S3 or FZ8?

[samisbuff]

So I'm looking to sell up all my SLR gear and purchase a high quality compact. I'm currently looking at either the Canon S3 IS or the Panasonic FZ8. What would you chose? Anyone had experience with these models? Are there other models I should be considering? Definately want at least 10x Optical zoom and 6MP. Thanks!

[Saudidave]

From what I've seen, the F78 produces excellent images, but so does the S3 (I have one). All you can do is read all the reviews, have a play at the local camera shop and make your own mind up. I would advise, though, that you keep all your SLR gear until you are quite sure that the bridge camera will do what you want. They are good, but not in poor light or for action shots; for tose you want an slr.

[samisbuff]

Acctually, the new S5 looks like the ticket. When can it be expected in Australia?

[_aravena]

I would advise to stay away from the S5 only because of price and comparison to the S3 for price. Aside from the hot shoe, the difference will probably hardly be noticeable for an extra $200 at the least.

The FZ8 is a great little camera and price should be relatively the same between the 2. I suggest checking them out together at best price and get a feel for them. FZ8 is lighter and smaller in a way, but I loved my personal test of IS with one hand:

no zoom
optical zoom @ max
zoom maxed out (including digital)

The S3 won with still giving a great pic being held with one hand and digitally zoomed. The FZ8 was close, but that little record button right there ready to be pressed to start vid just helped out that much in decision making.

Cons on the S3 though with the FZ8 would be at 3mp the FZ8 has 18 optical zoom and the screen. Although i love the swivel screen so either way. That's about it and I love Panasonic so I wasn't biased from the beginning. Still thinking I'll pick up their thin P&S as my pocket camera.

[lordjim]

Have you also considered the FZ30 or FZ50?

[manipula]

The Canon's both S3 and S5 both still have the big pain of AA batteries. No matter what rechargeables you run them on, you'll never get the life of a charge from the Panasonic. The cameras will probably produce very similar results, ergo I'd buy the non-Canon.

Oh and do take a look at the bigger FZ50. Proper focus and zoom ring which are a big advantage, though the camera is quite large.

[_aravena]

I've had the same lithium Energizer's in mine since February and used it quite a bit and it's still going.

400+ pics and 2.35GB of vid plus all the times I jut sat there and played around on it.

[manipula]

The Lithium Ion unit is still going to last longer. I had an old customer who got through literally a bag full (tens of them) of AA's on a two week trip to Aus. And once they;d finished they'd only taken just shy of 600 shots they were happy with. it depends how you use them, but I've never seen a camera that uses AA's outlast a Lithium Ion unit in over two years selling them. Olympus stuff that can use CRV3 rechargeables do very well, but I don't think the S3/S5 can use those can it?

[_aravena]

No and yeah, pack will be better cause it can recharge. But, if you compare maybe buying an extra battery to the amount of AA's bought and where. $8 for 4 and a battery is around $40-$50 therefore you could get 5-6 packs to equal that extra battery and see how long it lasts. I mean, if I had something that only took 2 AA's, dang those would go forever.

[J Rabin]

Samisbuff:
I do not use P&S Digicams because I detest shutter lag. However, I studied the super-zoom P&S cams for a while, and recently bought a Panasonic FZ8 for my Pop. It trounces the Canon S3 IS in EVERY area of performance, except recording video.

- The FZ8 has a 0.44" electronic viewfinder with 180,000+ pixels compared to the 0.33" on the Canon with 115,000 pixels. The newly released S5 IS uses the SAME crappy EVF as old model. Shame on Canon. The FZ8 is the first truly useable P&S EVF since the Minolta A2 three years ago. You can really use the FZ8 EVF in bright sunlight. A normal person can't use the coarse tunnel on the S3. The FZ8 LCD is better in sunlight also.
- The FZ8 is an extremely "responsive" little P&S. The new "heads-up display," or HUD, in the EVF and LCD means you can change settings dial and never move your eye from the composition. Almost no other little P&S works this way.
- This is a $299 (USD) P&S camera with truly useable RAW capture option, and RAW writes to fast card in about 3 seconds, compared to 7-11 seconds for the nice FujiFilm 6500fd. The FujiFilm 6000/6500fd probably has the best mechanical zoom lens and best higher ISO (for a digicam) in this class of camera, but it is almost as big as a dSLR and has no IS. Since the FZ8 captures a JPEG with the RAW, you can adjust all the camera settings to your preference, then use the JPEG if it is OK, or convert the RAW if more adjustment tolerance is needed. No RAW option on the Canon P&S cameras.
- The lens on the FZ8 and the IS are excellent for this price range and camera class. You'll never confuse images with good SLR, but you will not be ashamed.
- The flash is powerful and meters well for this little class of camera.

- Panasonic does get a well deserved bad rap for noise in higher ISO images, or rather the excessive in-camera noise reduction processing, compared to competitors offerings. But, if you keep "NR" adjusted to low, at ISO 100-200 the images are nice in 4x6 or 5x7 prints.

I could go on and on. Some elements of this camera are what the Canon G7 "should" have been. It is the overall responsiveness, image quality, and other factors which make this class leader in the 1/2.5" small sensor digicam class. I wish Pansonic would use a 1/1.7" sensor like the FujiFilm 6000fd and Canon G7, but no one will be unhappy with this camera.

If family vacations recording stills AND video is your thing, then get the Canon model.

Jack

[_aravena]

Wait, reread...only 10x zoom 6mp?? Get the TZ1. Dell may still have it for $181. Exactly what you described and smaller than the mini SLR's.

[Sergio Carvalho]

Originally Posted by J Rabin

Samisbuff:
I studied the super-zoom P&S cams for a while, and recently bought a Panasonic FZ8 for my Pop. It trounces the Canon S3 IS in EVERY area of performance, except recording video.

