I’ve had this camera since about February. I really liked it when I first got it, although it has taken a while to get familar enough with the settings that I can get a good picture in something other than Auto.
One important improvement to this camera is the availability of a hack (basic functions explained here, FAQ here)that allows, amoung other things, the ability to shoot in RAW mode, something that Canon did not put into the firmware of this camera. There are a lot of discussions ( here, here, and here, for starters) about this hack on the internet. Mostly they discuss the adviseability of using this on your camera, and on whether or not shooting in RAW even offers any improvement over the JPEG straight out of the camera. I would rather have the option than not have the option, to tell you the truth.
The hack does NOT touch your firm ware in any way, and Once you delete the hack from your SD card, the hack is gone from your camera. The camera then works just as it did out of the box. However, it is use at your own risk.
Also, recently Canon released a new S series camera, the S5 IS. The S5 offers a hot shoe and a bigger LCD screen, but crams even more megapixels onto the same sensor, increasing the noise on each picture at higher ISO. To me, this makes the S3 even more of a deal, because it’s price will drop now that the S5 is available.
