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Canon Point and Shoot and Non-DSLR
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Canon PowerShot S3 IS First Impressions Review
by Emily Raymond
Published on March 13, 2006
Model Design / Appearance
The Canon PowerShot S3 IS has similar curves and dimensions to its S2 predecessor. Its SLR shape looks much more attractive in the black housing though, rather than the silver frame the S2 is in; the Canon PowerShot S3 has a black frame that is built from a heavy plastic and highlighted with silver metal. The design doesn’t look beautiful, but the ultra zoom series isn’t really about beauty at all. It’s about function and… well, ultra zoom. With that in mind, the Canon S3’s body has a large lens barrel on one side and a large right-hand grip on the other side. This gives the camera an overall balanced look while its coloring gives it a more professional feel.
Size / Portability
The new Canon S3 and old S2 have identical dimensions of 4.46 x 3.07 x 2.97 inches, but the new model weighs 0.2 oz more with its 14.5 oz net weight. That measurement does not include the four AA batteries it takes to run the camera, so the total weight of the S3 definitely exceeds a pound. The heft of this camera makes it a little tricky to transport, but its symmetrical eyelets and included neck strap definitely help. When packing this model away, remember that it should really have its own camera bag. With all of its protrusions, it would be protected best in its own cushy space. And it certainly won’t fit in a pocket.
Handling Ability
The Canon PowerShot S3 IS has a large 12x zoom lens in a large barrel, but it has an even larger handgrip. The camera is a bit off-balance with the majority of the heft coming from the handgrip and the four AA batteries. This shouldn’t throw off photographers too much, though.
The camera is about four and a half inches wide on the bottom and it has a decent base with which to support its weight. The height of the camera is such that the whole hand can comfortably wrap around the grip with the index finger on the shutter release button and the pinky supporting the camera from below. The thumb can sit on the back of the camera, where there are plenty of buttons and controls for it to dance upon. When the thumb is done with its waltz, it can rest on the bumpy grip that Canon included. These little features help deal with the weight of the S3.
 Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
The buttons on the S2 are the same ones on the S3. There are tons of them, which makes it look even more like a DSLR. The buttons are large and nicely spaced so that pushing one will not accidentally push others. The only exception to this is the diopter dial, which is the size of a pea (really) and quite difficult to turn.
The buttons are well labeled for the most part except for a red button near the viewfinder; this is the button that activates the movie mode. This isn’t really intuitive and users will keep pressing the shutter release button and wondering why the movie is very still. The positioning of the buttons is otherwise mostly intuitive, but there are so many that it is easy to loose track of them. There are two buttons on the left side that are hard to remember; out of sight is out of mind. These access the manual focus and the macro modes.
Menu
The menus on the Canon PowerShot S3 IS are typical of other models put out this year – and in years past. Pushing the menu button is like opening a little filing cabinet that is much more organized than most photographers would be. In the recording menu, there are three folders with multi-colored tabs peeking out the top. The left tab is red and has a picture of a camera on it. The following options are from that menu.
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Flash Sync
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1st Curtain, 2nd Curtain
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Slow Synchro
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On, Off
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Red-eye Reduction
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On, Off
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Continuous Shooting
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Multi, High-speed
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Self-Timer
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10 sec, 2 sec, Custom (0-30 sec delay for 1-10 shots)
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Spot AE Point
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Center, AF Point
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MF-Point Zoom
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On, Off
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AF Mode
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Continuous, Single
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AF-Assist Beam
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On, Off
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Tally Lamp
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On, Off
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Digital Zoom
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On, Off
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Review
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Hold, Off, 0-10 sec
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Reverse Display
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On, Off
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Image Stabilization Mode
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Continuous, Shoot Only, Panning, Off
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Converter
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WC-DC58A, TC-DC58B, Off
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Intervalometer
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1-60 min for 2-9 shots
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Custom Display
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4 LCD/VF Display modes with custom shooting info, grid lines, histogram
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Set Shortcut Button
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Resolution, Rec Pixels/Frame Rate, Light Metering, White Balance, My Colors, IS Mode, AF Lock, AE Lock, Disp Off, Create Folder
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Save Settings
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OK, Cancel
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If you’re wondering where the more useful features are, they are located in a separate menu that is accessible only when the Func/Set button is pushed. The following is its menu.
