Rating: 
Summary: Watch that sliding door!
Review: I have owned the S30, S40, and S50 and have done everything one can do with these cameras. Here is my take on the good and bad on the Canon PowerShot S30.This was a terrific small digital camera when it was introduced, but the digital camera market advances quickly and this model has been surpassed by Canon's own S45 (which is an updated S40) and the new S50 (5 megapixel in the same body only in high-tech black). Serious photographers seekng a digital should turn to Canon's EOS Digital Rebel. The S30 and S40 are good cameras if you want lots of features in a small package without paying a lot of money. The two models are identical except for this: the S30 is 3 megapixel and allows ISO-equivalence of 800, allowing for low-light indoor photography. The S40 is a 4 megapixel model using a denser CCD, and its maximum ISO is 400. You can make the pictures smaller than the maximum size to conserve space on the removable CompactFlash cards. Several modes are available to you such as Sports (high shutter-speed and high resolution shots), Portrait, Night, etc. You can put it in complete Idiot Mode (okay, Automatic mode) and let it select your shutter speed and aperture, or you can pick one or the other and let the camera pick the missing one, or you can go full into Manual mode and pick both. There's even a Movie mode, complete with sound, which creates video clips of 320 x 200 pixels. This small camera fits in a purse or shirt pocket easily and won't get in the way if you're shouldering it in a case (not included, just buy a generic). But you pay a price for the small size: the optical zoom is limited to 3x. And unfortuately, the S30, like all the PowerShot S family, starts out with a focal length of 11mm, which is a very wide-angle view. Even at 3X optical zoom you will max out at 55mm, often not as close as you'd need. There is a digital zoom, but so what? Crop your picture in software later rather than play with that silly feature. I found 55mm insufficient for shooting across a large room. If you work closer in this won't be a problem, but it is not a good focal length for shooting children, who stop whatever adorable thing they're doing when they notice you framing that shot. (And see comment on slow shutter response, below.) The sliding door that covers the lens (and turns on the camera) seems flimsy and can cause problems. My 3YO niece got ahold of my S40 (remember, this is the exact same body as the S30) and ripped the door off. I was able to reattach it but now it's a loose tooth, ready to fall off again. Even under warranty, my choice was to send it back to Canon for 12 weeks or live with it. I couldn't live without the camera, so I kept it, loose sliding door and all. I've just learned not to lend it to people who can't baby it; a good push and that door is off the camera again. One of the S30's most frustrating limitations is a slow shutter response. I can't tell you how many shots I've missed using it; I frame it lovingly, I see the perfect moment, I shoot... but no score. The people have moved on, the sun has set, the universe suffers heat-death, and finally the shutter clicks. If you want a fast shutter then you must have a digital SLR, as almost all the compact-style digital cameras such as this one have the delayed shutter issue. Another note of annoyance on the PowerShot S family: they come with a wrist strap but no shoulder strap. I don't know what use a wrist strip is for a camera; if I'm not using it then I want my hands free. I bought a generic shoulder strap but it wasn't a great fit. At least Canon should offer one as an extra-cost accessory. I give this camera 3 stars; 4 for putting so many features in such a small package, but the loss of one because you can buy the S40 for about the same price and the gain of a megapixel more than makes up for losing ISO 800 (which produces very noisy photos, anyway). The PowerShot S30 comes with software, but you'll probably want to buy your own image editing package, such as Photoshop Elements. The package provided is fairly limited. Useful software includes PhotoStitch, which allows you to make your own panaramic style images from a series of linked shots. The included 32 MB CompactFlash card is also too small for typical use, so plan on buying a bigger card. Also plan on buying a second battery.
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