This is a quick summary/review of my Canon Powershot S3 IS, pointing out the positive and negative sides of it. I bought this camera in August, and I’m very happy with it. The money value is very good, and at the moment the best compromise for a good camera without the cost (and volume) of digital SLR cameras and with huge and expensive objectives.

what is POSITIVE:
- picture quality: sharp pictures and good tonalities
- tilting monitor to take pictures from every angle
- 12x zoom opens new horizons to creativity
- amazing battery life
- uses normal AAA batteries
- many manual controls ans settings, but also superb "auto" mode
- strong enough flash light
- user friendly menu, easy to learn
- best camera in this price range
- very fast OFF<->ON time, fast continuos shots
- small enough to fit in a small bag
- silent during operation and zoom (very low noise)
- very good microphone sensitivity and sound recorder mode
- good plastic quality (shock resistant), black color
- 6 megapixels is enough for sharp A3 pictures… need more?

what is NEGATIVE:
- purple fringing at big zoom, can’t be better in such cameras
- some noise in dark pictures without flash
- MJPG video compression: takes a lot of memory space

CONCLUSION:
After using it extensively, I recommend it without dubts for amateur photographers. Other competitors with similar cameras deliver worse picture quality. Amazon delivered in a shock-proof packaging in two days. Very professional. I recommend a fast SD-card. I took a 2-gig Sandisk Extreme III card, and I’m satisfied to have such a fast response from my camera.