Canon S3

[wdwmom2]

Great pics. I can't wait to see some fireworks so that I can try my S3 out!!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Good link; now there's a couple hours of viewing.

 

[SplshMtn99]

Dan, if you get bored, here's the link to all photos taken with S3 on PBase. Just 9979 of them.
http://www.pbase.com/cameras/canon/powershot_s3_is

See one you like, click it to go to the album its in. OR from link above, keep clicking "MORE" for more random photos.

That should take care of most of today for you.
Then you can spend tomorrow viewing a different camera.

 

[Caitsmama]

Just took a few quick shots, nothing special- taken from my shop, I can't wait til monday and tuesday when i am off to go out and really play with it!

 

[Steven41782]

I just bought the Canon S3 for my wife's Birthday (yeah, ok so its for me too). We went to Best Buy and Circuit City and she played with a lot of cameras and this is the one she settled on. The price was 399.99 at both stores. I got it online from Dell Home for 319.96. I was happy with the $80 savings! So here is my question:

We went to a marching band competition and they had professional photography company there taking individual pictures of the students marching. They took pictures where the students were very focused, but the background was blurred. I thought this was an awesome effect, will I be able to do this with the S3? Thanks for your help.

 

[Master Mason]

That effect is achieved by using a wide apeture, typically f4 or lower. You should be able to get it using the portrait mode, or by opening the apeture. By open I mean use a number that is 4 or less.

I have never played with that camera, but I know it has manual settings.

If you can get it wide enough you can actually blur the foreground as well

 

[Amy]

Yep, you can. There are manual modes on the S3 - you'll want to use "AV" and then you can set the aperature to whatever you want and it'll adjust the shutter speed.

I got my S3 about a month ago, and I'm still learning. So far I've used it a 3 band competitions; I use the "sports" setting - it's supposed to give a faster shutter speed to stop action, and it also has something I LOVE - continuous shooting. If you hold the shutter button down, it'll take a picture every 1.5 seconds or so (the manual says you can adjust it, but I haven't tried that yet). So you don't get that delay that you usually get with digital cameras, where it'll display the picture you just took before you can take another.

Here are some pix from the first competition where I used my S3:

The band lined up and ready to go:

My DS14 and his bari sax:

My DS16 during his trumpet solo:

It was pouring down rain that day, so the pictures aren't as crisp as I'd like, but you can certainly see the power of that 12x zoom!

I've noticed during the night-time competitions that the pictures get grainier as you increase the zoom, so I tend to like the full-field pix a little better. But for proud parents, who cares about grainy pix when you're seeing your kid?!

 

[Steven41782]

Thanks Ya'll... if I get the camera in time, during the SC state finals, I'm going to try to get pictures of the seniors using this effect and give them to them.

Thanks again,
Steven

 

[Amy]

Ok all you great photographers on this board. Check out this picture I took last night; it's straight from the camera, I didn't do anything to it:

Notice how the girl in red on the right is perfectly in focus and yet the musicians around her are blurry. Her flag and all the other yellow flags (the ones up in the air) are also in focus, and yet the rest of the picture is blurry. Any idea why? I'm stumped.

I used my new Canon S3 IS, on the Sports setting to stop action since it's a band competition and everybody is moving. It was taken in an outdoor football stadium, under the usual stadium lighting. The sports setting also has a continuous shutter, and I'm not sure how the camera focuses between pictures. But even if it focused at a set distance, you'd think all the kids at that distance would be in focus and not just that one girl.

Here's the exif info for those of you that understand this stuff:
File Name IMG_0405.JPG
Camera Model Name Canon PowerShot S3 IS
Shooting Date/Time 10/21/2006 7:08:07 PM
Shooting Mode Sports
My Colors Mode Off
Tv (Shutter Speed) 1/60
Av (Aperture Value) 3.5
Light Metering Evaluative
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed Auto
Lens 6.0 - 72.0 mm
Focal Length 37.8 mm
Digital Zoom None
IS Mode On
Image Size 2816x2112
Image Quality Superfine
Flash Off
White Balance Auto
AF Mode Continuous AF
Parameters Contrast Normal
Sharpness Normal
Saturation Normal
Color Space sRGB
File Size 4256 KB
Drive Mode Continuous shooting
Owner's Name

 

[mhutchinson]

If I were to guess, I would say that the camera was panning to the right to follow the flags. If you notice the band members, the ones that are in place (as well as field markings) are less out of focus than those that look to be shifting to the left of the picture.

Mike

 

[Amy]

Ok, more S3 shots. I was playing around with Macro and SuperMacro yesterday, and came up with some awful shots!

