Kirsten,
I have 2 UZIs I bought up after my original got stolen. I will
never sell them and purposely "stocked up" in the event they become
difficult to obtain in the future.
I can afford any camera I want and have tried or owned many, many.
I've had a 5050 (also stolen), DREBEL, tried 740, and many others.
Did not buy a Panasonic to try because I looked at the image
quality closely on PBASE and found them to be not as good as UZI or
Oly 740/750 series. I thought the image quality was very poor in
comparison.
I really liked the 740 and will probably buy a 750 (external flash
reason) or its new replacement (is that the 765?) because of the
small size and image quality. Although the UZI isn't difficult to
carry sometimes I need cameras I can fit in my purse, like my Canon
S400.
I recently took my UZI and the Canon Digital Rebel on a beach trip
and took the same shots with each. Although the DREB delivered
some beautiful noiseless high ISO shots, it was inconsistent
especially with focus and I ended up capturing many shots better
with the UZI. Image quality at long zoom was better on this trip
with the UZI. In all fairness, I hadn't had the DREB long enough
to know all its idosyncracies.
If I were you I would try out a 740 or 750 by buying them at a
store where you can return them and see if camera shake is a
problem. But the UZI offers great low light ability and does have
IS.
If you have a good deal on a private sale of a good working UZI,
that would be a hard deal to turn down for me.
Hollie
Lots of UZI low light shots here but mixed in with Canon S400:
http://www.pbase.com/hollie/wickenburg_42703
I thought I would share a few... I hope you enjoy.
