Another choice question

[joel]

I scouted around and decided to get a compact DC for family use.

Reduced my choice to :

1) IXUS i
2) IXUS II
3) LUMIX DMC FX7
4) LUMIX DMC FX2

In SLS, (better don't mention shop names)

Shop A told me that the LUMIX is a VERY good DC. FX2 (4MP) at est S$510, FX7 (5MP) at S$680. He show me a Singapore magazine HWM comparing the common 5MP DC and the FX7 won all the good reviews

Shop B said "LUMIX ?" , "NO !!" and commented that a few customers came back and wanted to trade-in for a CANON !!

Then I started looking at IXUS and the one that caught my attention was IXUS i. The same shop told me "YES ! very good DC. Though no Optical Zoom ...blah...." and he demo the DC. I was impressed.

Shop C, last one lah ... "NO IXUS i !! it's a obselate mode !!" the pictures taken with the digital zoom is HORRIBLE when you print them !!!

"The best buy now is IXUS IIs !!" Though 3.2 MP, comes with a FREE 128MB SD and only S$475 !!!

I left SLS, BLUR liao.

After cooled down, I think the IXUS II suits me more ..

Any advise ?

Thanks in advance

 

[nightwolf75]

mebbe u can try reading up on www.dpreview.com or www.steves-digicams.com these are 2 very reliable websites for camera comparisons.

oh yeah, dun believe the sales talk. best to do ur homework first b4 going to places like these shops.

1 thing they got it right tho. digital zoom sucks, IMO. ignore the packaging that says 10x or 20x digital zoom. the real thing u shld be concern abt is the optical zoom. digital zoom works by software interpolation - ie the camera's software enlarges the pic via some computer 'guesswork'. the pic is enlarged via filling in the missing pixels thru some second-guessing by the camera's software. so ur pic is quite blurry.

for the HWZ article on the lumix, i get the feeling dat its an ad sponsored by panasonic. its my opinion only. however, the lumix cam has been gathering good reviews becos of is optical image stablizer feature, which is not common in most consumer cam. this feature allows u to shoot in low light or slow shutter speed conditions without blurry pic. quite useful, i must say.

the ixus comes in 2 flavours, if i remember correctly. 1 has optical zoom, the other don't. the ixus is very trendy and small. best for holiday trips where it don't take up a lot of space in ur bag. but, it uses canon's propriatory batts. so, u have to buy extra batts for ur holidays, if u intend to travel. else, u have to bring along ur charger.

IMO, for family use cam, a cam with 3.2 to 4MP shld be enuf. these resolutions shld be enuf to enlarge ur pic to A4 size without lost of resolution. anything more is an overkill, IMO.

hope it helps?