Canon sd450 or Panasonic FX-9

[preludervtec]

Im having trouble deciding between the two cameras. The reason i like these cameras is because of their size and great reviews. My main concerns between these two are the battery life. It seems that the panasonic has a way longer battery life than the canon which makes me lean towards the fx-9. Also, the fx-9 has the built in image stabalizer for clearer pictures an also can do the 4.1 optical zoom if your resolution is set below 3mp. But the sd450 has been proven to be a great camera with fantastic image quality. What would you recommened between the two? Or anything that i should be aware of.

Thanks,
Justin

[coldrain]

The image stabilization is not for clearer pictures, but helps when you take photos with a longer shutter time. So it will help when there isn't enough light with STATIC subjects, not with moving ones.

The FX9 is quite noisy with its 6mp sensor, you would be well advised to consider the FX8 instead, the same camera but with a (better!!) 5mp sensor!

The FX8/9 has a shutter lag that reminds of older digital cameras though.... so try one in a shop to see how annoying that is for you.

That 4.1 zoom at 3mp is a realllllly silly feature, of you make a full resolution picture and then CROP the photo in your computer to 3 mp.... guess what you will get?

Both the FX8 and sd450 are 5mp cameras, both a nice, the SD450 having the edge in image quality and the FX8 has IS. Try them in a shop and see which one takes your fancy.

[red hot sheep]

Hi Justin,

I own the sd400 and I can confirm that its image quality really is very impressive for a camera of its size. I recently blew up a photo of ayers rock that I took, to 20 x 30", and from a couple of feet back (which is how you view pictures on the wall), it looks superb!

What I also like about it is that you can manually choose long shutter speeds (from 1s - 15s), giving you some kind of control for night shots. I don't think any other small digicams give you any shutter control at all.

Regarding battery life; for me it seems fine, but I agree that it doesn't last as long as some cameras on the market. However, I wouldn't base too much weight on this factor, as you can quite easily buy a 3rd party battery for it pretty cheaply.

Finally, it's quite durable despite its fragile looks. Several times during my holiday in Australia I dropped it, and was very worried that it was broken, but it still works great!

I know I can't give you any info about the Lumix, but my experience with the Canon has been very positive.

(It also has great movie modes including a 60fps mode in QVGA!)

[tanalasta]

From reading the reviews, I'd say go with the Canon SD450. The benefits of the Panasonic FX-9 are IS and possibly a better LCD screen. LCD on the canon is fairly low resolution but still totally acceptable (though what "were" Canon thinking - especially given the price premium over the SD400). The canon however, has better image quality and at ISO50 - very low noise levels.

The DIGICII on the Canon SD450 is also very responsive. Somehow, there is also less purple fringing on the SD450 than the popular SD300 (ixus 40).

My only gripe apart from red-eye and washed out detail in high-contrast areas (not uncommon in ultracompacts) are flash pictures at close range can be grossly overexposed. Anything close than 50cm, especially at ISO100 is washed out, I assume due to the fact the camera's fixed aperture and the low (1/60) shutter speed required to sync with the flash. There's quite a bit of talk on this on the dpreview forums. This wasn't a problem with the older SD300/200.

What hasn't been mentioned though is you can compensate by:
1. lens paper over the flash
2. clicking the macro button fixes the exposure problem wonderfully
3. shooting at ISO50 at close range.

Other than that, you have a beautifully built camera with fast response times and (for an ultracompact) great image quality.

By the way, I own an SD200 and an SD450 (amongst others) ... :P

[preludervtec]

WOW! you guys are great! Thanks for all the informative and personal information. Looks like the concensus is the canon SD450. I was deadset at getting the sd450 but recently saw a review for the FX-9. Ill take your guys word for it and go for the SD450. I know that i wont be dissapointed.

Tantalasa - How many pictures can you take when the battery is fully charged?

The SD400 and the SD450 have the same NB-4L battery. The review for the SD400 on this website rated it to take roughly only 150 pictures before the battery dying. To me, this is way too low. Im going to be attending a car show soon where ill be taking more than 300+ photos, thats why battery life is very important to me. Do they sell batteries for the SD450 that would last longer?

Thanks

[tanalasta]

150 with the LCD on sounds about right though I think on a bad day with the SD200, the battery died on me after about 120 shots over two days. The manual advises you to charge the battery a day before you plan to use it - good advice if your battery isn't flat. Only takes 90 minutes or so.I can't remember the ballpark figure from testing the SD200 and haven't really had the opportunity to give the SD450 a proper shootout yet.

From my experiences with the SD200,
Turn the LCD off and you'll manage 400 odd photos. Viewfinder isn't that accurate and awfully small (on my old SD200, cut off at least 10% of the top of the "real" picture but I learnt to compensate rather quickly. Haven't tested the SD450 yet). If you turn your LCD off as soon as the battery warning light flashes, you should get at least two dozen more photos. Often more. That LCD screen really drains the battery so you'll get less depending on how much playback/reviewing/time composing with it on.

You can get generic batteries with a higher mAh rating but they're obviously not recommended by Canon, so do so at your own risk.