advice needed

[ballistic]

I really need advice about Which camera should I buy as i m totally confused now after reading all the diff reviews from diff websites.
for instance some websites give great reviews for s3is and a few says it breaks down very quickly as the build quality isnt good.
newayz...


Budget
$300 give or take...
wud be great if i can be below 300$ mark inclusive of everything.

Size
doesnt really matter

How many megapixels will suffice for you?
not less than 6

* What optical zoom will you need?
Ultrazoom = 10x-12x or more

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

Do you care for manual controls?
yes... but it shud have a good auto mode

General Usage
* What will you generally use the camera for?
travel, family, nature

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

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
maybe...
it wud be great if the cam gives good high iso performance.

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

Miscellaneous
i wud like it to have good macro capabilities and a nice flash with no red eye, good build quality and finally it shud last me a while.

Are there particular brands you like or hate?
no

Are there particular models you already have in mind?
i have been thru the reviews of many ultra-zoom cameras, but now i m confused betn all these
s3is, s5is, panasonic fz8, fz18, sony h7, kodak z712is, olympus sp560uz, lumix fz30 (though the price is high)

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)
optical image stabilization is a must.


thanks in advance for ur advices.
regards

[KCook]

Well, I just bought my Canon S3 for Christmas. Holding up fine so far. Suppose I haven't used it enough to break down yet? My prior Canon was bullet proof, I have similar expectations for this one. The only post I have seen about a S3 break down was where the guy gave it to his kids to play with ... :rolleyes:

Like most "bridge" class cameras the S3 has a lot of exposure modes. In full Auto mode I have had exposures off by as much as a full stop. So I have gotten into the habit of always shooting in Program mode. This gives me easy control over exposure compensation/correction, ISO, and "shifting" the aperture/shutter settings for a given EV.

The sensor is 6Mp, but even in the "superfine" quality setting the resulting file size is only about 3.55Mb. So there is a fair amount of compression. Which is not unusual at all for a JPG camera. Just don't expect 6Mp RAW class crispness. It ain't a DSLR.

ISO 200 quality (noise level) is VERY nearly identical to ISO 100. At ISO 400 you can see slight noise, but not enough to affect snapshots. ISO 800 noise is noticable. Fortunately, thanks to the very good IS, I simply don't need the ISO 800 sensitivity. Of course for fast action, the IS would be out, but I generally don't shoot fast action scenes.

I selected the S3 mainly for its SLR-like features. And those have been great. The one disappointment is the EVF, which does not work as well in bright daylight as an optical viewfinder. But I expect that is true of all EVFs, regardless of brand.

I really wouldn't pay any attention to those breakdown complaints. Get the camera that is comfortable for your use. Whether it happens to be Canon or another brand.

Kelly Cook

[ballistic]

thanks a lot kelly for ur reply.
did u see any red-eye problem in any of ur shots?
dcresource says there are some issues of red-eye with s3is.
what memory card r u using?

guys.. i m still stuck over this. kindly give some suggestions.

[David Metsky]

Please use full words; it's much easier to read.

I have had an S3 for 18 months now, and have used it mainly for skiing and backpacking. It's been pretty sturdy, so I wouldn't worry about build quality. I think it's a non-issue.

This camera isn't great in low light, and it will produce a good quantity of red eye. It really shines outside and in good light; I find the image quality to be excellent, especially for my skiing photos. Memory cards aren't a big deal, any 60x SD card will max out the camera's write speed.

If you want great high ISO performance, this isn't your camera. You'll be disappointed and frustrated. Look at the Fuji S6000 if that is a high priority. No other ultrazoom can beat it.