Canon S3 IS

Mervyn

URGENT

Hi people.
I so much desire to purchase a Canon S3 IS. I did check for it's price which estimated to something between 23k-26k.
And that somebody suggested me 'grey market' at chandni chowk, I find my self completely clueless as to how to go about it, because this is my first ever venture into buying a digital camera for self.
If anyone could lead me
(a)which shops {preferably naming them} to move about
(b) what price could they be offering me
(c) what is the guarantee the product I purchase would NOT BE SPURIOUS.

The camera specializes in super-zoom (12x), macro-focus is simply awesome (user-reviews), Movie/Video mode with High-quality audio-recording feature is worth the moolah spent.

Kindly be my light
Thanks!

ks_bluechip

Hi Mervyn:

Some related info .... not exactly answering your queries:

I met a guy, Nirmal Das, of Kolkata in Lilam (on May 24 2007 during a trek there) ... he had bought exactly this model camera, in the Grey Mkt of Kolkata, at a price of Rs 15,800/- total incl Manuals, Case + a 1GB Card. It was genuine and brand new. He had just bought it before the trek, in early may-07 and was all praise for its features and performance ... and suggesting that I too should by that one. (I have Canon Powershot SD-670, also 6MP, but much smaller and easier to carry in a belt pouch while trekking).

So I think you should pay around Rs 16,000/- for the S3 IS in Grey Mkt ....... if you want, I will try and dig-out the Kolkata guys' cell phone, which I had noted somewhere.

Regds - KS

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Nick-H

Good grief! I paid 22,000 for my S2 IS, grey market in Chennai, over a year ago. S3 available for 15,000? I'd be surprised!

My thoughts on buying grey: think of it as buying second hand. You won't get a manufacturer's guarantee. You take it as it is.

At the time, my S2 would have cost a lot more in the white market, and I took that risk. I haven't had a problem, so I'm happy.

The camera is pretty damn good, but not faultless! The lens cap is missing an 'r' in the spelling, it is designed to fall off! The auto-focus is quirky at times and bad in low light. I don't know if any of this is fixed in the S3 (Increased megapixels, black case looks groovier...).

The best thing about it you didn't even mention: the IS stands for Image Stabilisation, and it really works. That 12* optical (so it is for real) zoom gives you something like 400mm equivalent which, in my shaky hands, would be hopeless without a tripod, except for that IS. Even at shorter focal lengths, you can hand-hold at quite slow exposures.

Now... if they could invent something that compensated for the subject moving, that would be really good!

shashank.aggarwal

In Delhi you might want to check out Gaffar Market (Karol bagh) and Palika Bazaar (Connaught Place).. at both these places you can get it with or without a bill (the difference between grey and white)..

I am not sure about Chandni chowk, there is market by name of lajpat rai market there, that is famous for electronics, but its popular for low end products..

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ks_bluechip

Nick-H ... more surprises!

Nirmal Das called me by chance yesterday (from outside Corbett Park for some tips, from my visit there 10 days ago) and I told him about the forum post here on S3-IS... someone trying to buy the same S3-IS that he was showing me, with lot of pride.

Yesterday he clarified "He bought the Camera for 14800/- only in the 1st week of May-07 .. But by now, he says the prices must have fallen further! .... Hahahhahah is S3-IS so perishable? ... He says he will be back in Kolkata by 12th June and he can chechout the latest price and let me know.

Even I am tempted to buy one now!

- KS

rangss

I bought my S3 IS at Rs 19000 grey market rate with one year seller's warranty.

IS is great but as Nick suggests, the S3's lens cap is a joke too.

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ks_bluechip

Has anybody any data on how the Canon Powershot SD-630 (which I already have and am very happy with) compares with this S3-IS?

I like the SD-630 .. it is so light, fits in my palm, and easy to carry in a small belt pouch. Is it worth also buying the S3-IS for the extra zoom + Image Stab. Are there any otehr major advantages?

