Canon S3

[eek40]

Lets see how this is
Aimee

 

[Geekerbell]

Does anyone have pics from Fantasmic taken with the S3 or S5?
DH and I are looking at getting a new digi cam for our January WDW trip (our current one is sooo old!), and this one thing I want to know, as our last trip had terrible fire works and Fantasmic pics.
I've tried looking through this thread, and I apologize if I have overlooked if some are posted here.

Also, DH wants to know quick the camera is...you know from the time you press the button down to when it actually takes the pic? Our current is quite long it seems. And sorry i don't know all of the technical names for these things!

Thank so much for any info, pics, links!

 

[tiff13]

twoeeyy-that is a really awesome picture. I like it alot.

 

[jann1033]

i have to respectfully disagree about the fragility of lenses...having used slrs for a long time, more than a decade, i still have the first lens i ever bought( it's lousy as in soft but still works perfectly well and it's a sigma, not a particularly "sturdy" lens per say)...i really think if you break a number of lenses you would have broken a number of P&s cameras as well...i'm careful but it's not like it's on pedestal somewhere, i use my camera most days and take it all over the place. you need to be sensible and take good care of any equipment you buy.

 

[CarolA]

I am on my THIRD Sigma lens.... LOL!

I don't really treat them bad the cameras are in great shape. However, if you are dealing with 20 kids you don't always have time to "put everything" back in it's place. This is especially true with the larger zoom lens. The story I told was true. The camera was "safely" in the middle of a large table. However, you get a group of 10 girls playing and "things" happen. LOL! (I also broke one when I THREW it on the ground as I jumped into a lake.... Told you being a Girl Scout Volunteer had it's moments, but somehow I don't think mom and dad would have liked "I couldn't get to your child in time because I had to take good care of my camera" LOL!)

I have never broken a point and shoot camera..
I have never done damage to the Rebel (either the old film one or this one)

I will say that the lens by dad has (purchased about 20 years ago) seems to be to be "better" made then the one's they produce now. It does weigh more, but.....

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

Also, DH wants to know quick the camera is...you know from the time you press the button down to when it actually takes the pic? Our current is quite long it seems. And sorry i don't know all of the technical names for these things

The S3 is very fast:

The shutter lag (just pointing the camera and clicking the button) is ~0.4 sec.
If you half-press the shutter (prefocusing and getting the exposure settings) it's 0.09sec.

Here's the complete listings of the camera's timings -- it stands up against anything P&S on the market, and in several areas is nearly as fast as the DSLRs....

On High-speed Continuous mode, you can take pics at 2.3fps for as long as you have space on your SD card!

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

Third, most of the hosting services provide you with a link that you can cut-and-paste into your post. For the DIS, it's the IMG tag.

Okay, I'm lost here. I uploaded my pic to photobucket but can't seem to figure this part out.

OK, log on to your PhotoBucket account and go to where your pictures are being displayed (if you created any special albums, just go to the right one).

Directly under each thumbnail of the picture(s) you uploaded, there should be four boxes; Email and IM, Direct Link, HTML Tag, and IMG code.

Just click anywhere in the yellow box next to IMG code ... you'll see a little popup text that says "Copied" ... that means the actual code you need to put in your DIS post is now in the Windows clipboard.

Start a post or reply to someone's post and paste (Ctrl-V or right-click then select Paste from the pop-up menu) and the code (for example: {IMG}http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t122/DirePenguin2007/Nature/IMG_1287NW.jpg{/IMG} <-- except it wil be square brackets instead of the curly ones I typed here) should appear, and when you submit your post ... the picture will appear!

Like this (Daytime moon over trees in my neighborhood):

I love it when you can see the moon in the daytime....