Look at this:

I could swear that the "focus rectangle" in the viewfinder was in the center, focusing on the flower. But nooooo, the flower is blurry and the grass way in the back is nice and sharp! I looked in the manual today, and it said that there's a very limited zoom range when using macro and if you're not in that zoom range, then it'll take the picture as if in standard shotting mode (which is why the flower is so blurry since it's too close for the camera to focus).

Now this one I took using SuperMacro, and it turned out great:

I pretty much had the camera just about touching the flower.

I am sooooo glad digital photography was invented. To think of how much film would be wasted on some of these shots! I must have taken about 20 pictures yesterday, and only 3 or 4 were any good.

 

[Amy]

Oh no! Not photographer error! But what you said, Mike, DOES make sense. I wasn't purposely following the girl with the flag, but if I moved my camera just a tiny bit as if I were following her, then this is the result I would get.

Not the picture I hoped to take, but it IS interesting. And a good educational picture, too. Thanks Mike!

 

[°O°Joe]

All 12X optical zoom... which one should I get??

My prices (local Best Buy / Camera Corner / WalMart) w/out taxes:

Sony H2: $370
Canon S3: $360
Kodak Z612 $320

They all seem like great cameras and I'm leaning towards the Kodak because of the price factor...

 

[Graeme]

I bought an S3IS when they were released and I love it. I'm not a very technically minded photographer, more a point-and-shoot enthusiast but I find it very forgiving and fun to use.

 

[Servants of Evan]

Looking at your photo I will venture another scenerio -- the flag girl is moving parallel to the camera -- staying in the same focal distance while the sax players seem to be moving diagonally toward the camera. With a 1/60 shutter and only a f.3.5 (not much depth of field) I would assume that even more would wind up being out of focus.

 

[°O°Joe]

I bought an S3IS when they were released and I love it. I'm not a very technically minded photographer, more a point-and-shoot enthusiast but I find it very forgiving and fun to use.

Yeah - I'm not a technically minded photographer either... most of my shots are in full automatic mode.

One of the biggest factors for me is how the camera handles lower light shooting in automatic mode w/out flash. The reviews I've read don't really address this. (i.e. how the camera performs if I want to take a picture of Cinderella Castle at night in auto mode without flash). My Sony DSC-T9 actually handles the night / lower lighting fairly well, but it only has something like 2X or 3X optical zoom... great little camera for everyday use - but not to take to the World...

 

[ukcatfan]

To quote myself from a different thread today....


As a next step, I suggest that you go to a store to try them out yourself. It is hard to tell if you like one over another until you actually use them. Bring your own memory card if you have one. If not, go pick up a $10-15 one to bring with you. Most P&S cameras use SD memory these days. Then bring those pictures back home and look in detail at which camera gives the results you want. Beware, the superzooms are addictive.

A few tips when doing this:
1. Do not be talked into buying anything.
2. Do not believe everything the salespeople say. They may know less than you do and many work on commission.
3. Make sure the sample you are using is in proper working order and that the lens is clean.
4. In store lighting is usually lower than you perceive. If one struggles to lock focus on your tests, then it will probably struggle in actual low light use.
5. Take a note pad with you. It is hard to remember everything after looking at multiple models. It does not hurt to make some notes of what you are looking for before you go to the store.


I would go for the Canon over the Kodak b/c in most cases, they are higher quality cameras. I would go Canon over Sony just b/c I do not like the memory sticks over SD. Everything is to your preferences though. Sometimes just the feel of one in your hand compared to the others will make your decision.

Kevin

 

[Anewman]

I agree that it is motion blur and not focus issues, f/3.5 is plenty depth of focus at this distance.

Look at the horizontal bars on the band leaders platform(pretty sharp) and compare them to the vertical bars...

 

[Graeme]

I've never really tried anything on that scale, I rarely use the flash on auto indoors though and it works pretty well. You raise the flash manually so it's easy to choose whether to deploy it or not.

Can't you get them all from Wal mart and take back the ones you don't want?

 

[°O°Joe]

Can't you get them all from Wal mart and take back the ones you don't want?

Probably could... but that sounds like a pain in the butt. I hate returning things - especially when I've used them. Plus Wal Mart only has the best price on the Sony. Their price on the Canon is $399 and the Kodak is like $340 or something...

I'm now leaning towards the Sony because I already have a Sony and I can interchange the media cards...

...But I'm sure I'll change my mind before I buy it tonight...

None of the sales persons at any of the stores (not even Camera Corner, a store that specializes in cameras) seem very knowledgeable when it comes to these cameras... I'm kind of lost. And as far as the reviews go they're all three virtually neck and neck.

ugghhh... decisions.
...decisions.