I'm going to be visiting Tanzania in January (as long as Egypt remains neutral , and have been looking into the Canon S2 and the Canon S3. Has anyone used the S3? Did you like it? Any reasons for spending the extra $ over the S2? Thanks!

Hi. I just got done trying to decide between the S2 and the S3 myself. I finally decided on the S3 just because it was 6 megapixals instead of 5. I was afraid that I would take a great picture and want to blow it up but because of the lower megapixals of the S2 it would not come out as well as the 6 and I would be kicking myself.

From reading the reviews on Amazon and CNET it seems that people either love these two cameras or hate them. So that was really no help either.

This is a step up for me from my regular point and shoot digital camera. I am still trying to read the instruction book. There are quite a few options that I don't know how to use. Good Luck. Heather

The S3 is merely an evolutionary change from the S2, not a revolutionary one. They are basically identical, save the 6 vs 5 megapixel and the black vs gray color. The zoom and most all of the features you would likely use on any given photo shoot are identical or nearly identical.

I have an S2, and after reading the specs on the S3 will not be getting an upgrade. If I had neither, I would of course choose the S3 (might as well, with the extra photo size, easier to crop).

I took over 1000 shots with an S2 on a recent trip to South America - most of them turned out great. Here is a single example of the color and detail you can get with a full 12x zoom:

http://justinandcrystal.com/SouthAmerica/IMG_0888.JPG

Hopefully this helps you out.

Thanks for your help! I'm leaning toward the S3, simply because I won't have to upgrade for longer, but I'll have to go and play with them to really decide.

mistadobalina, I love the picture! The clarity is wonderful! Thanks again!

Makes sense to go with the S3. I have an S2 and love it and don't intend to upgrade to the S3, but like Mistabolina, if I had neither, I'd go with the S3.

By the way, if you ever want to do a side by side comparison of digital cameras, or search for cameras based on certain parameters that you really want, go to dpreview.com.

The dpreview page on the S3 has several pages devoted to comparing the S2 and S3 head-to-head in studio shots with various settings. In his conclusion, the author said he hesitated to give it his highest rating just because the improvements were so small over the S2.

I just checked pricegrabber and the S2 was $302 delivered by a good retailer, while the best price on the S3 was $409. Don't forget that you'll be shelling out dough for memory cards, extra batteries, and possibly lens filters and a PSD. I can almost guarantee that you won't miss that megapixel (in fact, 6mp just means fewer images will fit on your memory cards).

-Matt