Canon S3

[DueyDooDah]

The water 35 feet down was a cool 47 degrees !!! But the wetsuits do a great job of keeping you comfortable.

Wait til you try a drysuit. You'll be spoiled. And don't even go to the tropics. You'll never dive cold water again!

 

[polkadotladybug]

I'm still new to actually having to think about stuff before snapping photos - LOL but I've noticed that in Auto mode - the ISO choices are Auto ISO and AUto ISO high - what's the difference - when would I choose one over another?

And anyone up for giving a basic speech about ISO's in general? (ie differences, when to choose one over another - etc) I think I've gotten aperature down. LOL

 

[polkadotladybug]

forgot to add - I do have Understanding Exposure - but I wish he was writng about my specific camera. I have trouble looking for a "doohickey" on my camera when it's called a hoodickey for a dslr.

 

[photo_chick]

ISO in digital terms is very similar to ISO speed in film. The higher the number the more sensitive to light the media is. And that higher speed has a trade off. In film you get larger grains with higher ISO speeds, with a higher ISO in digital you get more noise. The higher the ISO number, in general the more noise you will get. How much noise and how much is acceptable is open for debate.

I usually try to shot with the lowest ISO setting possible myself, but then with film I almost always had t-max 100 in my camera so that is my preference. I only pull out the higher ISO when I am wanting to get lower light shots and I have tried every other way to boost the shutter speed. Other people have no problems shooting at ISO 800 all the time, it is a personal choice I think.

 

[photo_chick]

Had to add--- I rarely can find my doohickey, whoosits, watchamadinkies, and doodads when I really need them. It is always ten minutes after I needed it that it magically appears.

 

[juligrl]

Well add us to the list - DH and I are now the proud owners of an S3 IS!!! Thanks Amy for pointing us in the direction of this thread. I've always liked my Canon SureShot (non-digital) and we loved the Canon Rebel SLR (also non-digital) we had access to during college.

He played with it yesterday and last night - my turn today! Here's some of his shots (sorry, I can't figure out how to post the bigger shots from photobucket-there's links for the last two to check out the detail):

Our house at night - lone candle still on. Used tripod on this.

Looking down our street at 2am.

Looking across the street at 2am - you can see the stars!!!

Using the macro lens to prove that one of us needs to dust today!

 

[Amy]

I'm still new to actually having to think about stuff before snapping photos - LOL but I've noticed that in Auto mode - the ISO choices are Auto ISO and AUto ISO high - what's the difference - when would I choose one over another?

I'm at work so I don't have my camera, but I think there's an option in one of the menus where you can set it so that when the camera is choosing the ISO (like in the Sports mode where you can't change it yourself) it'll stop at Auto ISO (I think the max ISO is either 800 or 1600) rather than going into Auto ISO High (where it can go as high as 3200). Like photo_chick said, the higher the ISO, the more noise you'll get in your picture.

Just from playing around with my camera, there are certain modes where you can't change the ISO. Sports and Auto modes are 2 for sure. The camera changes all the settings based on the exposure; if it's low-light, the camera will bump up the ISO as far as it thinks is necessary. (I have no idea how the camera figures out which settings to change; I'm sure there's some computer model that tells it to first change aperture then shutter then ISO or something like that.)

Anyway, if you want to be sure to keep the ISO set at a certain number (I have mine set at 200), use the Program mode. This is basically auto, but it DOES allow you to change settings if you want. And when you focus on the shot, if the aperture/shutter in the bottom of the screen are red, that means there isn't enough light and you'll have to increase the ISO to get that shot. At least this way you'll know that you won't run the risk of getting noisy photos unless you actually choose it.

I hope I didn't confuse you!

 

[Amy]

Hey Juligrl - welcome to the S3 family! You're going to love the camera. You might want to get a copy of the Short Courses book (http://www.shortcourses.com/bookstore/canon/book_canons3is.htm) - it gives much more info than the manual that comes with the camera. Have fun learning!

 

[bethbuchall]

Here are some photos of a mama deer and her baby in our yard today. They didn't come out terrific, so if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them. I don't think that they are bad for the distance/lighting, though. They were all hand-held. They were all shot Av at 3.5 and 100 or 200 ISO at full optical zoom. That darn tree wouldn't move out of my way either.

I slipped out when mama was gone to get this shot of the fawn sleeping in its hiding spot. I wouldn't have even known it was there if I hadn't seen the doe lead it in.

 

[bethbuchall]

This is a fruit "bouquet" that I made for Teacher Appreciation day today. I like the colors.

 

[Amy]

Beth - those are great shots of the mom and baby deer, esp. the one of the sleeping fawn!! I love seeing wildlife like that.

 

[Sir Bouncealot]

I work in Iowa City, Iowa and took some time before work this past weekend to get some pics of this bridge in neighboring Coralville that spans the Iowa River.

 

[madge]

this is actually picture #5, of the ones I kept. I figured out that things would go better with a higher ISO and no flash.

Taken in an auditorium, from about 6-7 rows back

Can't wait actually sit down and look at the camera tomorrow! I literally threw the batteries in and went to the rehearsal.

 

[Ducky4Disney]

Ok folks, so I admitted to DH that I don't love the D200. I loved our G2, I was very familiar with it and got some great shots with it. I'm ready to move up but the D200 is too much for me.

