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Which superzoom.....

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Drebeler said:
Ron777 said:
Ugh... what to do!

I like indoor, outdoor, macro... pretty much all types of photography.

Any tips, links, thoughts to add to my confusion would be much
appreciated!

Ron
Click to expand...
Look at the various camera reviews that DPreview does!
Sheesh. The answers are in there if you look. They cover good
P&S's and Dslrs in detail.
Click to expand...
I did I did ;)

but I can't ask them questions like I can you guys, that's what the forum part is for though? ;)
 
Jim Gilliland said:
You really need to read the reviews here (and on other sites) and
decide for yourself. There are a number of good superzoom cameras
on the market, but none of them are perfect, and the tradeoffs will
determine which one is right for you.

When I was shopping for mine, I looked closely at the Panasonic,
Kodak, Fuji, Sony, Canon, and a few others. I quickly eliminated
some of them. The Fuji had no image stabilization, which is
critical for the long zoom, so that dropped off my list (too bad,
because I really like Fujis in general). The Panasonic has such
severe noise reduction that at higher ISOs its images look more
like watercolors than photographs, so that one quickly dropped off
as well. I wound up narrowing it down to the S3 and the H5, and I
bought the H5 because it had better low-light performance.

But low-light performance may not be as important to you, so your
decision may be different. You really need to read the reviews,
look at the sample images, and decide for yourself.
Click to expand...
I have read all the reviews, here and just about everywhere, but hearing other's experiences is really helpful.

Hearing that one person raves no the Panasonic for the lense, but you threw it out of the running due to the aggressive noise reduction is really interesting. ...
 
Marcel Geers said:
Read the reviews of the panasonics and decide whether IS is a real
deal breaker for you. If it's not, seriously consider the Fuji long
zooms.
Click to expand...
Actually through all my reading up until the post above, I really didn't think IS was super important...
I was down to deciding between the S6000 and S9100...
In my current camera, I never use IS...

Thanks,
Ron
 
Man those are nice! Thanks for posting those.

(do you guys post pics by linking with the IMG tags?) I have a macro from my little SP-320 I'd like to show you guys)
 
Good interesting info. , Thanks Svein.

It kinda seems the only thing people do not like about the Fuji is the lack of IS? I know the reviews mention that also. The one thing I'm still trying to figure out, and I'll go check the Fujifilm discussions now, is some have indicated that the 9100 has too many mega pixels so is a bit noisy and the 6000 has cleaner images............

I think I'm getting very close to a descision, down to 4 choices!
Svein Eriksen said:
Think you've already got a lot of good info in this thread, but
here's my opinion:
Haven't used the S9100, but I've tried the previous model, the
S9000 (very similar) and the S6500fd which is a simpler model.
Someone pointed out that the s6500fd could be a good option, and I
agree for general use, but for macro use I'd prefer the S9100
because you can tilt the LCD which makes life a lot easier when
you're shooting close to the ground or in other difficult
positions. The big minus with the the S9100 (and the S6500) is the
lack of IS which would move it quite a bit down on my list. If
you're going to shoot mostly macro on a tripod then the lack of IS
is not a big point.
You say that the supermacro mode of the Fujicameras is an
advantage, I disagree. Supermacro locks you to 28mm (equivalent)
wideangle which mean very short distance between the front lens and
the subject. I prefer a macro function that works on the whole
zoomrange (I know the Fujicameras have that too) even if it doesn't
get that close to the subject. So, I don't mean the extra
supermacromode is a disadvantage, but I dont think it's a big
advantage either. It's just a mode I find I rarely use.
The Pana FZ50 doesn't get quite as close as the Fujis in
supermacromode, but personally I prefer the FZ50 macro anyway. If
you want to use a macro attachment lens to get higher magnification
then I'd also prefer the FZ50 which has a lens that doesn't change
length while zooming. That's gives a really sturdy construction
which I'd feel much more comfortable attaching a macro lens to than
the extending lens of the S9100.
The FZ50 also have IS, but suffer image quality suffer from too
much/poor noise reduction (read the review).
If macro is really important then I'd stick to models with some
kind of tilt (and swivel) LCD. That limits the intersting models a
lot. A simpler one (no RAW) is the Canon S3IS, and if you can mange
with only 4x zoom then the Canon A640 (or A630) also have good
macro modes.
Last I'll mention the Samsung Pro 815 which has a lot of
shortcomings. Big camera, no IS and a fixed LCD, but it does have a
pretty good macro mode and a big zoomrange. The model is over a
year old, but seem to still be available.
Click to expand...
 
