Camera geeks; Help, Please!

[Buzz]

Our Canon S3 IS is starting to show its age, and I guess usage... the pictures and movies just aren't as sharp and crisp as they used to be, and the camera functions are getting sluggish. The deterioration has gotten noticeably worse the last few weeks; not sure if it's a steady decline, or accelerating, but if anybody knows what the likely causes are, and how to fix the digicam, please do share the knowledge. Thanks. FWIW, it doesn't seem to matter whether it's in auto, or manual mode, high or low ISO, shutter speed, etc.... It's kinda acting like an old person aging.

I couldn't find anything online indicative of a known problem for these symptoms, and will call Canon next week, though I doubt there's fix it plan other than a general cleaning and overhaul. So go that route? or time to pop for newer model? Any other recommended shops to send it to for an overhaul if it makes sense? Answers/comments appreciated.

Buzz
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[The UnDoug]

Perhaps I'm stating the obvious, but make sure you clean the lens with an appropriate cloth.

[mattkime]

are you certain the batteries are working properly?

but aside from the gear lube getting really gummy, cameras like that tend to either work or not, not much room for slowing down.

[Fred_Also]

Question:
You say it is slowing down, is it the zoom (mechanical) function or slow to recover when you take a picture, slow to come on (electronic)?

I have an S3IS and have used it quite a bit and haven't noticed anything like that.

I recently had a problem when recording a video, it would just quit recording on it own or turn itself off. I started using a different SD card and the problem has disappeared (so far).

If the slow down is electronic, I would try a different (maybe new) SD card and some new brand name batteries.

Fred Also

[Buzz]

It doesn't stay focused like it used to, the focus wanders in video mode, and is not as quick in photo mode. We use eneloop batteries, which have provided great results historically, and generally use 8GB flash cards, w/ an occasional 4GB card in the mix, as we shoot lots of video shorts, so 2GB are too small. We clean the lens w/ a microfiber cloth (blue w/ sheared edges, if that makes any difference, though we have red, yellow, and beige microfiber cloths around here, too), so other swapping stuff around, I'm not sure what's up, other than age, w/ the camera. I just put in freshly charged batteries before coming back to this thread, and I'll use a new SD card for today's game, though I'll probably stick w/ the blue microfiber cleaning cloth for the lens.

FWIW, our old S1 IS went back to Canon a couple of times when the zooming gears got noisy, and they did whatever they did to fix the grinding noise. The S3 isn't making any undue noises, it's just getting slower to focus, not holding focus, and kinda having a mind of its own as to what it focuses on. We also have an S2 IS, which has the sharpest focus of all of them, but it only supports 2GB SD cards, not SDHC, plus a diluted feature set compared to the S3. I've had the S3 stop shooting video prematurely, too, awhile back, but after swapping up to bigger, faster SD cards, also not as much of a problem.

I'll see if the issues persist later today w/ all fresh stuff in the camera, otherwise it still gets back to, try to fix it, and how and where, or replace it w/ a newer model. Thanks,

Buzz
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[mattkime]

huh, well maybe the focus is broke.

[AllGold]

Try a reset to factory defaults.