Rating: 
Summary: Thrilled with this camera
Review: I have now owned this camera for a year, and have been extremely pleased with the quality of the pictures. When I first started using it, I used the auto setting and got decent pictures. As I started playing with the camera more, and learned how to use different settings, my pictures only got better.If I were making the purchase this year, I'd get the S50, but am still so pleased with the S30. I recommend getting an extra battery or two. The battery life is good, but when you're out all day long (like on vacation), the extra battery is good back-up.
Rating:
Summary: Great quality
Review: I've been using my S30 for over 9 months and am extremely happy with it. The one imperative accessory is a big memory card (I opted for a 256Mb card for about 80$). I have always taken pictures at the maximum resolution to give me flexibility in the future. At that res, the files come out between 700kb to 1.1Mb each. Using the standard memory card, that's about 15-20 picures. Using the larger card, I'm good for 200-300 pictures, which is more than enough for the longest vacation... Regarding the camera itself, it's very easy to use. Just point and click. There are a few tricks to learn like which mode to use to get good pictures every time, but the big break is that you can (almost) always take another if it doesn't work (I'll never go back to film). Battery life is pertty good. I haven't needed a 2nd battery yet as it's good for approx. 100 pictures at a time. The battery recharges in about 1 hour, so that's worked fine for me. The bundled software is fine. Zoombrowser is the key to accessing and downloading. The included version was a little limited, but Canon sent a link to download a new and improved, which is far better. Picture downloads are super fast through USB (1 second per highest res picture), but you PC needs to be pretty beefy. I've tinkered with the 30 second movie thing, but that is purely for fun (picture quality and sound are pretty awful). Overall - very pleased! P.S. Make sure you get a case, if you want to avoid the inevitable dings and scratches.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent product
Review: I love this camera. It is very tolerant of less than ideal circustances. It takes superb pictures even when the kids move around.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera - Great pictures
Review: I bought this camera about a 1 year ago and it is great. There may be too many features for the general picture taker, but all in all I would receommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A durable, easy-to-use camera that takes great photos
Review: A friend of mine, who diligently researched the digital camera market for months before making a buying decision, eventually chose to purchase the Powershot S40 -- the top-of-the-line Powershot at the time he made his choice -- because it was clearly the best combination of power, ease of use, and price. Months later, based on his legwork, I went with the S30, because it was considerably less expensive, and I knew that 3MP and 3x optical zoom were fine for my purposes. As I expected, my friend's research paid off. The S30 is a comfortable camera to use. It is a nice size and feels solid and durable. It is easy to use in automatic mode (open, point and shoot) and offers the usual options in manual mode for power users. With the factory memory, you can shoot up to 37 shots in highest quality, and you can add memory chips up to some ludicrous amount if you just can't bear to download and delete your photos every now and then. Even though it offers "only" 3MP, it takes beautiful photos in a variety of lighting conditions. Downloading to a computer is simple using a USB interface (it comes with a special USB cable as the camera connection is an odd size) and included Canon software. The software package itself has some nice features for photo editing as well, including email and internet "wizards" for compressing your photos. They are no substitute for a professional photo editing program like Adobe Photoshop, but they are nice as a package deal and will be sufficient for most "holiday snapshot" users. I have, in fact, nothing negative to say about the S30; and I'm sure the S40 and the latest releases in the Powershot line are even better, if you have the money to spend. I have found mine to have been a very good investment. I wasn't taking many pictures with my 35mm or my clumsy, old, cheap digital camera, so at first I didn't think I would get my money's worth from the S30, but in fact I have found that I shoot tons more pictures now just because the S30 is so easy to use and takes such good pictures -- and that's a great thing since I have a young son and am living overseas for a few years.
Rating: 
Summary: Well Beyond Just a Point and Shoot Camera
Review: Fully automatic point and shoot for the novice in the family but with fully programmable features to satisfy even the most experienced amateur. I'll let sites like Imaging Resource (.com) and others like it comment on image quality and other technicals, which are fantastic, and I encourage you to check these out for the meat of your investigation. For this review, I've chosen to focus mostly on ergonomics, feature set and usability. Pros:
- Small sturdy form factor: in the 3 MP category, not as small as the DimageX, but doesn't sacrifice quality so you can hang it around your neck - not that kind of camera
- Advanced feature set to satisfy the experienced amateur
- Movie mode: capture 30 seconds at a time w/ sound - not a good substitute for a camcorder, but more handy than you would think (e.g. I capture 4-5 golf swings in 30 seconds, download it to my computer and analyze in slow motion/frame advance in Win Media Player 9)
- Absolutely fantastic image quality (my layman's opinion) Cons:
- On camera flash a bad light source: all 35mm/digital cameras have this problem, but what makes this a con for this camera, especially if you are an experienced photographer, is the S30 can not power an off-camera flash (through a hot sync).