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Exposure Compensation
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+/- 2 in 1/3 increments
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White Balance
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Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash, Custom
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My Colors
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Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom (Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness, Red, Green, Blue)
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Bracketing
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Focus Bracketing, Off, Auto Exposure Bracketing
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Flash Compensation
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+/- 2
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Metering
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Evaluative, Center-weighted Average, Spot
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Compression
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Superfine, Fine, Normal
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Image Size
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2816 x 2112, 2272 x 1704, 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480, 2816 x 1584
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The split menu system may confuse some people, but is supposedly designed to make it easy to find the more frequently used functions. Photographers seem to have a love-hate relationship with this system.
Back in the recording menu, there is a yellow tab in the center of the menu system that has a tool on it. This is the setup menu and includes another long list of options.
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Mute
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On, Off
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Volume
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Startup, Operation, Self-timer, Shutter, Playback 1-5 steps
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Audio
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Microphone Level (1-5), Wind Filter (On, Off), Sampling Rate (11.025 kHz, 22.050 kHz, 44.100 kHz)
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LCD Brightness
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2 steps
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Power Saving
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Auto Power Down (On, Off), Display Off (10 sec-3 min)
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Time Zone
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Home, World
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Date/Time
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Mm/dd/yy, Date, Time
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Format
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OK, Cancel
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File Numbering
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Auto Reset, Cancel
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Create Folder
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Auto Create (On, Off), Time
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Auto Rotate
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On, Off
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Distance Units
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m/cm, ft/in
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Language
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English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Simplified/Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Korean, Greek, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Thai, Arabic
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Video System
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NTSC, PAL
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Print Method
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Auto, PictBridge
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Reset All
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Cancel, OK
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The third tab is all the way to the right and has an icon of a person on a blue tab; this is the My Camera menu. The following options are available: Theme, Startup Image, Startup Sound, Operation Sound, Self-timer Sound, and Shutter Sound. All of these can be shut off, but they also have three options each. The selection is the same as on previous PowerShots; there are dog howls and bird chirps and the silly picture of a yellow bird in its nest. Perhaps a nature enthusiast designed these settings. I guess they go well with the S3 IS; the long zoom and image stabilization make it a candidate for bird watchers and other nature photographers.
In the playback menu, there are four folder tabs. The two on the right are the setup and My Camera tabs. The two on the left include the review and print tabs. The review menu isn’t quite as extensive as some of the other menus in the system.
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Transition
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Off, Fade 1, Fade 2
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Slide Show
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Start, Setup (Play time 3-30 sec, Repeat on and off), All Images, Date, Folder, Movies, Stills, Custom DPOF
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My Colors
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Vivid, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Custom Color
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Sound Recording
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Up to 60 sec
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Protect
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Set, Back
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Rotate
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Set, Back
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Erase All
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Cancel, OK
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Transfer Order
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Mark All, Order, Reset
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The print menu is even shorter, which is fine. It keeps things simple.
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Print
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OK, Cancel
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Select Images and Quantity
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Scrolls through pictures, marks which to print and how many
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Select All Images
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Cancel, OK
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Clear All Selections
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Cancel, OK
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Print Settings
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Print Type (Standard, Index, Both), Date (On, Off), File Number (On, Off), Clear DPOF Data
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The menus are quite long and some of the items get lost within them, such as the Intervalometer (can you remember where that’s at?). Still, the tabbed system organizes them to some extent.
Ease of Use
The lengthy menus are quite intimidating, but at least they are easy to navigate through. There are a few features that make the Canon S3 a little easier to use such as the designated print button, but the camera is overall not that simple. There are tons of on-camera buttons, which keeps a few features out of the already overloaded menu system. There are onscreen directions for everything, but the directions are sometimes lost among the vast amount of other onscreen info. The camera is easy to use in the auto mode, however, where users need only to point, zoom and snap a shot.
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