Digital Camera

sketchy

After spending hours on dpreview.com (I too cast my vote for it being the best camera review site) I ended up with the Sony Cybershot DSC-H1.

These were my goals:
-camera that could take reasonably high quality manual pics
-easy point and shoot with decent output (my wife demanded this)
-video clips with sound
-large screen
-ability to add wide-angle lens for interior pics
-under $500

I have had it for about 2 years and I love this camera, my business partner and my brother both bought it after seeing what it was capable of. It does have a cable that can connect to any TV with RCA jacks (which is almost all). It has a fast ready time as well. It would be worth checking it out.

boofredlay

Thanks again all. I still have not made a decision and we leave in 10 days.
I'd better get crackin'

boofredlay

Ok, I have actually started to look seriously now and this is where I am:

One main factor has limited my choices so far, memory.
I have 3 SD memory cards and do not want to start buying XD or MemoryStick or whatever.
This cuts Sony, Fuji and Olympus out of my search.
However Nikon, Kodak, Canon, Lecia, Ricoh, Panasonic... are fair game.
Lecia and Ricoh… I cannot find locally.
Again, I have a Kodak and do not like it that much.

I have tenatively narrowed it down to 3. All of which I can get at the local Costco.

Kodak V1003
$169
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/K ... _v1003.asp
The only reason I am considering this one is it has 10 Megapixels. How much better will this be than 7MP? Or will it just eat up storage space faster.
Opinions please.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3
$319
Not on dpreview bur found here:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panas ... ndex.shtml
The benefit I see with this one is the 28mm lens.
However 2 of the 3 demo’s I have seen in stores, the built in lens cover was partially open; broken.
This has not set well in my mind.

Panasonic Lumix DMC FX12
$199
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/P ... mcfx12.asp
Other than the lens size, what is the difference in this and the DMC-TZ3?

Thanks for any more info.

titmas

Before I read your reply I didn't know that Panasonic had came out with the next DMC, the TZ3. I can speak to the durability of the TZ1, which i have, its real rugged for a camera. many times at work when I'm documenting a project I'll just put the lens cover on and throw it in my tool belt and it has suffered no ill affects. Good camera in my opinion and Im sure that goes for the TZ3 as well but now you got me thinking about the TZ3. Thanks

Kenny

Have you made a decision yet? If it were me I would go for the TZ3. You might have just been unlucky with the samples but it is meant to have good build quality. The clincher for me would be the zoom range which should cater for most eventualities and in particular the wide angle. If you photograph buildings or street scenes you will realy appreciate this. Here is a link to the Panasonic cameras on DPReview, scroll down to the TZ3 and it has lots of user reviews as well as DP official review http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Panasonic/

Regards the Kodak and megapixels, from what I have read on the DPReview forums, increasing megapixels is very much a marketing scam. All that is happening is that too many megapixels are being crammed on the same small sensors resulting in noisey images as well as large file sizes. I have a 5 year old 5MP Pentax 6MP Ricoh and both print out great A3 size photos. Finally the only benefit of the FX12 over the TZ3 is the smaller size but it is only a 3x zoom and not a wide angle. If compact size is an issue, the new Panasonic FX33 does have a very small size and a wide angle.

Good luck with the decision!

Kenny

boofredlay

Thanks for the info Kenny.
I have added one more to my list. Actually I narrowed my list to two cameras now.

The Panasonic TZ3 and the Cannon Powershot ELPH SD900.

I will compare them side by side and probably make my purchase tomorrow or the next day.

boofredlay

Well I got my camera tonight. It is too late to break it out and have fun so I will do that tomorrow then we leave Friday for 9 days. Disney here we come.

I was still on the fence between the Panasonic and the Canon. Well I found a fourth store here in town today that had a Panasonic Lumix TZ3 on display and guess what, the automatic lens cap was broken. That is 3 out of 4 displays with a broken lens. Decision made.

I went with the Canon ELPH SD 800 IS. The 900 I was looking at earlier had more megapixels but did not have the image stabilization and I wanted that.

So... I will give a more detailed review in the coming weeks.

Thanks a million to all who contributed and made me think hard about it.

Cheers.