I'd be interested to hear peoples opinions on these three cameras, Canon G3, Canon S3 IS (or the very similar S2) and the Canon 20D.
Apologies for canon focus, I don’t know much about others brands!
I've used a 20D for around 18 month now after using a G3 for a similar length of time before that, however for the last week on holiday living out of a rucksack around Italy I went back to the G3. Just couldn't carry the SLR with me on that kind of trip.
I was quite impressed with the G3 to be honest. It certainly has its weaknesses, mainly very high noise at anything more than ISO100 and general slowness (focussing and shutter lag) but other factors like size, weight, the built in 4X zoom, battery life (about 300 shots per battery) and general ease of use were very good.
It got me thinking about how much things have improved in this area over the last three years which led me to the Canon S3 IS. This still has the noise problem and isn't anywhere near as fast as the SLR but apart from that it seems incredibly 'useful'. The 12X IS lens seems to offer excellent flexibility and add that to the low cost, size and weight etc you seem to get a lot for your money.
For example the S3 IS costs considerably less than the 70-200L f4 lens I'm thinking of! I realise they are very different tools but I do wonder how much I would use the 20D if I replaced the G3 with an S3 IS. I guess the gist of my thinking is how does a top end compact like the S3 IS compare to an SLR like the 20D - it's a difficult question since they don't really compare, the strengths and differences are very different and the best tool depends on the job in hand.
Apologies for canon focus, I don’t know much about others brands!
I've used a 20D for around 18 month now after using a G3 for a similar length of time before that, however for the last week on holiday living out of a rucksack around Italy I went back to the G3. Just couldn't carry the SLR with me on that kind of trip.
I was quite impressed with the G3 to be honest. It certainly has its weaknesses, mainly very high noise at anything more than ISO100 and general slowness (focussing and shutter lag) but other factors like size, weight, the built in 4X zoom, battery life (about 300 shots per battery) and general ease of use were very good.
It got me thinking about how much things have improved in this area over the last three years which led me to the Canon S3 IS. This still has the noise problem and isn't anywhere near as fast as the SLR but apart from that it seems incredibly 'useful'. The 12X IS lens seems to offer excellent flexibility and add that to the low cost, size and weight etc you seem to get a lot for your money.
For example the S3 IS costs considerably less than the 70-200L f4 lens I'm thinking of! I realise they are very different tools but I do wonder how much I would use the 20D if I replaced the G3 with an S3 IS. I guess the gist of my thinking is how does a top end compact like the S3 IS compare to an SLR like the 20D - it's a difficult question since they don't really compare, the strengths and differences are very different and the best tool depends on the job in hand.