Choice between Panasonic FZ5, Canon S2 IS, Sony H1

[rock2rocku]

Hello experts,
I will be using this camera for outdoor scenic photographs on my travels and an occasional indoor night time photo. My budget is around 500 usd. I am considering one of these three cameras.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5, Canon PowerShot S2 IS, Sony Cyber-shot H1
Please give me your thoughts/suggestions for my requirements. If you think I am missing any other good camera for my specs, please do let me know. Thanks a lot
ara

[Nico18]

Buy the S2. Or the new FZ7. I got the S2, it got many more features than the others. Unlimited burst mode, zooming and stereo sound in movie mode, MyColor mode (switch colors or make the pic black and white BUT one color, very cool autumn shots), fast zooming, 0cm Macromode, easy to use and compact, overall good pic quality, long battery life (500+ shots) Poor autofocus though.

[bascom]

I'm not sure I would say the S2 is compact. Isn't it fairly big and heavy? I think the FZ5 and FZ7 are quite a bit smaller and lighter, and cheaper, but they don't use AA batteries. Also, the Canon S3 specs should be out soon.

[rock2rocku]

Thanks for your thoughts people,
I appreciate you taking the time and giving your opinions. Certainly sony seems to be a long shot now. Its down to canon and fz5/7. will keep you posted.
ara

[TampaJim]

The S2 is NOT heavy - by any means.

My "travel configuration" is ... the S2 camera with two sets of 2500MAh batteries (about 1000 shots), wall charger, three filters, two lenses with adapters (one telephoto, one wide angle), two memory cards and a lens cleaning cloth all in a Tamrac 5683 and one SAS medium lens pouch.

The whole configuration - bag and all the contents, weighs 2.8 pounds - amazing, YES - heavy, NO.

[capedeci]

For a photographer/enthusiast/hobbyist, your bag is not heavy, but for casual users, your bag is as heavy as a dumbell, and many people don't want to have that weight during say, city walks, or any casual walking, not photo hunting.

The Fz5/7 can fit in small camera bags, while for the Canon you need a bigger bag, that adds extra weight. For some people who value portability, 100g difference is considered huge :)

[rock2rocku]

Thanks again for all your thoughts.
Certainly the weight difference between canon and panny was not an issue for me. The bigger issues for my requirements and my thoughts on them are as follows.

As things stand now, Sony has a good camera but the biggest negative for me is its proprietary accessories. It can be a bit of a pain.
As far as Canon is concerned, it is the most expensive between the three and I would choose it if i cared for a video mode but I already have a camcorder. And between canon and panny, other than noise performance, every other factor seems to be going for panny as per my requirements.
So am more or less gravitating towards the panny.
Any thoughts on my comments??
thanks

[tim11]

Don't you know FZ5 also uses proprietary battery? The same for all Panasonic cameras. Sony use expensive Sony Memory Stick; the other two use SD cards.
I am sure you will be happy with any one of the 3 above.
Elsewhere, S2 is more expensive than FZ5 except in Australia; according to listed price.

[cwtbone]

as a former pro symphony trombone player. I am not surprised to see people recommend one camera over another based on what they personally own. I used to see the arguments about Conn versus Bach all the time. It all depended on what the individuals owned. All of these cameras are excellent and will make great pictures if used correctly. Pick the one that makes you happy and that you get the best deal whe buying. Memory cards are not expensive so do not let that be a big problem. $20 bucks does not make or break anyone buying a $ 400 or $500 camera.

[Kasanova]

I had the same comparison between S2 and FZ5 and at last I decided a FZ5. What I wanted is a still camera so I didn't need to waste money on somewhat "better video function" of S2, another thing that around USD30 should be added to S2 price for one set of 2500mAh AA rechargeable batt. and charger.

[capedeci]

Just for an information:

Memory Stick Pro Duo 2GB is cheaper than its CF Equivalent (Say, Sandisk Ultra II 2GB). They dropped price. Jeff also said this in one of his recent reviews too, but forgot which one. 2GB high speed MS pro Duo is available for $100.

Also note that AA battery discharged pretty quickly when you're not uising them. Cannot be charged if not completeky empty, annoying behavior of staying empty, while you swear to God that you charged it after it IS empty, and VERY inaccurate reporting of remaining capacity.

The best thing of AA is that you can grab energizers anytime.

[Kasanova]

Just for an information:
Also note that AA battery discharged pretty quickly when you're not uising them. The best thing of AA is that you can grab energizers anytime.

