Rank the Cameras? Need help.

I've been trying a lot of cameras recently, buying and selling and so on, and I'm tired. I've decided I want a longish zoom, as many pixels as possible w/o tipping over into Noiseworld, and good color.

How would you rank these cameras?

Panny FZ7
Panny FZ50
Panny FZ30
Sony H5
Canon G7
Canon S3 IS

Any other 8X - 12X zoom?

Is there something in the pipeline I should wait for? I just sold a Sony H1 which I though was pretty good. I'm also selling a 350XT (more camera than I need and I object to what I have to pay for lenses to get long zoom equivalent), and a Canon SD500. And I'm returning an A710 IS which produces poor pictures compared to the others listed (may be a bad example of the breed, but is also slow to recover in flash and feels toy-like in the hand, unlike the SD500 and similar). I'm keeping my several year old S400 Canon cause it takes good pix even though it's slow as a sow.

first place- the sony H5, then cannon S3 shares 2-nd place with pannasonic zfz7 and las place panasonic fz 50
Reasons :

sony h5 is a rather slow camera (1/1000 sec) compared to s3 and fz7 (1/3200; 1/2000) byt has a better Lcd, and EVF; the controles are much easier, makes better outdoor pix(if you ask me), great macros, good performance at somewhat high ISO and has an extra megapixel . if the panasonic fz7 and canon s3 were combined in one camera - they woulld be the best, but one has a normal LCD, the other a small one but rotating. the panasonic is slower but does better low light pix and macros. the fz 30 and 50 are actually the same camera, with slight chnges: a better sensor and better Image stabilisation for fz50 , so no reason to buy fz30 - the price gap is not that big. the caqmera isnt bad i used to have the old version (fz30) but it is rather big compared to the others, and the lcd coulld have been a 2.5" one althoug i love the fact it rotates.

i didnt include the G7 , because it is out of the 8x+ classification, otherwise it's nice high res. video, prety compact fast (1/3200) it is a nice camera but it's not such a telephoto one as the others.

if you really want good zoom you should think about the Fuji 9100 (9600 in europe) and the samsung pro815 olympus sp 510 is also a fine choice

good lck with the choice,
i made mine and it was the H5

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/78382854@N00/?savedsettings=267767825#photo267767825

Doesn't sound like the camera is the real problem. I think you might need to evaluate your own needs and preferences a bit more thoroughly.

Any of the cameras you've owned and listed is capable of outstanding photography (within its capabilities). "Are you?" is the first question to be asked actually.

If you are indeed doing your part, then you just need to find a better match for the subjects and situations you shoot in. I've owned the H1 and now the H5, so you know my personal preference (I also shoot with the Sony F717, T9, and Canon 30D - depending on the shooting situation). But one of the others you mentioned might suit you better.

Choosing a camera is tough! But knowing Yourself will always lead to the right choice.
R2

--
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

http://www.pbase.com/jekyll_and_hyde/galleries

Maximum shutter speed has very little to do with what people consider as 'fast' in almost every case.

When people say 'fast', they either mean fast response from pressing the button to taking the shot (which alas has nothing to do with 'shutter speed') or high ISO performance.

If you want to know about a camera's response from pressing the buttont to taking the shot, look at 'half-press lag', 'half to full-press lag' and 'full-press lag' in the 'timings & sizes' section of a dpreview review, e.g. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonyh5/page4.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons3is/page4.asp

take a guess at what advice you'd get. I sold my H1 to pay for my H5. I don't regret that decision, but basically there's not a big difference between them. You said you sold your H1 -- if you didn't like it, you probably won't like the H5 all that much better, either. I can't add anything about the other ones on your list.
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Karen

R2 that's about the best response I have ever read to this kind of a question.
--
John
'Hutchman'



Galleries at http://hutchman.smugmug.com/

Not just the extra 2 mp (and that is a huge difference),
But more important, the good ISO 400 and usable ISO 800.
The controllable flash.
The Manual Focus Peaking
The zoom on video.

Lots of big differences between the H1 and H5!
--
=~ AAK - http://www.aakatz.com
=~ Author of the H-Series White Paper
=~ http://www.aakatz.com/h1whitepaper

... you'll love the H5 -once you get used to it!

2 More megapixels. More detail, more crop room.
Much,much better flash
Zoom on Video
Manual Focus peaking

As compared to the other cameras, there are many, many comparisons posted here, do a search using each of the camera's model No. You'll find more than you can read.

Basics:

H5 ISO 400 (for low-light shooting) is wonderful. ISO 800 usable. Not true of Canon or Panasonic.

Lower-light focusing accuracy better on the H5 than the other cameras (though the Pany has a nice sharp lens).

Resolution: H5 has more pixels, detail and croproom than the equivalent Canon and Pany.

H5 flash is very powerful, but very controllable now. It doesn't blast out the whole scene any more!

Unless you are more interested in video (the Canon has MPEG4 video, but only shoots about one minute, if I'm correct - you should check, I only know this from things I've read, not first-hand experience), the H5 is, IMHO, the best of the crop.

That's why I own it.
--
=~ AAK - http://www.aakatz.com
=~ Author of the H-Series White Paper
=~ http://www.aakatz.com/h1whitepaper

Thanks all. For the present I've decided to keep my 350XT because the IQ is so much better than all of the above (I spent last night looking through my pictures; the really good ones (too few) were all XT pictures.