Nikon 8700/Canon S2-IS/Panasonic DMC F25K
JCF
these three digital cameras. I am an architectural consultant. I need a
new digital camera with decent optical zoom (pretty much capable of taking
clear shots of cornice-level elements on a 3-4 story building), and would
like to have at least 5.1 megapixels. My thoughts, on which I would
appreciate any comments you can offer, specifically whether you have also
considered these three cameras, and why you selected one over the others:
Nikon Coolpix 8700. I have owned a few Nikons, a 950, two 995s and a 5700
(the last of which I no longer have). I like the fact that this camera has
a hotshoe attachment in case I need to add a flash at some point. I have
several high-capacity CFs, so I would not need more memory right away. I
have several EN-EL1 batteries, so those are covered as well. The biggest
challenge I have is finding a reputable dealer who can sell this camera with
a full USA warranty. All the internet dealers who have low prices also seem
to have problems with customer service, or have issues with grey-marketing.
I am very wary of buying one from them, or from someone on Ebay. Any ideas?
Canon S2-IS. Although only 5MP, I like the 12x optical, and based on my
spot test at Circuit City, it seems like a reasonably durable unit. The
weight of the camera does not really bother me. Any impressions of the
built-in flash for low-light photos? I cannot seem to find info on whether
this camera would accept an external flash, if necessary.
Panasonic Lumix DMC F25K. From the specs, this seems to be a reasonable
competitor to the S2-IS, at least as far as features. It is a bit less
expensive. It weighs less, but its construction felt a bit tinny to me, and
that's a concern.
Daniel Silevitch
> Obviously, a post requesting real user information on the pros and cons of
> these three digital cameras. I am an architectural consultant. I need a
> new digital camera with decent optical zoom (pretty much capable of taking
> clear shots of cornice-level elements on a 3-4 story building), and would
> like to have at least 5.1 megapixels. My thoughts, on which I would
> appreciate any comments you can offer, specifically whether you have also
> considered these three cameras, and why you selected one over the others:
[...]
> Panasonic Lumix DMC F25K. From the specs, this seems to be a reasonable
> competitor to the S2-IS, at least as far as features. It is a bit less
> expensive. It weighs less, but its construction felt a bit tinny to me, and
> that's a concern.
I have an FZ5, and haven't had any problems with it. I chose it over the
Canon for a couple of reasons: Smaller/lighter, and faster focusing. The
Canon's main advantages were better movies (which I don't care about)
and a fold-out LCD. I've had mine for about 7 or 8 months now and I
haven't noticed any durability issues.
If you need a better flash than what is built in to the camera, you
might want to consider the FZ5's big brother, the FZ20. Same basic
specs, but it has a flash hot shoe and a few other additional features.
It's a larger, heavier, and somewhat more expensive model, though.
Here's a shot of a statue on the top of a local skyscraper, taken at
full 12x zoom. The image has been cropped a bit, but is otherwise
unchanged from the camera output:
http://home.uchicago.edu/~dmsilev/original.jpg
-dms
David J Taylor
[]
> Panasonic Lumix DMC F25K. From the specs, this seems to be a
> reasonable competitor to the S2-IS, at least as far as features. It
> is a bit less expensive. It weighs less, but its construction felt a
> bit tinny to me, and that's a concern.
I started with a Nikon 900, then 990, 5700 and ended up with the Panasonic
FZ5. I've been delighted with this camera, and taken it everywhere (or so
it seems!). No flash hot-shoe, though. In practice, it seems as robust
as other cameras, despite its light weight (which is one thing which
attracted me to the camera). Excellent for telephoto, of course, even in
less than perfect light. For wide-angle shots, I also have a Nikon 8400,
but Kodak have just announced a small camera with a 23mm wide-angle lens.
Could be useful for those interior shots.
Personally, I feel that the small maximum aperture on the Nikon 8800 is
unfortunate compared to both the S2 IS and the FZ5. The 8700 has no image
stabilisation, which limits the usefulness of the long zoom (unless you
carry a tripod). The image quality of the FZ5 is slightly better than the
S2 IS which, to my thinking, has too many gimmicks. You would be happy
with either, though, I suspect. Try handling the cameras in a shop and
see which suits you best.
