The lens which is powerful but very well stabilized. The exposure metering system which is very accurated in most situations and have many controling options easy to reach and manage with. The system menu which is very intiutive and comprensible. The use of normal AA size battery. The good ergonomics of the camera. Quality of the pictures are very good most of the time, sometime exceptional.

The electronic viewer especialy using the camera in strong outdoor sunny back lightning which is a bit annoying for traveller photographer. It goes even worstier when you are wearing glasses or sunglasses.
It is not a real pocket compact camera and you will need to bring a separated case to protect it.
The camera need to be protected in adverse conditions (outdoor). No Canon waterproof case is available to work with compare to most of the other Powershots.

Since I was looking for a very versatile and good quality digital still camera, I must admit that the Canon S3 IS is a very good contender in his catogory of high end great zoom compact cameras. It works perfectly well in several situations and in particular in indoor picturing, low light condition, good in portrait, fast to respond to action or spontanious situations, in one word as I has said a very good camera.

Customer Service

The camera has worked flawlest during the time I have used it.

Similar Products Used:

Olympus C-4040, Olympus C-5050, Canon A 530

- One the easiest to use ultrazoom cameras
- Dedicated ISO button
- Lots of available manual controls
- Rotating LCD a great help to shoot over crowds, or trying to focus on young kids playing
- Great movie quality

- Rickety plastic body, especially on the handgrip
- Small LCD at only 2"
- Low-res EVF
- Weak is relatively weak
- Needs 4 batteries
- Only 16MB of memory included

Overall, this is one of the most value-packed cameras for under $500. Has 12x of zoom, and lots of manual controls. However, to get the most of the camera, one has definitely got to learn the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and flash exposures. The Auto setting is only good for emergencies, i.e., quick shots.

The biggest complaint I have is the rickety plastic body, I have only played around with it for 1 week, and the body has all these small creaks and clicks which are usually around the handgrip.

Though a lot stores quote it below the Sony DSC H5, you'll need to budget for a NiMH charger and batteries and a larger SD card (1GB or more). The Sony, however, also includes a lens hood.

Customer Service

Will try to return the unit due to the racket the body makes, so I'll keep everyone posted 'til then.

very good macro until 0 cm,lightweight, fast auto focus, flexible big screen 2" , easy to use, good quality picture,good grip, flash very good, video quality wow

lens cap very bad built, plastic body, hard focus when in dark room, no RAW, no screen protector,

canon make a good consumer product in this camera digital with low prize and high quality..my analog camera used nikon but in digital canon i used to. i m not dispoint with this camera..buy it if you want good camera digital with low prize