- "Enter/OK" softkey switch that controls a number of menu functions is a little difficult to master.
- No diopter: this means that why you see through the viewfinder is not quite what you get. You must use the LCD to see exactly how it will be framed, but of course this uses battery power. Other Issues:
- Proprietary battery: I wouldn't worry about this - the batteries charge quickly (1 hour), are getting cheaper (see this site for the NB-2L) and are Lithium Ion which should last a good while.
- Somewhat fragile sliding lens cover - don't handle it roughly and it will function fine Also, reading the manual is a must - take the 60 minutes and just do it. A word on the other Powershot cameras - the S40, with 4 MP, and the S50 with 5 MP. The S30 is more than adequate to get a 35mm quality 8x10 print - why an amateur would want 5 MP I'm not sure, but if you are a professional, I doubt you're looking at the Powershot series so stick with the S30. If You Buy It: get (1) a bigger CF card (at least 128 MB - see my Viking review), (2) an extra battery (see my Canon NB-2L review) and (3) a CF card reader to save on battery power. Bottom Line: Not quite a home run, but great mid to high end consumer 3MP - you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Owed for 1 year now
Review: Do prices go down fast or what? I brought my camera 1 year ago for 400, and now it is 300. Now that I have owned this for 1 year, I know both pros and cons of this camera. Pro: very nice pictures overall and great quality too. The cool feature is the "night" mode". Switch to this mode, go into a dark room, and then take the picture. Presto, the pictures comes out in color as if it was daytime. But sometimes, if you use this mode at farther objects, the picture tends to get overexposed and you get a blurry lighted picture that looks like lighting struck. Takes excellent everyday pictures! Con: battery life is pretty short..if you plan on going on a trip, I guess buying an extra battery and bring the recharger.
- dark indoor pictures sometimes. I've tried this on several occasions taking indoor pictures. If your subject is close to you, the picture comes out excellent and great quality. But if you were to take the picture from far away and try to zoom in at something (such as at a concerthall, or a graduation, the picture comes out dark and dull). Anyone have suggestions to make it appear brighter?
-if you leave it on for a while (1/2 hour), the camera will get very warm. I'm not sure if this is true of all digital cameras though.
Rating:
Summary: Record your life with this machine.
Review: It's been nearly four months since I purchased Canon S30, and I must say that my contentment with it is increasing every day! The image quality is excellent. In the automatic mode, all you have to do is simply pressing the big button. Even if you're a professional, this becomes handy when you need quick and good pics. Otherwise, the manual option is excellent too. If you do not wish to use the flash, then you have to be very careful in holding the machine still; because a slight tremble can create a blur in the whole image. But these are, usage issues, that can be solved very quickly. The size of the pictures varies from your computer's screen to a 8-11 page. It's good that you get big pictures, because you can resize them to any dimension you want afterwards. There's a movie feature, which runs from 30s to 2 min, according to the size of it. I did not know this when I was buying it; but I must say that for the most of the time, I'm shooting movies instead. The reason is that you can record sound perfectly as well and I do mean it! It's in .mov format which can be easily played by any player. Furthermore, I've actually put together an amateur short film, by combining and editing the movies in Windows Movie Maker. It's just wonderful to have this machine. The softwares included with the machine are good, but they have some flaws unfortunately. The picture organizer, called ImageReady, hassles sorting all the images when you add or remove an image, which takes a lot of time when you have hundred images. It's really necessary that you purchase another battery. Having two keeps you safe in long journeys. I also recommend you to buy another memory card. The one that comes with the machine is 16 megs, which is not bad actually, but you might want to get a 256 meg one, and do not bother with loading off your images frequently. This is totally extra, but I also have a memory reader, Intelliflash, which is about 6 times faster than the computer in transfering the images. If you're dealing with many pictures or movies at a time, this might be your solution. If you really want to make a combo with S30 by buying a photo printer, then I would go for Canon i850, for which I have a special review on the product's page in amazon. With the two, you will be able to shoot pictures, transfer them to computer and print them in minutes. What sets a digital camera apart from a nondigital camera is that you can modify your images on computer. If you want to leave things to chance, and wait for results, nondigital is loveable. However, if you want to edit your images, crop some people out or make yourself more beautiful or handsome, digital camera is just for you! I have both of them. I carry them side by side inside my canon bag. (Yes, I'm obsessed with Canon!) According to how I feel about the atmosphere, I use them interchangeably. Also, another thing about Canon S30: I was also once trying to figure out which camera to buy, looking at all zooms and digital zooms of every machine... But, you know what, it just never ends! The next day we will have 20x zooms. So, I grant you, that this machine will not disappoint you by any means. Do what your mind tells you...
