The Canon SI 15 vs. Olympus C765

[hartgirl24]

These both seem like excellent cameras, but I am just wondering what would be the better investment. Reading the review for the Canon and talking about the red and noise is kind of making me think that the Olympus might be better. Any suggestions? :)

[gary_hendricks]

My thoughts on the Olympus C765.

The biggest bonus to the camera is how adaptable it is. If you are a novice, it can be used as a simple point-and-shoot camera, and it has several scene selections (portrait, landscape, sport, night, etc.). If you are a more advanced user, this camera is great too. It has several levels of customizability: choose one function and allow the camera to determine the rest, or you can select ALL the settings yourself.

The camera has threads on the lens, so it is essentially upgradeable, with more advanced telephoto (not that you need it with a 10X optical zoom built in), macro and other lens attachments available through Olympus. Or you could attach filters. It is as close as you can get to an SLR without paying an arm and a leg.

The C-765 has an electronic viewfinder. thats very bright and clear. It is even manageable in low light settings. It was the brightest EVF of any camera in its class that I tested.

[edmund_yung]

With S1, a lot of advance control can be activated easier than olympus, usually just a press of a button instead on digging the menus. There's also this VERY USEFUL optical stabiliser. I also like Canon way of post processing the picture.

IMHO, canon menus navigation is better than olympus. The really fast zooming speed also help a lot. CF cards are also much cheaper than XD.

[lowkl]

First of all, try out both -- hands on. Nothing beats just using the camera. Sometimes it just *feels* right, which cannot be conveyed in any review/forum. This was definitely the case for the S1 for me.

That being said, you *did* post here in the Canon forum, hence you'd expect at least a slightly biased point of view. Purely to meet your expectations, let me hightlight that there are three features that simply blows the C765 out of the water :D :

- Image Stabilization. Without IS, the long-end of the zoom is useless when handheld. I don't know about you, but toting a tripod and having to set it up all the time is not a good thing.

- swivel LCD. This is invaluable when taking awkward shots.

- drop-dead stunning video. I know, I know: you want the camera for stills, not video. But it's nice to have.

[hartgirl24]

I just wanted to say thanks to all who replied, it helped me out a lot!
:D