Architecture student's hard choice

[Ziellony]

Budget
~500$

Size
rather compact one

Features
How many megapixels will suffice for you?
more than 7MPix

What optical zoom will you need?
standard

How important is “image quality” to you?
8-9

Do you care for manual controls?
yes, it mst be simple in using, but it can be camera with manual mode (even preffered)

General Usage
I'm architecture student, so digital camera is something very important for me. I now have Panasonic one with 4MP and 6x optical zooom i use it generally as pocket xsero (this is why it shoudnt be too big just to fit the bag with laptop and few books), camera to take pictures of buildings, building models, landscapes - as every normal student after work I use it for taking photos of my fiends and me.

I make sam prints from my camera usually as some kind of bacground of projects so usually it is A2 or A1 (but the picture is only bacground - blurred but in future I will need some big prints of photos about A3 format).

I shoot mainly outdoors but some interior picture taking is also important.

There ar rare situations when I need photo of moving objects, but time of focusing and processing the photo is relevant for me.

Miscellaneous

I have Panasonic so I am used to it.

Are there particular models you already have in mind?

I was thinking about:
1. Panasonic lumix lx2 - due to its 16:9 ratio and compact design
2. Canon PS G7


As I wrote I am an architecture student - the camera is nearly every day with me, I want to replace my old one, but I wnat to make good choice at least fo next 3 years, so please help me. Or suggest the way I should look.

[faisal]

is the camera in for some rough use?

& you said you have the panasonic with 6x zoom....so do you use the long end of the zoom [i.e 6x] most of the time that might make you feel restricted with a standard zoom of 3x-4x?

in todays world most P&S are compact [apart from the ultra zooms], so how compact are you looking at...you've got the compact & the ultra comppacts...

you're an architecture student, so I should assume that good macro shots with minimum barrel distortion....

about recommendations, I'll leave that to the more experience members here...but answering the few issues I've raised would surely make the list of recommendations shorter & easier to decide from.....

[Ziellony]

My camera in now Panasonic DMC-LZ1 (http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/cameraDetail.php?cam=682)
I do use the 6x zoom (rarely extended digital zoom), but only for some detail photo of buildings.

>> is the camera in for some rough use?

What do you mean by that. I'm using camera nearly everyday making from few to 50 photos (when coping something from magazine to read it at home). I take camera outdoors about once a week for som city phot making, or on the trips - but I care about electronical devices if you mean that ;)

>> todays world most P&S are compact [apart from the ultra zooms], so how compact are you looking at...you've got the compact & the ultra comppacts...

I don't want to have something really larger than the camera I have now. Of course if you have any suggestions about really good "larger" one I will consider them :P

[faisal]

so looking at your panasonic, I assume these would be a great upgrade from your current one....

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ6
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ7

but as I pointed out earlier...let the more experience members guide you here....cheers

[Ziellony]

Thanks faisal. Mabe more advice from other forum members?

[ArchiMark]

Thanks faisal. Mabe more advice from other forum members?

Well, from an old architect to an architecture student, my first thought in reading your post was what about wide angle lens??

Don't you find that in shooting buildings, streetscapes, etc a wide angle lens would be useful?

Zoom is nice to have too for zeroing in on details, but what I find lacking in most inexpensive digicam's is wide angle lens....

Anyway, just something else to think about....

[John_Reed]

The Panasonic TZ3 uniquely offers 28mm wideangle in three different aspect ratios. For most cameras offering wideangle of 28mm, that focal length is available only at the 4:3 aspect ratio. Should you choose another aspect ratio like 3:2 or the architecturally friendly 16:9 ratio, those would be images of the same width as the 4:3 28mm image, but cropped to yield the desired aspect ratio, and hence wider-angled than the 28mm minimum. For example the Panasonic FX01, typical of this genre of camera, gives 28mm at 4:3, and something like 31mm at 16:9. I think the same applies to Canon's SD800 as well.

Besides the good wideangle, the TZ3 also has very low barrel distortion at full wideangle, so the building lines in your scenes will tend to be captured as straight lines, rather than curved lines. Here's a snapshot of the back window of my living room taken with my TZ3. You can still get perspective distortion, that's natural, based on your position relative to your subject:

http://john-reed.smugmug.com/photos/146976739-L.jpg

You can look at other examples in my TZ3 gallery. (http://john-reed.smugmug.com/gallery/2762845)