 

[d'Isigny]

Hopefully this photo will be a 'thank you' to those who recommended a S3 IS - I just love it. At work, I was awarded a trip to Sedona, Arizona - part of the reward was a helicoptor ride around the red rocks. Wanted to share one of the shot I am proud of. I hope you like it....k

[/IMG]

 

[eek40]

Ok I cant seem to figure it out, can anyone help me? I resized it bigger and its still coming up so small! Thanks

 

[wdwmom2]

DH and I just purchased a Sleep Number bed. Hard enough to keep the cats off of it while putting it together. Screech was on it and fast asleep within minutes of us being done.

I guess his sleep number is 60

Stitch - I love daytime moons also, great pic!!

d'Isigny - I like, I like!!!!

 

[SplshMtn99]

WDWMOM2, love the picture!!!! I love funny pictures that don't require an explanation.

 

[schaery]

Woohoo.....Thanks LPZStitch. I did it, I did it! This is not a fantastic shot with my S3 but just a pic of my daughter on my fav ride - Test Track. I would be happy to go to WDW if this was the only ride. Only wish it was a little longer. Anyway, now I'll post some pics that turned out good using my S3. Love the daytime moon shot.

 

[d'Isigny]

First...thank you all for suggesting the Canon S3 IS...I LOVE IT!! I am still learning the different settings and options this camera offers.

We are leaving in a month to take a cruise on the Disney Magic. I love the stage shows and have not had any success getting good shots. I don't want to 'break the rules' and use the flash....so...what would you recommend as a setting?

Thanks to all for reading...hope some of the experts will offer suggestions.

Happy Labor Day to all....

 

[MichelleVW]

I LOVE this camera.....took this one of my friend's horse yesterday as she was standing by the fence when we were loading up DD's horse for a lesson....I just aimed and shot quickly and didn't really look at the picture until we got home last night...

 

[HLAuburn]

I bought a Canon S3 not too long ago, and I plan on taking it on our cruise/DW trip on Saturday. I bought a 1GB card. My questions are: what recording pixels setting is good to set for "vacation" quality shots? I might want to print some of the goods ones, but probably not larger than 5x7. Also, what compression setting should I use?
I was thinking of either M1 or M2 for pixels and a superfine quality. About how many shots would I get with those settings and a 1GB card?

Sorry to sound like such a novice! I'm really just starting to learn how all this works! Thanks!

 

[SrisonS]

I'd say definitely keep in in Superfine.

But for the size settings, here's the number of pics you should get:
L - 361
M1 - 487
M2 - 967

Your manual will tell you the setting to use, depending on what size pics you want. So if you want 5x7's, then stay in at least M1.

But if you have the money, i'd suggest to get at least a 2 GB card, and use the 1 GB for a backup. With the 2 GB, you can get 720 pics at Large/Superfine. It'll definitely be useful if you decide to print even bigger pics....or do picture cropping or other adjustments.

 

[ukcatfan]

A new 2GB card from a reputable vendor online, like Newegg, is less than $20. You are best off never lowering the resolution or quality.

Kevin

 

[safetymom]

Take it at the highest resolution you can. You can always downsize easily but you might not get good quality if you take a small image and try and make it big.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I agree with using the best settings and also picking up some more cards, especially if you're going to take any video. We're just back and did pretty well with both pictures and video using just two 2G cards and downloading pictures nightly.

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

Stage shows are a tough area for any P&S; low light conditions and moving subjects. However, the best luck I've had taking stage pictures with my S3 have been to set it to AV mode (aperture = 2.7 at the wide end, or 3.5 if I *need* to zoom) and switch to Spot metering.

Half-press the shutter while aiming at the brightest area of the subject. The spot metering will disregard the darker background and expose for the subject (the background might come out *very* underexposed, but in stage shows it's usually just dark, anyway).

This way you'll get the fastest shutter speed the camera thinks it can get and you won't get much motion blur from the subjects if they move.

I also switch to Manual mode after checking what the camera thinks in Av mode and adjusting the aperture/shutter speed to get as balanced an exposure as I can.

I've gone as high as ISO 400 and still gotten nice pictures, but you need to use some noise reduction software in PP to get the best picture quality you can. I wouldn't use ISO 800 unless it was a truly "got to have it" moment.