Canon S3

Rafloution

Hi there just had an offer for a brand new camera canon s3 with 2GB sd card for 350 euro. Now my problem is im not sure if its any good, im a bit of a newbie in all this. but had a samsung digimax 304 and it was a bit of a shocker to say the least especially in low light conditions. The video feature was shocking too. So I have this budget to spend want a camera with good spec nothing to flashy but reliable in low light and also video must be of viewable quality.

Any tips?

5uspect

I don't know anything about that camera but dpreview.com is a great site for user reviews.

Rafloution

Thanks for the reply yeah saw that and it seems to be coming up as quite good so at least I have that! Just thought id ask a few boardsies who know better than most

5uspect

I'm sure many here know far more than I can offer.

latchiko

I can't offer much advice on the S3, but I have used its predecessor, the S2, and I was happy with it. I've recently upgraded but most of the shots over on my site were taken with the S2. It has a good all round set of features and gives quite a bit of creative control also. The S3 has a few more little extras, has gotten good reviews and at that price it's a bargain. You know you want it!

Ardent

I bought the S3 a couple of months ago. Great camera if you're looking for something that allows you to switch beween auto and pro manual features. The image stabilisation and 12x optical zoom are superb. You get fantastic photos at the highest quality setting. Disadvantages are slight noise in dark environments and occasional red-eye with the flash. All in all, great camera....350 for it is a steal.

Rafloution

Hey Ardent, what the video feature like?

Thanks in advance

Ardent

Video recording is good but I have nothing to compare it to as this is my first digital camera. At the highest quality, I have an avi that's 3 mins and 7 secs long and it's 364 MBs in size. IIRC, you can record an avi for a maximum of an hour or until the SD card fills up. Sound clarity is really good too. There's a review site out there somewhere with an avi sample from the camera, you should check it out!

5uspect

Look at getting something like VirtualDub to get that monster file down in size a bit.

mathias

The Canon S3 is a well respected camera , but ,
I wouldnt be getting the likes of that camera for just the video alone , although they can be quite good the resolution for Video on most compacts is just a paltry 640 x 480 , and that isnt going to impress most of the time , not even as good as a standard definition television channel.

It will produce good quality youtube size videos and thats about it , the only still camera I know off that can do better than that is the canon TX1 and that was only announced in February , I dont even know if it can be bought yet. That one will do 1280 x 720 or HD 720p if you like.

If you plan on taking a lot of family video ( kids , pets , special occasions etc. ) that you would like to see in good quality on the TV then a separate camcorder is your best bet. They cover Widescreen PAL resolutions much better than still cameras and are very cheap these days.
The likes of this ,
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=331828
Is much better suited to home videos and allows you to use the zoom ( x 35 optical ) while using and moving the camera , something no still camera including the S3 will let you do.
On the other hand these suck at still pictures , but it depends on whats more important to you , the video or the stills .

5uspect

mathias wrote:

The Canon S3 is a well respected camera , but ,
I wouldnt be getting the likes of that camera for just the video alone , although they can be quite good the resolution for Video on most compacts is just a paltry 640 x 480 , and that isnt going to impress most of the time , not even as good as a standard definition television channel.

It will produce good quality youtube size videos and thats about it , the only still camera I know off that can do better than that is the canon TX1 and that was only announced in February , I dont even know if it can be bought yet. That one will do 1280 x 720 or HD 720p if you like.

If you plan on taking a lot of family video ( kids , pets , special occasions etc. ) that you would like to see in good quality on the TV then a separate camcorder is your best bet. They cover Widescreen PAL resolutions much better than still cameras and are very cheap these days.
The likes of this ,
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=331828
Is much better suited to home videos and allows you to use the zoom ( x 35 optical ) while using and moving the camera , something no still camera including the S3 will let you do.
On the other hand these suck at still pictures , but it depends on whats more important to you , the video or the stills .

Thats true, you would be very lucky to get the best of both worlds in one device.

Rafloution

Thanks guys yeah i was looking at a camcorder but as you say this still quality is pants. So i kinda want the best of both worlds, I have a feeling the camera is the "better" way as obviously the video would still be usable in a sense where you can watch it. But the pics from a camcorder are not worth the hassle!!
Thanks for all your replies i took the plunge and bought it. Should have it next week!!