Compact camera - anyone got one of these?

blastman

OK, I've narrowed my choice of replacement compact camera down to four. If anyone has any experience of these models, I'd love to hear them. All have pretty good reviews, and all have their own quirks (if you could mix the four of them together you'd have the best compact camera ever!). Interested to hear any first hand tales.

The outsiders:
Fujifilm F200EXR - cheapest of the bunch, good low light performance and HDR trickery built-in, bad manual controls and it appears to be inconsistent as to what the best mode is for any given scenario.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7 - Best zoom of the bunch (12X optical on Leica lens), wide 24mm also, seems to be the best compromise. Don't like the fact that you need a lens cap, there's no indication as to whether it's any good in lower light and a lot of the good reviews seem to be based on the fact that you can do HD video recording on it, something which is completely irrelevant to me.

The frontrunners:
Canon Powershot S90 - liking the sensor, which is the same as a G11, wide f2.0 aperture, manual controls. Not so fond of a lens that doesn't fully retract into the body (although that's a minor quibble) plus it's the most expensive of the four.
Sony DSC-WS1 - like the size, supposedly good low-light performance and wide 24mm lens. Disappointments are image quality not being quite as good as some of the others, and lack of manual controls.

I want something that is reasonably good for taking a few pics at gigs as well as general snapping, hence my interest in cameras with good low light performance. I'm actually tempted to buy both forerunners!

Advice welcomed.

rowanh

You might be better asking that at dpreview, you get a lot more people there who are really into gear. From what i know of those id probably go for the S90, i wouldnt go for the panasonic because it doesnt have manual controls (i think) or the sony because its no where near as good as the canon. I have a Panasonic lx3 and i really like it.

dinneenp

I owned the S90- very good in low light (for a compact). I'll uplaod a photo taken at a comedy show recently (without flash). Small zoom though. Lovely camera.
the Fuji won best low light in Essentail Digital Camera magazine (but that didn't include the Sony S90 in the test).

DPreview would be best place to ask I'd second.
Or just do google 'best low light' etc.

crazydaize

I've used the Sony and found the low light picture quality to be quite poor.

That's all I can really say about any of them.

Barname

Nikon shooter here and I would opt for the S90

(as a pocket camera Vs my SLRs)

heffsarmy

The new panasonic TZ8 has manual controls might be worth a look at.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1001/10012604panazs5.asp

I'm considering getting the S90 myself.

blastman

Thanks for the replies, guys, I have actually googled low light cameras and these (bar the Lumix) are the main ones that seem to come out, all four get good reviews.

Daizie, what was the problem in low light? Too noisy?

heffsarmy

blastman you have'nt listed the panasonic lx3, which would be the best low light compact on paper as its range goes from f2-2.8, the only other camera that comes close is the canon s90 from f2-4.9. The other cameras you have mentioned are not in the same league. It would be a fight off between the lx3 and s90.

blastman

Have looked at the LS3 as well, but I thought it was a bit too bulky for a pocket camera. I think the S90 is going to win out....

The Sony model is actually the WX1, not WS1. D'oh!!

blastman

Just to update, I ordered an s90 last night, despite late interest in the Sony HX5 as well. Think I've done the right thing, hopefully I can do it some justice now!

heffsarmy

I got myself one 2 weeks ago, its an excellent pocket camera.

Freddie59

blastman wrote: »

Just to update, I ordered an s90 last night, despite late interest in the Sony HX5 as well. Think I've done the right thing, hopefully I can do it some justice now!

I've researched this to death in the past fortnight.:D Looking for a camera for small events where it's impratical to bring a 40 D. Some information I've picked up along the way from reading DP Review, etc.

1. The Panasonic screen is incredibly brittle and has broken in some cases.
Picture quality is supposed to be very good.

2. The Sony's peform poorly ion low light. Daytime pictures are excellent.
No manual controls in a lot of models.

3. The Fuji has gotten great reviews, but no RAW.

4. The S90 has great reviews. Picture quality is superb (I've looked at some
of the samples) in normal and low light conditions. RAW. Full manual
control. The control ring is excellent. But be aware that the rear controls
are easily knocked off.

Always read the reviews at Amazon.com. You get a great cross-section of users here.

Lastly, I looked at whether I needed HD Video or not, and decided, well, I don't. So I am also going for the S90.:)

dinneenp

Hi,
You'll be happy with the S90- just buy the custom grip

I had the S90, sold it to help finance a new DSLR. Bought the Panasonic ZS3 instead. (great zoom on it)

blastman

And it's now in my hand.

Have only played around with it a little, but I like it so far. My only gripe is that the case I bought with it doesn't have a belt clip, which to me is plain daft, but I plan to buy the proper Canon case for it anyway. Bringing it to the Australian Pink Floyd gig this evening so should get more of an idea what it can do then.

Heebie

I've got a Lumix point & shoot with a Leica lens.

I like it so far.