Anybody have a Canon Powershot S3?

[PL-Reef]

If you're in macro mode you don't want to use the zoom, at least I didn't, could never get it to focus right. You won't get those detailed beautiful photos you see with a point and shoot, those photos I posted were some of the best I could get. Now I have a DSLR, that's a different story, but if you don't want to spend that kind of money, then I say the S2 or S3 is good bang for your buck. There was a site that I used to look at for lenses for it, but never bought any as I knew I was upgrading to a DSLR shortly (only took me 4 months) so I can't reccomend any lenses from my experience. The camera might seem over whelming at first, but if you take the time to sit down and read and re read the manual, you'll do just fine, if that's what you're willing to do. If you're not willing to take some time to learn the camera and some basic photography terms then I would get something a little simpiler, just my opionion.

 

[Shooter7]

Thanks for the reply, plreef. I'm trying to find a happy middle ground of something I can get some decent macro shots of my corals with, along with a camera that my wife can simply pick up and pop off some shots of our 4 year old with and she doesn't have to be a camera scholar to do it. That, and I can't afford to start buying into a "system". Problem I was trying to understand at the store was that after pressing for super macro mode, I couldn't adjust what I was looking at on the screen. Only way I could get the picture closer was physically moving the camera closer. Again, though, this was me at walmart trying to get this thing to work just picking it up off the shelf with the security cord attached and people all crowded around me. I didn't have much room or time to mess with it much. I have seen a couple sites that showed other lenses attached to it, so that was where that question came from.

 

[BBoley24]

Yes... I am right there with you shooter... but my deal is that I dont care if someone else can pick it up... I will become a scholar if I have too... Just something else to learn... but on the other hand... I am right there with you... I dont want to have to go out and buy a DSLR... that is a whole other realm that I cant afford. I would love to get into it later on but like we have all discovered... the S3 is the closet thing out there to the DSLR. I want to be able to take a macro shot picture without having to add on anything ... youre telling me now that this camera is not able to focus in to take these macro shots? Is the camera good enough to take a decent distant macro shot and then I could resize it for a closer shot?

 

[Shooter7]

:lol: All I know is I'm standing there holding the camera and looking it all over and I found the macro button. So, I press the button and it says on the screen to hold for super macro, which I do. At that point, the view through the screen was a little blurry. I pointed it towards a flower they had there by the display and tried to adjust how close I was through the viewfinder and it wouldn't move. I moved the whole camera itself up right against the flower and it focused on that very nicely, but I still couldn't get it to adjust any. Again, this was me not having a manual or anything available to tell me what I was doing and the only mode I could get it to do anything in was "custom", so don't take my clumsy experience with it as a real serious review. I was just wondering what if you had a coral or fish you really wanted to zero in on that was a foot or more deep into your tank and you can't actually move the camera itself closer, can you still zoom in further once in that super macro mode? I know the American store near us has them for $369, so I may go there and ask questions.

 

[Shooter7]

I was just out at a store this afternoon and looking at the S3 again, with some help from someone at the store this time, and I still have the same issue.....if I have a subject that is a foot or a little more away, I cannot get really close in on it with the S3. The macro and super macro modes just blur and you can only clear it up if you move the camera itself closer. In non-macro mode, you can zoom in a bit on it, but not really all that close. I know there are some nice close ups here with the S3....were these corals just a couple inches in from the glass or something? Is there something I'm missing on how to get pics of a coral that's a foot in from the glass with this camera? I would have loved to have gotten it this evening as they were throwing in a free 1 gig card and camera case with purchase, but I still wasn't convinced based on messing with it at the store.

 

[kryppy]

All my pics are just out of the camera. The jawfish is a crop I shot with auto from about 10", no zoom.
In supermacro you can't zoom but you can focus from up against the lens out to about 5 inches or so.
You can zoom in macro, but I never do.
You almost always need to use the manual focus up that close and the lens blocks the flash.
It is best to set the dial to "M". adjust aperture and shutter speed with the joystick button and press the focus button on the left of the lens by the macro button and you are all set.

 

[coralite]

I have had my S3 since may and I have taken 'bout 5000 pics with it since. Many more pictures on my website. Hope you like.

.

 

[Shooter7]

I certainly like...but my questions would be, how close were you to the subjects you have photographed there? I could only get that kind of view on the screen of the camera by moving the camera within an inch or two of the subject. If you were farther away, how did you get it to focus in from that distance, and did you need to use any other lens other than the standard camera itself? This is the only thing that made me hit the brakes on purchasing this camera. Further explanation on how you got them please. They certainly look great.

 

[coralite]

No additional lenses were used. All the shots were made underwater. I used super macro for all but the 4th shot for which I used the normal macro. it was bright enough that I didnt even use flash for any of these. Normally though, I would use my hand held flash diffuser right above the lens port in order to illuminate subjects thi close.

 

[BBoley24]

hand held thingiee-a-mawhatsit? That sounds like fun and your pictures turned out great. So pretty much any zoom on any camera sucks the big one. Its all about taking the picture from afar and then cropping it on your computer make it look close up. Pain in the *** but without going to DSLR and spending a ton and a half... its the best bet.

 

[coralite]

Believe it or not, I made my flash diffuser from an opaque white rubbermaid container lid. Without the diffuser, the lens port would obscure the flash at really close subjects. The white plastic evens out the intensity of the flash and it can be used to direct light right in front of the lens. Often times I do not have my flash diffuser with me so I just use a piece of regular white paper which I fold accordingly to adjust the brightness of the flash.

 

[Shooter7]

I've been eyeing some used Rebels on ebay. Any serious worries about going that route?

 

[250G]

What procedure did you use to set-up the custom white balance setting on the S3? Simply a white piece of paper in front of the glass? How far was the camera from the paper? Did you use something white inside the tank?