I have been a big fan of Canon cameras for years, I own 4 of them (Rebel II SLR, Rebel XS SLR, A-40, and the S1).

I've borrowed an S3 and LOVED the macro feature! It's similar to the S1 and was very easy to use, plus had a few features that were cool, like being able to take a B/W pix but be able to have a specific color show through built right into the camera. It has great optical zoom, and ability to snap a still photo DURING a video clip.

The link someone posted above for Steve's Digicams is an excellent one, that's the place I go to research any camera I buy. They are so accurate in their reviews, I found a feature on my S1 on the site that wasn't even listed in my owners manual!


Examples of S3 pix I took when I borrowed the camera in the late summer/early fall. Please forgive the inconsistency of my downsizing. My normal program I use only worked for the first two pix, I had to use a different program for the others and doesn't work as well.



This is one of my Clemantis' BTW





Note that this is in B/W except for Jack's eyes.


This is also B/W except for the blossoms.


This is a sunflower leaf laid over the camera lense.