OV735 From Estonia, joined Jan 2004, 860 posts, RR: 2 Posted (5 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 1294 times:
Hi,
I'm not 100% sure if this is the right forum to ask such a question, but perhaps some of you can offer a bit of advice.
I've had my Canon PowerShot S3 IS for about a year and a half now, with around 8500 shots taken. Lately I've noticed that the sensor's sensitivity has started to degrade rather fast. If in the beginning I would have no problem getting a 1/100-1/60 exposure with ISO 80 and F3.2 in a cloudy autumn afternoon, then now at the same settings I'm down to the exposures in the range of 1/40-1/20.
Do you think it's a normal aging for a point & shoot camera, or could it be a technical fault? I was planning of getting a dSRL in late 2008/early 2009 and was hoping to live with the S3 until then, but the lousy performance has got me worried if it'll last.
For background information, the camera has been operated in various environments temperature-wise, ranging from -30 to +30 degrees Celsius. I have always tried to keep it from humidity as best as I could, and it hasn't taken any serious falls or hits either.
I'd appreciate any help or information about this, thanks.
Dazbo5 From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2005, 2572 posts, RR: 2 Reply 1, posted (5 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1262 times:
I would say there's something wrong with the camera. A camera should be good for a few years service if its well looked after. Are the photo's properly exposed? It could be a problem with the meter if not. My little Kodak DX4330 is still going strong after 5 years, although it doesn't get much use these days.
Darren
Equipment: 2x Canon EOS 50D; Sigma 10-20 EX DC HSM, 50-500 EX APO DG, Canon 24-105 f/4 L, Speedlite 430EX
CalgaryBill From Canada, joined May 2006, 686 posts, RR: 6 Reply 2, posted (5 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1255 times:
Quoting OV735 (Thread starter): If in the beginning I would have no problem getting a 1/100-1/60 exposure with ISO 80 and F3.2 in a cloudy autumn afternoon, then now at the same settings I'm down to the exposures in the range of 1/40-1/20.
That's an incredibly subjective scenario to base any conclusions on. Your meter can't tell the condition of the sensor, so the problem as you describe it would be a metering problem as Dazbo5 mentioned. If your meter isn't metering properly, then your pictures won't be exposed properly - what you describe above should result in overexposed shots. The easy way to test that would be to visit a camera store, have them meter a shot and compare the results.
However, if you just want to justify buying a dSLR then yes, your S3 is probably toast.
EDDL From Germany, joined Dec 2002, 738 posts, RR: 17 Reply 3, posted (5 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 1253 times:
Quoting OV735 (Thread starter): I've had my Canon PowerShot S3 IS for about a year and a half now, with around 8500 shots taken. Lately I've noticed that the sensor's sensitivity has started to degrade rather fast. If in the beginning I would have no problem getting a 1/100-1/60 exposure with ISO 80 and F3.2 in a cloudy autumn afternoon, then now at the same settings I'm down to the exposures in the range of 1/40-1/20.
I have been to Estonia in the last few weeks. In cloudy conditions I have been shooting ISO 400-640 the whole day to get an acceptable shutter speed. With an ISO value of 80 the exposure time of 1/20-1/40 second sounds pretty OK. I don't see a problem here.
OV735 From Estonia, joined Jan 2004, 860 posts, RR: 2 Reply 4, posted (5 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 1224 times:
Thanks for your input. I use the camera in aperture priority mode with a fixed ISO setting (80 or 100) most of the time, so it will select the suitable shutter speed accordingly. The photos don't come overexposed, but the automatic shutter speed seems to have considerably slown down in similar conditions. But it's probably true that the "cloudy autumn afternoon" is not the best nor the most accurate description of lighting conditions so it could possibly be just me. Perhaps I'll let Canon take a look at it.
Quoting CalgaryBill (Reply 2): However, if you just want to justify buying a dSLR then yes, your S3 is probably toast.
And if it's not toast now, then, well, accidents happen?
Anyway, thanks for the help everyone. Phil, I hope you're having a good time in Estonia.
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