David
barry....@gmail.com
find the 8800 (which includes a wireless remote) for less than the
price of the 8700 + the separate wireless remote. It has a longer
wide-angle / zoom range (10x) and several other improvements. I've had
it since June and have had no problems with it. My only complaint is
that is that it is slow on copying RAW images to memory (but with
cornices, that shouldn't be a problem).
- Barry
imbsysop
"JCF" <cf1...@notnewsguy.comnot> wrote in message
news:dqltv...@news2.newsguy.com...
get a Sony H1 .. you'll be surprised ..
JCF
<david-...@blueyonder.co.not-this-bit.nor-this-part.uk.invalid> wrote in
message news:0tvzf.3486$wl....@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
Daniel and David -
Thank you both for your thoughtful consideration and advice on my question
about which camera might be best. After reading your responses and several
other reviews elsewhere on the net, I went to CC and (for the second time)
tried both of them out. I purchased the FZ5.
Comparing both side by side, I felt the build quality was comparable. I
liked the feel of the FZ5 better. At full optical zoom, it honed in quickly
on the subject matter; that's a good thing, because I tend towards the
impatient side. From what I have read, the image quality is better, and one
can never argue with having a Leica lens on one's photographic equipment.
Once you factor in the need for backup power (2 sets of rechargeable AAs for
the S2IS versus one additional battery for the FZ5), the cost was about 20%
less, too.
All things considered, were I going to buy a camera for high-quality movies,
I would go with the S2IS (I viewed a movie on a review site and compared it
to one with the FZ5, and it was way way way superior). But, this camera is
primarily for my business, and while I may occasionally make a movie of
whatever the baby boy my wife is carrying is doing, I just don't need video
enough to justify the quicker zoom (and from what I have read image quality,
too).
And thanks for correcting the model number. When I originally posted, I
mis-read my own handwriting.
JCF
news:1137607917....@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Barry:
Thanks for your input on the Nikon 8700, and also for explaining why you
thought the 8800 was better suited to your needs. As you will be able to
see from my other post, I decided to purchase a Panasonic FZ5 from Circuit
City. Simply stated, I would love to have had another Nikon. However, only
wanting to spend $500 or so, in the end I was not confident that I could get
the Nikon from a reputable dealer for that price right now. Having read
several reviews from people who bought what claimed to be USA models from
USA dealers (oddly, many of whom seem to be from Brooklyn, NY) and then
found out their models were originally shipped to Asia... well, I just felt
that such a purchase was not worth the risk on this one.
I still love all my Nikons, though, and appreciate you taking time to post.
Barry L. Wallis
Thanks for the feedback. I bought mine from Abe's of Maine (lowest cost
and highly rated). It came from the U.S. and was $535 (last summer).
Have fun with your latest acquisition.
--
- Barry
David J Taylor
> Daniel and David -
>
> Thank you both for your thoughtful consideration and advice on my
> question about which camera might be best. After reading your
> responses and several other reviews elsewhere on the net, I went to
> CC and (for the second time) tried both of them out. I purchased the
> FZ5.
> Comparing both side by side, I felt the build quality was comparable.
> I liked the feel of the FZ5 better. At full optical zoom, it honed
> in quickly on the subject matter; that's a good thing, because I tend
> towards the impatient side. From what I have read, the image quality
> is better, and one can never argue with having a Leica lens on one's
> photographic equipment. Once you factor in the need for backup power
> (2 sets of rechargeable AAs for the S2IS versus one additional
> battery for the FZ5), the cost was about 20% less, too.
JCF - I'm glad you now have your camera, and I hope it will serve you
well.
One setting I altered on mine was to enable the "fast focus" mode (if
that's what it's called!), where the viewfinder blacks out momentarily
while focus takes place - it makes focus just that little bit faster.
Like all small-sensor cameras, noise may be an issue at the higher ISO
settings so, for carrying around during the daytime, I set the sensitivity
fixed to ISO 100.
