First of all, congratulations on your new acquisition. Now you have the perfect combination: Two CHDK enabled cameras, one slim you can take everywhere in your pocket and the other with huge zoom, greater F-stop range and swivel screen for dedicated photography treks.
hehe, the a620 is barely smaller than s3is and also has a swivel screen
but i'm amazed with the huge amount of features the s3is has more than the a620. for example the slideshow. almost makes me forget about my plans about implementing a slideshow for the a620 (because the s3is one is almost perfect!). the s3is is paked with features. thanks to you guys i now own this baby.
I guess you already checked for dead pixels, scratches on the lens/screen...
yeah, did that but t ono avail (luckily).
As I understand the shoot count, it is possible to reset it but it's not possible to increase it without tacking an actual shot. So that 13815 figure represents the "at least" number of shots. Pretty far from "as good as new" and served as a "sample camera" IMO. I got 1 year with my S3 with around 5,000 shots.
But I think the number of shots taken is not a primary factor if you compare it with scratches in the body. If somebody drops the camera it is much worse than to take a thousand photographs. So, if I you don't see dropping scratches you can be happy with your camera. It means the previous owner took a lot of photos but also took good care of it.
P.S. Check the arrow pad (is that the correct name?), the button is painted grey, but the plastic is actually black, so if you see black in the edges it is a sign of wear.
i will take some shots of the s3is with my a620 for you to compare please, i think it does look good, don't know how to identify "scratches from drops".
As I understand the shoot count, it is possible to reset it but it's not possible to increase it without tacking an actual shot.
See attached picture (shoot count & camera model). This is REAL screenshot, but CHDK (SetParameterData function) was used
you bastard
so it IS possible to reset the counter. nice knowing when i sell my a620
j/k.
Out of those 16,201 shots, about 14,000 of them were taken for testing CHDK. I have surprisingly used the S3 very little so far for any serious photography. Not because it's not capable for that, it is, or I wouldn't own it. But I've been in a photographer's lull since I got the S3. I usually do my photography in extremely remote regions, of subjects that nobody has ever seen before. I've already photographed anything locally to death. I haven't planned any extensive photo-treks since the purchase of the S3. Last summer I only used it to test its responsiveness on capturing fast birds-in-flight, which it did very well for that. As well as documenting some illegal "sportsman" activities using the video mode, which I then sent a copy of to authorities. And also documenting a burying-beetle burying a snake. Past local photography all done with other cameras consisted of some 8,000 or so insect species (some so rare that nobody has ever seen photos of them before, one whose only evidence of existence disappeared from a NY museum collection 5 decades ago), another 1,000 or so plant and fungi species (3 which I have so far failed to identify), a smattering of indigenous wildlife (gray foxes, raccoons, deer, hawks, eagles, etc.), et.al. As I said, I've photographed things locally to death. So, without a photo-trek planned, and having already photographed most all that was worth photographing locally, the S3 has just been used for testing CHDK mostly.
(My present digital photography archive (minus discards) consists of 145 CDs and 45 DVDs, filled, not counting duplicate backups. I do put cameras through their paces. My other cameras have turned over on their image counter many many many many times.)
PhyrePhoX, while I understand your concerns over that seemingly high shot count. I personally wouldn't let it worry me. While I doubt that Canon's cameras are anywhere near as rugged as my previous cameras, 13,000 shots on any P&S camera is meager, especially if that is over a 2-year period since it was first purchased. They may have just been burst-photography fanatics. That's how my shot-count got so high when testing the S3.
as always, huuuuge post.
14000 shots just for chdk? my god, thats what i call a dedicated
betatester
although i wish you would stay in the forum 24/7 to help noobs and betatest my betabuilds (
) i hope (and wish you) you're gonna go on a phototrek this year and maybe even bring back some of those "impossible without chdk" pictures for all to feast on.
didnt hear from amazon yet, either they are lazy or discuss things with their lawyers
maybe they also try to find out how in hell i got to know of the total shoot count value
weather in germany is getting better these days, time for me to test s3is thoroughly.
