Advice between SD600 or F20 or others?

[mythless]

Hello, currently I am torn between these two cameras. I don't know much about cameras in general besides looking at good quality pictures.

Here is the FAQ:

Budget: Max $250

Size: ultra compact

Features: 6 megapix is enough, with at least standard zoom. Image quality is very important to me, at least a 9. I know the draw backs of a ultra compact cameras.

Do you care for manual controls?: If there are some I wouldn't mind.

General Usage: Everything, all round usage. Low light-landscape, action shots, indoor/outdoors, the works, as long I can get decent pictures. I won't be making large prints often, but it would be nice to do some large prints on landscape shots.

I would also like to make movies (short ones) and would like to be able to zoom in and with sound.

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate? Not really, I've had canon before but hated the battery life (S400).

Are there particular models you already have in mind? Yes, SD600 and F20 atm.

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? Don't really know, I know IS is impossible in my price range though.

Thanks

[mythless]

no one has any advice?

[tim11]

Having own an Fuji F, I'm surely biased toward F20. Its battery life is the best in compact class. You must have heard of its lowlight reputation.

F30 can't zoom while recording video and I doubt F20 can either.

[sjseto]

The Canon has slightly "punchier" colours that tend to be appealing to most consumers. It has a better continuous mode that might come in handy if you like shooting action. It also has an optical viewfinder, which might come in handy in situations where viewing the image on the LCD would be difficult (such as bright sunlight).

The Fuji F20 has excellent high ISO capability that will allow you to take pictures in dimmer lighting without the use of a flash. Even outdoors on overcast days, I find high ISO capability to come in very handy, so I don't have to worry so much about blurry photos because the camera selected too slow of a shutter speed. It also has much better battery life.

Most digital cameras will not allow you to use the optical zoom in movie mode. The reason is because the noise from the lens mechanism will be picked up by the microphone and will be very loud and distracting in the recording.

If being able to zoom while recording movies is really important to you, you'd have to look at cameras like the Samsung NV3, which zooms the lens slowly so that the noise isn't picked up by the microphone. However the photo quality is probably not up to the Canon or Fuji standards; Jeff's review mentioned that details in the NV3's pictures are "muddy".

Stephanie

[mythless]

Yes, I have heard about its low light abilities, and its battery life of ~300 shots. My only concern with the camera is picture quality, how good is its auto mode, and ease of use. There aren't many review on the F20.

I hear the F20 has an anti blur in low light, which is not image stabilization. Aswell I hear or read that the F20 lacks image quality on large exposure of direct sunlight causing pictures to be over exposed, (causing purple fringe?). I would assume this is where the S600 would be better. But, Ive seen some pictures (though F30) and they aren't bad. I was told the image quality between the two are similar, canon slightly ahead, when printing out large prints. Other than that, both cameras are similar. I just don't like the below battery life, and fragile built/screen of the canon. btw, I won't be recording very much, mostly picture taking.

How bad is the over exposure, and what can I do to compensate that?

thanks

[sjseto]

My only concern with the camera is picture quality, how good is its auto mode, and ease of use. There aren't many review on the F20.

My experience with the F10 and F30 is that they are pretty good in full auto but will really shine when you set some things manually, like ISO and exposure compensation. They aren't difficult to learn.

I hear the F20 has an anti blur in low light, which is not image stabilization.

That's right. It has high ISO capability, which is more useful for freezing the movement of living subjects. Quite a few cameras now have ISO settings of 800 or higher, but I haven't seen any compact ones whose image quality compares to that of the Fuji cameras at those settings.

Aswell I hear or read that the F20 lacks image quality on large exposure of direct sunlight causing pictures to be over exposed, (causing purple fringe?).

I don't think that the F30 (I have only seen one review of the F20 so far, so I'm basing my assessment on the F30) is a bad camera outdoors. It does very well in most situations, but sometimes you just have to know how to play with the settings to get the most out of it.

It's not exactly overexposure that causes purple fringing. PF can occur in parts of a photo where extremely bright areas meet extremely dark areas (for example, see the "purple fringing tunnel of doom" in Jeff's camera reviews on this site), even if the photo as a whole is properly exposed. And, yes, the F10/F30 are known to exhibit this problem occasionally.

How bad is the over exposure, and what can I do to compensate that?

For all outdoor sunny shots with my F30, I set the exposure compensation to -1/3 EV. The camera will remember the setting in between shots and after you've turned the camera off.

If you want to know which camera I think does the best on full auto, I'd say it's the Canon. I like to tweak settings, so if I were choosing between the two, I'd pick the F20 and its superior low light capability. It's a matter of what's going to be more important to you.

Stephanie

[mythless]

For myself, I think I don't mind tweaking to get the best picture. As well, I don't find canon in auto all that stellar at times especially in mid to low light due to the weak flash. In bright light it does shine. I am leaning towards the F20. I don't think I would use the continuous drive that often, but it is a nice feature to have. I guess, the only draw back for the F20 is the adaptor for the xD memory. Unless I get a printer that has the reader/can print pictures, but I doubt the sub $200 print well.

[mythless]

Sorry for double posting, but I rather have a foolish question. I reading up on serveral cameras and I know most cameras are now USB compatible, would that necessary mean I no longer need a card reader? Just plug the camera into a USB port and download the pictures directly off the camera?

Thanks

[da_teacher]

I have a Canon SD630 and I absolutely love it...if you're a Costco member, it runs $254.99 there...6 megapixel, 3" LCD, manual controls...sweetness. After I got mine, four more were purchased within my realm of family members.

[mythless]

Aren't the SD600 and SD630 the exact same besides the LCD?

[sjseto]

I think you're right. Plus, the SD600 has an optical viewfinder, while the SD630 does not.

Stephanie