Canon S3

[SplshMtn99]

Amy, my understanding is the lens adaptor attaches on the body; and then the built-in lens extends & retracts inside the adaptor. So, basically, your camera is now always going to be the size it is when the lens is extended. Right now, that's a little to large to carry around for my wishes.

I'm just being really careful like I've been with any other camera I've ever had. And if I put the camera somewhere (like in my bag) where I think the lens cap might come off, I've been using the method where I run the cap string across the lens before putting the cap on. It fits snugger that way & not as prone to falling off. Just make sure the little piece of metal on the cap string is "outside" of the cap & not inside with the lens.

 

[Jeanne B]

Amy, my understanding is the lens adaptor attaches on the body; and then the built-in lens extends & retracts inside the adaptor. So, basically, your camera is now always going to be the size it is when the lens is extended.

That's correct.

 

[Amy]

Thanks JoAnne and Jeanne; that's what I was afraid of. I don't want to carry around something that big all the time; if I did, I'd still be lugging around my old Pentax SLR! I'll just have to be extra careful and make sure that lens cap goes on all the time.

 

[Amy]

The batteries that came with my S3 lasted awfully long, and I always figured they sent you crappy batteries with the camera (just like that joke of a memory card that holds a whopping 5 shots). I was downloading pics directly from the camera to the computer before I got a card reader, and I used the "continuous shooting" mode for about 75% of my shots, and I read that that mode really depletes your batteries fast. I couldn't believe how long that initial set of batteries lasted!

Then they ran out, and I went back to using my Everready rechargeable NiMH AA's, and I have to keep changing them more frequently. I guess they're running out of "juice" since I've been using them for a little over 2 years in my old Canon A70. Don't rechargeables have a life of only so many charges??? Guess I'd better get some more before the holidays!

 

[Sanka]

hehe, ya, about an hour or 2 after I created this post I saw the adapter in the picuture.... just never got around to comming back to post about it...

Anyway, I really got it for the bag/tri pods and filters... don't care so much about the lenses, although I will likely play with them for a bit to see how well they work. I didn't really expect it to be that great of a quality either.

I'm very much an amateur when it comes to photography right now. I had a course on photography back in high school, but most of anything I learned then has long been forgotten, so for now i'm keeping the budget somewhat low until I start getting better with it!

The camera itself was a pretty big cost since i'm in canada... while the camera was going for $320 in the states, it was $499 here in canada, and that was on sale!

So for the next little while, anything I get for it will be cheap! hehe


Anywho... thanks everyone for your replies! I love that any questions I/anyone else ask will always be answered pretty quickly!

 

[tedhowe]

I'm finding the battery life on my S3 to be so good, that I'm actually planning to NOT bring rechargables on our trip to WDW in February. I am going to have 2 sets of Energizer e2 Lithium batteries.

I got one set when I bought my camera back in September and I have yet to deplete it - with a birthday party, soccer and a bunch of halloween shots - I have to have taken about 500 shots and 15-20 minutes of video so far and no sign of the batteries dying.

Now I feel with a relatively fresh set in the camera and one new set in the bag, I can take a week trip without having to lug the charger and heavy rechargable batteries along.

 

[woodlandsparty]

I'm finding the battery life on my S3 to be so good, that I'm actually planning to NOT bring rechargables on our trip to WDW in February. I am going to have 2 sets of Energizer e2 Lithium batteries.

I got one set when I bought my camera back in September and I have yet to deplete it - with a birthday party, soccer and a bunch of halloween shots - I have to have taken about 500 shots and 15-20 minutes of video so far and no sign of the batteries dying.

Now I feel with a relatively fresh set in the camera and one new set in the bag, I can take a week trip without having to lug the charger and heavy rechargable batteries along.

Ditto on that.....the regular old energizer AA's have seemed to hold up amazingly well. 1200 shots later and the bunny seems to keep on going strong. Regular batteries have served me so well that I haven't even tried the rechargables that I bought yet. On my Cyber-Shot, with a full charge, I would have maybe gotten 400 shots on a charge. So, I'm completely impressed with the S3's battery consumption.

 

[budbeerlady]

I ordered myself a Canon S3 from Amazon this morning . My local store has a Kodak 512 SD card on sale for $19.99. I think this is reasonable but can I use it in the Canon S3? Thanks!

 

[Master Mason]

I ordered myself a Canon S3 from Amazon this morning . My local store has a Kodak 512 SD card on sale for $19.99. I think this is reasonable but can I use it in the Canon S3? Thanks!

your looking for the SD designation, it doesn't matter too much who makes the card.

However, I think you can get a 1gig card for that price if you search around.

 

[Steve's Girl]

I just bought a 1G SD from Staples for $19.99.

 

[mhutchinson]

Yes, this card will work fine. However (like the other posts) I would recommend something larger and maybe even faster like a 1GB or a 2GB SanDisk Ultra 2. Cards are so cheap these days that it doesn't make sense to skimp on them anymore, after all how many one time use rolls of film can you get for the same money.

