Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Reviewed August 2006

Image Quality

The change between the PowerShot S2 IS, and this year's S3 IS is incremental. Although this new model is equipped with a new 6-megapixel CCD that has the same size image area as the S2's 5 megapixel CCD had — producing similar focal lengths in 35 mm equivalent as the S2 had — it also yields images that are remarkably similar in many respects.

Just like the S2, the S3 IS's evaluative metering is easily swayed by the brightness of the subject at the centre of the frame, much like a centre-weighted pattern.

Likewise, the S3 IS captures excellent images, outdoor and sunlit shots being the most outstanding. Under these conditions, the Auto white balance is able to reproduce colours totally faithfully without any need to alter the saturation or contrast from their default settings.

The stabilized lens — the same as had been used on the S2 — is no small part responsible for the quality of the images, capturing sharp images throughout its large focal length range.

Moreover, even the slight chromatic aberration that can sometimes be detected on the edges of strongly contrasting elements of an image when it is seen at full scale, is minimal.

In addition to what is clearly good glass, the stabilizer, the other part of the optical system, also stands out. The stabilizer is able to extend the handheld shooting range by a full three f-stops, allowing crisp handheld shots at surprisingly low shutter speeds, or the use of smaller apertures and greater depth of field with well-lit subjects.

One of the major changes the S3 IS brings in comparison with the S2 IS, is a change in its ISO range. The S3 IS starts at 80 ISO, and extends up to 800 ISO, and even offers an Auto High ISO that seems to be equivalent to 1600 ISO, although it is undocumented in the EXIF data, just like the Auto ISO mode.

The images are noise-free up to 100 ISO, and contain very little noise at 200 ISO. The 400 ISO level is a bit noisier, but it is comparatively minimal. At 800 ISO, noise is clearly visible in the images, but here again, it is not as pronounced as many other compacts.

Indeed, the Auto High ISO has to be be reached before the images are quite noisy, but still, they compare well with 800 ISO images from other cameras. So, the higher sensitivities of the S3 IS, in combination with the effective image stabilizer give it an edge over the S2 in this area.

Regrettably, in another area, Canon may have missed an opportunity. Like the S2, the S3 only captures JPEG images. Yet, the inclusion of a RAW format would have been a valuable upgrade. Still, the JPEG format produces images that are tack sharp and which, when the Super Fine format is used, never contain compression artefacts.

While it does not offer a RAW format, the S3 IS offers a Wide format with the 16:9 aspect ratio that is perfectly suited to HDTV screens.

Set to this format, the camera captures images using the full width of the CCD, but crops both top and bottom of the full frame — shown on the monitor and the EVF — to obtain the 16:9 aspect ratio and an image size of 2816 x 1584 pixels.

Equipped with a manually raised flash, the S3 requires that the user be aware of when the flash is needed, or, when using a scene mode, take note of the suggestion by the camera that the flash should be opened.

Set to Auto ISO, the Flash offers a very reasonable reach, and there is normally no serious increase in noise. Set to 80 or 100 ISO, however, the range of the flash is noticeably lessened, but is still effective up to 3m (10 ft).

The PowerShot S3 IS, for the most part, brings minor changes to the design and functions offered by the PowerShot S2 IS. The S3 IS offers a little bit bigger image, a little bit bigger monitor, the addition of a Sports mode, and as noted earlier, an expanded ISO range.

More importantly, it has as good, if not slightly better, image quality than the S2. But, this said, S2 owners should not feel that their camera is now obsolete.