ajay0612 said:
Yes. Even so Fuji S600fd (6MP) will give 2 stops of equivalent
advantage by shooting at higher sensitivity at low noise. Lens is
10.7x manual zoom. Pixels are not crammed in its small size (which
is still better then S3IS and same as Panasonic FZ50, but Pana..
crams 10MPS in that!).

--
Regards, Ajay
http://picasaweb.google.com/ajay0612
Click to expand...
Ah so your saying the lack of IS compensation by higher sensitivity with lower noise (like some of the reviews say) really works?
 
Ron777 said:
Ron777 said:
Yes. Even so Fuji S600fd (6MP) will give 2 stops of equivalent
advantage by shooting at higher sensitivity at low noise. Lens is
10.7x manual zoom. Pixels are not crammed in its small size (which
is still better then S3IS and same as Panasonic FZ50, but Pana..
crams 10MPS in that!).

--
Regards, Ajay
http://picasaweb.google.com/ajay0612
Click to expand...
Ah so your saying the lack of IS compensation by higher sensitivity
with lower noise (like some of the reviews say) really works?
Click to expand...
Yes. And is better in certain circumstances which demand freezing of action. IS is not useful there.

--
Regards, Ajay
http://picasaweb.google.com/ajay0612
 
+ Fujis allow RAW
  • S6000fd uses xD cards only
+ S9100 uses CF as well as XD
+ S3 IS uses SD cards
+ Canon has a faster lens
+ Fujis have larger sensors
+ Fujis zoom range starts at 28mm
  • Canon has smaller, lower res LCD
If your shots have "ideal" lighting, then the S9100's pretty hard to argue against for $50 more than the S3 IS and $80 more than the S6000fd.

Even "out of the studio" the Super CCD seems to do a pretty good job, even with all the pixels crammed in.

The S9100 (at least based on the S9000 review) does have a "super-macro" mode, but look at the S9000 review:
"but (like the similar mode on the Canon S2 IS) is of fairly limited value."

BTW, doesn't that Olympus SP 550 UZ look awfully tempting? It has a link to buy from Best Buy...

In comparison, you get an outrageous zoom, but on a 7MP 1/2.5 sensor with sensor shift IS.
Ron777 said:
Fuji 9100
Fuji 6000
Canon S3

Thoughts before I buy today???
Click to expand...
 
Desicion made and camera bought...

I surprised myself and got the Canon S3 IS, I took everyones advice and read TONS of reviews, the S3 seemed to have the most 'level' reviews. (some cameras people loved but others hated) but the Canon had a real balanced summation of opinions. Plus it does have some wicked cool features that I did really love. I ditched the idea of the manual rings and that cleared a lot of my confusion up. I've played with it a lot since yesterday but am looking forward to getting some real serious time with it. I'll put a first impression review in the Canon talk section.

Thanks a ton to everyone who took the time to help me on this, very much appreciated!

Cheers folks!
Ron
 
Ronnie H said:
its a nice all-in-one & will be a great back up cam for a Dslr,
when you get one,,,Ron
Click to expand...
Thanks, I'm sure someday I"ll be going DSLR as I get more and more into this, but so far, I'm totally jacked about this little canon :)
Thanks much!
 
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