advice??Canon powershots2 IS or Panasonic Lumix dmcfz7

[jann1033]

i think i have it narrowed down to these 2

lumix i like the 6mp, and stevesdigcam. site raved about the stabilization( important as sometimes i get hand tremors), short lag time. i like the scene modes for quick shots although I'm not sure how many there are and it has Tiff & Jpeg capability ( would tiff be better for shots of say my husband" paint finishes that barely show up otherwise? not sure what the diff is except i read jpeg degrades every time you save as it)

canon i like the movie and movie snap features. that it's AA batteries but only 5 mp and it has image stabilization but don't know how good it is.has i think 18 or so scene modes and like the color change capability in camera even though i might not use it tons. both comparably priced. don't know anything about aboaut Panasonic customer service but have had more than enough past bad cs with canon to just figure on tossing the camera if something goes wrong.

anyone know anything else i should know about these 2?

 

[jann1033]

 

[Kelly Grannell]

1. Don't even think about MP anymore, at that resolution, MP have become less important to the point of negligible.

2. TIFF does not necessarily better than JPEG although it is better in theory. Why? TIFF can be uncompressed, however, TIFF can also be compressed. So unless you know exactly which TIFF is being used, you won't know (based on spec) that the TIFF is better than JPEG.

3. Both have image stabilizer, so now you should choose which one feels better in your hand. The point of image stabilizer is to minimaze the shakes your hands make. But if the camera size/shape is not comfortable, that alone will introduce shakes, so what's the point, right?

4. Would you kindly elaborate regarding your husband painting?

5. Last but not least, you don't have to re-save as JPEG. You can take a picture as JPEG, then save it as uncompressed TIFF so it won't degrade.

 

[jann1033]

1. Don't even think about MP anymore, at that resolution, MP have become less important to the point of negligible.

2. TIFF does not necessarily better than JPEG although it is better in theory. Why? TIFF can be uncompressed, however, TIFF can also be compressed. So unless you know exactly which TIFF is being used, you won't know (based on spec) that the TIFF is better than JPEG.

3. Both have image stabilizer, so now you should choose which one feels better in your hand. The point of image stabilizer is to minimaze the shakes your hands make. But if the camera size/shape is not comfortable, that alone will introduce shakes, so what's the point, right?

4. Would you kindly elaborate regarding your husband painting?

5. Last but not least, you don't have to re-save as JPEG. You can take a picture as JPEG, then save it as uncompressed TIFF so it won't degrade.

ok to 1-3. #3)good thought as to the hand feel..imo while i like the panasonic ok but it is slightly bigger and feels more cumbersome than the canon to me so probably would shake more...i was a little concerned as it sounded like the panasonic has 2 ways to end the shake which is a big problem since i don't want to have a tripod glued to my hip and can't always find a resting point..last pics i took with my film slr were really blurry with the zoom. someone did mention about using the self timer which would help if i can find someplace to rest it ( or have the tripod along)

4) he does decorative painted finishes( some people call them "faux finishes sometimes although technically that doesn't really apply to all) the main problem we have with capturing a good representation is some are very subtle changes in coloration and are glazes so no texture is involved( the more textured i can get pictures of). they have more sheen than normal paint so you have to not use a normal flash and use another light source but it is still hard to get some( usually i use his stand lights, bounced off something which works OK so far for light) i have to manual focus as the auto focus just goes nuts trying to focus. plus the coloration is usually a tan- sepia tone ( think aged stucco type with out the stucco texture). he uses the pics to show prospective clients so they need to look decent. he also does a number of faux finishes on furniture he repairs and might start selling on eBay if i can get good enough shots of it.
5) so i change it to tiff where? on a disc as a copy to keep? then change a copy to jpeg to edit it?( i keep trying to read about raw , tiff and jpeg and just when i think I've got it, nope i don't) i am trying to wade thru photoshop free trial with little success thus far .

thanks i appreciate the help

 

[Kelly Grannell]

4: I don't think with proper lighting you can do it properlyt. I may be wrong. But I can't do it without an external flash, diffuser, etc

5. You change it to TIFF on photoshop. You open the JPEG file, then click "save as" then choose "TIFF" then it'll ask you which type of TIFF you want "compression: none, zip, etc" -- you choose none). So you have a "master" file that you don't touch. Everytime you want to play with it, open the TIFF file and save it as a different-name TIFF file.

Hope it helps.

Cheers,
KElly.

Gotta go to see a client now. bye!