quality point and shoot with more zoom

[michael1882]

Money not issue.. Would like newer technology.... Need more than 3x optical zoom because it doesn't look like enough in the store in our view..... Want excellant pictures in a point and shoot for wife who knows very little about cameras... Looking at
Samsung nv 7 because of 7x zoom and 7.1 mp
Canon G7 because of 6x zoom and 10 mp
Samsung digimax L85 because 5x zoom and 8.1mp and the fact that
I just bought 3 pioneer plasmas and hdmi port would be
easy for wife to view on tv, i think ?
Leica DLUX 3 because 4X zoom and 10 mp 16x9 format option
Samsung NV 10 because ? 10 mp and hoping 3x zoom is better than
others

ANY OTHERS TO SUGGEST
I know ,I don't know what I am talking about but help

thanks michael1882

[brian wahl]

It seems like the Canon S3 IS is one of the most popular super-zoom cameras out there.

6 MP, 12X zoom, image stabilization, good movie mode, lots of automatic modes plus good manual control if you want to use it, etc.

Not too bad at ~$300 - $350 or so.

I think it might be my next camera.

What size are you looking for - do you want something really compact (pocketable) or do you mind something a bit bigger?

[bascom]

Why do you need 7 to 10 MP? What size prints will you be making? I think Canon is better than Samsung and maybe the Leica. The A710 is similar to the G7 but a lot cheaper.

[michael1882]

It seems like the Canon S3 IS is one of the most popular super-zoom cameras out there.

6 MP, 12X zoom, image stabilization, good movie mode, lots of automatic modes plus good manual control if you want to use it, etc.

Not too bad at ~$300 - $350 or so.

I think it might be my next camera.

What size are you looking for - do you want something really compact (pocketable) or do you mind something a bit bigger?

want something compact ..............

[John_Reed]

It has 10X zoom, from 35mm to 350mm. Jeff Keller, this site's proprietor, liked it so well when he reviewed it that he bought one for his Dad as a gift. I have one, I love it, and so do most of the people who own it. It's priced at around ~$250 these days, is a 5MP camera with image stabilization, and it's very compact, can be stuck easily in a shirt pocket or purse.

[BonjiB]

I second the tz1 for your needs. It's small and stylish yet packs a whopping 10x optical zoom that delivers on quality. I bought one of these for my sister and she can't stop raving about it. I've seen the shots she's managed to get from it and it's really a very good camera. If you want compact with big zoom... panasonic tz1 is the way to go.

[bascom]

If you're willing to go Panasonic then add the FZ7 to your list. It's < $300 now and offers more than the TZ1 but still fairly small.

[justagirl]

Would you opt for the Panasonic TZ1 over the Kodak Z612? I don't care about the size difference...which is better quality is my main concern.

[John_Reed]

Would you opt for the Panasonic TZ1 over the Kodak Z612? I don't care about the size difference...which is better quality is my main concern.
There's a French site that allows comparing cameras side by side, here. (http://www.lesnumeriques.com/duels.php?ty=1&ma1=18&mo1=225&p1=1272&ma2=60&mo2=209&p2=1082&ph=2) I took a look, went down through the various scenes, and concluded that the TZ1 was picking up more detail than the Kodak in the various images, especially the macros, where it seemed to excel both on details and colors. Check it out, see what you think?

Having said all that, I hasten to add the obvious ergonomic differences between the Kodak and the Panasonic, namely, the Kodak has an EVF, and a pop-up flash, lacking in the TZ1. It also has more zoom, 420mm max vs. 350mm max. So take that into account. Best of all worlds would say, as I always recommend, that you hold each of the cameras in your hands and see how the "feel" of each one suits your tastes.

[justagirl]

There's a French site that allows comparing cameras side by side, here. (http://www.lesnumeriques.com/duels.php?ty=1&ma1=18&mo1=225&p1=1272&ma2=60&mo2=209&p2=1082&ph=2) I took a look, went down through the various scenes, and concluded that the TZ1 was picking up more detail than the Kodak in the various images, especially the macros, where it seemed to excel both on details and colors. Check it out, see what you think?

Having said all that, I hasten to add the obvious ergonomic differences between the Kodak and the Panasonic, namely, the Kodak has an EVF, and a pop-up flash, lacking in the TZ1. It also has more zoom, 420mm max vs. 350mm max. So take that into account. Best of all worlds would say, as I always recommend, that you hold each of the cameras in your hands and see how the "feel" of each one suits your tastes.

I've looked at both and both are fine with handling. Besides oudoors/landscape shots, I guess it's low lighting functioning is what matters a lot...I read that the TZ1 has no manual controls, so would not be able to raise the ISO in low light settings, and also I read that the TZ1 sometimes has problems with noise. But, it gets higher ratings than the Kodak Z612 so begins to make me doubt the Kodak and make my choice more difficult, lol.

[John_Reed]

I've looked at both and both are fine with handling. Besides oudoors/landscape shots, I guess it's low lighting functioning is what matters a lot...I read that the TZ1 has no manual controls, so would not be able to raise the ISO in low light settings, and also I read that the TZ1 sometimes has problems with noise. But, it gets higher ratings than the Kodak Z612 so begins to make me doubt the Kodak and make my choice more difficult, lol.The TZ1 has a couple of means of dealing with your concerns on ISO.

First, its "Auto ISO" function will move the ISO in the range of 80-200 without flash, with many stops between, like 125, 150, 160. With flash, the controlled range extends up to ISO 400, with other stops like 250, 320, at least (from what I've seen).

Second, the TZ1 menu selections allow ISOs from 80 to 800. These are numbers YOU select, so you get 80, 100, 200, 400, & 800 as choices. Now, I won't say that the TZ1 is "noiseless" at high ISOs, but here's an example of an ISO 400 flash shot I took in a bar that I printed at 8X10 without using any noise reduction (no redeye removal either) at all:

http://John-Reed.smugmug.com/photos/66512364-L.jpg

I posted recently some shots I took with Tizzy at a night concert. For these I set ISO through the menu at 400. The first 2 are at full zoom:

http://John-Reed.smugmug.com/photos/104167593-L.jpg

http://John-Reed.smugmug.com/photos/104167635-L.jpg

and the 3rd one was taken at a 61mm equivalent focal length, of a woman blowing bubbles:

http://John-Reed.smugmug.com/photos/104167692-L.jpg

Yes, I did do some post-processing on those, mainly to bring out some of the darker details with Photoshop's "Shadow/Highlighting" tool, which caused me to remove some noise also, that wouldn't have shown up otherwise. One other point, is that to get the right exposure on these, I used Tizzy's "Spot Metering" mode to get the facial exposure correct.

So you see, although it's technically an "automatic" camera, it still affords a lot of flexibility for the shooter.