Canon S3 US/EU Version?

[BerndS]

Hi,

since my current photo equipment is getting older and older (Canon Ixus 400 and Canon EOS 500 SLR), I'm considering bying the Canon S3 (especially after reading this forum :) ).
After comparing prices I noticed that the camera is a lot cheaper in the US than in EU/Germany (US: 308$, Germany: 475$). Since I know some people in the US who come regulary to germany, it would be no problem for me to purchase it there. My only question is: Do the cameras sold in US/EU have any differences? Like A/V output only NTSC etc.?

Thanks for your help,

Bernd

[oj88]

From what I gather, all S3's are identical regardless of where you bought it from. However, regional settings can be different. For instance, S3 IS that was bought from Japan is set for Japanese menus by default. You just have to navigate your way through the Japanese menus to set it to English or another language. This is not a real problem, but can take a few minutes to figure out if you can't read nippongo or don't have another S3 with English menus as a guide.

One thing to consider is after-sales support. AFAIK, the S3 does not have international warranty. So, you may need to ship it back to the US to claim warranty.

FWIW, the A/V setting can be changed between PAL and NTSC within the camera's setup menus.