Canon PowerShot S3 IS reviewed

Digital Camera Resource got their mits on the Canon PowerShot S3 IS recently and were kind enough to post a detailed review for our perusal. While the S3 isn't exactly "an exciting upgrade" over its S2 IS predecessor, the reviewer still found it to be an "excellent" ultra zoom camera. Besides the bump from 5 to 6 mexapixels, the camera's two most touted new features are ISO 800 sensitivity and 60fps QVGA / 30fps VGA recording. Well, the ISO 800 snaps shot under low light were found to be, er, "not usable" while those taken under normal light should be limited to 4x6 prints with the aid of some noise reduction software. However, the overall noise level was still considered "low for a 6 megapixel camera." Meanwhile, the video capabilities were found to be excellent due to stereo sound recording and the ability to zoom silently while filming. However, lacking an MPEG-4 codec means your flicks will hit the 1GB per recording wall in only 9-minutes under the highest quality settings. Overall, the camera earns the reviewer's "enthusiastic recommendation" due to its "very good photo quality" and "snappy performance" in a "solid and capable" ultra zoom camera.