There’s an excellent review of Canon’s 6 megapixel PowerShot S3 IS over at Digital Camera Info.
The Canon PowerShot S3 IS comes to the ultra-zoom digital camera market with a unique set of features. It has the 12x optical zoom lens that qualifies it as part of the ultra-zoom market and couples it with an optical image stabilization system that works incredibly well. Canon put the lens on a chunky SLR-shaped body that looks almost professional with its black finish. The S3 has lots of options in its movie mode that aren’t available on any other digital camera and includes dual recording buttons so users can snap full-resolution pictures in the middle of a video clip. The optical zoom functions in the movie mode – and even looks smooth with the image stabilization system activated. Users can adjust everything from the audio sampling rate to the microphone level and wind filter feature. The still recording features are just as extensive. Full manual control is available, although the manual focusing feature is difficult to execute with the poor viewfinder and LCD resolution.
It’s a great prosumer camera with 12x optical zoom that can shoot videos at 30 frames per second with stereo sound and take pictures at the same time. It’s packed with a 2.0 inch Vari-Angle LCD and USB 2.0 connectivity for those self-photos and those hard to reach shots. Really worth checking out.