Fz5 Fz20 Poll

[drewex]

Ok on my other poll i noticed that panasonic is the right one BUT thanks to
tclune, he messed up my decision and now i got stuck can some one help me on this compare, 50 dolar is notthing for a camera price difference.

His post was :

The FZ20 is in this price range, and my personal choice. The Leica lens is clearly the class in this field, and the FZ5 has a wimpy flash, no hot shoe, no ED lens, creeps up to f/3.3 (?) at long zooms instead of keeping that lovely 2.8 thoughout the range, and lacks manual focus or support for remote firing, all for a street price difference of about $50.

[coldrain]

Ok on my other poll i noticed that panasonic is the right one BUT thanks to
tclune, he messed up my decision and now i got stuck can some one help me on this compare, 50 dolar is notthing for a camera price difference.

His post was :

The FZ20 is in this price range, and my personal choice. The Leica lens is clearly the class in this field, and the FZ5 has a wimpy flash, no hot shoe, no ED lens, creeps up to f/3.3 (?) at long zooms instead of keeping that lovely 2.8 thoughout the range, and lacks manual focus or support for remote firing, all for a street price difference of about $50.
Funny to think you can get from a poll which one is the best. I would think you should just look at photos and reviews, and maybe some real advice. People will often just defend their make or their model. Polls are silly.

[drewex]

I'm not just asking for polls of course i need comparison too but im not so skilled but i want to learn so. Help?:confused:

[coldrain]

I'm not just asking for polls of course i need comparison too but im not so skilled but i want to learn so. Help?:confused:
Ok, help. lets see.

On this site Jeff Keller reviews, and I have found his opinion more valuable than other review sites. So I would suggest reading his reviews carefully and reading between the lines, because if Jeff would get very very critical I am sure some manufacturers would not want to have him review their stuff.

Then he always puts a number of test shots in the review gallery. The full resolution ones should give you an idea of the character of the cameras image quality.
Do the colours look vivid? or are they dull? Do you see noise or stange artifacts? How much purple/green/red fringing do you see along borders between 2 different coloured parts? And does the fringing show up still when you look at the photo in a more normal size?

Do some features seem very nice to you, and does that make a camera stand out?

Then you can form your OWN opinion, and of course you can ask on the forum when something puzzles you or something is unclear.

Until I see a review and sample shots of a Kodak P850 and Fuji S5200 and S9000/9500 my favorite 12x ultrazoom is the Canon S2 IS, judging by what I see and value in the posted full res pictures.

I like the real life colours of this Canon, the Panasonics always have seemed dull and muddled and not life like to me. And I do not like the noisy character of them.
Another big plus of the Canon I find is that it is compact yet nice to hold and not fragile, and the awesome swiveling display that lets you make self portraits, make pics over peoples heads, make close to the ground pics without having to lay in wet grass or in the dust, or even make a pic around a corner.

Some others like a Panasonic, for the leica name of the lens, or because they find the character of the cameras photos nicer, or for other reasons.
The FZ20 and FZ30 are bigger and biggest, the FZ5 is smallest of the whole bunch. But it also has the lesser lens of the 3 FZ's and has the dullest colour balance. It also lacks in features and feels plasticy compared to others.

The Sony H1 is the best one where noise is concerned at ISO 200 and 400, nice when it is dark. The Fuji's will better that probably, but are as of yet untested and do not have image stabilzation, so they will need it too.

The Kodak seems to be like the Sony in features... but you can put a big flash unit on top.

So, differences in Image quality, and differences in features. You have to make up your own mind of what you find important and attractive. But keep an open mind and do not run after someone that just tells that his camera is best.

[tim11]

Funny to think you can get from a poll which one is the best. I would think you should just look at photos and reviews, and maybe some real advice. People will often just defend their make or their model. Polls are silly.
That much I agree. That poll represenes nothing. People vote for what they have and how many people have the luxury of testing all 4 cameras? I voted FZ5 because I'm familiar with it and it works for me well. But what works well for me doesn't really mean it will work for you.
It's really unfair to Kodak 850. It's a new comer in many senses, it's Kodak first prosumer and I doubt many people have one to really test its quality against other established names.

[tim11]

As addition to my previous post. I chose FZ20 to FZ5 since it has hot shoe and manual focus ring, F2.8 throughout; etc.... features considered unessesary by some.
AND IF you like to use camera to take video, S2 IS should be chosen over FZ#. You can take still shots even while you are taking video.
And if you are really fussy with noise, you should pursue Coldrain's points further.
So.... it's really down to your own expectation, what are you going to use the camera for and what features are more important to you [personally].