Which camera of these 2 ?

[motherbear]

I have aKodak easy share c340 and want a much better camera for night time photos. I know with out a SLR I will have trouble with night photos, but I can't afford that type of camera and don't want to carry that much of a camera. I've read that a tripod is a good choice also. I've read alot of reviews in various areas and I'm still confused. I have looked at the Cannon S3IS and also the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7K. The cannon seems to have alot of options and I've read that it's hard to hold without hitting other buttons, it also has a 800ISO which should help at night. I like the LCD on the Panasonic and it has 1600ISO and seem to be in comparison with Cannon on alot of features, but I don't see alot of reviews about it. The Panasonic is about 70-80 dollars cheaper and has a rechargable battery system included. Please advise me on what would be better. I'm not a professional, I'm just a Mom of 3 kids involved in sports at night and also Planning A Trip To Disney Soon and would like to have good pictures!!!! Also could you recommend a tripod that would be easy and good to use at Disney!! Thanks for your Help....

 

[jann1033]

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz7/page14.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons3is/page14.asp
if you haven't read these...personally i found the panasonic a little cumbersome to hold

 

[ukcatfan]

Panasonic was starting to get a good name for themselves with the super zooms, but they have had a problem with controlling noise. From what I have heard, their noise at ISO 1600 makes it useless. There are even reports of noise problems at their lowest ISO. In my opinion, that is just not acceptable with today's technology. Canon would be a better choice for low light in my opinion. I have heard that Fuji has some nice low light capable cameras now, but I am not in the market so I do not know anything about them.

Kevin

 

[Scottl]

I would recommend the Nikon Coolpix S10. It's brand new and retails for about $399. Amazon has it for $344. It goes to ISO 800, has vibration reduction, 6 megapixals and 10x optical zoom which is clearer than digital zoom. It also has editing capability in the camera and is small enough to fit in your pocket.

 

[ukcatfan]

I would recommend the Nikon Coolpix S10. It's brand new and retails for about $399. Amazon has it for $344. It goes to ISO 800, has vibration reduction, 6 megapixals and 10x optical zoom which is clearer than digital zoom. It also has editing capability in the camera and is small enough to fit in your pocket.

Do not take me wrong. It looks like a nice camera, but it appears to me that it does not have any manual modes. I personally would not pay that much without that feature. Is Nikon focusing their P&S at the entry level consumer now? That would be kind of disappointing. I have never had one, but I always liked them from the specs and reviews. It also looks like they dropped the viewfinder altogether.

I still feel like the S3 is the king of the super zooms. Canon needs to step up and make some significant improvements on the next model to keep the crown though.

Kevin

 

[manning]

Here's some photos to look at:

Canon

http://www.dpreview.com/gallery/Canon_s3IS_samples/

Panasonic

http://www.dpreview.com/gallery/panasonicfz7_samples/

 

[motherbear]

Thanks for all the info. I was expecting the Cannon to be more recommended. I'm getting ready to order the Cannon S3IS and I'm excited about trying it out!!! Thanks again to everyone.

 

[jann1033]

Thanks for all the info. I was expecting the Cannon to be more recommended. I'm getting ready to order the Cannon S3IS and I'm excited about trying it out!!! Thanks again to everyone.

i think the major problem with the s3 is it wasn't a huge improvement over the highly improved and recommended s2 rather than it had major problems with it...so basically canon did such a good job with the s2 it backfired when they released the s3...now i can't decide if i should wait for the s4 or not some one was nice enough to send me the impovements for that one but i was tired when i read it and it went in one eye and out the other