long zoom choices

[Gomar]

Samsung HZ50W - $300
14mp
26x zoom (26mm-676mm)
RAW
Li-ion Battery Pack
=========

Fuji Film
Finepix S1800 - $160 / S2550 - $175
12mp
18x (28 - 504mm)
AA

Finepix S2800 - $213
14mp
18x (28 - 504mm)
AA
==========

Panasonic DMC-FZ40K - $325
14mp
24x (25-600mm)
Li-ion Battery Pack
==========

I like the wide lens of the FZ40, and its 600mm zoom could suffice. However, I'd prefer AA, and paying $112 less for the S2800 while losing only 96mm aint a bad deal. The Fuji HS10 doesnt cost much more than the FZ40 as well.
Ifcourse I could go with the Samsung HZ50W, get biggest zoom than all and RAW.

[capri_stylee]

Take your $325 and buy a used 400D and kit lens, honestly

[tonylong]

Gomar, were you asking for comments, advice, or what:)?

Take your $325 and buy a used 400D and kit lens, honestly

Heh! Not exactly addressing the "long lens" issue!

I don't have anything against the "advanced superzoom" digicams -- in good light they can do a fine job. Of course they won't perform like a DSLR, but most people don't require that in a digicam.

One frustration that I did have from these cameras was that the shutterlag and being limited to an electronic viewfinder made shooting things like birds in flight or other fast-moving things pretty iffy. I've heard, though, that shutter lag has been greatly improved on in the past few years. That's just hearsay, because all my compact digicams died off some time ago, but if someone gave me one of the above, I wouldn't shrug it off.

[Gomar]

Take your $325 and buy a used 400D and kit lens, honestly

I could honestly get a Pentax K-x w/smc DA L 18-55mm & smc DA L 55-300mm Lens
for $849.

[ReubenH]

Lol, on a canon photograph forum, and you didn't even consider the SX1, 20 or 30.

But I'm with capri. I was looking at getting an SX20 IS seriously, had set aside $750 NZD for it... Then I did some searching, and found I could get a 450D, 18-55 IS, and 55-250 IS for a smidgen under my $750 budget. Needless to say I swooped on the 450D and am never going to look back, it is a better product, BY FAR, to any of the cameras you've listed, yet I picked it up for the same price.

Oh, the 18-55 and 55-250 = 28.8-400 35mm equiv. But on a sensor 10 times the size of the super zooms.

[LowriderS10]

I could honestly get a Pentax K-x w/smc DA L 18-55mm & smc DA L 55-300mm Lens
for $849.

ummm...then get it?

I'm not sure what this topic's point is on a Canon forum...

[birdfromboat]

one word: G10

mine goes everywhere and never fails to please. I am going to buy more of them when canon gets up to around G15 or so and the G10 is down around a hundred bucks.

[Gomar]

Canon SX30 has no RAW, no AA, 2.7" LCD is smaller than others', and the 35x is way too much making it costly and bulky. The Kodak z981 is $200, 14mp, RAW, but again too bulky. Thus, I am going with the Fuji s1800 or S2800.

[DStanic]

I had the same problem 4 years ago, Sony H5 or Canon S3 IS. Like many people i got a DSLR after a year. The H5 sucked (I can make a long list of what was wrong with it), however I did get a cool moon shot with it once. :)

[rjx]

I could honestly get a Pentax K-x w/smc DA L 18-55mm & smc DA L 55-300mm Lens
for $849.
Or you could get it for $699 (http://www.tristatecamera.com/cart.php)

[Gomar]

Or you could get it for $699 (http://www.tristatecamera.com/cart.php)

Yes, its price has dropped at J&R and B&H. But I would pay $50 more and buy local rather than from Amazon, newegg, or others online.
I've decided to go with the Kodak Z981 as it's best value for just $200.