Just a thought.

Mike

 

[ukcatfan]

Check Newegg.com. I bought a high speed 1GB from them a month ago for $17 with a $10 rebate.

Kevin

 

[budbeerlady]

Wow, thanks everyone. I didnt realize I could get memory that cheap! Are all card decent or is there a brand that is too low-end to justify the cost/value? Thanks!

I wont purchase and keep looking!

 

[Steve's Girl]

Wow, thanks everyone. I didnt realize I could get memory that cheap! Are all card decent or is there a brand that is too low-end to justify the cost/value? Thanks!

I wont purchase and keep looking!

In the manual for my camera, only a few brands are "approved" for use with my camera. I chose to stick with one of the "approved" brands since memory cards are so cheap in comparison to the camera itself. My husband uses an older P & S and I use whatever is cheap. The older camera can't write fast enough for the new faster cards anyways. Have not had a problem with any up to this point. Check the manual when you get your new camera.

 

[ukcatfan]

Most people do not know, but there are only about five or six major manufacturers of memory on the world. Most brands are not the actual manufacturer; they just put their name on it. Almost any brand will work. If you buy from Egghead and it does not work, they will replace it with a comparable card of a different brand for free.

Kevin

 

[goofy4tink]

Okay I have a question. I have a Canon, powershot. Had an early Kodak easyshare. At the moment I have a Kodak memory card in my Canon. I really didn't like the Canon software, so I put my cards in my Easyshare camera, and sent my shots to my computer, and the Easyshare Gallery, rather than mess with the Canon stuff. Well...today I had to head to our cable tv station to do a PSA for our church. I had my Canon with me, Kodak card in it, with photos to be loaded onto the cable tv's computer for my 60 sec. 'ad'. Well, it wouldn't download!!! The cable guy figured it had something to do with the fact that it was a Kodak memory card and it was searching for the right place, Easyshare Gallery, to put the photos. I haven't had a problem at CVS getting prints with the card, but they use Kodak. Could this have been the issue at the cable tv station? The camera literally just shut itself off after about 2 seconds of trying.
The cable tv guy said it was time for them to get some different card readers, rather than go through this aggravation.
Thought maybe you guys might know what the problem was.

 

[DueyDooDah]

Normally, you should reformat your SD card once it is installed in a different camera. Due to the hardware involved, each camera will have a slight variation in the way it writes/reads data (images), which means that you may or may not be able to read data on a camera if the data was written on another. Try to get into the habit of formatting the SD card as soon as you put it in a different camera. (don't forget to save the data to your PC before formatting)

 

[ukcatfan]

I always use a card reader. Why waste your battery power on your camera when you can use a card reader that costs around $20. It just acts like a hard drive on your pc. Windows/Mac OS/Linux could care less what camera took the pics.

Kevin

 

[Disney845]

Hello, I have been lurking around the photography board for a few weeks now, and first wanted to mention how helpful everyone has been without even knowing it!

After considerable angst, I have bought a Canon S3 (online at CircuitCity $348-to be picked up instore later today). This was the best pricing I found on it which I could instantly receive at a brick-n-mortar. I wanted it pretty much immediately after I made my decision, we are leaving for vacation soon and I wanted to spend time familiarizing myself with the camera features not waiting on shipping.

I have been looking at pricing on SD cards and card readers and see that CircuitCity has a Polaroid 1GB SD for $9.99 after $20 mail in rebate. I personally HATE mail in rebates, but that is neither here nor there.

Is this a good deal? Should I look for a better brand? How many pics will one of these cards hold when shooting with the S3? I don't know if I plan to use the video function of the S3 yet, we have a separate video camera, but how much time will this record?

CircuitCity also has a GE SD/MMC Reader for $4.99 after $12 rebate.

Again...is this a good deal? I plan to bring my laptop on vacation with me to download the pictures, and perhaps make an immediate CD backup of the photos. The laptop does not have dedicated media reader slots, so I have read that using a usb card reader is best, because it doesn't wear down your camera battery.

Final question, I have read that the S3 has great battery life, but for a backup which brand/type of rechargeable battery/charger does anyone suggest?

Thank you so much for anyone who takes the time to read this and give me some feedback.

 

[ukcatfan]

If you want to use the video, make sure it is a high speed card. RegularIf you can wait about a week for delivery, I think Newegg.com has good prices on cards.

As for batteries, some of the best are Maha Powerex. They can be found at Thomas Distributing online. If you want something local, Duracell, Sanyo, and Energizer are not bad. If possible, find a charger that charges each cell individually. I just bought a Duracell charger that does that. It was just released about a month ago, so there are not any reports on how well it works, but it has been fine for me so far. With four cells, it was $17.99 at Wal-mart.

Kevin