FZ20 vs. F717 ??

[Adamzx3]

I am stuck on two camera's sony dsc-f717 or the panasonic Lumix FZ20.
from what Ive researched heres the tradeoffs

FZ20:
Good zoom, image stab. , lots of ooptions, leica lens, can pickup at circut city 540 total with camera bag.
the bad.....noise noise noise!

Sony F717

Good image quality, twist grip, good zoom
the bad...
Uses memory stick, looks awkward,no imag stab.

Now as far as image quality....all the pics look comparable..some f717 are noisey and some fz20 are not.... I know this depends on noise and all, but I am very confused....would the image quality be better with the imag stab. in the FZ along with noiseninja ? I dont plan on using a tripod alot, and will use about 5-6x zoom on average. Help!!!

[Thon]

Reading your post, I believe you've just answered most of your questions. And the answer is the FZ20.

All digicams have pros and cons. It's a matter of finding a balance for what you actually need and want.

I myself find the FZ20 just too big for my liking, though I really liked the Leica lens. I got myself an Oly C-770UZ and loved it.
Pros: Compact size, good flash and great pictures. MPEG4 movie.
Cons: only 10X zoom and lens not as fast as the FZ20, 4MP and no IS.

Anyway, the best camera to have would be a dSLR with a good quality lens of your choice (I'd love one, but ......)

Hope you find the camera you need. Good luck.

[Adamzx3]

lol yea I LOVE the image quality of the F717....but I fear without a tripod it will be blury....I have never used that or any high zoom camera, but do you guys think it will be so blurry that it will look worse than the f20 ?? (with or without noise removal software)

I can pick up the FZ20 at circuit city for 540 out the door...and the F717 for around 550 shipped from abes of main....so they will cost the same pretty much

Also I am really looking at image quality...though most will be 4x6's I will print off some at 8x10's too. as far as image quality....Its hard to compare them both looking at totally different images, I have been comparing skys with both at the same ISO setting, but they seem fairly close...what's the consensus??

[Thon]

Frankly speaking, I've no idea how bad the FZ20 noise problem is, but I've read an article somewhere that some amount of noise is actually better than a blurry picture. Just treat the noise as grain in a photograph and it can be fixed fairly easily, rather than a photo that's out of focus/blurry.

I'd rather have a sharp and slightly grainy photo to a blurry smooth photo anyday.

Another thing on ISO is, it seems that different brands seems to have slightly different standards on the ISO. An ISO 200 photo on one brand may have similar graininess as an ISO 400 photo on another.

The best way for you to really decide is check whether you know anyone with either cameras or go to a retailer and have a test.

Good luck.

[tompagenet]

I'll be honest with you and say I had never heard of the FZ20 until today, but I must say the F717 was, until my one got stolen, a fantastic camera. I love the pictures it gave me, the size and shape of it was never a problem for me - I loved it's super quality lens and zoom/focus wheel. Of all the cameras I've used, the Sony F717 was the one that gave me to most consistantly good pictures.

I've used an Olympus 2020Zoom, Canon Powershot G2, Nikon compact 35mm and even a lovely Nikon FE20 35mm and I've never been happier than I was with my Sony F717 - so I wish someone had let me keep it!

Cheers, Tom

[Adamzx3]

I finnaly made my desicion....after trying out neat image with the sample FZ20 files I am VERY pleased with the results....it takes away the noise compleatly with most pics and with other high iso pics it almost takes all of it away while still retaining the image quality!

[pwiles1968]

neat image? do you have a link, is there a similar function in Photoshop?

[Billiam]

http://www.neatimage.com/

[Adamzx3]

yes try the demo out, also they have pre made profiles for your camera, or you can drag a selection onto something with no detail like a sky and it will figure out that cameras noise pattern with that iso setting.

also as far as PS if you get the home+ edition or pro+ edition you get a PS plugin so you can limit it to a selection and use PS actions to batch process, although the demo lets u batch 2 :p