- The FZ8 has a 0.44" electronic viewfinder with 180,000+ pixels compared to the 0.33" on the Canon with 115,000 pixels. The newly released S5 IS uses the SAME crappy EVF as old model. Shame on Canon. The FZ8 is the first truly useable P&S EVF since the Minolta A2 three years ago. You can really use the FZ8 EVF in bright sunlight. A normal person can't use the coarse tunnel on the S3. The FZ8 LCD is better in sunlight also.
- The FZ8 is an extremely "responsive" little P&S. The new "heads-up display," or HUD, in the EVF and LCD means you can change settings dial and never move your eye from the composition. Almost no other little P&S works this way.
- This is a $299 (USD) P&S camera with truly useable RAW capture option, and RAW writes to fast card in about 3 seconds, compared to 7-11 seconds for the nice FujiFilm 6500fd. The FujiFilm 6000/6500fd probably has the best mechanical zoom lens and best higher ISO (for a digicam) in this class of camera, but it is almost as big as a dSLR and has no IS. Since the FZ8 captures a JPEG with the RAW, you can adjust all the camera settings to your preference, then use the JPEG if it is OK, or convert the RAW if more adjustment tolerance is needed. No RAW option on the Canon P&S cameras.
- The lens on the FZ8 and the IS are excellent for this price range and camera class. You'll never confuse images with good SLR, but you will not be ashamed.
- The flash is powerful and meters well for this little class of camera.

That was very helpful. Thanks! I'm also in the process of deciding between these two. And after reading loads of reviews, I have to say that I'm really tempted to go for the FZ8...

The sad thing is, Canon could have matched all that with the S5... now we can only dream with a Pro2...

[khalampre]

I have an FZ 30 and I got my wife an S3. Both take very nice pix. I have noticed a bit of noise when I go out to take night shots with the FZ30, but I am looking into a way to edit that out (HELP ME!). I have not used my wife's S3 much, but I do like how her flip and twist is to the side (low angles are nice). That said I do really like the zoom and focus rings that my camera has, and it does let me get shots that would take a bit longer with the S3. If you want to see some of my night shots with the FZ30 look he

http://flickr.com/photos/7498500@N04/

I was able to pick up each camera for less than 300 bucks off ebay. The panasonic came with a true 4 gig card (that my wife has in her s3 for movies)and an extra bat, and the S3 came with a Samsonite bag and a 1 gig card 4 recharg bats and a car charger. Not bad deals if you ask me.

The really nice thing about the canon that you people do not seem to understand is that it DOES take AA bats. If you have ever lived in a 3rd world country where you may not be able to recharge that cute little panny bat you would understand what I am talking about.

[FireBeatle]

I think I'l still go with the S3. or am I wrong?

[_aravena]

Originally Posted by J Rabin

Samisbuff:
I do not use P&S Digicams because I detest shutter lag. However, I studied the super-zoom P&S cams for a while, and recently bought a Panasonic FZ8 for my Pop. It trounces the Canon S3 IS in EVERY area of performance, except recording video.

- The FZ8 has a 0.44" electronic viewfinder with 180,000+ pixels compared to the 0.33" on the Canon with 115,000 pixels. The newly released S5 IS uses the SAME crappy EVF as old model. Shame on Canon. The FZ8 is the first truly useable P&S EVF since the Minolta A2 three years ago. You can really use the FZ8 EVF in bright sunlight. A normal person can't use the coarse tunnel on the S3. The FZ8 LCD is better in sunlight also.
- The FZ8 is an extremely "responsive" little P&S. The new "heads-up display," or HUD, in the EVF and LCD means you can change settings dial and never move your eye from the composition. Almost no other little P&S works this way.
- This is a $299 (USD) P&S camera with truly useable RAW capture option, and RAW writes to fast card in about 3 seconds, compared to 7-11 seconds for the nice FujiFilm 6500fd. The FujiFilm 6000/6500fd probably has the best mechanical zoom lens and best higher ISO (for a digicam) in this class of camera, but it is almost as big as a dSLR and has no IS. Since the FZ8 captures a JPEG with the RAW, you can adjust all the camera settings to your preference, then use the JPEG if it is OK, or convert the RAW if more adjustment tolerance is needed. No RAW option on the Canon P&S cameras.
- The lens on the FZ8 and the IS are excellent for this price range and camera class. You'll never confuse images with good SLR, but you will not be ashamed.
- The flash is powerful and meters well for this little class of camera.
- Panasonic does get a well deserved bad rap for noise in higher ISO images, or rather the excessive in-camera noise reduction processing, compared to competitors offerings. But, if you keep "NR" adjusted to low, at ISO 100-200 the images are nice in 4x6 or 5x7 prints.

I could go on and on. Some elements of this camera are what the Canon G7 "should" have been. It is the overall responsiveness, image quality, and other factors which make this class leader in the 1/2.5" small sensor digicam class. I wish Pansonic would use a 1/1.7" sensor like the FujiFilm 6000fd and Canon G7, but no one will be unhappy with this camera.

If family vacations recording stills AND video is your thing, then get the Canon model.

Jack

Wouldn't say trounces. While working at Ritz there was literally nothing to do so I mostly kept comparing all the mini SLR's together. So for about 5-7hrs a day for 5 days a week I compared many and many and many a camera. Trounce is hardly the appropriate word. Alot you described is hardly anything but a more detailed ad with the screen. Plus the IS is nowhere near the S3's. I'm gonna have to go and save those images now with the FZ8. Zoomed max the S3 gave a better pic at ISO 200 one handheld than the FZ8. NOt nearly as bad as Sony's. It's like that thing didn't have any IS on it.