Canadian thats confused on Which one to get

[mrwinky]

Ok so My wife and I have decided that we want to purchase a new camera, our current one is on its last leg. We have a Canon A20 atm. So I've done some considerable research and though I wanted the Minolta Z10, but after further review I was pointed in the direction of the PAnasonic FZ3. So before I go any further I want to list what I'm looking for in a camera. First we want one that is quick to power up and take its first shot, also we want quick shots in a row (basically we have a newborn who does cute things on a drop of a dime, and we want to be able to capture those quickly.) Our current camera takes about 10sec to boot, and about an average 7-10 sec in betweeen pictures. Next thing I was looking for A good feeling and some what easy to use camera, since my wife will be using it the most. 3rd, I thought was I like a camera that has a decent zoom, I want to be able to take a picture of the oldest child out on the ice (he plays hockey) or those snappy nature pictures that show up in the summer :)

Now I thought I had my heart set on the Panasonic FZ3, but my co worker is trying to talk me out of it, by saying that 3.2 meg is not enough, and I tried to tell him that we dont print anything above 8x10. So my co worker is trying to tell me why spend $500 on a 3.2 camera when you can get a 5 meg pixel one for that price (basicalyl why by older tech) and I come back with well it has 12x zoom etc etc. ANd he trys to tell me that if I take a picture with a Canon A95 ( this is the 5 mege pix he recommends) that I can crop it and such to get the same picture I would with the FZ3, cause it has more pixels and quaitly will allow it to do so. So I guess I'm here to ask what peoples opinions are and what I should get etc. Now I'll list some cameras and there prices (remember these are all in CDN)

FZ3 $530

Canon A95 $499.99

Minolta Z10 $329.99

Minolta Z500 $440

Minolta Z3 $630

Nikon Coolpix 4800 $530

Nikon Coolpix 5200 $499.99


Thank you very much in advance....


Mrwinky

[John_Reed]

Ok so My wife and I have decided that we want to purchase a new camera, our current one is on its last leg. We have a Canon A20 atm. So I've done some considerable research and though I wanted the Minolta Z10, but after further review I was pointed in the direction of the PAnasonic FZ3. So before I go any further I want to list what I'm looking for in a camera. First we want one that is quick to power up and take its first shot, also we want quick shots in a row (basically we have a newborn who does cute things on a drop of a dime, and we want to be able to capture those quickly.) Our current camera takes about 10sec to boot, and about an average 7-10 sec in betweeen pictures. Next thing I was looking for A good feeling and some what easy to use camera, since my wife will be using it the most. 3rd, I thought was I like a camera that has a decent zoom, I want to be able to take a picture of the oldest child out on the ice (he plays hockey) or those snappy nature pictures that show up in the summer :)

Now I thought I had my heart set on the Panasonic FZ3, but my co worker is trying to talk me out of it, by saying that 3.2 meg is not enough, and I tried to tell him that we dont print anything above 8x10. So my co worker is trying to tell me why spend $500 on a 3.2 camera when you can get a 5 meg pixel one for that price (basicalyl why by older tech) and I come back with well it has 12x zoom etc etc. ANd he trys to tell me that if I take a picture with a Canon A95 ( this is the 5 mege pix he recommends) that I can crop it and such to get the same picture I would with the FZ3, cause it has more pixels and quaitly will allow it to do so. So I guess I'm here to ask what peoples opinions are and what I should get etc. Now I'll list some cameras and there prices (remember these are all in CDN)

FZ3 $530

Canon A95 $499.99

Minolta Z10 $329.99

Minolta Z500 $440

Minolta Z3 $630

Nikon Coolpix 4800 $530

Nikon Coolpix 5200 $499.99


Thank you very much in advance....


MrwinkyYour friend isn't helping your confusion much by feeding you mis-information. Just because a camera has more pixels doesn't make it higher quality. You'll be able to get fine 8X10 prints from the FZ3, and with its very wide zoom reach, you probably won't need to do much cropping to get nice prints. As for his comment about being able to crop an A95 photo to get the same as an FZ3, suppose you took a shot at 420mm zoom, the FZ3's maximum "reach." That shot would be 2016 pixels wide on the the FZ3's sensor. Take the same shot with the A95 with its 114mm "reach" at "full" telephoto, and it would show up on the A95's sensor at 703 pixels wide. This definitely "not as good" as the FZ3 can do, in fact the resulting crop of the A95 photo would yield about 1/9 the pixels of the full FZ3 image. If you look at the posters on this forum, there are many happy FZ3 users; your friend may be ignorant of the benefits of this fine camera, but the fact is, it's a solid performer.

[PhilR.]

There a quite a few who would agree w/Mr. Reed's comments above - certainly I would. I just wanted to mention a few specifics about the FZ3. Mine seems to power up in about 2 seconds, give or take a few tenths. It will take shots quite quickly, but it even has a two-level "burst mode" where it will take something like 3-4 shots *per second* (don't know exact #, don't have my booklet nearby). You can leave it it this mode and just hold the button down for a few seconds whenever you take shots of your kids.

The way I look at it, since you mentioned "decent zoom", why spend money on a camera with an ordinary and mundane 3x zoom, when for slightly less money you can have a great camera with a 12x zoom and IS?

Just in case you didn't see this - a few days ago the Circuit City web site had the FZ3 on sale for $359, and also had a $50 rebate as well. You can order online, and pick up the camera at a local store if you have one. You can't find a better camera at that price!

PhilR.