Rating:
Summary: Excellent snaps and breath taking clarity --
Review: Ooooooh Boy What a camera, for guys like who don't want more proffesional photography point of view this is an excellent choice. I developed my photos in Costco which is just 2.00 for an 8/12 SIZE photo, its clarity and pixels are breath taking man. Actually I got this camera in a gold box price at 340/- but that is an ultimate deal. If you get it for 350/- also its good. Any how I am enjoying with this camera which has all options except external built in flash light mode which is not a big thing but for night shots its a must for long view shots.
Rating:
Summary: Compact camera that takes great pictures
Review: Canon's S30 fills a nice niche between expensive, feature-laden cameras and point-and-shoots. Its compact size, snug enough to fit in the palm of your hand and perfect for slipping into a pocket, makes it an ideal companion for those excursions when a larger camera would be too bulky or conspicuous. The silver all-metal body is sleek and stylish, so much that it's almost a fashion accessory. It's loaded with features, an amazing feat for such a small package, while at the same time offers unparalleled ease of use. Lastly, it's a great deal considering its price-feature ratio. The S30 includes the usual automatic presets such as landscape and portrait, but also offers the semi-automatic and fully manual modes that a serious photographer would want. The following adjustments may come in handy: 1) film speed from ASA-equivalent 50 to 800, 2) spot, center-weighted and evaluative metering modes, 3) three selectable autofocus areas, 4) exposure compensation between -2 and 2 EV in steps of 1/3 EV, 5) continuous drive mode (though maxing out at a modest 2.5fps), 6) macro mode. While I still prefer an SLR in most situations, the S30 fills many of my needs very nicely. I use the it to take preview or experimental shots or to take shots that I would hesitate to blow film on. Morever, the S30 makes your job a cinch when it comes to panoramas. The panoramic mode shows you a third of the previous frame, either vertical or horizontal, which is an invaluable guide to help you line up the current frame. I used to have to spend a lot of time in Photoshop to line up adjacent frames and erase the seams between frames. Canon's Photostitch software does all of that and more, at the click of a button! Picture quality is very good, with excellent sharpness throughout the image and no noticeable softness in the corners at wide-angle. Macro shots are very sharp, to the point that I decided to do close-ups primarily with the S30. Colors can be a little flat, but this can be easily fixed in Photoshop. There is a special "Vivid" or saturated mode, but this comes at the expense of losing other controls over the shot. I've noticed that the dynamic range for the CCD sensor is quite low, much worse than for color negatives or slides. This is most apparent if you've got a mixed light and dark scene; either the sky would be washed out or the foreground would be underexposed. This could be a shortcoming of CCDs in general and not one particular to the S30. The S30's 3-megapixels resolution is good enough for a 2048x1536 image, which in turn is sufficient for 8x10 enlargements. If this is not large enough for your needs, the S40 ups the ante to 4 megapixels. There is a USB jack for downloading images and an A/V jack for previewing images on TV. You will want to invest in a CF card-reader however, for convenience's sake. The storage slot takes Type I or II CF cards, and also accommodates a Microdrive. The S30's compact size is its greatest asset, but is also responsible for a few shortcomings. The 1.8" LCD screen is bright and contrasty, but only indoors. Lacking a swivel and anti-glare coating, it's virtually useless outdoors. You may have to resort to the optical viewfinder, which does not cover 100 percent of the image. The LCD displays most useful information, but inexplicably lacks a battery life indicator. You'd have no idea how much power is left until the low-battery indicator flashes. To make matters worse, the rechargeable Li-Ion battery has rather short lifespan, between 30-50 shots. I have to carry 2 spare batteries in order to shoot for a whole day. The thumb-operated directional controller is rather awkward to use. You scroll to move up/down and press to move left/right. To select, you have to press down on the middle. In my case, to hit select, I had to learn a way to press it just right, otherwise the controller would move left or right instead. Lastly, while this may not matter much to most people, I frequently use a tripod, which blocks the battery cover and makes changing battery quite a hassle. Despite its shortcomings, I've found the S30 to be an indispensable companion. I've had it for almost a year and taken it with me on trips to Asia and throughout western North America. At times I yearned for a more advanced camera like the Canon G2 or even a digital SLR, but more often than not I found myself thankful that I was able to take pictures I wouldn't have taken otherwise with a larger camera. The S30 has more than paid for itself.
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