I am intrigued by the new Panasonic DMC-TZ5 or the leica Lx3. Any thoughts on these models? The Canon G9 caught my eye for a while but I have some hesitancy. I need a great P&S that can be carried everywhere. I don't use my DSLR enough and am missing too many great shots.
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Best P&S on the market
- Thread starter Archman
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BigMike1
Senior Member
The Canon G9 is the best telelphoto compact on the market. It has professional features like RAW, manual focus, aperture prioirty and manual modes, etc.
If you want a wide angle camera, then check out the Ricoh GX100 which has a 24mm-72mm lens.
The problem with the Pansaonic models is that they are strictly point and shoot, nothing manual at all.
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Big Mike
http://www.bigmikephotoblog.com
BlackDraken
Forum Enthusiast
This is a pretty sweeping statement! If the tech specs you've quoted determine what makes a camera "professional" (whatever that means), then there's dozens of cameras out there that fit that bill. And consider that the 9MP Fuji E900 has a LARGER sensor than the G9 for example. In many ways, the G9 is a show pony for people with fat wallets. With CHDK virtually every Canon can shoot RAW anyway.
24mm may be great for architectural stuff and indoors, but 72mm really limits its reach outdoors, considering the industry "standard" of a 55mm as a basic prime.
Sorry, but this is totally incorrect.
Check out Panasonic's DMC-FZ50, DMC-LX2, DMC-LZ10, DMC-LZ8 for examples.
Cheers
james b norman
Senior Member
i have just gone through this also, and i just bought a panasonic FX100 - 12mp, 1/1.7" sensor, HD video capability, leica lens. the G9 is too bulky and lens is not wide enough for my needs. the sonys and nikons in this range look nice, but none of them have 1/1.7" sensors, nor a 28mm lens, nor HD video. panasonic has a new model (FX500) which has 30fps HD video and a 24mm lens, which i wanted, but the sensor is only 1/2.3", so i ruled it out. on the fx100, RAW would have been nice, a wider lens would have been nice, 30fps instead of 15fps for HD video would be nice, but i could not find a camera with everything i wanted, so i will use this fx100 for a year or so until someone comes out with exactly what i want.
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jnorman
sunridge studios
salem, oregon
D200, nikon 12-24mm ED-IF AF-S DX, 18-70mm DX
Cambo 45NX, nikkor SW 90/8, 135/5.6, 210/5.6
Graflex Crown Graphic 4x5 (1948 model)
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jnorman
sunridge studios
salem, oregon
D200, nikon 12-24mm ED-IF AF-S DX, 18-70mm DX
Cambo 45NX, nikkor SW 90/8, 135/5.6, 210/5.6
Graflex Crown Graphic 4x5 (1948 model)
james b norman
Senior Member
hi dayo - i hope to prove you wrong. have you looked at the dpreview of the G9? take a look at the studio shots from the G9 compared to the canon 40D at low ISO. i think we all know that no P&S small sensor is going to be competitive with the larger sensor of a DLSR at hig ISO. however, the work i do (architecture stock work) is all full daylight conditions which allows for the use of lowest ISO, and takes full advantage of where a P&S might do its best. i am going to give it a shot for various reasons, and i will be reporting back to this forum after i do a full real life evaluation of the fx100. maybe we will both be surprised...
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jnorman
sunridge studios
salem, oregon
D200, nikon 12-24mm ED-IF AF-S DX, 18-70mm DX
Cambo 45NX, nikkor SW 90/8, 135/5.6, 210/5.6
Graflex Crown Graphic 4x5 (1948 model)
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jnorman
sunridge studios
salem, oregon
D200, nikon 12-24mm ED-IF AF-S DX, 18-70mm DX
Cambo 45NX, nikkor SW 90/8, 135/5.6, 210/5.6
Graflex Crown Graphic 4x5 (1948 model)
Flexibility... Probably the G9 or Ricoh GR2 (or GX100) in my book.
This is what the Sigma DP1 was made for. But you lose some flexibility.
Andytrekker
Member
Have a look at the Canon A600 series.
I have been very happy with my A620 and the A640 got a Highly Recommended when reviewed on this site. Yes, things get noisy at ISO 400 and above as with all small sensor cameras but the results at slower speeds are very good. The lens is excellent, the flip screen is surprisingly useful, there is a great deal of flexability built in (aperture priority, manual focus etc) and they don't cost an arm and a leg.
I have been very happy with my A620 and the A640 got a Highly Recommended when reviewed on this site. Yes, things get noisy at ISO 400 and above as with all small sensor cameras but the results at slower speeds are very good. The lens is excellent, the flip screen is surprisingly useful, there is a great deal of flexability built in (aperture priority, manual focus etc) and they don't cost an arm and a leg.
BlackDraken
Forum Enthusiast
poliscijustin
Veteran Member
It really depends what you want to do with it. If it was going to be your only camera, I'd probably say TZ series panasonic. If it was going to supplement an SLR, I'd think one of the little stabilized SD series canons, which seem to be the best of the ultra compacts)
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A small but growing collection of my photos can be seen at
http://www.pbase.com/poliscijustin
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A small but growing collection of my photos can be seen at
http://www.pbase.com/poliscijustin
MaryGierth
Senior Member
Users seem to rave about the Canon sd950. Steve's Digicams review indicated it was comparable to the Canon g9. I purchased one yesterday as gift so I have yet to see personal results but I expect the quality to be among the best P&Ss.
K1000Photographer
Veteran Member
The reality is that a number of larger sensor P&S cams can do a great job in better light. A G9, A650, better Fuji's, NV8, NV15... can come quite close to a DSLR in better light. When things get a little difficult, they really do suffer in comparison to the 6MP DSLR's on the market.
I enjoy my NV 15. It is lighter than my small prime lenses and offers a photo quality that is a hair away from that of a DSLR, when shooting in good light. For lower light, my old DSLR will beat it and any other P&S with ease. That is life.
I enjoy my NV 15. It is lighter than my small prime lenses and offers a photo quality that is a hair away from that of a DSLR, when shooting in good light. For lower light, my old DSLR will beat it and any other P&S with ease. That is life.
dmanthree
Forum Pro
Very subjective, and only an opinion, but the G9 seems to present the best blend of performance and portability. Good feature set, excellent images up to ISO 200, decent at 400, and it shoots RAW. YMMV, of course.
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I look forward to your report as if you can find a decent P&S, I'll like to know of it as I am in the market for one.
A G9 with 6mp will do me fine but all I see around are pixel stuff POS units. Some guy in another post was recommending downsampling them to 5mp. I felt this begged the question of why? Why downsample? Why can't someone make a damned unit I don't need to downsample? Why offer me 14 bloody no good mp when 6 semi decent ones will do me just fine?
I like the look of Panasonics just I refuse to buy them while they persist with massive pixel stuffing and image smearing. I just can a damned decent P&S! I'll pay Canon the rate of the current G9 for a 6mp version.
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http://dakanji.com
... I have been tracking the Sigma Forum and it seems people are having issues with them. The Sigma fanatics even got some poor bloke banned because he raised some issues with it.
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http://dakanji.com
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http://dakanji.com
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