Before I buy my first S3.....

[mikeyj]

I've seen some really beautiful pics from you guys, amazing macro shots are most impressive. I just have a couple questions before I buy the S3.

First, what sizes have you tried to print from photos on this camera? At what size print does the photo really begin to lose detail?

Second question, is there a useful wide angle lense for this camera? I read from lensmateonline that with a add on lense you can go as wide as 23 mm, but looks to have some serious distortion.

Another question, what about fisheye lenses? Anyone try them, and how well do they work?

I'm about to leave for a month long vacation in south east asia, and I'm trying to decide what camera would be most practical and versatile for my travels. Going to take a major variety of photos. I want to have some nifty lenses and filters that will be useful.

I've narrowed my decision between cameras to the S3 (for its already included wide versatility) along with video mode, and good price, and also relative compact size,

Or the DSLR Nikon D50 which takes beautiful photos that can be blown up huge, and has excellent quality photos at high ISOs.

Problem is that the Nikon is a big camera, and I will probably only afford the included 18-55 lense, and possibly another cheap telephoto lense.

Im now wondering if I'll be disappointed in the low light capability of the Canon S3, and the fact that I wouldn't be able to print a nice 20+" photo.

I should also add that I'm a point and shoot kinda guy, and wonder if the Nikon would be too much power for me, or if the Canon is going to be too tricky to get really nice photos out of?

Its a tough choice in my mind, but I gotta get it together in the next few days because I need some time to train with whatever new camera I decide to get.

Thanks in advance for any advice

[X-SOFT]

by my opinion, the D50 much better then S3.
the S3 is DSLR-like, whereas the D50 is DSLR.
the quality will be much better in highers Iso's, and the speed of shooting too..
the D50 cost roughly 200$ more, but you get better quality as i said.
+ another feature you shoud consider, the D50 has more option lenses than
S3..

[XaiLo]

This is not really a question that someone else can answer for you. As I would love to have another person join the ranks of the Sx community, I will do my best to give you prudent advice.

First thing is cost if it's not a factor then ignore this, it will cost you a pretty penny to cover the range of an S3 in the dSLR world. Like you I have to look for an alternative to cover low light situations I'm also looking towards the Nikon camp in that respect.

Don't know what your skill level is so hard to comment in this regard.
But if this is your first trek beyond a P&S all I can say then is Auto is your friend. It does not matter what you have if you can't take a good picture.
Reread your post again and just spoke to a friend of mines who owns a D50 and the jist is you can take good pics in auto but your best results are going to come from knowing how to manipulate the camera. So if you have no concept of how manual settings work then the D50 is going to have a learning curve to it. And also how serious are you about photography?

Wide angle I'd go with the Raynox 6600pro in a heart beat.

I have it on good authority that you can get good 13x19 pics from the S3.

Canon low light and flash, no problem.

You have to figure out where your priority lies either good lens range or low light and large pic capability. Are you going to constantly be printing large prints. Is this a long term investment or just a casual hobby. Fun now or many options later. Hard to say I don't envy your plight. hth

[toriaj]

I was in your same position 7 months ago. I was considering the S2, and the guy at the store suggested the D50. The thing is, they are very different cameras. I love the D50, but I still think the S3 is a very, very good camera. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it too.

If you choose the S3, many of your needs/wants will be be met with your original purchase. Whereas with the D50 you'll get one lens, then want another, then another, and filters and flashes and it goes on and on! (That's why we call the disease NAS ... Nikon Acquisition Syndrome :rolleyes: ) However, there are many accessories available for the S3 as well.

If you are looking to keep your main costs just to the original purchase, the S3 is your friend. If you are looking for a camera to grow with you, and willing to make significant investment down the road, you may be happier long-term with a D50.

You mention that you're a P&S kinda-guy. In that case, you may be more satisfied with the S3 than the D50. The D50 will only take its best pictures if the photographer knows how to manipulate the controls. (Although I'm sure that's also true of the S3. But I think you could be more satisfied with "Auto" pics from the S3 than from the D50.)

If you choose the D50 based on low-light ability, keep in mind that you need a specific type of lens for that. Neither of my lenses is good for it. Off the top of my head, I would recommend the Nikkor 50 mm 1.8 lens for low-light, but I have never used it. Having a fixed focal length, plus the large aperture, helps it to work in low light. But fixed focal length means that it doesn't zoom at all. So you would probably want at least one, probably two other lenses as well.

Either way, S3 or D50, you can't lose! Post us your first shots :D

P.S. Regarding print size, in my opinion it really depends on the subject in the picture. You can blow up a sunset really big and it looks great, because there's not much detail. A cityscape, on the other hand, would look blurry really quick. Something else I've learned is that I don't print large very often. I might have 10 out of 5000 shots that I am interested in printing larger than 8x10. And where would I hang all of those poster-size frames, anyway?? ;)

[cat]

Largest I've blown mine up is A2 - have a nice fungus mounted above the fireplace :D On that occasion I used some upscaling software, was easy to do and looks fabulous.

[PhoenixFx]

I am somewhat a newbie to photography, so I will not try to comment on the still image quality/features/options of D50 Vs S3. What I like to point out is that apart from the S3's ability to take high quality stills it is also very good at recording movies.

As others have mentioned before, it depends on your requirements, if you are looking for a compact camera with good stills and a movie mode then there is one choice: S3. I am saying this cos you have mentioned about movie mode of S3. It was one of the main reasons why I chose S3 over other competing P&S models, and I am quite happy with the performance.

However, If you don’t care about movies, then …. :confused:

[XaiLo]

Largest I've blown mine up is A2 - have a nice fungus mounted above the fireplace :D On that occasion I used some upscaling software, was easy to do and looks fabulous.

what software did you use cat?

[stephaneonline]

If you don't know much about photography, I would go with a S3 but use the P mode, it will always gets better result than the AUTO and you can play a little bit with basic settings.

A D50 will get better picture than an S3, any DSLR will have more details in their pictures because of the size of the CCD.

The biggest drawback of a DSLR is their size, Their BIG, but as I said in another thread that I'm looking to change my S3 because I find it too big to travel so I might not be a reference as to the size of a camera.