Canon PowerShot S3 IS Digital Camera - Review Gist

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Overall color looked pretty good, with bright reds and blues that nonetheless didn't look too overdone."

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High resolution with good overall detail"

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Very good low-light capability, sensitive enough to capture bright images under typical city street lighting and much darker conditions."

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the S3's photos look good"

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the S3's photos look good but can't really shake the digital look, either onscreen or in print."

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accurate color"

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The custom white balance option lets you use a white or gray card as reference so you can get perfect color even under the most unusual lighting conditions."

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the image stabilization system is active during filming."

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very good color accuracy and fidelity"

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colors are hue accurate"

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The S3 IS provides the best overall image quality in its class"

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DIGIC II image files are optimized for bright colors, tack sharp resolution, balanced contrast, and lower noise."

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The colors produced by the Canon PowerShot S3 IS appear in the outer portion of each square and the inner square shows the ideal color corrected for luminance."

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with a new CCD that is designed to suppress noise and offers ISO sensitivities up to 800."

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I found the camera's optical image stabilization quite effective at countering minor shaking and delivering an image with fairly sharp details."

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this camera produces generally soft images and suffers from loss of details starting at ISO 200."

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In our tests, image stabilisation worked extremely well; whether shooting static targets in low lighting conditions, or panning for moving wildlife and sports action shots"

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Excellent optical image stabiliser"

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The image quality is superb, the zoom is huge and the features are robust enough to keep most budding photographers happy."

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you can count on the UD Lens for bright, sharp images and radiant, true-to-life color."

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provides markedly faster startup, autofocus and playback, plus it assures that every image is more colorfully vibrant."

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You can simply press the shutter to capture a full 6.0 Megapixel still image at any time while recording a movie."

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The photos from the Canon S3 IS are ready for instant use, without requiring any editing afterwards."

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one of the best zoom lenses I've seen on a compact."

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it does seem to like blowing out highlights in high contrast situations."

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the Canon S3 produces files at ISO 80 and 100 that are reasonably clean, and with high resolution."

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When shooting with lenses 420mm (a smidge longer than the S3), not having Stabilization is hugely problematic"

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produces soft images and suffers from loss of details starting from ISO 200."

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the new 320x240 60fps movie-capture mode produces slick little movies"

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decent movie capture"

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The PowerShot S3 has one of the best movie modes on the market,"

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amazing movie mode"

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The PowerShot S3 has one of the best movie modes on the market"

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Movies look really good, as if they were shot with a camcorder and here's the clincher -- shooters can (because its whisper quiet USM motor isn't picked up on the audio track) use the S3's 12X zoom during video capture."

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The S3 has the most impressive movie capability of any digital camera in its class (including a nifty camcorder style video start/stop button)."

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truly superb movie mode"

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the S3 IS allows capturing a full resolution the camera is recording a movie."

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You can shoot standard movies at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480."

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Pop into IMovie for some editing, and quick and fun videos are the result."

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user friendly picture editing and movie clip editing functions"

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really excellent, well-integrated movie mode"

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impressive 12x zoom with image stabilization."

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The Canon S3 IS had excellent low-light shooting capabilities, with a maximum exposure time of 15 seconds."

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effective optical image stabilization"

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fast, high-quality lens"

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high-quality lens"

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excellent ultra zoom camera"

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Low light focusing was very good thanks to the S3's AF-assist lamp."

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Hidden deep inside the lens is something very helpful: Canon's optical image stabilization system."

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has a more powerful zoom"

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I was happy to see that the Canon S3 IS has hardly any shutter lag."

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Flash and daylight exposures were quite good, but I found more purple fringing with the S3's images than in the FZ7's."

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With its 12x zoom lens, established image stabilization system, and hybrid recording structure, the S3 has the main ingredients for a good ultra zoom camera."

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The S3's built-in multi-mode flash provides a useful range of lighting options"

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The S3 IS provides all the exposure flexibility most photographers are likely to need, including: Auto, Program AE, Scene (Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Sports, Stitch Assist, and Special Scenes -- Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Indoor, Night Snapshot, Color Accent, and Color Swap), Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and full Manual modes."

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Low light focusing is pretty good"

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the most attractive of these are its optical image stabilization, 12X optical zoom, fast maximum shutter speed, and swiveling 2-inch LCD (which comes in handy for shooting at creative angles)."

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the powerful 12X zoom was a joy to use"

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The flash is manually opened, simply by lifting it into its open position."

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Viewfinder is a little small."

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The sleek PowerShot S3 IS digital camera offers you high resolution, an extra-long zoom, advanced yet easy-to-use movie functions plus great new shooting options."

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The extra-long 12x Canon optical zoom brings you in close to capture intimate details."

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advanced yet easy-to-use movie functions"

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The lens produces superb results."

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The resolution is higher, the sensitivity has increased, the screen has grown and several snags and negative points have been fixed."

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super-powerful but amazingly compact lens"

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It is pin-sharp from edge to edge at all focal lengths, produces minimal wide-angle barrel distortion, and its fast maximum aperture ensures good shutter speeds at long focal lengths."

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the Powershot S3 IS the most fully equipped super zoom digital camera I have tested"

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The lighting levels produced by the flash are good too."

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the camera offers fully manual exposure."

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The good news of this is that depth of field at medium to wide focal lengths is quite extreme."

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very fast aperture"

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Extreme focal length and wide aperture ."

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Both the Canon PowerShot S3 IS's electronic viewfinder and LCD were quite accurate, showing almost exactly 100% of the final frame at both wide angle and at telephoto zoom settings."

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The LCD monitor lifts off of the rear panel to face forward, can swivel 270 degrees to face several viewing angles, and can be closed against the rear panel with the LCD facing inward to offer protection against accidental knocks or scratches."

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The LCD is certainly viewable in most light"

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The LCD is certainly viewable in most light, but I prefer an eye-level viewfinder to the unsteady arm's-length approach."

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handy shortcut button"

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the Shortcut button lets you put your favorite menu option close at hand."

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Outdoor visibility was decent, and low light viewing was very good, as the screen brightens automatically in those situations."

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The user interface is intuitive and uncomplicated with logical and easily accessed controls, especially the dedicated MOVIE and FUNC buttons."

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The S3's camcorder style (flip-out, rotating) Vari-Angle LCD screen tilts/swivels 180 degrees horizontally and 270 degrees vertically (the screen nests into the camera's rear deck when not in use and folds out, like opening a book, when deployed)."

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Swiveling LCD, many control buttons. 12X optical zoom, image stabilization."

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Though flooded with numerous buttons on the chassis (similar to the S2 IS), these keys are in fact reasonably comfortable even for larger digits."

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It was initially awkward having to look at such a "small" screen"

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Logical and intuitive menu and control system."

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the menu system is sub-divided in the usual Canon way, which is functional and intuitive."

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The combination of the menu, which offers an impressive amount of languages,"

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The swivel LCD screen was awesome"

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Unfortunately, Canon gives you alkalines in the box which will quickly end up the trash, so consider it your mission to buy a set or two of NiMH rechargeable batteries"

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great battery life numbers"

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the PowerShot S3 has the best battery life in its class."

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Low battery life."

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4 disposable batteries"