Sure, Capedeci, AA batt.'s totally empty after 1 day out of the camera without using.

[avi777]

I would go for a Sony H1. It's cheaper, has more accessories like battery charger, lens adapter, uses onl 2 AA batteries, and the still pictures are the same or better quality than the S2. Only the video on the S2 seemed to better. And do we really need a 0cm macro mode. Red eye is almost non existent on the Sony.
That's my piece. Am sure the best thing to do is get a hands on, on all the cams and decide.

[Eptiger]

Just throwing it out there: I got my brother a Canon S1 IS for Christmas of 2004 and he's still singing its praises. The picture quality and videos are really amazing, and all his picture are just stellar. The image stabilizer really is helpful to him. It is a bit big, but it looks like that isn't a concern for you. From what Jeff says, it looks like the S2 is even better, so you can't go wrong with the Canon.

I'm not discounting your other picks because I have no experience with them, but you shouldn't feel shorthanded with the S2, that's for sure.

Eptiger

[Gosepe]

I own a FZ5, my brother owns a S2-IS. Apart from the price difference and all the well known spec differences I would say that the hit-rate per foto is better on the FZ5. Hardly any pictures come out wrong, wich does happen more with te S2. Also the shutterlag on the canon is noticable, and non-existent on the FZ5. On the other hand I had a hard time with fireworks-shots and a friend with a canon Ixus 450 produced nice shots all the time..frustrating.

Overall the canon has more fun options like colorswap and rotatable LCD and of course the awsome movie mode. Also it zooms faster. It's significantly bigger, but I don't mind that because it really feels nice in your hands.

The colours are different on the camera's, pana looks a little more natural, the canon makes everything look a bit nicer then it is, colors are more pronounced.

With both I had a terrible time shooting indoor at nighttime with or without flash. Photo's all yellow...now I know how to set the whitebalance and they are much better on both camera's!

You won't find confirmation of this in the reviews, just my personal non-scientific experiences!

When I bought the Fz5 the canon was not out yet. If I had to decide over again I couldn't make a choice. They're both great. From what I've read the FZ7 won't be a spectacular improvement, and the FZ-30 is called a noise machine by some. So I would wait for the FZ-40/S3/H2....good shopping!

[michael1973]

I think I will follow your advise...see
http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17681

I'm stuck and it seems there is no non d-SLR camera that has a big zoom, image stabilizer and at a very good image quality.

The camera I would like to have:

- image quality like Canon G6 (or even better?)
- at least 6x optical zoom
- image stabilizer
- 6 mp or higher

[BowerR64]

When i start to look for a new camera i decide that my phone, my MP3 player and my P&S A510 takes SD card and i want to stick with SD because CF can be a problem if you bend the pins and this happens more then you think.

They all have super zoom so that was not a problem next was batteries to me power is high up on my chart. Ive had MANY electronics in the past and i will never buy another device that uses a pack. It maybe ok for the life i have it but what about the next person who gets it? maybe my sister? my nephew? so i give him a nice camera that you cant get batteries for because they are a special type you cant find anymore, no thanks.

Sony is always trying to get people to fallow their lead and i like sony alot but the special memory lost me on their design. I had a V1 for a while and i didnt like how their program setup works its awkward to navigate threw. I didnt like the sony color either the whites had a yellow cast and the blues look more green to my eye.

The panasonic looks great and has a good price but i hear they are noisy and they chew threw batteries more then the others in this catagory.

So i went with the canon because they had the SD, the image stabalizer, AA batteries and the moveable LCD screen. Sometimes on a tripod it can be handy. I dont care for the silver body but i can live with that. I was going to get an SLR but they all use CF memory and im not going back to that type, i think the future is SD. The S3 looks nice i may get it later in the year.

[rockwood]

I could not choose between Canon S2 and Sony H1. Now I am selling my Kodak DX6490 and trying to find a better one.

http://www.dcresource.com/specials/S2_vs_H1/index.shtml
In this link I think Sony is better than Canon(I am not so sure since I did not see this places with my own eyes) however

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/sony/dsc_h1-review/nightshot-tb.jpg

and

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_s2-review/nightshot-tb.jpg

it is clear that Canon is better in these night pictures. Since these are my opinions I am asking for yours. Now I need help for choosing which one? Please help thanks.

[Kasanova]

Hence you are familiar with Kodak, why don't you try P850? It's not bad.