Our 80-200 f2.8 lens just came yesterday - OMG that lens is huge and heavy and very nice, but it doesn't make me like the camera more.

It has been suggested that I get an advanced P&S for the time being. I wasn't sure about that idea but it's sounding more and more appealing to me.

At heart, I'm a real Canon fan. I know a lot of people here love the Canon S3 but what about the S5 coming out? And then there's the G7 to consider.

None of these cameras shoot in RAW format, which surprises me. The S5 and G7 have a hot shoe adapter which is nice because I have a 420EX speedlite. The S3 and S5 have 12x optical zoom vs 6X for the G7. But my G2 was only a 4x optical zoom, so anything more than 4x is fine with me. MP isn't a great concern for me. The G7 and S5 have higher ISO's, 1600 vs 800 on the S3.

Oh man, this is tough. Is the flash on the S3/S5 a manual pop-up or automatic? And I see the G7 doesn't have the moveable screen.

Maybe I should wait for the S5 IS to come out. But then it costs more.

I'm ready to throw in the towl and go back to disposables.

D4D
"Distressed4Digital"

 

[Amy]

Ducky, I'm one of the S3 fans on this board, and I know absolutely nothing about the G7, so this will be a biased opinion. I used to have a Canon A70 with a 3x zoom. I could not believe the diff. between a 3x and the 12x zoom on the S3! I read that the 12x is the equivalent of an SLR 424 zoom.

From what I've read, there are only minor differences between the S3 and the S5 - the flash hot shoe and more MPs. The S5 gives you more MPs on the same-size sensor; some of the more knowledgeable folks on this board can explain why cramming more MPs on the same-size sensor isn't really an improvement.

The S3 flash is a pop-up manual flash - if you forget to pull it up, the flash won't fire. (When I first got my S3, it took me a while to figure out why my flash pictures didn't turn out right; I was so used to my A70 where the flash fired automatically unless I turned it off! ) Sounds like you want to use your speedlight, so maybe you should wait for the S5 to come out in July. If money is a concern and you can live without the hot shoe, get an S3 now while the price is dropping. JMHO.

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

Another very happy S3 owner, here ... Amy hit most of the issues right on.

The G7 has a slightly larger sensor and that should make it better at low-light pictures and it should have better IQ all-around. In any comparisons that I've done on the 'net, though ... I can't tell any difference between the best pics from a G7 and the best pics from an S3. Both are excellent cameras.

Personally, I think the S3's long zoom and flip-out folding LCD is worth more, feature-wise.

We still have to wait to see if the ISO1600 on the S5 is actually going to be useable ... the ISO800 on the S3 is barely usable IF you have noise-reduction software. It's generally understood that cramming more MP onto a small sensor increases the noise, so the S5 *should* be noisier than the S3 ... however, it's got a different image processor (DIGIC III vs a DIGIC II and it's possible that the DIGIC III is better).

You probably should wait to see if the S5 is actually an improvement, because the hot shoe might be worth the $$$ since you've already got an external flash to use.

If you don't like the S5, or don't think it's worth the premium price, S3's will be pretty cheap by then!

 

[Groucho]

It's unlikely that the higher ISO level is going to be anything you'll care to ever use on the G7 (or S5). There's an example shot here of the G7 at 1600ISO - quite frankly, it's a mottled mess. The only cameras there that have a remotely acceptable ISO 1600 are the DSLR and the big-sensor Fuji (F30 in this case, but the S6000fd should be identical.)

I haven't followed very closely, but it sounds like even die-hard Canon fans are quite disappointed with the G7, and that it's a step backwards from earlier models. Perhaps you may want to look for a used G5/G6?

I do think that you should take a look at the Fuji S6000fd - it's fairly cheap (~$250 after rebate), has low-light capability that kills nearly any other PnS, and it also looks and feels like a mini-DSLR, much more so than other long-zoom PnS cameras. This can help get you accustomed more gently to the DSLR world and when you're ready, you can step back to the D200. It does support RAW, too.

 

[AndrewWG]

Well, I haven't posted much lately so here are a few from the zoo today. I wish I had waited a second or two on the duck as he would have been out of the shadows! Live and learn...

Andy

 

[Anewman]

I haven't followed very closely, but it sounds like even die-hard Canon fans are quite disappointed with the G7, and that it's a step backwards from earlier models. Perhaps you may want to look for a used G5/G6?

Yes I WAS a huge G series fan but the G7 seems like it was step backwards in order to not compete with the Canon Entry level DSLR. I was waiting for it, but now that it is out there is no way I would buy it.


Of the Cameras you mentioned I think the S3 will be the best VALUE, imo the S5 might have better feature sets but it will not have serious image quality upgrades. If you would like to use the hot shoe go ahead and wait but the ISOs 800 and above on either models will hardly be usable.

Groucho mentioned the Fuji S6000fd, it is a nice camera with great high ISO performance. But it needs it since it lacks optical image stabilization, so even on bright sunny days you may find yourself using ISO 800 in order to avoid camera shake on shots where you used FULL ZOOM.

 

[Amy]

Nice shots, Andy, although that turkey is U-G-L-Y!!!! Very patriotic, though, with his red, white, and blue. Maybe you can also post him over on the June assignment thread - colors!