diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/s3_sync.py b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/s3_sync.py
index 18f1b1ca098..69f76fd7d24 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/s3_sync.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/s3_sync.py
@@ -185,19 +185,20 @@ uploaded:
 '''
 
 import os
-import stat as osstat # os.stat constants
+import stat as osstat  # os.stat constants
 import mimetypes
 import datetime
 from dateutil import tz
 import hashlib
 import fnmatch
+import traceback
 
 # import module snippets
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
 from ansible.module_utils.ec2 import ec2_argument_spec
 
 # import a class, otherwise we'll use a fully qualified path
-#from ansible.module_utils.ec2 import AWSRetry
+# from ansible.module_utils.ec2 import AWSRetry
 import ansible.module_utils.ec2
 
 
@@ -207,6 +208,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     HAS_BOTO3 = False
 
+
 def boto_exception(err):
     '''generic error message handler'''
     if hasattr(err, 'error_message'):
@@ -242,6 +244,8 @@ def boto_exception(err):
 # along with calculate_multipart_etag.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE = 5 * 1024 * 1024
+
+
 def calculate_multipart_etag(source_path, chunk_size=DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE):
 
     """
@@ -255,7 +259,7 @@ def calculate_multipart_etag(source_path, chunk_size=DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE):
 
     md5s = []
 
-    with open(source_path,'rb') as fp:
+    with open(source_path, 'rb') as fp:
         while True:
 
             data = fp.read(chunk_size)
@@ -266,11 +270,11 @@ def calculate_multipart_etag(source_path, chunk_size=DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE):
 
     if len(md5s) == 1:
         new_etag = '"{}"'.format(md5s[0].hexdigest())
-    else: # > 1
+    else:  # > 1
         digests = b"".join(m.digest() for m in md5s)
 
         new_md5 = hashlib.md5(digests)
-        new_etag = '"{}-{}"'.format(new_md5.hexdigest(),len(md5s))
+        new_etag = '"{}-{}"'.format(new_md5.hexdigest(), len(md5s))
 
     return new_etag
 
@@ -304,16 +308,17 @@ def gather_files(fileroot, include=None, exclude=None):
             f_size = fstat[osstat.ST_SIZE]
             f_modified_epoch = fstat[osstat.ST_MTIME]
             ret.append({
-                'fullpath':fullpath,
-                'chopped_path':chopped_path,
+                'fullpath': fullpath,
+                'chopped_path': chopped_path,
                 'modified_epoch': f_modified_epoch,
-                'bytes': f_size
-                })
+                'bytes': f_size,
+            })
         # dirpath = path *to* the directory
         # dirnames = subdirs *in* our directory
         # filenames
     return ret
 
+
 def calculate_s3_path(filelist, key_prefix=''):
     ret = []
     for fileentry in filelist:
@@ -323,6 +328,7 @@ def calculate_s3_path(filelist, key_prefix=''):
         ret.append(retentry)
     return ret
 
+
 def calculate_local_etag(filelist, key_prefix=''):
     '''Really, "calculate md5", but since AWS uses their own format, we'll just call
        it a "local etag". TODO optimization: only calculate if remote key exists.'''
@@ -334,6 +340,7 @@ def calculate_local_etag(filelist, key_prefix=''):
         ret.append(retentry)
     return ret
 
+
 def determine_mimetypes(filelist, override_map):
     ret = []
     for fileentry in filelist:
@@ -357,6 +364,7 @@ def determine_mimetypes(filelist, override_map):
 
     return ret
 
+
 def head_s3(s3, bucket, s3keys):
     retkeys = []
     for entry in s3keys:
@@ -372,11 +380,12 @@ def head_s3(s3, bucket, s3keys):
                 pass
             else:
                 raise Exception(err)
-            #error_msg = boto_exception(err)
-            #return {'error': error_msg}
+            # error_msg = boto_exception(err)
+            # return {'error': error_msg}
         retkeys.append(retentry)
     return retkeys
 
+
 def filter_list(s3, bucket, s3filelist, strategy):
     keeplist = list(s3filelist)
 
@@ -398,20 +407,20 @@ def filter_list(s3, bucket, s3filelist, strategy):
                 else:
                     # file etags don't match, keep the entry.
                     pass
-            else: # we don't have an etag, so we'll keep it.
+            else:  # we don't have an etag, so we'll keep it.
                 pass
     elif strategy == 'date_size':
         for entry in keeplist:
             if entry.get('s3_head'):
-                #fstat = entry['stat']
+                # fstat = entry['stat']
                 local_modified_epoch = entry['modified_epoch']
                 local_size = entry['bytes']
 
