yow everyone, wanna know how much is she capable of... (I know she's more than just a normal digicam with movie mode)

I've read through all the reviews available online but none of them mentioned detailed enough about her movie mode, I mean... @ least... to answer my questions....

so need help from you guys..

how's her low light performance? & can users actually do manual focus while shooting movie? to create effect like.. focus on background & blur the main theme out & then focus back on it... as what can be seen in movies... then what about changing xposure value while recording? & aperture control? got ah? <--- this sounds kinda impossible or got any other xtras that worth mentioning?

dear proud owners pls confirm for me , thanks in advance

I using S3 for video alot but never try on effect. For low light shooting, it is slightly better than my camcorder. But still noisy. For normal shooting, the video is very sharp.
The problem I encounter is when editing. The canon codec is not recognise by my editing software. Got to convert to others codec. The zooming is difficult to control. Not as smooth as camcorder zooming.

Good low light performance (compared to nikon coolpix s3), though noise will be present. If you need to shift focus from foreground to background, you need to shift the AF point to the subject you want to be in focus. Can't change exposure value while recording, it's auto.
You can shoot movie with its in camera effects like colour accent, and such.

Zooming is actually quite smooth, you just have to nudge it slowly and softly.
As for the codec, it's Motion JPEG including Huffman Tables (its 4CC is mjpg), and the audio is PCM (meaning it's not compressed)

I don't see the zoom is smooth compare camcorder. If you use camcorder zoom before and you know the different. It just the zooming is too fast moving even the slider is slow sliding.
May I know where can I get this Huffman Tables (its 4CC is mjpg) codec? I ve checkout before is mjpeg, but I install all kind of mjpeg codec. But still cannot work. The editing software I use is adobe premiere.

try here:
http://www.free-codecs.com/

search for mjpg.
otherwise you can uncompress everything with virtualdub (free) and the do your editing.

maybe due to my exposure to only canon products (lately, I also use Canon camcorder), there are no noticeable difference in the zoom movement.

ok thanks guys

ermm.. that's all?

Thanks. Will check it out. I m currently using virrualdub to convert. Normally I work with DV format only. I m using panasonic camcorder. The zoom is smooth and controlable. I thaught zooming method is different between camera and camcorder.

If I remember playing with my colleague's S2IS, half-pressing the shutter when pointing at a subject will refocus. So if you had two objects at different distances, you'd need to point at each object and half-press to focus on it.

As for exposure, point at something long enough and it will adjust. I think I saw this behavior on the S2IS (but not on my Canon A520.)

A fun, but tedious way to adjust exposure instantly is to get the lens adapter with 58mm screw thread, then get TWO 58mm linear polarizers and screw both on. Turn the outer linear polarizer to darken/lighten exposure.

The best video-cam-like prosumer is still the Fujifilm S6500fd; zoom is by a manual ring and is as fast as you can turn it, and focus is controlled by another ring. Continuous auto-focus is almost instant, faster than the Canon's (though Panasonic is still slower.) It's also much better in low light, going up to ISO3200.

S3's video is good in low light and it allows the taking of pictures during the video shoot. But when you replay the video, you'll hear that "chikchak" sound and the video freeze at the point when you took the picture. Really annoying.

I like that picture in video feature, gives a cool effect, like when you see CSI you see the same effect. The stereo sound does work.

One thing I notice is that ISO is changable for movie mode, and most of the time I stick with ISO 200

You can manual focus in movie mode. I remember I zoomed in on my cousins and they were went out of focus. And whaddya know! Manual focus works. Oh and I like the 'chak-chak' effect too. I don't know why. It just looks cool

This post has been edited by :+:DarreN:+:: Nov 9 2006, 09:03 PM

hAHA...

I didn;'t know can Manual focus during Movie Mode. Will try it then. I was kinda hoping instead that the photo taking during movie mode would not pause the video recording. My preference is smooth video even with the photo function.

off topic:how much dose the S3 IS cost in malaysia ?

^
check out Canon thread

When I first got the S3, I was recording a performance by Jaclyn Victor and I took snapshots of her during the video. It would have been a great video if not for the dang chak-chak sounds.

Same here mate. I felt that it spoilt the vid a bit and would have been great to have an option to do away with the shutter sound....

The shutter sound can be disabled in the Menu option wut..rite?

You mean while recording the movie as well? I disable sounds and ran the cam on mute but still when taking pics while MOVIE RECORDING would produce the shutter sound within the clip....Annoying sometimes.....

just think of it as hollywood movie effect.

Hehe....Well have to make do... . Sutff DSLR's can't do

It's not just the sound. The video freezes for a moment. Really dumb of Canon to do this. I mean if I wanted this effect, I would have done it via software.

I check back the video file that I shoot but I didn't hear and shutter sound. I don't remember I got set some setting in menu.

Edit:
Sorry my mistake. I open the wrong video file. This evening I try again and really there is a pause and a shutter sound when taking photo during videoing. Try many setting but fail. Hmm... Abit anoying.

This post has been edited by ozak: Nov 29 2006, 10:48 PM