As well as being compared against other compacts, the Canon IXY Digital L3 is also often compared to pro digicams. The Canon IXY Digital L3's top rivals come from Pentax (such as the Optio SV) and Sony (such as the Cyber-shot DSC-L1)
Generally, some of the advantages of the Canon L3 compared to other compact competitors include: it is significantly smaller (super compact (96×45×24 mm) vs compact (92×61×23 mm)), is slightly lighter (120 g vs 165 g) and slightly longer exposures (15 seconds vs 4 seconds).
However, on average it has a much narrower wide angle lens (38 mm vs 32 mm), has a significantly smaller screen (1.8" vs 2.7"), is older (august 2005 vs february 2009), doesn't have a viewfinder (none vs tunnel) and has a slower max shutter speed (1/1600 of a second vs 1/2000 of a second).
Generally, some of the advantages of the Canon L3 compared to pro digicam competitors include: it takes slightly higher resolution photos (5 MP vs 1.9 MP) and is newer (august 2005 vs august 1999).
However, on average it has a much narrower aperture (f/3.2 vs f/2), has a significantly narrower wide angle lens (38 mm vs 35 mm), has a much smaller screen (1.8" vs 2"), doesn't have a viewfinder (none vs tunnel) and doesn't support an external flash.
