F650 vs F30 Night mode, low light photos

[dhcp0]

Hi All,

I'm going onto my 3rd camera and after reading reviews for the A700 and TZ, then finally seeing them in person .....

I've decided to wait for the F30 instead - but read that there is a F650 which offers 5x optical zoom.

What are your experiences with Night mode and low light situation photos - I understand that the F30 can take ISO800/1600/3200 but doubt that I would use ISO 1600/3200 or even ISO800 .....

Is the image quality on the F650 in ISO400 mode the same as the F30??

Thanks,
Dan


EDIT:
I read on the broshure that the exposure times are 3 - 1/20000 secs .... but also allow for 15 seconds in "long exposure" mode .... so does this mean that I can't manually set a 4 second or 6 second exposure? ie I can only choose upto 3 seconds and then 15 seconds?

[sjseto]

The higher ISO's come in handy when you want to take shots in low light without using the flash, and you don't have a tripod or something to hold the camera steady. I try to use the lowest ISO possible whenever I can, but there have been times when ISO 800 and even 1600 have been very useful. For example:

http://mishuna.image.pbase.com/g4/89/6589/2/61010250.DSCF1851_1280x960.jpg

The above shot was taken by my F10 (predecessor to the F30) at ISO 800, which gave a 1/56s shutter speed, which can be safely hand-held by most people without blur. Alternatively, ISO 100 and flash could have been used, but since there was some natural light coming through a window, I wanted to take advantage of it...and I think that the result is much nicer than a flash picture would have been.

ISO 1600 isn't bad at all, especially when viewing at smaller sizes (and will probably produce fairly good 4x6 prints):

http://i.pbase.com/g4/89/6589/2/61606662.3h5IfFNo.jpg

ISO 3200 produces a kind of watercolour effect with photos and I would use it only as a last resort:

http://k43.pbase.com/g4/89/6589/2/62424895.RMvZB3Cx.jpg

I can't comment on how the F650 compares since I haven't seen any samples from it yet. But if you take pictures mostly in good light and are satisfied with using the flash indoors, it might be a good camera for you. Shutter speed apparently only goes to a maximum of 2 seconds, so your night capability would be limited. Having a 5x zoom sounds pretty appealing, but be aware that it does not have image stabilization either, so without higher ISO capability, you probably would be limited to shooting in good light when you're using the long end of the zoom lens.

Regarding the F30 shutter speed question, the F30 automatically selects the shutter speed for you in all modes except for Shutter Priority and Long Exposure. In most shooting modes you are limited to a maximum of 1/4 s. In Night Mode it can go up to 3 s. In Long Exposure (which can only be used in conjunction with Night Mode) you manually set the shutter speed from 3 to 15 s in 1 s increments. In Shutter Priority you can manually set it anywhere from 3 s to 1/1000 s.

Stephanie