What is the best (non) DSLR

I own a 5D and many lenses. I'm looking for the best pro non DSLR I can get for under about $550. I would like very good noise control through say...at least 800 ISO, IS and as much FL as I can get for the $. What would you suggest, I prefer Canon DSLR's having owned the 20D, 30D, 1DmkII and the 5D.....but know nothing about "G" type cameras, I don't even know what to call them....point and shoots? sub compacts? Any ways thanks for your input.

Oh, I want to use it for a vacation camera and for an emergency backup.

If such a camera existed you wouldn't be able to find one left in stock anywhere

I've had great expirence with the Panasonic FZ-50. I think it has a successor but im not sure.

Hey there

I myself is strapped in this dilemma !


I can't give u the "best" but I can shorten the list for you.

G9 - great and a viewfinder to help. but distortion at the wide.

Leica D-Lux 3 - Leica! but other than that, all is same as a Lumix cam ( googlize )

although the leica would cost around 600 usd, the picture quality looks superb. You should try flickR to get some samples of both and compare

Thanks everyone...I'll take a look at the G9 (although idoesn't seem to handle noise all that well) and the offerings from Panasonic and Leica.....any thing else I should be looking at?

I dont really think it is just a fault of the G9 to not handle noise well....it is the small sensor size of the non-SLR cameras that is the biggest contributor of noise.

With that said, I would go for the G9....Im looking to pick one up in the near future when I dont want to carry my SLR around

Look at all cameras where they have them displayed.
Give you a much better perspective.

I have the Canon S80 which has all the features that you are looking for but is difficult to find. They often show up on Ebay. I had a G7 (too big) and sold my Pentax DSLR in favor of the S80.

Consider Fuji, great low light cameras and quite compact but no eye facility. The Sony's seem to have many with the eye feature.

None.

All P&S / Compacts suffer from noise at ISO 400 and over .... they do not compare with DSLR's in this respect at all.

Most noise wise are much of a muchness .... some are worse than others - try looking at the tests on DP Review.com and the comparisons they show at different ISO's.

I have a 5D and it is - unsurprisingly - in a different league noise wise to a P&S. Equally it costs a huge amount more and that is before you start buying expensive glass to go with it and have to carry it all round !

I think thatkatmat knows this. Look at his signature.

By the way, nice gallery Matt!

Cheers!

Why not get a second Canon body like a Digital Rebel XT? You can get one withing you price range, and you'll have the noise control that you want.
Not to mention you have a nice assortment of glass to compliment it.

Thanks Canotographer..
jaCkal....
I was trying to get small for back-up/vacation with a superzoom with IS and High MP's, My 5D and primes are a bit too much to be lugging around when I'm out of Country (like out to dinner with friends in China, definately will bring my 5D....just not carry it with me in situations like that)
I figured I wasn't gonna be able to find all the bells and whistles I want on a compact but thought I'd look as it's been quite some time since I was in the market for one....Things move along rather quickly and the new tech always blows my mind. I'm thinking Ishould just get a used xt or xti and one of those Sigma 18-200mm OS's. Still though, it's bigger and a bit more spendy than I wanted to go
thanks

Well if it is any use, I recently swapped a Canon A710is for a G9 and am very pleased. I have a 30D and, like you, wanted something smaller but capable for certain situations.

The A710 was pretty good but there was no sense of pride in ownership and frankly it was too small and light for me to take it seriously. I gave it no respect and consequently every shot was treated as a snap. I am sure I am being ridiculously harsh on the abilities of the A710 but some will know how I felt.

The spec on the G9 was as close to my 30D as a sensible compact camera gets. Being a clumsy photographer, I like the reassurance of RAW shooting and in some ways more importantly, the weight and characteristics of the G9 demand that you take it seriously. I can honestly say that in certain circumstances where it would be quite appropriate to have the 30D, I have opted for the G9 with confidence.
No, the low light capability does not compare but with a bit of Noise Ninja it does a pretty fair job if you set it up right....Manual mode is simply a joy, by the way and is far simpler to manage than the 30D. Macro performance is really something else and produces some serious close up stuff. Worth a look I think

I'm in a similar dilemma, I use a 30D for work and love it, and my G6 just died. I loved the G6, but i'm stuck in that hole where if I'm gonna spend $600 for a camera, I might as well get an XTi, and if I'm going to get that, I might as well get a 40D, and if I get that, I might as well get a 5D, then i realize I don't want to pay $3000 for a camera that'll break in two years (like my G6) so I start thinking "forget it, I'll just get a little point and shoot." so I start looking at As and SDs and think "well, for just a little more, I could get a G9…"

The G6 was awesome compared to my older camera, but the 30D has really spoiled me. I laughed at your statement about how a dinky camera can't be taken seriously, because it's soooo pretentious (most have way more features/range than anyone uses) but it's also sort of true (the features are hard to access and no one wants to sit around while you set manual focus with buttons and menus). All small-sensor point-and-shoots are crap compared to just about any DSLR, really, but after using the G6 for two years and shooting magazine ads, covers, and even billboards with it, I've found you can squeeze an awful lot out of it, once you learn to embrace and/or work around its limitations. I've taken photos on friends $200 cameras and they've been all in awe of how good they are, because I took the time to set the white balance, get the exposure right, and I learned a little about composition. So then I start thinking I want an all-manual Voightlander or something, but those aren't digital, how about a Leica?

Crap, I'm never going to buy a new camera, and my daughter's fourth year will be totally undocumented!

low noise at ISO800. sound difficult to find non-SLR for this thing.