Going for a ultrazoom. Hard to decide. Need some help.

[Luscinia]

Hallo!
I'm not new to this forum and have asked "which camera should I buy?" before but haven't made up my mind yet. Since then I've read a lot on this forums and others and have seen some interesting models come and go. Maybe it's time to make a decision now before going on summer holiday traveling. If I don't decide now I will do it last in good time before a planned journey to Australia in a couple of years.

I'm looking for a camera that is easy to take good pictures with (see general usage). Maybe I will go for a DSLR sometime in the future. But now I only can afford up to a cheaper bridge camera. I am thankful to You who want to take a little time and share some good pieces of advice or experiences.

Budget

* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.
Up to 4.000 SEK (Swedish Crowns) including 1GB memory card, case and charger.
(That is about 600 USD, 300 GBP, 690 AUD or 440 EUR.)
I think Fuji s6500fd (s6000fd) is about the upper limit of my budget.

Size

* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?
Size don't matter so much, but weight matters a bit cause I want to take the camera with me togehter with binoculars and tripod on walkings in the nature.

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?
5

* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify)
10-12x

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)
8

Do you care for manual controls?
Maybe. Probably

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?
30% People
30% Landscape
30% Wildlife, especially birds
5% Flowers
5% Concerts

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?
Mostly no big prints but sometimes cropping up details on a photo.

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
20% Indoor
10% Outdoor low light (wildlife in dense forests, sunsets)

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?
Not so much. Sometimes children or wildlife in action.

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate?
Like most brands. But have a rating scale:
1. Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Fuji
2. Olympus, Pentax, Sony
3. Samsung, Kodak
4. Casio, Ricoh
5. Other brands

Are there particular models you already have in mind?
1. Ultrazoom models on their way out of the market with good value for the money:
- Fuji Finepix s6500fd
- Panasonic Lumix TZ1
- Nikon Coolpix P10

2. Newer ultrazoom models with not so high price:
- Fuji Finepix s5700
- Kodak Easyshare Z712
- Panasonic Lumix TZ2 or FZ8 (if their price soon is going down a bit)

3. Already used older ultrazoom models, if I can find them:
- Panasonic Lumix FZ5, FZ7, FZ20 or FZ30
- Canon Powershot S2 or S3
- Olympus Camedia ultrazooms

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)
Following would be nice:
- Wide angle. 35-36 mm or better.
- Image stabilization or good high ISO capabilities.
- Possibility to use the camera for digiscoping.

[AlexMonro]

35mm equivalent isn't really very wide angle, and I think for some landscapes you might wish to be able to go a bit wider.

Overall, I think the Fuji S6500 would be a good match to your requirements - maybe not perfect (what is? :) ) but a good compromise. The manual zoom is a nice bonus that few other cameras in your price range have.

If you can get to a shop and try it in your hands, you'll have a better idea of how comfortable you'll be using any camera, so if you can try say the Canon S3 and Panasonic FZ7 as well, youll have a better idea (those will give you slightly more telephoto reach, which might help with your wildlife pictures, and IS, which could be useful for static subjects, but you'll lose the 28mm wide angle and low noise at higher ISO)

It looks like you've done a lot of research, and have clear ideas about what you're looking for - now's the time to try things out!

[Luscinia]

Thanks for Yor answer!
Yesterday I visitid the three best photo shops around and tried out their ultrazooms. I've also checked out the 2:nd hand market.

Reflexions:

Canon Powershot Sx: Didn't find any. S5 over my budget. No 2:nd hand S2 or S3 available.
Olympus SP550UZ: Great feeling and grip! Over my budget though. Suspicious on that long zoom range.
Sony Cybershot Hx: Didn't find any. H7 and H9 over my budget. No 2:nd hand H2 or H5 available.
Nikon Coolpix S10: Good optics. But I don't really like the swivel design and the small buttons.
Kodak Easyshare Z712. Didn't find any.
Fuji Finepix S5700 (S700): Great feeling and grip! Disappointing EVF. Nice size and price. Good that SD-cards can be used.
Fuji Finepix S6500fd (S6000fd): Great feeling and grip! Disappointing EVF. Really nice handling with zoom and focus rings.
Panasonic Lumix TZ1. Good feeling and grip! Good LCD. Perhaps not the best one for indoor use. Nice size and price.
Panasonic Lumix FZ8. Acceptable feeling and grip. Good LCD. Acceptable EVF. Perhaps not the best one for indoor use. Very good outdoor in good light.
Panasonic Lumix TZ3. Acceptable feeling and grip. Very good LCD. Nice size. Prise over my budget though.

Conclusions:

The alternativs are two Fujis and two Panasonics: S5700(S700), S6500fd(S6000fd), TZ1 and FZ8. S5700(S700) and TZ1 is the same price. S6500fd(S6000fd) and FZ8 is

also about the same price but less cheap. I now have three deceions: 1. On which price level shall I settle? 1.Shall walk on the Fuji or Pana bridge? 3. Shall I wait a bit

longer for new better models, for price going down or for something to appear on the 2:nd hand market? The choices is up to me but I'm still glad for more guiding thougths

from You experts on this forum.

[AlexMonro]

Looks like you've been doing some thorough research, Luscinia!

Looking at your shortlist, I see that the only camera with 28mm equiv wide angle is the Fuji S6500, but you were dissapointed with the EVF. I think that for landscape pictures, wide angle is very important - when I was looking for an ultrazoom, I told the salesman that I was interested in landscapes, and he suggested the Fuji S9500, one of few cameras with 28mm available at the time, and looking back, that was the best photographic advice I've ever had! :) So I wonder if you might want to look at its replacement, the Fuji S9600. It has an even better EVF than the FZ8 (235,000 pixels) and many other enhancements over the S6500 - hinged LCD, flash hotshoe, better control layout with command dial. The downside is that it's not quite as good in low light as the S6500, but still better than the Panasonics. It's available for around 260-270 GBP in the UK, so should be within your budget.

The FZ8 might be better for wildlife & birds in bright daylight though, and the TZ1 is more compact. I guess you need to think about your priorities.

There's always going to be better new cameras coming along in a few months, but in the meantime, you're missing out on all the pictures you could've taken!