Kodak Z712IS, Fuji f30, f40, S700, Canon S3 or what?

[Theodoric]

I'm the kind of guy who likes to not only have his cake and eat it too, but also share it with my friends and use it to cure cancer. So to make it easy, I won't get anything over budget or much bigger than the Kodak Z712IS, and if that will get me a crap camera, then so be it. Just tell me straight. I can take it.

Here's the little questionnaire thing.


Budget

* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.
About $250. This may not seem like a lot, but I have a knack for finding cheap stuff. If the average sale price is under $350, I should be ok.

Size

* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?
I would really like it to be SLR-like, but NOT BIG! I think that the size of some of the Kodak EasyShare’s or the Fujifilm FinePix S700 would be perfect. Maybe it shouldn’t be, but size really is the biggest basic determining factor here.

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?
I dunno. Whatever will take good pictures, I guess. 5-6 MP min?

* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify)
Preferably Ultrazoom. If that’s not possible, then maybe 6x.

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)
11!

Do you care for manual controls?
Yes, full manual mode is a definite must.

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?
Everything. Artistic shoots to everyday snap-shots.

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?
Probably not.

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
This is another key point. I can’t stand blurry low light photos. I would really like something that does well in low light situations.

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?
Probably not.

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate?
I am partial to Fuji for some reason.


Are there particular models you already have in mind?
If I could somehow get the features of the Fujifilm S6000/S6500 in the body of the Fujifilm S700/S5700, I would be the happiest person on earth.

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)
I just want it to be a nice size and take good pictures.


Thank you so much for your help!

[flippedgazelle]

I'm the kind of guy who likes to not only have his cake and eat it too, but also share it with my friends and use it to cure cancer. So to make it easy, I won't get anything over budget or much bigger than the Kodak Z712IS, and if that will get me a crap camera, then so be it. Just tell me straight. I can take it.

Here's the little questionnaire thing.


Budget

* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.
About $250. This may not seem like a lot, but I have a knack for finding cheap stuff. If the average sale price is under $350, I should be ok.

Size

* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?
I would really like it to be SLR-like, but NOT BIG! I think that the size of some of the Kodak EasyShare’s or the Fujifilm FinePix S700 would be perfect. Maybe it shouldn’t be, but size really is the biggest basic determining factor here.

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?
I dunno. Whatever will take good pictures, I guess. 5-6 MP min?

* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify)
Preferably Ultrazoom. If that’s not possible, then maybe 6x.

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)
11!

Do you care for manual controls?
Yes, full manual mode is a definite must.

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?
Everything. Artistic shoots to everyday snap-shots.

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?
Probably not.

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
This is another key point. I can’t stand blurry low light photos. I would really like something that does well in low light situations.

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?
Probably not.

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate?
I am partial to Fuji for some reason.


Are there particular models you already have in mind?
If I could somehow get the features of the Fujifilm S6000/S6500 in the body of the Fujifilm S700/S5700, I would be the happiest person on earth.

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)
I just want it to be a nice size and take good pictures.


Thank you so much for your help!

Seems to me the Kodak Z712IS you've mentioned may be your best bet if the perhaps overly-compressed images do not bother you. Perhaps the Panasonic TZ3 is worth looking at, though it has limited controls. If John Reed sticks his virtual head in here, I'm sure he can provide ample samples of the TZ3's capabilities.

[Theodoric]

Thanks for the advice. What do you mean exactly by "overly-compressed images." That sounds funny. And yes, most things short of perfection bother me, but I've learned to block most of them out. I've just started looking at the Panasonics, and they seem interesting, but I have heard that they don't do so hot in low light situations. What do you know about the Lumix series, in particular, the DMC-F28 or F27? The TZ3 seems nice, but review say image quality is lacking.
Also, is the Fuji S700 really that bad in low light? (Can you tell I want to like it?) I just wish the lens was as fast as the Kodak.

[flippedgazelle]

By "overly-compressed" I mean that the jpeg compression level used by the camera is too strong. The jpeg format, by it's nature, is a lossy format - it discards certain image information in order to reduce file size. When used gently, the image quality loss incurred by jpeg is virtually unnoticeable to all but the most discerning eye. However, when too much compression is used, image detail is lost. Some camera manufacturers, imo, sometimes set the camera to compress the images too much so more photo as can be stored on the camera's memory card.

I'm not too well versed with the Pannys, but they do have a reputation for having noisy sensors. However, they use sharp, fast lenses and have faster performance than is typical for an ultrazoom. The TZ3 reportedly has a bit less of a noise issue than other Pannys.

I don't think the Fuji S700 is bad in low light, relative to other cameras in its class. However, the S700 does use a conventional CCD sensor rather than Fuji's Super-CCD, so it does not really compare to other FUji ultrazooms. It seems to me that S700 users are quite enthusiastic about their camera, whereas "pro" reviewers are a bit more tepid. If I had to choose between the S700 and the Kodak Z712 without the opportunity to handle either one, I would choose the Kodak simply because it offers IS. When choosing between the 2, it is worth noting that while the Z712's lens is faster at the wide end (f2.8 vs f3.5) the S700 is faster at the tele end (f3.7 vs f4.9).

FWIW, I find samples of the TZ3's image quality to be on par with what I've seen from the S700 and Z712, just a little different in terms of strengths/weaknesses.