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F30 vs. Canon SD700IS for PARTIES!!

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Ken1980

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The comparisons of the SD700IS and Fuji F30 in low-light have been helpful, but y'all are taking very artsy shots of skylines etc. My question is how they compare when there is NO tripod, NO time to tinker with the settings, maybe moving subjects etc...if I'm at a night-time party and pull my camera out of my pocket for a quick snapshot of friends being goofy, which one will perform better? (or is there another one I'm not even considering?)

I have a digital SLR for the fancy stuff, so I've been spoiled and want decent shots even from my P&S. I've always had Canons and love them. I bought the Leica C-Lux 1 (same camera as Panasonic FX01), but returned it because the images just didn't seem that great. Even with the OIS, too many of the shots were blurry.

Now I'm looking at the SD700IS because I like the idea of OIS. But I went to the store yesterday to play with it, and even in the well-lit store the images were dark. I turned the flash on and took snapshots of shoppers, and even when they were 10 feet away from me the flash caused the surrounding image to be terribly dark and even the people I was pointing the flash at were way too dark for the photo to be usable. And with the OIS on and flash turned off at higher ISO, the shots were blurry.

My Canon S45 has an amazing flash, and amazing low-light autofocus, and I can't imagine buying a camera without that performance. I took it to a club the other night and stood on a balcony and just pointed it indiscriminately down at the dancefloor, and got amazing shots that lit up the dancers and kept them in focus.

Basically, I need a camera that performs well at night. If I can get the pictures I want without a flash, that's great. But I'm not picky. These are just snapshots to see my friends' pretty smiling faces. I don't mind if it flashes. And as much as I love Canons, I just don't get the sense that the SD line will be able to cut it. I considered the S80, but the point of getting a new P&S is to have something tiny to keep in my pocket.

Is there anything out there in an ultra-compact size that performs well at night? (28mm wide angle would be great too, if there is something, but I know I'm asking too much!) ;-)

Maybe somebody has a few test shots taken in these "party" conditions?

Thanks for your help!
Ken
 
I don't have the F30 but I have a F10 and the S45. S45 has more reliable metering, Most of the times F10 has virtually identical exposure as the S45 but other times it simply over or under-expose! So a fixed -1/3 or -1/2 is not the answer as other suggested, you have to check on every shot! The F10 is significantly faster than the S45. S45 has a lot more controls than the simple minded F10. F30 will give you a bit more controls but still nothing compare to S45 right down to the strength of flash, RAW format, bracketing, sharpness... F10 low light performance is noticably better but dyanmic range not as good as the S45. Purple fringing is nother probem of F10 but F10 has better end-to-end sharpness than the S45. Overall, the F10 is a more pleasing pocket camera for its speed, low-light performance and superb battery life. But I think S45 has an edge on image quality over F10 except in high ISO (S45 ISO 400 is similar to F10 ISO 800), not sure about F30 though. As a party camera, I will go for the F30. O.I.S. won't help you to freeze your object!
 
For your situation you should consider the Fuji for sure, indeed ISO1600 is usable and the camera can be set to Auto 1600 at which the camera will choose the ISO up to 1600 if need be. Now dont expect DSLR like quality at ISO 1600, but its a lot better than what some cams offer even at ISO 400-800. Also the flash is twice as powerful as the smaller flash on the SD700 and it has a feauture called Iflash where it adjusts the flash power based on available light so it tries to get a natural looking shot (ie. high ISO, low flash power). I think this is the type cam you may need for low light since OIS wont do much good if your taking shots of friends etc.. in a parts situation. In fact, for what your looking for the F30 may be the only compact camera on the market that may be able to take care of you in those situations. I really dont know what else would do the trick since I doubt OIS will do you any good in those situations if your subjects are moving around (and Im sure they would be in a party).
Ken1980 said:
The comparisons of the SD700IS and Fuji F30 in low-light have been
helpful, but y'all are taking very artsy shots of skylines etc. My
question is how they compare when there is NO tripod, NO time to
tinker with the settings, maybe moving subjects etc...if I'm at a
night-time party and pull my camera out of my pocket for a quick
snapshot of friends being goofy, which one will perform better? (or
is there another one I'm not even considering?)

I have a digital SLR for the fancy stuff, so I've been spoiled and
want decent shots even from my P&S. I've always had Canons and love
them. I bought the Leica C-Lux 1 (same camera as Panasonic FX01),
but returned it because the images just didn't seem that great.
Even with the OIS, too many of the shots were blurry.

Now I'm looking at the SD700IS because I like the idea of OIS. But
I went to the store yesterday to play with it, and even in the
well-lit store the images were dark. I turned the flash on and took
snapshots of shoppers, and even when they were 10 feet away from me
the flash caused the surrounding image to be terribly dark and even
the people I was pointing the flash at were way too dark for the
photo to be usable. And with the OIS on and flash turned off at
higher ISO, the shots were blurry.

My Canon S45 has an amazing flash, and amazing low-light autofocus,
and I can't imagine buying a camera without that performance. I
took it to a club the other night and stood on a balcony and just
pointed it indiscriminately down at the dancefloor, and got amazing
shots that lit up the dancers and kept them in focus.

Basically, I need a camera that performs well at night. If I can
get the pictures I want without a flash, that's great. But I'm not
picky. These are just snapshots to see my friends' pretty smiling
faces. I don't mind if it flashes. And as much as I love Canons, I
just don't get the sense that the SD line will be able to cut it. I
considered the S80, but the point of getting a new P&S is to have
something tiny to keep in my pocket.

Is there anything out there in an ultra-compact size that performs
well at night? (28mm wide angle would be great too, if there is
something, but I know I'm asking too much!) ;-)

Maybe somebody has a few test shots taken in these "party" conditions?

Thanks for your help!
Ken
Click to expand...
 
I have both the S45 and the F30. I think AndyHWC's comments are correct in comparison to the F30 too. I think the metering in the Canon seems slightly more reliable. At least that is what I think I remember (My S45 is toast). But low light no flash no contest F30 wins. Image quality is good with both cameras so I am still up in the air on that. Sometimes I think the Canon has better image quality and sometimes I think the F30 does. I think because the F30 has high ISOs that if you leave it on automatic it seems to jump to the high ISOs. That is pretty easy to adjust by selecting 400 automatic. If you are just are looking for good night snapshots the F30 is good there.
 
The F30 has a nice flash system. It does a good job of acting as a fill flash. I would rate it better than the S45 in that regard. I always had to use a -1 flash exposure compensation with the S45.

jerry

--
jerryk.smugmug.com
 
I've had an S45 and there's no comparison (to the F10/11) you can crank up the ISO with the Fujis to ISO200 and fill a room and get clean images, crank it up to 400 and fill a LARGE room . the AF is way better than the S45 too (which hunts and fails unless at full wide) as is the AF assist lamp..

the Fuji Fxx could possibly be the Ultimate Party cams, the only thing missing is waterproofing (in case it gets soaked in beer) - just get the underwater housing for that ;-)

--
Please ignore the Typos, I'm the world's worst Typist

 
My experience is different, first the S45 without flash is difficult in indoor unless you are in a bright room. On the flash indoor shots, the Canon looks pretty good (sometimes better, sometimes worst than the F10) if you don't mind a dark background. Please note that the S45's ISO is under-rated, so FXX's ISO 200 is really S45's ISO 100.
 
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