I also got one spare battery, and 1GB SD cards from SanDisk (Ultra II) and
KingMax (Platinum).
http://www.kingmaxdigi.com/news/news_product/news_p20040303.htm
Cheers,
David
Daniel Silevitch
> JCF wrote:
>> Daniel and David -
>>
>> Thank you both for your thoughtful consideration and advice on my
>> question about which camera might be best. After reading your
>> responses and several other reviews elsewhere on the net, I went to
>> CC and (for the second time) tried both of them out. I purchased the
>> FZ5.
>> Comparing both side by side, I felt the build quality was comparable.
>> I liked the feel of the FZ5 better. At full optical zoom, it honed
>> in quickly on the subject matter; that's a good thing, because I tend
>> towards the impatient side. From what I have read, the image quality
>> is better, and one can never argue with having a Leica lens on one's
>> photographic equipment. Once you factor in the need for backup power
>> (2 sets of rechargeable AAs for the S2IS versus one additional
>> battery for the FZ5), the cost was about 20% less, too.
> []
>
> JCF - I'm glad you now have your camera, and I hope it will serve you
> well.
>
> One setting I altered on mine was to enable the "fast focus" mode (if
> that's what it's called!), where the viewfinder blacks out momentarily
> while focus takes place - it makes focus just that little bit faster.
> Like all small-sensor cameras, noise may be an issue at the higher ISO
> settings so, for carrying around during the daytime, I set the sensitivity
> fixed to ISO 100.
I'll second the recommendation for sticking the camera in one of the
high-speed focus modes (the ones marked with an H in the focus mode
menu), unless you really need the 9-area focus. In addition,
unless you are going to be shooting from a tripod, I'd recommend turning
the stabilizer on to Mode 2 and leaving it set that way.
Good luck with your camera; hopefully it will serve you well both in
business and in pleasure.
-dms
Somebody
>
> JCF - I'm glad you now have your camera, and I hope it will serve you
> well.
>
> One setting I altered on mine was to enable the "fast focus" mode (if
> that's what it's called!), where the viewfinder blacks out momentarily
> while focus takes place - it makes focus just that little bit faster.
> Like all small-sensor cameras, noise may be an issue at the higher ISO
> settings so, for carrying around during the daytime, I set the sensitivity
> fixed to ISO 100.
>
> I also got one spare battery, and 1GB SD cards from SanDisk (Ultra II) and
> KingMax (Platinum).
>
> http://www.kingmaxdigi.com/news/news_product/news_p20040303.htm
>
> Cheers,
> David
>
>
David,
I hope you don't mind me joining in on this thread.
As you seem to have had your FZ5 for a while, I wonder if you can help me.
I got an FZ5 for Christmas, and I'm very pleased with the results so
far. The problem I have is that I touched the lens very lightly with my
finger and there is a slight greasy mark.
Now, I have some Bausch & Lomb lens cleaning tissues for my glasses, and
the packet says that they are for cameras as well.
The tissue has isopropyl alcohol, and I was wondering if this would be
OK for the FZ5 lens, and if not what else should I use to clean the lens.
Any advice would be gratefully accepted.
Thanks,
Gary.
David J Taylor
[]
> David,
>
> I hope you don't mind me joining in on this thread.
>
> As you seem to have had your FZ5 for a while, I wonder if you can
> help me.
> I got an FZ5 for Christmas, and I'm very pleased with the results so
> far. The problem I have is that I touched the lens very lightly with
> my finger and there is a slight greasy mark.
>
> Now, I have some Bausch & Lomb lens cleaning tissues for my glasses,
> and the packet says that they are for cameras as well.
>
> The tissue has isopropyl alcohol, and I was wondering if this would be
> OK for the FZ5 lens, and if not what else should I use to clean the
> lens.
> Any advice would be gratefully accepted.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Gary.
Gary,
Everyone will have their own opinion about this, and some people are very
fussy!
Personally, I try not to clean lenses too often, but when I have to clean
them I use lens-cleaning cloth from Jessops (a UK photo supplier), perhaps
with a touch of warm breath to provide a little moisture. In an
emergency, a clean pocket handkerchief will do as well. Modern optics and
lens coatings are pretty robust, but obviously try to avoid grinding any
grit into the leans when wiping. Blow grit away first. Clean only when
needed - a small amount of dirt won't significantly affect the image.
I'm sure the tissues you have will be fine, just don't press too hard.
Cheers,
David