- KS

EOS

Canon S3 IS is currently available in the U.S. for $300. So taking a $ rate of 42 it works out around 12600 Rs.
A grey price of 14800 is quite reasonable. However keep in mind that you loose the waranty.
S3 IS is an advanced point & shoot hence designed a lot rugged than common P&S. But these cameras have enough electronics packed in them to put a computer to shame. so there is always chance of something going wrong. And once it does goes wrong you can throw it in the dustbin because canon india will charge for repair more than what you paid for the camera..!!!

deeps79

S3IS is a decent camera and if you havent yet set ur mind on it then i would seriously suggest you to look for FZ50 from panasonic (check dpreview for comparison), its much better and its IS is the best in business.....

otherwise s3is is also a good camera to work with....if possible try to get it from US...in india its too costly w/o grey market prices.........
In Delhi, you can try at pallika and at chandni chowk - (thats the best place for any photography equipment in delhi, check Madanji...once u start moving from lal quila towards fatehpuri masjid ,u will find around 50-60 shops are on the left side in all gullies)

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deeps79

Sir, SD 630 is a normal point and shoot camera and can not be compared with S3IS which belongs to prosumer class of camera.....still if we compare then S3IS adds loads of features, major ones being :-

High Optical zoom
Manual Focus
Shutter Priority
Aperture Priority
Metering Mode
Add on lenses (wide and zoom) and filters option
IS

all of this equates into having everything under control except provision to change lens resulting in better pictures

if you are serious about photography then u need to atleast have this much control on your camera......otherwise SD600 is a wonderful camera to work with

ks_bluechip

Deeps79,

Thanks for explaining all that .. you did a good job ....... I understood, my SD630 is good enough for me!

I am not a photographer! (though often I wish I was one and capable of using all those features ...but thats a different dream!).

I am basically, a traveller and a trekker! I need a good camera, very light, fitting into a belt-pouch, that I can whip out in 5 seconds, click a pic in Auto Mode and review it on display in 5 secs and if OK, put it back in my pouch, in next 5 secs. The camera's Auto-Mode feature must be very good, so clever and fast that it decides in those 5 secs how to capture a great picture; usually a panoramic mountain view or a closer 10-feet group of people. (sometimes, I need a closeup of flowers, for that I know enough to get into a Macro mode!).

My end-objective is: To get a Picture in my Auto Mode, as good as possible (if not better) than a moderately capable semi-professional photographer with all his manual adjustments and tripod etc.

My SD-630 does all of this .... but its 3x zoom is not enough if I am zooming onto a peak or a monkey on the tree. A 12x zoom and IS feature on my SD-630 would have made it perfect!

If you understood my requirements and can think of something better than the SD-630 .... now or later when it becomes available .. do let me know. Thanks again.

- KS

Merchant

Grey market is brand new, never used camera. "Grey" is an import distinction. The seller is offering the camera imported via a country other than India. It comes without a manufacturer warranty, but you can usually get a store warranty.

shashank.aggarwal

i guess the technical word for the same is 'Smuggled'.

It simply means that things that are brought into Indian through unofficial routes and without paying duties and taxes..

Nick-H

OK... I admit surprise yet again

At those prices I should buy the IS3 and keep my IS2 as a spare!!!

But I suspect Indian prices follow the UK prices --- UK prices for these products are still as much as double . I just checked the JJMehta price: 23,995 camera only.

So that grey market price looks pretty good.

BTW... that manual focus... yes, it is there, but don't expect a comfortable focus ring like on a pro camera. You have to push a button and then use the multi-purpose rocker switch. Very clunky.

Macro mode is great: super macro allows focus, in theory, down to 0mm! But focus is critical, and I have several pictures of razor-sharp tree bark with blurred bugs sitting on it!

Also the closer to the lend the more useless the flash becomes (probably true of most builtins; the thing aims forwards, as it should, not down) and you either get a huge shadow of the lens housing or a wash-out. Turning the flash output right down can work for some close ups, if the thing you're trying to photograph stays around long enough for experimenting.

Yes, I have had some decent insect or flower pics from it. Even without macro you get some nice pics of a bigish flower.

Merchant

No, that's not what it refers to. The gear is legally and officially imported, and there's nothing wrong with it. It's not smuggled. I buy grey gear all the time in New York, at the world's most famous and best regarded camera store, B&H. Grey really is just an important distinction. It was a little clearer back when people bought film. I could pay, say $6, for a roll of Fuji slide film made for the US market, with packaging in English, or I could pay $4.50 for the same roll with packaging in Vietnamese.

Globalization being what it is, there really is very little market in, or incentive for, smuggled electronics. Yes, there are knockoffs and copies, but electronics like cameras are cheap everywhere. Import duties vary, so a distributor can often get a slight discount by importing from a secondary country, instead of directly from Canon.

The other thing is that the difference between the full price and grey price is often negligible. The only practical difference is that Canon is not supposed to extend a warranty to a grey-market item. But the store will often supply its own, or you could buy one from a third party. Or you could just skip the warranty.