                 # py2's datetime doesn't have a timestamp() field, so we have to revert to something more awkward.
-                #remote_modified_epoch = entry['s3_head']['LastModified'].timestamp()
+                # remote_modified_epoch = entry['s3_head']['LastModified'].timestamp()
                 remote_modified_datetime = entry['s3_head']['LastModified']
                 delta = (remote_modified_datetime - datetime.datetime(1970, 1, 1, tzinfo=tz.tzutc()))
-                remote_modified_epoch = delta.seconds + (delta.days*86400)
+                remote_modified_epoch = delta.seconds + (delta.days * 86400)
 
                 remote_size = entry['s3_head']['ContentLength']
 
@@ -429,6 +438,7 @@ def filter_list(s3, bucket, s3filelist, strategy):
     # prune 'please skip' entries, if any.
     return [x for x in keeplist if not x.get('skip_flag')]
 
+
 def upload_files(s3, bucket, filelist, params):
     ret = []
     for entry in filelist:
@@ -437,6 +447,7 @@ def upload_files(s3, bucket, filelist, params):
         }
         if params.get('permission'):
             args['ACL'] = params['permission']
+        # if this fails exception is caught in main()
         s3.upload_file(entry['fullpath'], bucket, entry['s3_path'], ExtraArgs=args, Callback=None, Config=None)
         ret.append(entry)
     return ret
@@ -445,17 +456,17 @@ def upload_files(s3, bucket, filelist, params):
 def main():
     argument_spec = ec2_argument_spec()
     argument_spec.update(dict(
-        mode = dict(choices=['push'], default='push'),
-        file_change_strategy = dict(choices=['force','date_size','checksum'], default='date_size'),
-        bucket = dict(required=True),
-        key_prefix = dict(required=False, default=''),
-        file_root = dict(required=True, type='path'),
-        permission = dict(required=False, choices=['private', 'public-read', 'public-read-write', 'authenticated-read', 'aws-exec-read', 'bucket-owner-read',
-                                                   'bucket-owner-full-control']),
-        retries = dict(required=False),
-        mime_map = dict(required=False, type='dict'),
-        exclude = dict(required=False, default=".*"),
-        include = dict(required=False, default="*"),
+        mode=dict(choices=['push'], default='push'),
+        file_change_strategy=dict(choices=['force', 'date_size', 'checksum'], default='date_size'),
+        bucket=dict(required=True),
+        key_prefix=dict(required=False, default=''),
+        file_root=dict(required=True, type='path'),
+        permission=dict(required=False, choices=['private', 'public-read', 'public-read-write', 'authenticated-read',
+                                                 'aws-exec-read', 'bucket-owner-read', 'bucket-owner-full-control']),
+        retries=dict(required=False),
+        mime_map=dict(required=False, type='dict'),
+        exclude=dict(required=False, default=".*"),
+        include=dict(required=False, default="*"),
         # future options: cache_control (string or map, perhaps), encoding, metadata, storage_class, retries
     )
     )
@@ -469,13 +480,10 @@ def main():
     result = {}
     mode = module.params['mode']
 
-
-    try:
-        region, ec2_url, aws_connect_kwargs = ansible.module_utils.ec2.get_aws_connection_info(module, boto3=True)
-        s3 = ansible.module_utils.ec2.boto3_conn(module, conn_type='client', resource='s3', region=region, endpoint=ec2_url, **aws_connect_kwargs)
-        s3.list_buckets()
-    except botocore.exceptions.NoCredentialsError as e:
-        module.fail_json(msg=str(e))
+    region, ec2_url, aws_connect_kwargs = ansible.module_utils.ec2.get_aws_connection_info(module, boto3=True)
+    if not region:
+        module.fail_json(msg="Region must be specified")
+    s3 = ansible.module_utils.ec2.boto3_conn(module, conn_type='client', resource='s3', region=region, endpoint=ec2_url, **aws_connect_kwargs)
 
     if mode == 'push':
         try:
@@ -489,11 +497,10 @@ def main():
             # mark changed if we actually upload something.
             if result.get('uploads') and len(result.get('uploads')):
                 result['changed'] = True
-            #result.update(filelist=actionable_filelist)
-        except Exception as err:
+            # result.update(filelist=actionable_filelist)
+        except botocore.exceptions.ClientError as err:
             error_msg = boto_exception(err)
-            import traceback # traces get swallowed by Ansible.
-            module.fail_json(msg=error_msg, traceback=traceback.format_exc().splitlines())
+            module.fail_json(msg=error_msg, exception=traceback.format_exc(), **camel_dict_to_snake_dict(err.response))
 
     module.exit_json(**result)
 
diff --git a/test/sanity/pep8/legacy-files.txt b/test/sanity/pep8/legacy-files.txt
index c58fc7ec74b..879ff338792 100644
--- a/test/sanity/pep8/legacy-files.txt
+++ b/test/sanity/pep8/legacy-files.txt
@@ -213,7 +213,6 @@ lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/s3.py
 lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/s3_bucket.py
 lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/s3_lifecycle.py
 lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/s3_logging.py
-lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/s3_sync.py
 lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/s3_website.py
 lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/sns_topic.py
 lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/sts_assume_role.py