Canon S3 vs other cameras

"Doc" <drpepper5.DeleteThis@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:1157295323.842874.321960@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Hi, , , ,
>
> Well, I have been using digital cameras since the early 1990's or so,
> and I have found ONE THING to be a deal killer. Proprietary batteries.
> If the camera doesn't use AA's or other readily available batteries, I
> will not buy it. That is a deal killer!
>
> I recently bought a Canon S3is, and it is a great camera.The pictures
> have a clarity and vivid colors that I have not exprienced on any other
> camera. And CopperTop batteries do the trick very well.
>
> The price is withn reach of most people, and the brand name is one of
> the best for quality, and ranks right up there with Nikon and Leica. I
> just don't see how you can beat the Canon S3is.
>
> Doc
> ======================================
>

I much prefer a DSLR to my S2. Neither an S2 or S3 could do this, taken at
the Millville Air Show last year with a 10D & Sigma 80-400:

http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100625/105919/IMG_75088915.jpg
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100625/105919/IMG_7209426.jpg

Proprietary batteries are ok by me; they have a high capacity and I always
have at least a couple spares with me charged & ready to go. I'll
ocassionally carry the S2 instead of a DSLR if I can't take something bulky,
or just don't want the extra weight & bulk (that's not often at all
however). Use whatever works for you. There's no such thing as one camera
that's right for everybody.

Mark
 >> Stay informed about: Canon S3 vs other cameras 

sally RemoveThis @sally.com (sally) wrote:

> Have you tried adjusting the focus on the viewfinder?

It's always worth checking (regularly) the adjustment's right for your
eye. But even set optimally the 115k screen can be a real pain to use,
and the manual focus system isn't much help either.

There are several competitors with 230k screens and I simply can't
understand why Canon haven't improved it in the last two versions of the
series. It must be part of keeping the price down and the S3
competitive, but it's a false economy IMO. When I first got my S1 I
nearly sent it back because of the EVF.

It's a lovely little camera, but far from perfect. Still, I live in hope
for the S4/5!

Andrew McP
 >> Stay informed about: Canon S3 vs other cameras 

"sally" <sally RemoveThis @sally.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9833C251D95D2s321@192.160.13.20...
> "Lee K" <lee_keedick RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote in
> news:PtmdnY1AqfSpGWbZnZ2dnUVZ_tadnZ2d@usadatanet.net:
>> The other complaint is the view finder (the EVF)- it's
>> a complete waste, a constant blur, at least to my eyes. That
>> articulated LCD goes a long way towards nullifying the woeful EVF,
>> however.
>
> Have you tried adjusting the focus on the viewfinder? In bright sunlight,
> I
> find the viewfinder much easier to use than the LCD.

Doh! What do they say? RTFM? Thanks for the suggestion, I hadn't noticed
the little adjusting knob. Now it's usable and that gets rid of one of my
complaints. Thanks again.
 >> Stay informed about: Canon S3 vs other cameras 

SJ wrote:
> Take Dave Taylors post, I assume he's talking about a Panasonic. I wish
> he
would tell me why he prefers it to the S3 specifically, that would be
valuable info for me.

My choice was between the Canon S2 IS and the Panasonic FZ5. The FZ5 has
the better lens, was lighter, and the handling felt better in the shop.
It also came in black rather than silver - looking and feeling more like a
working camera than an expensive toy. Having the single Li-ion battery
was a plus point over the multiple AA cells of the Canon. (Just think
when you are out in a busy street changing batteries - you need to handle
8 AA cells at once, and remember which are fresh and which are used. The
single battery is a lot easier). I tend to use the camera like my old
SLR, i.e. using the eye-level EVF and not the LCD held away from the eye.
My wife has the Panasonic FZ20, and it was after using and seeing the
results from that camera that I decided to replace my Nikon 5700 with the
FZ5. We have both been delighted with the results from the Panasonic FZ5
and FZ20.

Were I buying today I suppose it would be the FZ7 versus the S3 IS - I
don't think any other camera brand would enter the race. The swivel LCD
on the Canon would be its main plus point, otherwise I think the lens is
probably still inferior (although I have not tested the cameras directly
myself), and I feel that the Canon has lots of marketing gimmicks whereas
the Panasonic is more of a robust camera designed to do a better basic
job. Now we're getting into my perception of the two companies!

Either would do an excellent job, I'm sure.

David
 >> Stay informed about: Canon S3 vs other cameras 

Mark B. wrote:
[]
> I much prefer a DSLR to my S2. Neither an S2 or S3 could do this,
> taken at the Millville Air Show last year with a 10D & Sigma 80-400:
>
> http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100625/105919/IMG_75088915.jpg
> http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100625/105919/IMG_7209426.jpg
[]
> Mark

Mark,

What is lacking in your Canon S2 which would prevent you getting pictures
such as those you listed?

David
 >> Stay informed about: Canon S3 vs other cameras 

"David J Taylor" <david-taylor DeleteThis @blueyonder.co.not-this-bit.nor-this-part.uk>
wrote in message news:HtQKg.13161$r61.6704@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> Mark B. wrote:
> []
>> I much prefer a DSLR to my S2. Neither an S2 or S3 could do this,
>> taken at the Millville Air Show last year with a 10D & Sigma 80-400:
>>
>> http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100625/105919/IMG_75088915.jpg
>> http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100625/105919/IMG_7209426.jpg
> []
>> Mark
>
> Mark,
>
> What is lacking in your Canon S2 which would prevent you getting pictures
> such as those you listed?
>
> David
>

AF speed, lens reach (the above were taken at 400mm, but on a 1.6x crop
sensor it's the same field of view as a 640mm lens on a full-frame camera),
overall image quality, viewfinder quality. Other things lacking on the S2
that can be illustrated in other ways - external flash mount, raw file
support, interchangeable lenses, good high ISO performance, shallow depth of
field.

