took a movie and I am amazed with the clarity. There is no other camera better than the Canon Powershot S3 IS. I also own a PIXMA photo printer, so, I have the best of both worlds.

Lolek

http://www.redopinion.com/digital-camera/category/canon/powershot-s3-is/

[Chicago Astronomer Joe @ Dec 17th 2006 8:15AM]

I recently got a Powershot S3 and quite happy with it.

I researched the digital world extensively, desiring to upgrade from my trusty Kodak DX 3215, as it was quite limited and I needed something more robust. I looked into obtaining a strict DSLR, but the prices are in the high hundreds and low thousands...out of my price range. And I wanted the capability of shooting video. The S3 had everytning I desired...and more. The movie feature is quite nice, even at it's lowest settings.

Baseline prices were averaging around $399.00, with small variations. On-line deals were slightly better, but not much, and...I prefer to pick up my electronics in person to examine the product. I saw an ad from OfficeMax offering the S3 for $369.00 - with an instant $30.00 in-store rebate. They threw in a free 512mb SD card and the option to purchase a $100.00 Canon photo printer for $30.00. I took the offer, but declined the extended warrenty of $79.00 for two years. I am happy with the purchase.

It has plenty of zoom (12x), takes very good images, and the sharpness of the images are quite good. I have plenty of experience with my old 35mm Nikon film camera, and the S3 exceeds it in many areas. I do not miss at all lugging around various lenses and accessories, and this camera has plenty of features to satisfy the photographer.

I have experimented with the manual controls and find them exceptional, with real time results. And as an additional benefit, everybody who has seen it, has complimented me on the purchase...even die hard strict DSLR users. I will look into aftermarket Lens hoods and tele-converters to enhance the performance.

ASTROPHOGRAPHY -

I needed a camera for astrophotography, and I hope this one will serve well, but one nagging observation...

It's remarkable that I have been able to record stars, constellations and nebulae with just the camera lens, but I find it bothersome that I cannot focus stars down to pin points, it just stops short. I don't know if this is inherent to all digital cameras, but maybe it's just mine.

There are examples of my practice begining astrophotography efforts with the Powershot S3 here:

http://astronomer.proboards23.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=ps3&thread=1166148281&page=1

and here

http://astronomer.proboards23.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=ps3&thread=1166148281&page=1


Other than the difficulties of obtaining pin point stars, I highly recommend this camera.

Respectfully,

Chicago Astronomer Joe
Administrator
www.chicagoastronomer.com