Newbie seek advise

[rockzilla]

Hi,

A newbie here need to seek some comments on which camera is better. I'm thinking of taking up photography, but will need a cam 1st

I came up with the below 3 cam. Need some advise, any will be of great help.

- Olympus SP-550UZ
- Panasonic FZ8
- Canon S3 IS

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rashkae]

Well, you're obviously looking into the super-zoom category (in which case you really should include sony too)

But, using your list:

Olympus:
PROs:
- 18x Zoom
- Good image stabilizer
- Solid build
- Decent image quality

BAD:
- flimsy cap
- a lot of focus-hunting at long range
- Barrel extends obscenely long at full zoom

Panasonic:
PROs:
- Great lens
- Good feel

CONS:
- Horrible ISO performance. Lots of noise.

Canon:
PROs:
- Decent package
- Decent Picture quality
- swivel LCD screen

CONs:
- screen is small
- so-so sharpness (the panasonic and sony are sharper).


All in all not a bad list, but of thse 3 i'd give it to Canon. If you include Sony, it'll be a tough toss-up between the Canon and the Sony H1/H2/H5 (and not H7 and H9 are being released).

All in all, I suggest you go to the marketplace section and buy one of the S3IS or Sony H-series second hand!

 

[ExplorerZ]

I will either take fz8 or olympus 550uz

reason?
both are raw support, you can fine tune the amount of adjustment needed. :thumbsup:

but if i were to choose 1 of them, i say go for the 550oz, you get the more focal length coverage.

 

[ipin]

Side-by-Side comparision

 

[rockzilla]

Thanks for all the advise, if i add that i would like to go into dslr later on, does it affect ur opinions again? Thanks again.

 

[Rol]

Thanks for all the advise, if i add that i would like to go into dslr later on, does it affect ur opinions again? Thanks again.

Why not now? You can get a used DLSR at around the same price as a prosumer =)

 

[rockzilla]

He he, want to start of with something small so can bring it around to learn more easy.

 

[fv18m]

Bro,

IMHO, no diff. ONLY diff is that you'll end up spending money that can go towards a good flash/ a decent lens if you jump straight into DSLR. If you have a PnS, all the more I would advise against buying a prosumer cam.

I guess the really tough question is "How determined/ sure are you that you'll be going into this hobby seriously"?

Maybe can start by delving on why you wanna take photos in the 1st place (I believe all of us have our very own reason/s)? For me, it was a case of not wanting blur images to remind me of memories which in itself may be BLURRED in my mind...:bsmilie:

He he, want to start of with something small so can bring it around to learn more easy.

 

[rockzilla]

The magic in the beauty of a photo is beyond a throusand words.

 

[nikonrus]

The ability to create a beauty in a photo is the man behind the camera.

Good camera + good photographer = great picture
average camera + good photographer = good picture
Good camera + lousy photographer = poor picture
average camera + lousy photographer = poor picture
Good camera + useless photographer = disaster

 

[scenar]

yea, why don't u get a dslr straightaway then?
of course it depends on your area of photographic interest.

If u are interested in wildlife and don't want to throw >$5k on camera gear, then go for a prosumer superzoom which gives decent image quality.

if long reach is not important, then why not get a dslr (new/2nd hand) and couple it with a kit lens and the 50f1.8(~$150)