Mark
 >> Stay informed about: Canon S3 vs other cameras 

On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 07:05:48 GMT, David J Taylor wrote:

> Thanks for the reply - you may find a trade-off between AF speed and the
> greater DoF of the small sensor camera making focus less critical.

I'd agree if the issue was AF accuracy, not speed. But even if
you have a greater DOF with a P&S, it can completely miss many shots
that a DSLR would get where prefocusing can't be used. Rapidly
moving people, children, pets, some sports action, etc., can move
completely out of the frame by the time the shutter actually opens.
 >> Stay informed about: Canon S3 vs other cameras 

ASAAR wrote:
> On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 07:05:48 GMT, David J Taylor wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the reply - you may find a trade-off between AF speed and
>> the greater DoF of the small sensor camera making focus less
>> critical.
>
> I'd agree if the issue was AF accuracy, not speed. But even if
> you have a greater DOF with a P&S, it can completely miss many shots
> that a DSLR would get where prefocusing can't be used. Rapidly
> moving people, children, pets, some sports action, etc., can move
> completely out of the frame by the time the shutter actually opens.

Yes, if you can't use pre-focussing the delay can be a problem.

However, on some more modern small-sensor cameras, whilst not at the best
DSLR levels, the delay has been substantially reduced by better algorithms
and external focus sensors. If delay is critical, you would need to check
the performance of the particular cameras you were considering buying.

David
 >> Stay informed about: Canon S3 vs other cameras 

"David J Taylor" <david-taylor RemoveThis @blueyonder.co.not-this-bit.nor-this-part.uk>
wrote in message news:gl9Lg.13720$r61.5274@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>
> Mark,
>
> Thanks for the reply - you may find a trade-off between AF speed and the
> greater DoF of the small sensor camera making focus less critical. When
> taking similar pictures at motor racing events I tended to pre-focus, but
> perhaps that's not so easy for aircraft! <G> I'm not convinced that
> viewfinder quality would prevent you actually getting the pictures,
> although it might make it a less pleasant experience.
>

I had my S2 with me at this year's air show, I wanted to try some video
clips - couldn't really get a good idea of what I was framing either looking
through the EVF or LCD. It was unpleasant enough that I didn't want to put
that much effort into it

> Your "other" comments (part from lack of raw support and external flash
> mount) are indeed the differences between a small-sensor camera and a
> DSLR.
>

This is probably more true with newer Canon cameras. So far they have not
put raw or a hot shoe into anything after the Pro1 and G6. Certainly there
are external flashes that can be triggered by the on-board; I haven't tried
them, but I do like Canon's wireless flash system on their DSLRs. My
favorite use of raw is making final adjustments to the white balance; auto
WB & the presets don't always get it right.

Mark
 >> Stay informed about: Canon S3 vs other cameras 

Mark B. wrote:
> "David J Taylor"
> <david-taylor.DeleteThis@blueyonder.co.not-this-bit.nor-this-part.uk> wrote in
> message news:HtQKg.13161$r61.6704@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>> Mark B. wrote:
>> []
>>> I much prefer a DSLR to my S2. Neither an S2 or S3 could do this,
>>> taken at the Millville Air Show last year with a 10D & Sigma 80-400:
>>>
>>> http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100625/105919/IMG_75088915.jpg
>>> http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100625/105919/IMG_7209426.jpg
>>> [] Mark
>>
>> Mark,
>>
>> What is lacking in your Canon S2 which would prevent you getting
>> pictures such as those you listed?
>>
>> David
>>
>
> AF speed, lens reach (the above were taken at 400mm, but on a 1.6x
> crop sensor it's the same field of view as a 640mm lens on a
> full-frame camera), overall image quality, viewfinder quality. Other
> things lacking on the S2 that can be illustrated in other ways -
> external flash mount, raw file support, interchangeable lenses, good
> high ISO performance, shallow depth of field.
>
> Mark

Mark,

Thanks for the reply - you may find a trade-off between AF speed and the
greater DoF of the small sensor camera making focus less critical. When
taking similar pictures at motor racing events I tended to pre-focus, but
perhaps that's not so easy for aircraft! <G> I'm not convinced that
viewfinder quality would prevent you actually getting the pictures,
although it might make it a less pleasant experience.

Your "other" comments (part from lack of raw support and external flash
mount) are indeed the differences between a small-sensor camera and a
DSLR.

David
 >> Stay informed about: Canon S3 vs other cameras 

Mark B. wrote:
[]
> I had my S2 with me at this year's air show, I wanted to try some
> video clips - couldn't really get a good idea of what I was framing
> either looking through the EVF or LCD. It was unpleasant enough that
> I didn't want to put that much effort into it

My experience has been more the race-track than the air show. Usually,
the cars run on a defined path so you can practice the panning well before
the main event. As with any sports or action photography, there's an
element of chance about getting a good picture.

[]
> This is probably more true with newer Canon cameras. So far they
> have not put raw or a hot shoe into anything after the Pro1 and G6.
> Certainly there are external flashes that can be triggered by the
> on-board; I haven't tried them, but I do like Canon's wireless flash
> system on their DSLRs. My favorite use of raw is making final
> adjustments to the white balance; auto WB & the presets don't always
> get it right.
> Mark

Time to look at other brands, then, which do not dumb down their cameras
like this.

David
 >> Stay informed about: Canon S3 vs other cameras