Narrowed my list to 3 but could use some advice

[ArielZusya]

My wife and I are buying my father-in-law a new digital. We bought him his last digital (a fuji F700... right when it first came out) a number of years ago and he loved it and used it to death. Now I'm thinking one of the following three would be a good next camera:

Canon PowerShot SD790 IS Digital ELPH
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX500
Olympus Stylus 1020

Because my father-in-law knows we are doing this we suggested that he get these cameras in his hands so if he absolutely hates one of them we take it off the list. While he hunts down local sources for these three, I have some questions.

1) Generally, anything I should know about any of these that might cause me to drop one of them from the list?

2) The cameras have the following Max App. ranges (listed in the order above): F2.8 - F4.9; F2.8 - F5.9; F3.5 - F5.3. My father-in-law (and I'm in large part the same way) is not a total pro-photographer but is enough of a techie that he is likely to play with the features offered so playing with F-stops and such might happen. It seems the zoom on these three is driving the range (which makes sense) but is he going to be unhappy with the range of one or the other?

3) My F-I-L does a fair amount of outdoor photography but also likes to take family photos which often happen inside. Does the fact that the Olympus doesn't have an AF-Assist lamp be enough that I should drop it from the list?

4) It seems the Panasonic has more substantial manual controls. Anyone know if the auto controls on these three are enough that not having substantial manual controls won't be missed?

5) The widescreen photos and video on the Panasonic sound cool but is this enough to drive my F-I-L toward it?

I'm leaning toward the Canon right (I like the reviews, I like the battery life, I like the features) but I'd love to hear what others have to say. Thanks for your thoughts!

Ariel

[AndyfromVA]

1. No.
2. Only the Panasonic FX500 has manual controls so if he's a techie and likes to play around with settings, the FX500 will give him a lot more options than the other two.
3. Probably
4. Personally, I'd want manual controls in a camera in case there's a peculiar shooting situation that comes up.
5. The FX500 has more options than the other two but it's very small and requires a lot of patience to fiddle with the controls. Since your FIL's a techie, I'd buy him a larger camera with manual controls, such as the Canon A720IS, SX100 or S5IS, Sony H10 or H50, or Panasonic FZ18.

[Sykeye]

If I were you,I would choose the Panasonic model.

[KCook]

2) ... playing with F-stops ... ?
The camera that finds itself in a difficult situation here will automatically up the ISO. So long as that camera still has decent IQ at the higher ISO, who cares?

3) ... AF-Assist lamp ... ?
Tis odd that a premium camera would lack this. However, I think that this feature has always been something of a "feel good" deal. If the camera has trouble focusing in low light, I doubt that the lamp would actually make much difference.

4) ... manual controls ... ?
If he likes to use a tripod and low shutter speeds, then definitely get full manual control. If he prefers to hand hold the camera, then manual control is not needed.

I do like the point by AndyfromVA that at the price level of a FX500, there are a lot of other nice choices. But for the most part they will not be sleek ultracompacts.

Kelly Cook

[David Metsky]

3) ... AF-Assist lamp ... ?
Tis odd that a premium camera would lack this. However, I think that this feature has always been something of a "feel good" deal. If the camera has trouble focusing in low light, I doubt that the lamp would actually make much difference.
I disagree. The AF-lamp really helps in many indoors situations. I wouldn't even consider a camera without one.

[KCook]

So I just ran a low light trial with my Fuji F45fd. In extreme low light you're right. The focus with the assist light ON was better than OFF. By extreme, I'm not kidding, difficult to see colors by eye, much, much too gloomy to read by.

However, in moderate low light (still a little dimmer than most of us keep the rooms in our houses, but not so dim as in a bar), no difference in focus.

Frankly in the extreme case, the little point-and-shoot was way out of its element. The results were horribly grainy looking with extreme noise. That light level is really DSLR territory, a P&S has no business being there.

I would take comfort in having the assist light. It is a plus. But I still would not rank it as a must-have feature.

Kelly